IS A.I. A THREAT TO CHRISTIANITY?
Rev. 13:15; Isa. 45:11-12
INTRODUCTION
A. AI HUMOR
1. What do you call a blonde who dyes her hair brown? Artificial intelligence.
2. I hear they’ve made a new artificially intelligent Oreo? It’s one smart cookie.
3. Scientists predict human-level artificial intelligence by 2040. Maybe sooner if the bar keeps dropping.
B. TEXT
“This is what the Lord says—the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question Me...or give Me orders about the work of My hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens” Isa. 45:11-12.
C. THESIS
1. Artificial Intelligence is programmed to think like a human – to learn, to problem-solve, to create and speak (such as Siri and Alexa). AI will soon be taking over many jobs – writing news stories, driving trucks & taxis, answering phones, teaching, doing engineering, giving medical diagnoses, etc. Some even say AI will take the place of pastors/preachers.
2. Experts are predicting the rise of a new religion based on artificial intelligence. A computer, possessing almost all human knowledge, would, to many people, be the closest thing to having the omniscience of God. One engineer said, “What we are making here is a God.”
3. In Furth, Germany, a church recently met and the speaker was an A.I. computer, who spoke on spiritual subjects for about 40 minutes. It was delivered on a large TV screen above the altar. There is an AI Jesus app where the app speaks to you as if it’s Jesus talking to you.
4. Is this modern technology a threat to Christianity? Will robot priests soon be reciting prayers and giving sermons?
I. THE SPIRITUAL PROBLEM OF AI
A. THE END OF THE HUMAN RACE?
1. Despite AI’s promise, certain thinkers are deeply concerned about a time when machines might become fully sentient, rational agents — beings with emotions, a consciousness, and self-awareness.
2. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Stephen Hawking told the BBC in 2014. “Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded."
3. More than 8,000 people, including Hawking, Noam Chomsky, and Elon Musk, have signed an open letter warning against potential “pitfalls” of AI development.
B. THE MAKING OF A GOD
1. “What is going to be created will effectively be a god,” engineer Andrew Levandowski said. “It’s not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?”
2. Levandowski is so convinced of the incredible superiority of AI that he has started a new church to learn & follow the AI, called “Way of the Future.”
3. Levandowski believes that a change is coming—a change that will transform every aspect of human existence, disrupting employment, leisure, religion, the economy, and possibly decide our very survival as a species.
4. “If you ask people whether a computer can be smarter than a human, 99.9 percent will say that’s science fiction,” he says. “Actually, it’s inevitable. It’s guaranteed to happen.”
C. HUMOR: AI TO THE RESCUE
1. A man creates the smartest AI and presents it to the UN, boasting it can solve any problem. “Oh yeah?” Said the president of the United States. “Ok, how do we solve poverty?” “Calculating,” said the AI, moments later printing out a sheet of paper for the UN to read. Leaders from all over the world applied the proposals on the paper and in a month everyone starts living a better lives.
2. Impressed, they called for the AI’s assistance again and asked, “How do we create world peace?” “Calculating,” said the AI and same as before printed a sheet of paper. Leaders applied the writings, and in a month all wars and conflicts stopped. Everybody hates guns now and the world is full of love.
3. On the next UN gathering, curious about the purpose of life, they asked the AI, “Is there a God?” “Calculating,” said the AI. Finally it said, “Insufficient resources, need more for the computation!” “Okay, we’ll help out!” said the leaders of America. And they provided the AI with all of the advanced tech America can offer.
4. Then they asked the question again. “Calculating,” responded the AI. Finally, it responded, “Insufficient resources. Still need more for computation!” “Ok, we’ll also pitch in!” said the other leaders of the world, providing their tech and networks to the AI.
5. After the upgrade, the world leaders asked again to the AI, “Is there a God?” The AI responded, “There is now.”
II. THEOLOGICAL ISSUES OF AI
A. WILL IT HAVE A SOUL?
1. “There’s also “a spiritual dimension to what we’re making,” Kevin Kelly argues. “If you create other things that think for themselves, a serious theological disruption will occur.”
2. "If humans create free-willed beings, traditional theology would be challenged” says Kelly. “Take the soul, for instance. What exactly is a soul?” If AI is designed with a mind, a will, and emotions, is self-conscious and has individual thought – would it not be a soul?
3. “If intelligent machines have a soul, would they be able to establish a relationship with God? Would AI attend church, sing hymns, care for the poor? Would it pray? Can AI be ‘saved?’” asks Mike McHargue.
4. THE ANSWER to this question is that it would NOT HAVE A SOUL, FOR THREE REASONS.
a. First, all human souls were the result of God breathing in Genesis 2:7. We are spiritual in nature.
b. Secondly, however sophisticated, AI is still a mass of programming, not a real person.
c. Thirdly, Russell Bjork states, “What makes humans special is not what humanity is, but rather it is God’s relationship to us based on his purpose for making us.” We didn’t decide to have souls, God made us to have souls; it’s HIS DECISION, NOT OURS.
B. WILL AI BE EQUIVALENT TO GOD? NO!
1. NICENE CREED: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth....And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God...God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father...” Computers and AI are MADE, NOT BEGOTTEN. They are not of one substance/essence with the Father. There is only one God and AI is not God nor will it ever be even close to being God, because...
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD:
a. God is ETERNAL. AI is not.
b. God is UNCHANGING. AI is not.
c. God is OMNISCIENT, He knows all there is to know, in the physical realm, the spiritual realm, the infinite past & future, and all other dimensions & times. AI only knows what humans know, which is only a tiny fraction of all there is to know.
d. God possesses ALL POWER – of producing infinite energy, of creating infinite matter from nothing, of forming laws and forces to control galaxies and universes, and to create life from non-life. AI never will be able to do any of these.
e. God’s existence never had a beginning; His is NOT A DERIVED EXISTENCE. God exists from within Himself, eternally. God is Spirit. AI, at best, is a complicated machine that has access to the internet cloud. Without recharging, reprogramming, and repairs, it will soon shut down. So much for being a “god!”
C. WILL AI REPLACE PASTORS?
1. James McGrath, a professor of religion at Butler University told his religion students to ask Siri, the personal assistant in Apple devices, to pray for them and observe what happened. Siri basically responded, “I’m not programmed to do that.”
2. Rabbi Joshua Franklin asked ChatGPT, “Write a sermon in the voice of a rabbi of about 1,000 words that relates the Torah portion Vayigash to intimacy and vulnerability.” It had some content but, “it lacked exactly what it preached: human vulnerability and emotion.” Computers have no experience of living a human life so they can’t truly relate.
3. That being said, AI might be used by the Antichrist as a religious tool during the Great Tribulation period, as follows.
III. THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST, REV. 13:15
A. JOHN’S DESCRIPTION
1. 14 [The False Prophet] deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast [Antichrist] who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast [False Prophet] was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast [Antichrist], so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed” Rev. 13:14-15 (14:9,11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4).
2. John tells us 4 things about the IMAGE OF THE BEAST: a. it was “given breath” or was made ALIVE; b. The image could “SPEAK;” c. It HAD AWARENESS of who did, and who didn’t worship; d. It also had the POWER TO KILL.
3. This was taking place in all the locations where the Mark of the Beast was being used, and was an integral part of its implementation.
B. COULD BE AI IN HOUSES OF WORSHIP
1. Holographs have been around for a long time, used effectively at Disneyworld, etc. Rev. 13:14-15 may describe a holograph image or an actual robot. In either case it was an image of the Antichrist and appeared to be alive.
2. Like AI, the image could speak to the gathered congregation. Today we have facial-recognition cameras. If these were tied to human databases, the AI could identify each person in the audience by name, and would know everything about them and their social lives (birth, parents, spouse, kids, job, income, associations, etc.).
3. The AI could rebuke them for not worshiping the Image of the Beast, and if they refused, could use one of many methods to execute them on the spot.
4. Until our time, Bible expositors had no idea how these images could be produced and do these things, but with the advent of robotics and AI, its practical fulfillment is amazingly easy to see now.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: PROTECTED BY OUR SHEPHERD
1. The Problem with Sheep. In his excellent study of the famous Biblical passage on shepherds, (The Good Shepherd: A Thousand Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament), scholar Ken Bailey provides helpful context to understand why it is that the psalmist chose the metaphor of a good shepherd and sheep to describe his relationship with God.
2. Sheep have a special problem. They have no defenses. Cats have teeth, claws and speed. Dogs have their teeth and their speed. Horses can kick, bite and run. Bears can claw, bite and crush. Deer can run.
3. But the sheep have no bite or claws and cannot outrun any serious predator. They can butt other sheep, but that ability will not protect them from a wolf or a bear. The sheep’s only security is the shepherd. Indeed, “you are with me.” [The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament by Kenneth E. Bailey, Copyright (c) 2014, p.49, by Kenneth E. Bailey. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com]
B. THE CALL
1. In Psalm 23 David made the wonderful statement, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” What a marvelous comfort, that no matter how crazy this world may get, we don’t have to be afraid. Why? Because the Lord is my Shepherd!
2. Let’s go to God now and turn all our concerns over to Him. He will gladly be our Burden-Bearer, our Friend, and our Guide, who will never fail us. Trust in Him and don’t be afraid.
3. PRAYER.
[The following articles were quoted from; “Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence,” Wired, Nov. 15, 2017 Mark Harris; “Is AI a Threat to Christianity?” by Jonathan Merritt in The Atlantic; “Are chatbots changing the face of religion? Three faith leaders on grappling with AI,” The Guardian.Com April 7, 2023, Johana Bhuiyan; “AI-powered church service in Germany draws a large crowd” by BENJ EDWARDS - 6/12/2023, in arstechnica.com]
