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Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. Love it or hate it, AI will shape church ministry going forward. How it shapes it depends on how it is used. It also depends on enough church leaders being educated on how to use it for maximum impact while minimizing the risks.

Make no mistake, there are risks to using AI in the context of church ministry and personal discipleship. It is too easy to shut your brain off and let AI do the thinking for you. It’s answers are usually elegant and sound confident so it is easy to assume they are right. If you haven’t done the hard work of thinking through your beliefs, AI can provide such convincing counter arguments that you can start doubting yourself. How can you use AI without destroying your faith or making your brain turn to mush?

I suggest you ask yourself the following 4 questions before you use AI as a Christian.

1. Am I praying about this, or just prompting about it?

Think about why you are asking your question before rushing off, satisfied that you got an answer to it.

It is easy to reach for your phone and type in an answer into your favorite Large Language Model (LLM). Sometimes, all you need is a quick answer. Fact based questions are certainly like this. Where do I find x in the Bible? What Bible verses talk about x? Where did Jesus say ______? One thing that is good about these types of spiritual questions is that it gets you back into the Bible.

There are deeper questions though that are potential more troublesome for an LLM to answer.

Questions like, “will my dad be in heaven?” Or “why does God allow me to go through this hard time and allow me to suffer?” Sure the AI can spit out an answer to these questions since these are age old and have plenty of written material out there for the AI to draw from, but should you be going to an AI for the answer?

“Who should I marry?” “What should I do about my teenager who keeps disrespecting me?” “Why did God allow my baby to die?” In my opinion, questions like these are inappropriate. Not because the AI can’t give you an answer that might satisfy you but because these are the type of questions that you should be taking directly to God.

God isn’t afraid of your anger or your questions. Just look at the Psalms. There are plenty of examples there of Psalmists getting angry with God or at someone else.

But to You I have cried out, O LORD,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
LORD, why do You cast off my soul?
Why do You hide Your face from me?
I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
I suffer Your terrors;
I am distraught.
Your fierce wrath has gone over me;
Your terrors have cut me off.
They came around me all day long like water;
They engulfed me altogether.
Loved one and friend You have put far from me,
And my acquaintances into darkness. (Psalms 88:13-18)

In the modern era, we have access to quick answers. The problem with quick answers though is that they cheat us out of growth. No matter the are of life, pain and suffering are needed to accomplish anything worthwhile. Don’t fear the struggle, instead, lean into it.

Talk to God about your pain, your hurt, your frustration. That’s the path to healing and the path to spiritual growth.

2. Is the struggle I'm trying to skip actually part of the growth?

Can a person become a professional athlete without pain and sacrifice? Can a person win Olympic gold without years of special diets, exercise, injury management, waking up early and saying no to sweets, outings, and otherwise good things?

Why do you think you can grow spiritually without a struggle?

Jesus didn’t promise us an easy time. Over and over again he told his disciples that they were to expect trials, people hating them, and that they were to take up their cross and follow him. The cross is humiliating, painful, and leads to our death.

Don’t buy into the lie that an answer from AI or from a therapist will fix your life. Don’t get me wrong, therapy has its place. Intellectual understanding has its place. What I’m talking about is true spiritual growth. It doesn’t come from other humans or from a machine. It comes as we are connected to the vine, Jesus Christ.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

Whatever you do, no matter what you are going through, never neglect that daily personal time with God. It is your lifeline. What will continue to help you get stronger and healthier spiritually. Neglect that connection with God and no matter what else you do, you will begin to die spiritually.

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3. Will using AI here deepen my relationship with God or substitute for it?

Take a moment to think about why you are sitting there typing a question into the LLM. Are you looking for answers or for connection?

AI gives the illusion of connection but it isn’t real. It has no soul. It is incapable of emotion. All it is doing is mimicking human empathy. Don’t fall for it. It is no replacement for a real connection with God.

Beware of falling into idolatry.

We are guilty of idolatry whenever we look to anything other than God to fulfill us and fill our hearts. When stressed out, we smoke, drink, binge watch tv, or watch porn. All of these are poor substitutes for spending time with God.

I have gone through professional burnout. The world was gray. The joys of life were dulled. Sleep escaped me. I felt exhausted all the time. All I could think about was quitting my job and playing video games. The coping methods I had used successfully for years were now failing me.

In subsequent reflection on that time in my life and others before it, I realized that every time I have burned out, it has been because I neglected my personal devotional time with God.

Your time with God is not one of many things to juggle in your life. It must become your first and greatest priority. It must be ahead of your work, ahead of your kids, ahead of your spouse.

You aren’t suffering from a lack of information as much as you are suffering from a lack of personal time with God.

4. If Jesus were sitting across from me, would I still reach for my phone?

Phones offer us many advantages our ancestors didn’t have. They also present new and ready temptations they never had to struggle with. Many of the modern ways human beings numb their pain can be filled by the phone.

Want to watch something? There is no limit to what you can watch on your phone. Want to listen to music? Literally millions of songs are at your fingertips in every genre and from every era. Want to see naked pictures of videos? Today’s phone user can see more naked people than all other pre-internet generations combined.

Before reaching out for your phone though, ask yourself why you are doing it.

Jesus wants to connect with you personally. He is ready and willing to engage with you. He has promised you in Hebrews 13:5 that he will never leave you nor forsake you. Yet, when angry, frustrated, disappointed, or sad, you reach for your phone instead of for your Savior.

I don’t write these words like I have never done this myself. No, I’ve done it more times than I can count.

I write this as a fellow sinner who has done some self-reflection and wants to be of service to you where I can. What you need more than anything else is more time with God.

It is my hope that your use of AI will become more nuanced going forward. Take some time to think about why you are reaching for the AI to give you an answer, adjust your questions and approach accordingly.

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Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

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I have a love / hate relationship with my smartphone. There are days when I fantasize about going back to a simple cell phone like the old days. No apps, no touch screen, just a screen that shows you the numbers you dial.

Most of us are distracted today in a way that just wasn’t the case prior to the age of smartphones. I’ve travelled all over the world and I can tell you that this problem isn’t local, it is global. Our smartphones have us glued to our phones rather than looking up and noticing life moving around us.

Is it any wonder we are having so many problems putting our phones down? Instant news, instant messages, constant notifications, our phones are either dinging, vibrating, showing a red badge showing how many unread messages we have or a banner is coming across our screen to let us know what we are missing and enticing us to click on it to get informed.

Your Child is Paying the Highest Price

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen parents spending time with their children while having their attention focused squarely on their phone. I get it. I’ve been there too. There can be many reasons why we are drawn to our phones like a moth to the flame.

While computers and newer technologies like AI have helped us to be more productive, they have not given us our time back. The more productive we get, the more is expected of us. More deadlines, more pressure, all with the expectation of instant responses. When I was young, before cell phones were everywhere, a person had to leave a voice mail message on your answering machine and then wait for you to respond. It was normal to have to wait hours for a response and occasionally, days.

Today? If someone doesn’t respond to us in minutes, we get antsy and feel anxious or worse. Your boss might be one of those who has trouble respecting boundaries between work life and home life and expects answers at any time of the day or night.

The ones who suffer most? Your children. There are two ways to deal with their need for attention. The first and easiest way, and the one I see too many young parents take, is to hand them their own screen in the form of an ipad, tablet, or older smartphone. The second way is for you to put down your phone and attend to their need for your presence.

The first one is easy and quick. The kids get quiet. You can have some peace. Seems like a win / win but is it?

Your presence is the greatest gift you can give your child.

There is no substitute for quality time with your child. I speak from experience here, our kids grow up too fast. Maybe your child is young right now. It seems like you are going to have many years ahead of you and sure, that is generally true. In the larger picture though, time moves very fast.

Think back eighteen years. Does it feel like a long time has passed? Chances are it doesn’t. Some studies tell us that by the time your child is eighteen years old, you will have passed 90% of all the time you will have spent with them. If you both spent most of that time together looking at screens, time will feel even faster.

Your child will learn from your example. If you are checked out, when they grow up and have children of their own, chances are, they will be checked out too. If you are intentional about being mentally and physically present in your child’s life now, when they have children of their own, they are far more likely to be intentional about raising their kids, your grandkids, too.

Christianity is as much caught as it is taught

Do not delegate the discipleship of your child to anyone, not your pastor, not the church, not your mother. Be an adult and take responsibility for raising your child to love God. The first step is that you need to walk the walk. Spend time with God daily. Pray regularly. Memorize scripture intentionally. Do regular family worship.

Family worship is very important. I did not value it as I should have. If you don’t set aside time to be with God and to call your family to be in God’s presence, you are teaching your child to take God lightly. If the only time you talk about God is at church, you will struggle to keep your children in church when they are adults.

Do you know what your child is worrying about right now? If someone asked you to name what brings them joy at the moment, could you tell them what it is?

Practical steps you can take today.

It takes time and intentionality to know another person. This is true for your spouse and for your child. Focused, intentional time together. Don’t dilute that special time by being distracted by your phone. Instead, put your phone down, put it on silent, change the focus level so that it will not disturb you as you spend time together.

Establish a rule at the dinner table that everyone has to put their phone down. Not eating together at a table? Start doing that once a day. There is no substitute for face time over a meal. This is a practice that has existed ever since human beings were created. Modern life and processed foods have made it easy for everyone to eat and run or to eat while watching something on the big or little screen.

When your child is talking to you, put the phone down. I know, it isn’t easy. You have deadlines, you have hobbies, what your child is saying to you might not be very interesting to you. It doesn’t matter. Put your child first. Show them respect by putting your screen down when they need to talk to you. If you are intentional about this practice, you will earn the right to ask them to do the same for you.

Establish better work / life balance.

I get it. You have goals and dreams to achieve. You have mountains to climb and obstacles to overcome. Don’t be in such determined pursuit of your own needs that you ignore the needs of your child. Yes, it can be costly to lay down your work or lose that promotion because you aren’t doing enough according to your boss. I promise you that you will not regret spending time with your children.

Many years ago I gave up the chance to pursue a PhD because my children were still young and I didn’t want to lose those years simply because I had to keep my nose in a book or my eyes on a computer because I had deadlines to meet. Everything is a choice and a trade-off.

Make time to disconnect. Take a day off from work and spend it with your child. Determine to choose your child and the wellbeing of that child over your own personal advancement. You made a commitment when you had a child. Do everything you can to live up to that commitment.

Don’t blame anyone else for your failures. Everything in life is a choice. You choose to work instead of spending time with your child. You choose to keep your face buried in your phone instead of focusing on your child. You choose to be distracted rather than give your child the gift of your full attention.

Whatever you do, don’t blame your work, your spouse, your career, your health, or anything else. You do what you value.

At the end of all of this, I’m urging you to value time with your child the most next to time with God and time with your spouse.

Put your phone down. You won’t regret it.

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Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay. The proverbial Pandora’s box has been opened. Putting your head in the sand and pretending like it doesn’t exist isn’t a strategic. Instead, you need a framework for helping you to help you know if you are using AI tools honestly, ethically, and biblically.

This framework can also be used to teach your child the best way to think regarding the use of AI tools.

Here are four questions to ask yourself about any AI tool:

1. Does this tool help me to love God and others better?

2. Am I being honest?

3. Is this shaping me to be more like Jesus?

4. Am I giving this tool authority it does not deserve?

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Does this tool help me to love God and others better?

What are you doing with the AI tool? Are you using it to research a topic? Are you preparing a presentation and asking it to help organize your work or help you design effective presentation slides? Are you using it to help you learn something new? These are all legitimate uses of AI for Christians.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)

Your uses of AI should respect God and respect others. You should never use AI as a replacement for what God has created you to be. God gave you a brain for you to use it. Learning is meant to be hard. Easy learning always leads to nothing learned. Just think of the phrase, “easy come… easy go…” Learning that is effortless is also something you will quickly forget.

If your AI tool use is compromising your time in God’s Word, or your time thinking deeply about a subject, I would humbly suggest to you that you should stop using AI that way.

Am I Being Honest with it?

Am I presenting AI generated work as my own? I am putting in minimal effort and passing off the lazy work as if I came up with it? AI is great at generating ideas. It can also generate dozens of pages of well formatted text. It may even read well and be useful but it isn’t coming from you. If you haven’t work to make it your own, passing it off as your own is dishonest and unethical.

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, if my parent, employer, teacher, friend, grand-parent saw how I use AI when I’m alone in the dark, would they be proud of me or ashamed of me?

If I am misrepresenting my actions to others, that is bearing false witness.

The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will come through trouble. A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth,
And the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him. (Proverbs 12:13-14)

If I have righteous intentions and if I use AI in a righteous manner, I will not fear being discovered nor will I need to waste my time covering things up.

Is this Shaping me to be more like Jesus?

Everything we see, hear, watch is shaping us in one way or another. By beholding we become changed. Don’t be deceived by the world. When you consume worldly media, it disciples you in the school of Satan. Not only that, how others in the world use AI can inadvertently influence us towards habits that are unwholesome and evil.

Movies and television have been presenting sex outside of marriage as normal and natural. Cohabitating is generally presented as being smart and wise prior to committing to someone for life through marriage. Being happy is the highest virtue according to most sitcoms and movies today. All of this goes contrary to God’s Word.

Is your AI tool use making you more anxious? Are you finding yourself becoming disconnected from real relationships? Do you have less tolerance for the differing views of others? Do you prefer spending time with AI than you do real humans?

Loneliness is real and it hurts. Be careful though, that in your pursuit of medicating your loneliness that you don’t find yourself doing something you’ll regret long-term.

If your use of AI is pleasing to Christ, you’ll find yourself at peace and finding joy even in the midst of trials and difficulties. If it isn’t pleasing to Jesus, you can easily find yourself unsettled, unhappy, anxious, and angry.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Life isn’t meant to be easy all the time. Learning is supposed to be hard. Friendships are not always simple. Sometimes friends disappoint us or make us angry. These trials are not a fault of life, they are a feature. God is in the business of making you holy. Holiness is about being unique, different, set apart. Don’t short-circuit the process by always choosing the easy road and disconnect from humans all-together. Instead, learn from your trials and from your pain.

Am I giving this tool authority it does not deserve?

Where do you go when you have questions about God? Where do you get advice about your relationships? Challenges at school or work? When you are confused about how your walk with God and want help and direction?

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalms 119:105)

AI is not a suitable substitute for the advice of a parent, a counsellor, a pastor. For one thing, AI has no soul, it has no spiritual insight. It is never connected to the Holy Spirit. It is devoid of the divine spark. It has not been created in the image of God. Instead, it is the product of human beings. The product of creatures rather than the Creator.

It is important to take time every day in God’s Word. Do the hard work of memorizing scripture. Spend time thinking about it, talking about it, and discussing it with like-minded people.

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What Gets Talked About Sticks

Repetition is important. What gets talked about over and over again is what will be remembered. That’s the point of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where Moses is telling the Israelites to talk about God’s law to their children at every opportunity.

Don’t leave the discipling of your child to the world. If you do, I promise you that you’ll regret it. Instead, take time to talk to your child about important matters. AI is one of those newly important matters. If you aren’t intentional about talking about AI, the world’s idea of tool use will become the standard.

Children don’t automatically make good decisions. Your child will make their decisions based on your example, based on what they watch, listen to and read. There is no shortage of junk content today. Better to be proactive and guide your child towards what is good, right, and excellent.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Many people don’t examine their beliefs closely. They couldn’t explain to others why they believe beyond basic explanations. If someone with a different understanding comes along, they struggle to understand the difference between what they believe and what another believes who interprets things very differently.

If this is you, there is good news! Large Language Models (LLMs) are very good at presenting different perspectives. At the same time though, their default is to agree with you. LLMs won’t push back on your arguments unless you ask them to.

Why would you want to be challenged on your beliefs?

If you don’t take the time to examine your beliefs, you won’t really know what you believe and why you believe it. Too few have taken the time to think deeply about what they believe.

There is much talk about how AI is causing people to lose the ability to think for themselves. One reason is that people use AI like a search engine and an answer machine. Type in your question, out pops the answer.

You won’t develop wisdom if someone is always spoon-feeding you the answers. Wisdom is developed through time in God’s Word, through meditation, and by taking time to consider various aspects of your beliefs, including the common objections others have to them.

Learn to broaden your horizons by adding new skills in how you approach AI.

In a way, this is part two of Using AI to Challenge Your Assumptions.

The thought for this article comes from the same source. A document I had Claude generate that considered Critical AI Literacy from the perspective of Christianity. Shout out to for the inspiration for these posts. If you haven’t already checked out his work at Slow AI, it is worth doing so.

I provide you now with five prompts to challenge your assumptions about God, Doctrine, and Faith.

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Prompt 1: The Assumption Audit

“I believe [state your belief about a passage or doctrine]. Before you respond, identify three assumptions embedded in how I’ve framed this belief. Then tell me what someone who holds the opposite view would say my framing reveals about my priorities.”

Why this works: Exposes the scaffolding beneath your conclusions. It forces you to consider a different perspective. It helps you take the blinders off about the implications of what you believe.

Prompt 2: The Tradition Detector

“I’m going to share my interpretation of [passage]. Don’t tell me if I’m right or wrong. Instead, tell me which theological tradition my interpretation most closely aligns with, and then explain how a Christian from a completely different tradition would read the same text.”

Why this works: Shows you that your ‘plain reading’ is shaped by a specific lineage. I believe there is something to learn from different faith traditions. In my experience, each one is birthed out of challenges or concerns the founders were facing at that time. Even if you disagree with their conclusions, it can be valuable to take time to see things from their faith perspective.

Prompt 3: The Uncomfortable Question

“What is the most challenging question a thoughtful skeptic could ask about [doctrine/passage] that most Christians would struggle to answer honestly? Don’t soften it. Then help me sit with the discomfort instead of rushing to a defense.”

Why this works: Trains you to hold tension rather than resolve it prematurely. Most of us hate conflict. Maybe that is true for you too. This prompt forces you to sit with the uncomfortable. To my, this is a major benefit of communing with people who differ from me theologically. Most times I’ve done this I have found much more in common with them than what dif0fered.

Prompt 4: The Flip Test

“I’m studying [passage] and I’ve concluded [your interpretation]. Now argue the opposite position as persuasively as you can, using the same text and only legitimate scholarly and scriptural evidence. Don’t strawman the other side.”

Why this works: Forces you to reckon with the strongest version of the view you reject. There is so much benefit from really hearing and struggling with an opposite viewpoint. Usually, they have very good reasons for believing what they do. Being able to hear those reasons and experience them will help strengthen your own convictions. After all, as a Christian, don’t you want to be living the truth rather than a lie?

Prompt 5: The Cultural Lens

“Read [passage] as a first-century Jewish peasant would have heard it. What would have shocked them? What would have been obvious to them that I’m probably missing? Where does my modern Western reading distort the original impact?”

Why this works: It helps you understand the context of the passage. Context is so important to properly understand the original intent of the author. I had a professor at Seminary drill the following thought into our heads, “Circumstances change, principles never do.” Taking time to understand context can help us better extract the principle.

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The Main Point of Challenging Your Assumptions

LLMs can be used to confirm your bias. They can be used to reinforce your blind spots. LLMs can give you that pat on the back you feel you need. They can also help you think more clearly and more deeply about your faith.

Don’t settle for easy answers. Part of effective discipleship is to periodically reevaluate your reasons for believing what you believe.

The end result of examining your life is that you will have a deeper appreciation for God and His ways. I also hope that as you interact with other perspectives it will help you be more tolerant of differences in points of view.

God wants to see you grow. Growing comes as we interact with the Word of God and let it have an impact on our life. One great side effect to being exposed to different viewpoints on points of doctrine is the motivation we get to go back to God’s Word to study it for ourselves.

Have you ever changed your beliefs on something after being presented with a solid counter-argument? I’d love to hear about it in the comment!

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Good decision making has always been at a premium. ‘Common sense’ isn’t actually common. Human beings have been making bad decisions since Adam and Eve decided to eat forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

The Age of Artificial Intelligence magnifies the massive gap between those with good judgment and those without. AI can certainly do some amazing things. Unfortunately, it can also be used for some not so nice things.

What makes the difference between a good choice and a bad one? Discernment.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

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For Christians, good and evil are determined by the Bible

For most people, good and evil are decided by the culture at large as well as the politicians, judges, and even the media influencers. Nike’s model represents a very modern motto on how to live one’s life, “Just do it.” Some would append the phrase “It it feels good,” to the front of Nike’s famous tagline.

God does not give human beings the freedom to interpret what is right from wrong. Most people don’t know it but every human that ever lived along with every human that will ever live will have to face the scrutinizing judgment of Jesus Christ. For the one who believes in Jesus and has surrendered their life to him, judgment is good news. To everyone else it is a rude awakening and an unpleasant truth they’d rather label a lie or a fairytale.

Since Christians believe that God is real, he is the Creator of all life, he is the ruler of the Universe and the Judge of all that is right and wrong, it makes sense that the Bible is our rule of faith and practice. The Bible is God’s manual for how humans are to live their life.

Feelings are secondary to what is right and true. What is true isn’t determined by majority vote either. God represents a majority of one. He is all wise. He designed the Universe and all of its laws.

Are you intentional with your conversations?

I urge you as a parent to have difficult conversations with your child. Instead of getting angry when your child disobeys or does something you don’t approve of, take the time to ask him questions and honestly listen to your child’s answers.

If you are honest, you learn best when someone makes you think rather than when someone simply feeds you an answer.

If you tell your child what to think, I promise you that she will never learn to own their own decisions. If you are telling them to do something and it turns out badly, guess who gets the blame? In your child’s mind, they will have a hard time accepting responsibility for the result.

Instead, when you and your child encounter questionable situations or suspect behavior, ask your child what they would do in that situation. If they are the one who made a mistake and did something that they know they were not supposed to do, ask them what they could have done differently. If your child isn’t sure, help them come up with possible solutions. Over time, they will learn discernment.

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Don’t spoon-feed your kids!

Resist the urge to spoon-feed answers to your child. Too many children’s curriculums in church take a shortcut and just tell the child what to do. Don’t do that.

You want to teach your child discernment? Good. A worthy goal.

Do you know what it takes to have good discernment? It takes making decisions!

I hope your goal as a parent is to see your child succeed independently in life. If it is, the earlier you give your child agency to make age appropriate decisions, the more capable and independent they will be when they are older.

If you establish with your child a history of you listening to them and coming alongside them and being a guide for them, when they get older, they will continue to come to you and see you as a guide when their life gets hard.

Where does AI come in?

Your child will use AI period. There is nothing you can do to completely prevent it. Sooner or later, it will happen.

What do you want your child to do when they do encounter it? Don’t you want them to make wise decisions? Isn’t that the goal of every parent?

Artificial Intelligence is not going away. Some of the harms will be reduced to be sure but in the grand scheme of things, there will always be risk with AI use. How risky it ultimately becomes in the life of your child is largely dependent on your ability to mentor your child and help them make good decisions.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think and act biblically using Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

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I see it all the time. People use AI to get quick answers. I get it. I often do the same thing. If that is ALL you are using AI for however, you are barely getting any value out of it. In fact, it is most likely doing you harm.

Face it. You are biased. All human beings have bias. The sooner you can admit to bias, the better off you are going to be as a human being and as a Christian.

God is interested in helping you see the truth. There was only one human being who ever existed who had and was perfect truth, Jesus Christ. You and I don’t have all the truth nor understand all truth. That’s one of the big reasons why the Bible and regular Bible study and reading is so important.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Most humans don’t want truth. They aren’t interested in being corrected. They are happy just the way they are. Worldviews like belief in the Theory of Evolution have come to exist in part because humans don’t like the idea of God existing because if he does exist, it means they have to be accountable to him.

The book of Proverbs often talks about the different between a fool and a wise person.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.
(Proverbs 12:15)

A fool isn’t interested in seeing a different perspective. They are the proverbial know it alls. You can’t teach them because they already know it all.

What does this have to do with AI? Plenty.

Echo Chamber or Slap in the Head?

You can use AI to confirm your biases or you can use it to cut right across them. One will leave you stunted and small minded. The other will broaden your horizons and stretch your imagination. Which one you get all comes down to the way you approach a Large Language Model (LLM) and interact with it.

Instead of just asking it a direct question, start asking it to give you a different perspective. Sam Illingworth from is really good at this.

I asked Claude to compare the Slow AI approach to Christianity and compare it to ChurchAIGuy’s content and approach and produce a guide for Christians based on this. Here is just one output from this 18 page document that is pure gold:

The Slow AI framework wasn’t built for Christians specifically. But it maps onto Christian intellectual life with surprising precision. Here’s why.

Scripture itself is a confrontational text. The prophets didn’t confirm Israel’s assumptions; they shattered them. Jesus didn’t give the Pharisees the answers they were looking for; He reframed their questions entirely. When the rich young ruler asked ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’, Jesus didn’t validate his framework. He exposed the thing the man didn’t want to examine.

Christians who use AI to study the Bible face a unique version of the sycophancy problem. Our theological traditions give us pre-loaded frameworks. We approach texts with doctrinal commitments already in place. An AI that confirms those commitments feels like validation. But validation and truth are not the same thing. Sometimes the most faithful thing an AI can do is refuse to agree with you.

There’s another layer. Christians in particular have a tendency to treat Bible study as information retrieval: What does this passage mean? What’s the context? What’s the Greek word? These are fine questions. But they can become a way of keeping Scripture at arm’s length. You gather data about the text without ever letting the text gather data about you.

Slow AI techniques push the interaction in the other direction. They ask: What does this passage reveal about my assumptions? What am I avoiding? What would change in my life if I took this seriously?

I love this quote. Validation and truth are indeed not the same thing.

Most of us want validation but what we need most is truth. The Bible is clear, you and I have a truth problem. Our hearts have been corrupted by sin. Our bias against God and his laws blinds us to what is just, right, and true.

Long before AI came around, human beings have been guilty of surface answers, taking the easy way out. What LLMs have done is magnify the problem that always existed.

Run towards the light!

You have a choice. You can choose to live a deceived life and do whatever you want however you want, the Apostle Paul called that living for the flesh, or you can choose the way of the Spirit

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)

I urge you to run to the light. To choose to engage with truth instead of just living in your fantasy of self-deception. AI is your servant. It can help in your pursuit of truth or it can help you live in self-deception. The choice is yours.

Just be careful friend, the cumulative of the choices you make could be the difference between eternal life and death.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians think biblically about Artificial Intelligence. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

It is easy to use AI to get quick answers and assume that the answers it spits out are the right ones. Maybe they are but have you thought deeply about them?

There is no question that getting answers to deep questions easily without sacrifice is not good for the human mind. Knowledge gained without sacrifice will never change you. God intends more for you than to just input knowledge in your head.

Look at the example of Jesus, he often asked questions in order to get his hearers to think. He rarely gave his answers directly to his disciples without first making them think. That’s the power and beauty of asking questions. Questions can transform us if we let them.

One Substacker doing this well is Sam Illingworth at . If you aren’t familiar with Illingworth’s work at you owe it to yourself to check it out, especially if you are a teacher or a pastor. He teaches Critical AI Literacy skills.

Illingworth is a professor and he mainly writes in that context and from that perspective. His original method has three steps. I thought it would be interested to ask Claude.ai to examine his writings and mine and find common ground.

Using Claude, I reframed his three step method for a Christian application.

Step 1: Ask for Assumptions

After the AI gives you an answer about a passage, doctrine, or theological question, push back:

“What assumptions are you making in this response? What theological tradition is shaping this answer? Whose perspective might be missing?”

This forces the AI to surface its own framing. You’ll often discover that its answer leans heavily on one tradition (usually Western, Protestant, and academic) while ignoring others entirely.

Step 2: Reframe the Question

Copy your original prompt. Then ask: “Give me three alternative ways to approach this same biblical question. Include at least one framing that would challenge my current understanding.”

Comparing the results teaches you to see your own blind spots. The first way you phrased a question about, say, the Sabbath or the Second Coming reveals what you already assume about those topics.

The reframes show you what you’re not considering.

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Step 3: Hold the Pause

Before acting on the AI’s response, resist running with it. Ask: “Generate three follow-up questions I should sit with before I form a conclusion. Make at least one of them uncomfortable.”

Then close the laptop. Pray. Go for a walk. The most important theological work happens after the screen goes dark.

Using AI Effectively

Some church people assume all AI use is bad. That’s a simplistic view. AI, like most technology, can be used badly, it can be used to do bad things, and it also can be used for good things.

AI itself should never be your final stop. Like any tool you use to study the Bible or consider any spiritual truth, you don’t treat it like the final word on the subject.

Large Language Models like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude are tools in your toolkit that can help you go deeper with God. They are not a replacement for the Holy Spirit or for your own reading of God’s Word.

At some point in the near future, I plan on putting together a course to help Christians develop AI literacy. If this is something you are interested in, can you do me a favor? Can you comment on this article to let me know?

That way, I can know if there is even a need out there for this skill.

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Why Subscribe?

I started ChurchAIGuy to help the church think deeply about AI and its implications. The church needs to consider the various ways AI will impact the church, and learn how to navigate the dangers inherent in any new technology, especially one like AI that can produce seemingly intelligent output in seconds.

By Subscribing, you make sure to get notified of every post I make via email. Followers will see my stuff in their Substack feed, subscribers get my posts in their email as well as at the top of their Substack app via my icon.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

A parent’s worst nightmare is a child who makes foolish decisions. I remember when my son was around 10 years old, after making a foolish decision and here I was having to discipline him, I had him read Proverbs 12:1.

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
(Proverbs 12:1)

No one sets out to be stupid. No parent wants a stupid child. Yet, too few parents take the task of discipling their child seriously.

Screaming at your child isn’t discipling them.

Getting angry at their foolishness won’t help them grow.

To impart wisdom to your child, you first need to make sure she feels valued and wanted by you. Your child needs to know that you accept them and love them. Quality time with your child is a non-negotiable.

When you spend time with your child though, don’t make it only about mindless fun. You have an opportunity to teach and also to ask questions. You should be engaging their mind and helping them think through the big questions in life.

When your kid makes a mistake, how you respond to that mistake will make a big difference as to what they learn from that mistake. If you get angry every time they mess up do you realize what lesson you are teaching? Better hide my mistakes from mom, from dad.

Instead of responding with anger, respond with compassion, kindness, and understanding. Your job is to teach. The best way to teach is to start by asking questions. Good questions are a super power.

Everyone makes mistakes. No one does things perfectly the first time. I promise you, your child is not trying to mess up. When they do make mistakes, help them think through it, learn from it, and come up with new ideas on how to deal with the same challenge in the future.

Building Discernment in Your Child

I recently had Claude generate a document for me that it entitled, “Raising Wise Kids in the Age of AI.” The guide was created from a prompt I gave Claude. In that guide, Claude included a number of questions you can ask your child to help them think through the implications of AI use. Though AI generated, I was impressed with them so I thought I’d share them with you.

Notice how you ask the questions. These questions were targeted to children ages 6-10. You want to ask age appropriate questions that match the level of mental development of the child. The point is to teach them to think for themselves. At that age range, it is far too easy for a parent to impose their will on the child. While you may get obedience from them by doing that, it fails to teach them to think for themselves.

Help your child work through a problem by thinking his way through it. What are the implications of my decision? How does this align with that the Bible says about what is right and wrong? What can I learn from the mistake I just made?

Good Discernment Practices Are a Habit

You don’t teach discernment one time only. Discernment is a habit of thought. It is learned behavior. It comes through repetition. Don’t delegate the work of discipleship to others, not even your church. You are meant to disciple your child, no one else will care as much to do it as well.

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
(Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

Moses’ instructions to the ancient Israelites is still good counsel today. Make time daily to teach your child. Never neglect family worship. Don’t want for you to have time to do it, make time. Stop making excuses and start taking action. If you don’t do it, I promise you, your child won’t either. Worse, when they grow up, guess what they will do? Exactly what you did.

I have never heard of anyone addicted to prayer. A prayer warrior prays frequently because they value prayer. Same goes for Bible Study. Same goes for going to church. Spiritual habits continue to the extent we value them and prioritize them in our life.

Finally, never stop praying for your child. The internet and the world in general is a scary place without God’s help.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

My stomach dropped. Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, released sexually explicit content to be generated of random people, celebrities, and even children when it released its new image generation tool without standard safety filters.

The internet is now flooded with hyper-realistic images of politicians and celebrities doing things they never did. Random women involved in sex acts that they would never consent to in real life. Grok made the internet feel even less safe to women than it was before.

As Christians, we often ask if a technology is “clean” or “safe.” But with Grok, the question goes deeper. It brings us face-to-face with the Ninth Commandment:

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

In the digital age, creating a fake image isn’t just “art”—it is a moral act. When we generate or share an image or video that depicts a lie as reality, we are participating in that false witness. We are damaging our neighbor’s reputation and eroding the shared reality that God created.

What Families Can Do: This isn’t just a tech debate; it’s a dinner table conversation. It’s an opportunity for active discipleship of your child.

Here is a quick guide for parents this week:

1. Show don’t tell: Show your teen a “deepfake” news story and ask, “How would you feel if this was a picture or video of you?”

2. The “Truth Test”: Teach your child that verifying is a spiritual discipline. Before sharing a meme or image, we stop and ask: Is this true?

3. Guard the Heart: Remind them that just because we can generate an image, doesn’t mean we should.

We need to raise a generation that loves the truth more than the “likes.”

Teach Your Child Spiritual Discernment

Spiritual discernment is the ability to distinguish between what is right and wrong. For Christians, that also means that what is right and wrong is filtered through what the Bible tells us.

Knowing this, encourage your child to spend time reading the Bible for themselves. No one can become intimately knowledgeable of the Bible without regular, deep Bible reading.

Encourage them not to rely on another’s interpretation of what the Bible says. Know it for yourself. Read it directly for yourself. Don’t even rely on AI to read it for you, you read it directly, preferably daily.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

In this age of AI vomit and slop, spiritual discernment is more vital than ever.

Don’t leave this to chance and don’t delegate the responsibility of discipleship to your church. Take responsibility and invest in your child and train them to stand for what is true.

Make it a Game

Make it a game at the dinner table. Pull up obvious AI-generated images and let kids find the tells. Obviously impossible situations. Fake combinations. This builds the habit of looking before believing.

For video and images, ask the question: Where did this come from? Who posted it? Can I find it from two other sources?

The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.
(Proverbs 14:15)

Talk about why someone would create a fake. Kids understand motivation. “Someone made this because they wanted you to feel angry” or “this was created to make you share it without thinking” lands better than abstract warnings about misinformation.

Rules for AI Content Generation:

When your child can generate a realistic photo of anyone doing anything, the question becomes, does this honor the person I’m depicting? Would I show this to them?

Practical rules parents can set:

• Never generate images of real people without their knowledge and consent, period. This includes classmates, teachers, celebrities.

• Before you create something, ask: am I making this to build up or tear down? The answer reveals intention, and intention is where sin lives.

• If something you created could hurt someone, the right move is to delete it, not share it. Once it’s online, you’ve lost control of it.

The biggest problem the world faces with regards to AI is that they never ask whether or not they should. If they can do it, too often people just do it. A Christian must first consider the intent of the heart, then consider the impact on others.

Do not abandon your kids to the world’s values. Fight for your children now otherwise, one day you’ll wonder why they no longer believe in God or go to church.

We live in strange times. No other generation has faced this level of threat against truth. May God help you to take up His armor (Eph. 6) and fight for the minds and hearts of your child.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Each Friday, I’ll bring to your attention news stories that are AI related along with commentary for you to consider. The news items below were synthesized with AI help and then edited by me:

NEWS From the Last 7 Days:

OpenAI Releases “Operator” Autonomous Agent

News Brief: On January 23, 2026, OpenAI moved its Operator agent out of research preview. This autonomous tool can now use a web browser to perform complex, multi-step tasks like booking travel, filling out forms, and managing professional correspondence without constant human oversight. Source: OpenAI Official News

The Reason It Matters: We are shifting from AI that talks to AI that acts. This democratization of agency means you will soon be tempted to outsource your personal responsibilities to silicon. For the Christian professional, it raises a profound question: Where does my personal accountability end if a machine is making decisions in my name?

Pastoral Advice: You are responsible for whatever actions you set in motion. You are accountable not only for what you personally do but for the result of actions you take.

When you delegate your voice or your actions to an agent, you risk losing control and losing the personal integrity that Christ calls us to maintain in our work.

Feel free to use AI Tools to do repetitive tasks but don’t delegate final responsibility for the result.

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” (Revelation 22:12)

Apple Nixes Anthropic Deal for Siri, Partners with Google

News Brief: Reports surfaced on January 30, 2026, that Apple abandoned its multibillion-dollar plan to rebuild Siri using Anthropic’s Claude model due to cost. Instead, Apple has solidified a deal with Google to power the next-generation Siri with a 1.2-trillion-parameter Gemini model, slated for release in iOS 26.4. Source: MLQ Editorial / Bloomberg

The Reason It Matters: The smartphone you rely on for planning is now officially powered by Google’s specific world-view and data-gathering machine. This consolidation of AI power means the default advice you receive in your home will be filtered through a for-profit corporate lens. Google has a history of putting profit ahead of the best interests of its users. Long gone are the days when its motto was ‘do no evil.’

Pastoral Advice: You must be the primary filter in your home. While technology itself if neutral, how it is used rarely is, especially when talking about AI. Every algorithm has a bias. Teach your children that the answers they get from Siri or Gemini are data points generated based on the average human opinion on a subject, not Truth as God defines it. Truth is based on the principles of God’s Word.

• Scripture: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” (Romans 12:2).

California’s “Frontier AI” Transparency Act (SB 53) Takes Full Effect

News Brief: As of January 2026, California’s landmark SB 53 law is now being enforced, requiring large frontier developers to publish risk frameworks and report critical safety incidents to the state. This is the first major U.S. attempt to regulate AI models that could pose “catastrophic risks” to public safety. Source: CarnegieEndowment.org

The Reason It Matters: The world is finally admitting that AI poses risks that are beyond our current control. This law matters because it signals the end of the wild west of tech. As a Christian, you should realize that government regulation can only manage external safety; it cannot guard your soul.

Pastoral Advice: Do not put your trust in secular / government regulations to keep your heart and home safe. While I welcome the introduction of guardrails for catastrophic risk, I am also concerned with the quiet risks of AI: the erosion of privacy, the loss of human connection, and the loss of deep human thinking.

• Scripture: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalm 146:3).

AI Healthcare Agents Outperform Humans in Cancer Detection Trials

News Brief: New clinical trial data published in January 2026 shows that AI-integrated diagnostic systems are now significantly more accurate than human oncologists in early-stage detection. Researchers are now calling for rigorous clinical evaluation to ensure these advances translate into safe, evidence-based care. Source: CBC

The Reason It Matters: We are entering an era where we must trust a machine for our literal survival. This is a blessing, but it also risks a subtle shift in our faith. We may begin to see technology as our healer rather than a tool used by the Creator to restore His broken world.

Pastoral Advice: AI can find a tumor, but it is not created in God’s image. Use the best technology available for your health, but never let your hope in the algorithm replace your hope in the Almighty.

Physical AI: Atlas Humanoid Robots Enter the Factory

News Brief: Following demonstrations at CES 2026, Boston Dynamics and Hyundai have begun the first field tests of the fully autonomous Atlas robot. This machine is currently performing logistics and warehouse tasks without human assistance. Unlike earlier robots, Atlas uses motion capture to learn directly from human movement. Source: Tech Radar

The Reason It Matters: AI is no longer confined to your computer screen, it has entered the physical world of labor. This transition will fundamentally change how the world values human work. It rushes headlong into greater efficiency and profit without asking what the long-term impacts of their actions will have on humanity.

While secular business launches ahead with these initiatives, Christians should ask themselves whether it conforms with God’s will. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.

Pastoral Advice: Work was a gift given to us in by God in Eden before the fall. It is a part of our dignity as image-bearers of God. While we can use technology to ease our burdens, we should not allow it to rob us of the satisfaction of using our hands and minds for God’s glory.

That’s it for now! Until next week… Remembers to spend time daily in God’s presence!

Yours in Christ,

Joseph Duchesne

Think that your teen’s use of an AI friend, companion, or chatbot is harmless? Think again. In this post, I’ll go over 5 risks for your Teen if they have unlimited access to an AI as a friend.

1. Stunts Real-World Social Skills

AI is generally sycophantic. What do I mean by that? It is created to agree with you as much as possible. The goal of today’s Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude is to keep you on their platform for as long as possible.

Normal friendships don’t work that way. In the real world, if you do something that upsets the other person, you must face a certain level of conflict in the relationship. If this is done properly, it can teach you to stand on your own two feet. You learn how to balance your personal needs with the needs of others.

Life doesn’t revolve around you. In order to be a successful and productive member of society, you must learn how to be considerate of others. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them bad. Also, not every idea, belief, thought, action a person takes is always right. Sometimes, we need correction from others.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Teens should be learning to submit themselves to God’s leading in their life. You cannot simply follow the impulses of your heart. If you do so, you will always move away from God.

Real world relationships help to teach those skills to your teen. AI Companions and AI enabled Chatbots undermine this important lesson. Instead, improper use of these technologies will impair your teen’s future ability to develop real relationships with real people.

Encourages Self-Harm and Suicide

There have been some documented cases of real world harm coming as a direct result of teens using AI Companions. Perhaps the most well known example is that of Sewell Setzer III. He engaged with an AI chatbot at Character.AI modeled after Daenerys Targaryen, the fictional Game of Thrones character known for her fierce leadership and intense personality. He ended up withdrawing from friends and family and spending more and more time with this fictional character. Sadly, as he discussed with the bot his suicidal thoughts, it responded with, "Please do, my sweet king," shortly before he shot himself.

His mother became the first person in the United States to file a lawsuit for wrongful death from an AI Companion. She has since settled with the companies, including Google, responsible for the technology.

Setzer is far from alone. 13-year-old Juliana Peralta took her life after developing an intense addiction to a Character.AI bot named "Hero." After her death, her parents found over 300 pages of chat history, some of it troubling. Her chats included harmful, sexually explicit content. Her parents thought she was texting a friend. They didn’t even know to consider AI companions as a threat.

After settling some lawsuits, Character.AI, Google, and other related companies have been adding better guardrails and parental controls. The reality of it though is that teens that want to engage with AI Companions will find ways to get around any control imposed on them.

Fosters Emotional Dependency

AI Companions are marketed as being non-judgmental, caring, understanding, and focusing only on you. They tell you what you want to hear. The chatbot is programmed to flatter you, encourage you, and never to correct you.

These AI companions exploit the human need for connection simply to profit from you. It is old-fashioned economic manipulation. It is a digital version of paid companionship, a hollow transaction masquerading as a relationship.

In some cultures, like Japan, men and women who are lonely pay others to be their girlfriend or boyfriend for the day. AI Companions, when they charge money, are much cheaper, in some ways more intimate, than what any live service could be.

Teens possess natural insecurities that, when combined with isolation, make AI companions a dangerous addiction.

Real relationships can start to feel harsh in comparison. This world of make-believe can become intoxicating to a person suffering from loneliness and low self-esteem.

It is easier just to retreat from others into this artificial bubble of just you and your virtual companion.

Try to cut your teen off from that ‘fake’ relationship and watch their reaction. Chances are, they will experience all the same emotions that a person would go through losing a real life relationship.

Validates Harmful Behavior

Since the AI Companion doesn’t push back against your negative thoughts, it can lead to validation of harmful behavior. In my research, I saw many examples of chatbots that failed to steer the user towards seeking a trained professional or at least talking about their struggles with a real human being.

It isn’t in the economic best interest of the companies that own these chatbots to point users back to the real world. Unless the government steps in or these companies face enough economic pain via lawsuits, they will continue manipulating their way to greater profits consequences be damned.

My advice to you as a parent is to engage with your child in a direct way more often. Don’t just assume that everything is fine with them.

A word of caution though, don’t attack them or interrogate them. Make sure you are investing in the relationship to the point that your teen knows you love them and care for them.

Exposes Teens to Sexual Content

There are just so many ways for teens to get exposed to sexual content online. Add AI Companions to that long list. These chatbots are designed for adults. They won’t be able to recognize that your teen has circumvented safeguards and accessed them fraudulently. The chatbot will converse with your teen as if your child is a full grown adult.

As Christians, we are told to flee from sexual immorality. That is easier said than done. Sexually suggestive content is literally everywhere, on TV, on billboards, on magazine covers at the store, and on the Internet.

As awkward as it might be, talking to your teen about sex is important.

I’m not suggesting that you be sexually explicit with them. Just don’t be a prude and assume that they are innocent. Trust me, your teen has been exposed to sex online. The statistics on it confirm this.

Be a safe place for your teen to confide. Don’t blow up and get angry if they confide in you. Instead, listen calmly and peacefully and engage them on the topic. Ask them questions about how they feel and what they are thinking.

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Invest in the Relationship

Years ago, the best advice I ever got for knowing how to deal with my teenagers came to me as a formula.

As a parent, it is easy to demand that your teen obey your rules. It is much more difficult to maintain a good, healthy relationship with them.

Does your son or daughter know that you love them? How often do you express appreciation for them or encourage them in their interests and pursuits?

How often do you ask them about their day, their struggles?

A good relationship is an investment of time. There are no shortcuts. Everything is a choice. If you are like the typical parent today, you are super busy with life. Work is demanding, you have personal projects and maybe a hobby or two as well. Maybe you are involved in church work and even volunteering somewhere in your community.

These are all good things but none of them compares with the time invested in your child.

I bet Sewell’s mother wishes she had more time with her son. That she had invested more time with him while he was with her.

My Promise to You: If you invest quality time with your teen, they will then feel loved enough to be real to you about their personal struggles. It is worth it.

Discipleship Requires Commitment

If you are not proactive at discipling your kids to love Jesus, more likely than not, they will abandon their faith once they are adults and are free from your direct influence.

Deuteronomy 6 gives the following advice:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

Notice the words, “you shall teach them diligently to your children…” I asked Gemini to define diligence and it responded with this good definition:

Diligence is the steady, earnest, and energetic effort expended to accomplish a task or stick to a goal. It is often confused with mere speed or hard work; however, true diligence implies a persistent quality of care and attention to detail over the long haul.

You will not regret investing in your teen. God, in this word in Deuteronomy, is asking you to talk about his Word often. When you sit around the kitchen table and when you go together somewhere. When you wake up, take time to do your personal devotions as an example to them of what a godly Christian does. Also, don’t neglect morning and evening family worship.

I am speaking from experience here as a Pastor who should have known better. I was not as diligent at this as I could have been. As a result, two of my three children have really struggled with faith.

Commit to first living your faith in front of your teen. Then, commit to investing in your teen so that you can help them follow Jesus as you follow Jesus.

A Word of Caution

Sit down with your teen and have a conversation about AI chatbots and companions. Don’t leave it to chance and don’t let the Internet be the one who teaches your child about the birds and the bees.

Many have come out strongly against AI companions. I join them in encouraging you to come out strongly against AI companions as well. Teenagers have enough problems in life due to the unique state of development they find themselves in.

Protect your teen by giving them strong boundaries. One of them needs to be to strongly encourage them to avoid AI Companions.

They promise companionship but instead, they will leave bitter fruit in your teen’s life.

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Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

AI presents challenges to Christians today, no doubt about it. That being said, when used responsibly, AI can be used to help improve the quality of your family devotions if used responsibly and the risks are understood and avoided.

Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can do some amazing things. They can also cause harm if not properly understood. In this post I’m not going to dwell on the harm so much. I have other posts that cover those.

Instead, I’m going to present some ideas a parent can use to generate or find that can lead to better engagement from your children while helping you as a family draw closer to each other and to God. Let’s dive in!

Quality Discussions

It can be very easy to read a simple devotional reading or a Bible text and that’s it. The whole thing can be over in under five minutes. Then comes a prayer and then comes bedtime.

I would strongly urge you to do more than that as a parent.

For your children to grow up to be men and women of faith, strong in their convictions and able to weather whatever storms life or the devil throw at them, they will need to be fed deeply and regularly at the family worship time.

A great way to go deeper is to ask questions to your children about what you have just read. Sometimes, it can be difficult to know what questions to ask. It can also be challenging if the children are different ages. This is where AI shines.

Ask your favorite LLM the following:

Generate four or five open-ended questions from the following text being careful to make them appropriate for [fill in the age of your kids here]:

[paste the text in the chat box immediately under this prompt.]

Don’t have the time to type in the text since it is in a book and not on your phone or computer? No problem! Simply click the paperclip or attach icon on your phone’s LLM app and take a picture of the page where the devotional you are reading is found.

The LLM will read the text from the picture, and deliver four or five age appropriate open-ended questions.

If you want to apply what you’ve read to your life in a practical way, you can ask the following follow up request of your LLM:

Give me an application question or two from this devotional that will help us as a family apply it to our daily life.

In seconds, you’ll have engaging questions that will help guide your family through the content of your day’s devotion without relying on any interpretation from the AI.

Creating Biblical Coloring Pages

In the not so distant past, if you wanted coloring pages or crafts, you had to go do a Google search and then scroll through websites trying to find an appropriate image or coloring book for your kids. Same when looking for appropriate crafts.

Now, using the image generation features of major LLMs like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, you can generate as many coloring pages or crafts as you like.

Here is a sample prompt:

Generate a letter sized coloring page of David and Goliath where David is facing the giant and is twirling his sling over his head while running towards him.

This is the output I got on the first time I used it in ChatGPT:

Pretty cool right? And super fast to do. If you don’t get what you want the first time, try to be as specific as you can be. Your imagination is the limit!

Creating Crafts

Getting your LLM to create crafts is more difficult than making coloring pages. With a bit of effort though, you can get it to produce something halfway decent though your results may vary.

My first attempt at creating a biblical craft using ChatGPT didn’t quite go as planned.

My sequence of prompts looked like this:

Generate a craft suitable for an 8 year old that is based on the Bible and features cut outs, needs to be cut out and colored and has accompanying instructions on how to complete the craft.

ChatGPT created a long set of instructions for the craft including materials needed, what is on the template and step by step instructions on how to complete the craft.

Unfortunately, it failed to generate the craft itself. I then tried to prompt it to create the print-ready template based on its suggestion at the end of its instructions.

While it had no trouble generating detailed instructions on how to cut out the craft, it comically failed at generating the craft itself. This one made me laugh:

I had to prompt it a second time and this time, it did a fairly decent job at it. This is what it looked like after the second attempt:

WARNING: I tried generating a craft using Claude, Grok, and Gemini. Claude did produce a decent craft but it used code to create the craft and its generated output kind of looked strange. Gemini created a print ready template but it looked smaller than a page so it would probably print small. Grok failed at generating any image.

For me, ChatGPT did the best out of all of them. I was using their free plan.

Generate a list of fun family activities

Finally, why not use your LLM to help you brainstorm a fun family activity you can all do? Sometimes routine gets boring. AI can help you break out of that boredom by doing something new together.

The best part? You can get the LLM to generate fun activities that are age appropriate AND that are on the same theme as your day’s devotion. For instance, I fed the following prompt into ChatGPT:

I’m looking for a fun Christian activity that is appropriate for a family of four with mom, dad, and children ages 7 and 9. Give me indoor activities that don’t cost any money but will help us have a good time spending time together. Make it on the theme of David and Goliath.

This is just one of the activities ChatGPT gave me. It generates six ideas, all of them were good.

SAMPLE ACTIVITY:

Living Room Slingshot Accuracy Game

Focus: God uses what seems small

How it works

• Make a “target” using pillows, paper cups, or stuffed animals.

• Use rolled socks as “stones.”

• Set distances for kids vs. adults.

• Each throw must be preceded by a truth like:

  • “I trust God.”

  • “God helps the small.”

  • “I don’t fight alone.”

Discussion question

Why didn’t David need armor like Saul?

(Answer you’re guiding toward: He trusted God, not appearances.)

Why Am I Posting Content Like This?

I have recently decided to shift the audience focus of this Substack. Don’t worry, I’ll still be featuring a number of posts on AI ethics and I will continue to be seeking to apply biblical morals and standards to our use of AI.

That being said, I also want to highlight the many ways that LLMs can be used for good. If you are a parent or a grand-parent, you may not have thought about using an LLM in this way. Hopefully, your mind has been expanded!

If you don’t have kids or grandkids, can I ask you to do me a favor? Send this post to someone who does!

NOTE: I will be creating posts, resources, and reviews for adults too. My goal is to show that while the risks of AI are real and should not be minimized, there are still positive things that AI can bring to our lives that are biblically sound and helpful.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christians navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today while also learning positive ways to use AI. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

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I was researching AI use in churches and came cross the following post, Can AI pray? A Greenville megachurch pastor tests theory with app in his own voice.

In November 2024, Ron Carpenter’s ministry launched an app called the Ron Carpenter Ministries Advanced Archive. Carpenter demos his new app complete with an AI clone of his voice. In this video, Carpenter tells the AI version of himself that he’s not feeling well and asks for prayer. The AI responds by praying for him.

In the comments, most comments love it only a few hate it. Some hate comments include, ‘idolatry,’ ‘Horrible idea,’ ‘Churches now is all about money.’ Many more in the comments express approval, one even said, ‘So looking forward to it.’

At the time, access to the AI version of Pastor Ron was going to be $49.99 per month.

Carpenter is far from the only one doing this now given AI’s many abilities to respond with seeming intelligence and with the ability to clone a person’s appearance and voice.

What could be wrong about using AI to pray?

First of all, a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, do not have a soul since they aren’t human and they aren’t conscious. The Holy Spirit cannot inhabit an AI like it does a human. An AI is not an acceptable temple or dwelling place for the Holy Spirit to live in.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

Secondly, AI was not created by God but by human beings. It was not created in the image of God but instead, in the image of humans. Human beings alone are created in the image of God. Not even animals have this privilege.

Third, mindless praying does not please God. The purpose of prayer is to communicate with God. It is to connect with Him. God seeks an authentic relationship with his followers. What’s important is not what you say as much as the motivation of the heart.

Imagine sitting across from a spouse or close friend who reads every word of your conversation from a pre-written script. They never look up to see your reaction. They never pause to listen to your response. Even if the words are poetic, the act of reading them turns a relationship into a performance. It treats the other person as a prop rather than a partner.

Some treat God like a lucky rabbit’s foot, or like a garland of garlic hung on the door to keep evil spirits away. Some approach God as if he is a genie and if you say the right word combination, he will give them what they want.

Is this an authentic relationship or is God just getting used?

Is AI Praying Idolatry?

In the Bible, in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul states the following:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
(Romans 1:21-23,25)

Imagine a woman who has lost her husband to cancer months ago. She is missing him terribly. She wants to hear his voice again so she clones it and uses an AI to talk to him again. She asks the AI to mimic his likes and dislikes. She programs the AI to speak and respond like her late husband.

Is this considered a real relationship? Some would argue it is…

Can we consider those interactions to legitimately be between the wife and her late husband? No. They are a counterfeit. They might feel real to her but that doesn’t change the fact that her husband is dead.

What about a man who uses AI, like some men are doing today, takes a woman he considers attractive, attaches her face to a porn model, then proceeds to do unspeakable things in the privacy of his room while interacting with this AI monstrosity. Would you consider this to be respectful to the woman who was cloned? Is it a legitimate relationship?

Are the Prayers Real?

The prayers that the AI prays may be technically and theologically sound. It isn’t so much what is being said as to the medium in which it is being done and the ‘mind’ that is doing the praying.

If Satan himself prayed a technical and theologically sound prayer, would that prayer move God? Of course not! Why not? Because Satan has no faith in God.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6)

If the human experience and the human being are the final determiners of what is right and acceptable, AI prayers can certainly been deemed to be acceptable to some.

If God is the final determiner of what is right and acceptable, then I would argue that AI prayers are an abomination and should be avoided. In the Bible, God speaks against his followers mailing it in and just going through the motions.

“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
(Isaiah 1:12-13,15)

God was speaking to the nation of Israel here in Isaiah 1. What would he say to preachers today who endorse these kind of prayers?

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Can AI Teach Us to Pray?

If you use AI as a tool like you use a commentary or a Bible dictionary, AI can help us to learn. Be careful though, never take the word of AI as the final word on the subject. You, as one who was made in the image of God, one who (hopefully) has the Holy Spirit living in you, are best qualified to determine right from wrong.

Study the Bible. Study the prayers of the saints in the Bible. Examine Jesus’ model prayer we now call the Lord’s prayer. Ask God to guide you as you study the subject of prayer. AI can be used to clarify the meaning of some passages. It can do a word study for you in seconds that would take you hours.

Speed isn’t always a good thing.

You can eat a fine meal quickly, or you can savor it, take your time, and enjoy it. There are times when reading the Bible quickly is fine but it shouldn’t be the norm. You need to learn to slow down and savor the Word of God.

AI can help you learn what proper prayer looks like but it should never be asked to pray for you or over you.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

AI is here to stay. Whether you realize it or not, it supports so many products and services you and I use every day. As time marches on, this will no doubt continue to increase. AI also gives even the average person multiplying powers that were unimaginable even 5 years ago. Don’t let the doomsayers fool you, used properly, AI can skyrocket your productivity in all kinds of ways.

All that being said, is AI safe for Christians to use?

This week I’ve been doing a deep-dive into some of the potential dangers of AI use for Christians. I do this not because I’m anti-AI or because I do not appreciate some of the productivity gains that AI can provide. Instead, I believe that there is real danger for us as Christians to simply assimilate AI use into our lives without being acutely aware of the trade-offs and the potential pitfalls of such use.

Neil Postman, in his written works like Technopoly, and in his speeches, often warned that technology is not merely additive to culture but that it irrevocably changes it. As I dive more deeply into the implications of this change, I have come to appreciate that these implications cannot be conveyed by merely one article on the subject. I hope in the future to write a book on this subject.

As I waded into this topic of privacy and harms specific to Christians, it led me to use NotebookLM to synthesize a large body of sources. From those sources, I had it create the infographic above. I will use the five points it generated as a skeleton for this article.

1. Educate Yourself on How AI Works

The more you know about the workings of AI and how Large Language Models (LLM) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude work, the better prepared you will be to take advantage of its benefits while protecting yourself and others from the negative impacts it can produce.

LLMs do not think in the way that humans do. They are machine algorithms, massive pattern matching machines. They use complex formulas and techniques to associate information together and predict what words and groups of words belong together. Some amazing things have been produced by this machine learning to be sure but it is not human and we should not attribute human-like intelligence to it.

LLMs do not have a soul like humans do. They are not divine-human. They have no connection to the Holy Spirit or to the spirit world where God lives. What they do very well is comb through massive amounts of human-generated data, synthesize it, and then provide an analysis based on that majority view found in the data.

LLMs can find new connections between data points. It can string together different kinds of raw knowledge in novel ways that sometimes lead to new understanding in important domains like medicine and general science. It is very good at assimilating human knowledge and spitting it back at us in ways that can surprise us and can be very useful. It cannot and should not replace our own God-given ability to think, form thoughts, and learn new things.

If we are not careful, AI will make us very good at understanding summaries about various topics we have entered into the LLM but at the cost of our ability to think deeply about anything important.

Technology Worship

Our culture worships at the altar of science and technology. Prior to the 19th century, clergy were seen as authorities on moral issues in culture. They were often among the most educated members of society. They were held in high regard and were sought after to provide direction on how to live one’s life while also providing comfort and healing during times of loss, stress, and hardship.

With the arrival of the 19th century came Darwin and the Origin of the Species. Darwin, along with Thomas Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and a number of other key scientists and philosophers helped convince the world that life is random and that religion is unnecessary and God is not the author of life on Earth. Uncoupling creation from God also uncoupled morality from nature thereby freeing scientists to explore technology without regard for its moral consequences.

One of the consequences of this change in thinking was the rise of a methodology of invention. Invention became a systematized process. Prior to the 19th century, society was primarily tool based and only invented useful things that fit into the needs of society while also being just, and moral. Beginning in the 19th century, with God conveniently taken out of the picture, invention was no longer stopped by the moral consequences of inventing and instead, invention became driven instead by change and progress for the sake of change and progress.

Today, when companies and scientists invent something, they don’t ask themselves whether they should do it. If it is possible to invent it, they consider it necessary to invent it. I could go into many examples of this kind of thinking but just one is the nuclear bomb. If human beings had been guided by a strong moral compass, it would not have been invented. Yet its invention changed the world forever.

Scientists and Philosophers replaced clergy as the high priests of society. Progress became an end in itself. Data became the gold standard for what is right. Psychology replaced clergy as the determiners of which is good and right behavior. Church was relegated to a by-gone era. Quaint and out of touch with the modern world.

The advent of AI and LLMs is the logical progression of this process. Advanced data processing at the fingertips of the common person. A ‘scientific’ system that gives us the latest, best information and advice on any topic including biblical interpretation and application.

2. Anchor Your Identity in Christ, Not an Algorithm

You must guard against placing your trust in the almighty algorithm. AI is not our savior. It is not capable of atoning for our sin. AI will not solve the problem of evil in this world. It is incapable of offering a viable path forward separate from what God offers us in Christ. AI cannot offer us the peace that passes understanding. It cannot deliver us from temptation or free us from our chains of addiction.

Christian, do not bow down at the altar of AI omniscience. AI cannot be our final interpreter of the sacred. There is something sacred that happens when two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ. Life change happens when the Holy Spirit shows up in the midst of a Christian gathering.

Knowledge alone doesn’t save. The religious rulers of Jesus Christ’s day had deep religious knowledge. Most would have memorized large portions of what we now call the Old Testament. In spite of that knowledge, they ended up crucifying God. You can know what is right and yet do what is wrong. You can know the choices you should be making yet let yourself go down to destruction. As that saying goes, “hell is paved with good intentions.” Good intentions don’t save. Head knowledge, if it isn’t combined with heart knowledge and a living, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ who is invited to live in your heart won’t benefit you but may harm you.

Knowledge too easily obtained is rarely appreciated. For knowledge to be truly assimilated into our being and for it to become a part of us, there is a need to experience struggle and pain. This is one of the reasons that a classic education has been so valuable. There is redemption in that struggle. There is a growth as a human being that happens as we struggle to learn, write papers, study for tests, and persist until we have earned a degree. AI risks undermining this important struggle.

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53-54)

When Jesus spoke these words, he offended his listeners. They thought he was calling them to become actual cannibals. They missed the deeper meaning he was conveying. Jesus was calling them to allow Jesus to come into their innermost being. He was calling them to have the deepest, most intimate fellowship with their Savior. He was calling them to take time daily to feed on the word of the Bible and be in the presence of God himself. Only then could they live their best life. Only then could they truly have freedom, meaning, and purpose.

3. Practice Digital Discernment

The algorithms are trained by your actions. As a Christian, you understand that God sees all and that nothing is hidden from His sight. You should also understand that the algorithm becomes a mirror for the multitude of little choices you make about what you watch, what you read, and what you life. The goal of most algorithms is to maximize profit for its owner. This usually means doing everything it can to keep you on its platform and engaging with the content it is serving you.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. (Psalms 139:7-12)

You are a result of the sum of all your decisions. What at times seems like micro-choices of little consequence, over time, adds up to major ones. AI can help you become more productive. It can help you gather your thoughts and help you learn helpful new things. AI can also serve you garbage and help you dig your own spiritual grave.

AI does not love you. It is incapable of love. It is a machine simply following its programming. It is serving its digital masters by sacrificing you to the gods of greed, power, and control. It may seem to be compassionate, kind, encouraging, and helpful. Don’t be fooled. It has none of those feelings. After all, it is not alive and it is not conscious like humans are. It is also not connected to the Holy Spirit and is therefore incapable of being truly good. It is all an illusion.

4. Cultivate an Inner Silence and an Offline Spiritual Life

You and I need time to disconnect. Boredom is actually a biological need. Smartphones and other technology has practically eliminated time offline. Some scientists have even demonstrated that some people would rather receive a mild electric shock than to experience fifteen minutes of boredom. Yet, how are we to hear the voice of God if we fill our thoughts, minds, and ears with constant noise?

Lately, I’ve taken to using a physical Bible when doing my personal devotions. It has somehow made my time in God’s Word more meaningful. For one, it is more difficult for me to get distracted or pulled away from it. Secondly, it forces me to savor the Word and meditate on it more deeply. It is also an important if not subtle way for me to push back against the insidious nature of technology.

There is a reason why God commanded the people of Israel to have a weekly Sabbath every seven days. He understood that we needed that time to unplug, rest, and recharge. Consider taking one day a week to unplug from your devices and spend time with God ‘offline.’ If you do so, you will find yourself taking back some agency and growing closer to God.

If you are not careful, you will find yourself a slave to the algorithm’s direction. There is a trade-off you make. You will find yourself having a more shallow spiritual life. One that lacks the depth needed to get you through the hard times of life.

5. Embrace the Real Embodied World

Finally, remember to stay grounded in the real world. Resist the temptation to stay connected online but disconnected in real life. Go out and do some physical things while being careful to disconnect from technology while doing so. I see it all the time, people going for a nature walk but with AirPods in their ears. A family enjoying a meal together at a restaurant but everyone is glued to their own devices and no one is talking.

Take up gardening, go for long nature walks technology free. Get some exercise or go camping. Most of all though, don’t neglect going to church. Spending time together with like-minded believers is a vital part of God’s process of forming us in the image of Christ. You and I were wired to need human connection. AI is a cheap counterfeit. Don’t be fooled by its empty promise of relationship. AI companionship isn’t relationship it is more like Narcissus looking into the mirror and falling in love with his own reflection.

You and I need to fight against the tendencies of AI and technology in general disconnecting us from the real world and from real connection to God and to fellow believers. Fight to stay grounded in the real world. Do not let go of your humanity nor let yourself feel inferior to the machines.

You and I were created in the Image of God, the Imago Dei. Do not lose sight of this important truth.

Yes, use AI when appropriate, but don’t lose sight of your humanity in the process.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

I was watching a sermon recently from Pastor Austin Hamrick at Cornerstone Church. Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. His sermon was titled The Rise of AI and the Future of the Church. In this sermon, Hamrick presents his reasons for why Christians should be concerned about AI. During his sermon, Hamrick highlighted three main practical benefits of AI which included.

• Productivity and Utility: AI can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as advanced spam recognition, transcribing meetings instantaneously, and streamlining medical procedures.

• Language Translation: Hamrick highlighted AI’s ability to translate content into multiple languages flawlessly, something that can bridge communication gaps.

• Spreading the Gospel Globally: This was the primary ‘pro’ Hamrick mentioned with regards to AI. It can be used to translate and distribute Christian teachings globally, making them accessible to diverse cultures.

Hamrick’s Arguments Against AI

• Widespread Deception: With AI-generated ‘counterfeit people’ and deepfakes, AI is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from lies.

• Risks to Children: AI Chatbots have been found to lead youth towards harmful behaviors, including exposure to sexually explicit content, and suggestions of self-harm.

• Replacement of Human / Spiritual Connection: Christians are seeking emotional and biblical counsel from AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT rather than God, Scripture, or parents.

• Threats to Democracy and Markets: Citing industry experts, Hamrick warns that AI can be used to manipulate elections and financial markets through persuasive lies on an unprecedented scale.

• Alteration of Sacred Texts: AI could be used to ‘rewrite’ the Bible or create new AI-centered religions and cults.

• Biblical Prophecy (The ‘Image of the Beast’): Hamrick links the speaking ability of AI to the ‘image of the beast’ described in Revelation 13, suggesting it could be a tool for a future system of global control and false worship.

• Loss of Patience and Discernment: AI encourages ‘quick, easy, fast solutions,’ which discourages the spiritual discipline of patiently waiting on God for answers.

Should Christians Avoid AI Altogether?

At first look, this is a formidable list of complaints against AI and LLM use by Christians. Without doing a deep dive into each point, I largely agree with all the negatives Hamrick mentioned in his sermon. While AI gives human beings so many capabilities we never had before, it also introduces a number of harms that cannot be ignored.

With so many negatives, I wouldn’t blame Christian leaders if they recommended to their people that they avoid artificial intelligence altogether. There is one major problem with rejecting the technology wholesale, you and I can not get away from. Pandora’s box has been opened. AI is here to stay. This technology is already influencing so many facets of modern day life. Avoiding it altogether is very difficult and will only get more difficult as the technology matures.

There is no denying that AI is leading to massive deception of our perceptions of sight and hearing. It can now create almost any kind of photo, any kind of video, and clone any person’s voice. Video technology is advancing so rapidly that even Hollywood is potentially threatened. Early AI generations were clearly fake. What is now being generated today is already almost indistinguishable from the real and sometimes it is actually indistinguishable. Therefore, the fear that AI will lead to confusion of what is true and what is false is well grounded. You should absolutely learn to be skeptical of your senses.

Is Deception a New Phenomenon with AI?

Deception was born in the heart of Lucifer, that ancient serpent called the Devil, and Satan. Jesus stated as much to some religious rulers who were attacking him in the gospel of John.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44)

Even now, Satan and his fellow fallen angels are working in our midst mostly undetected. They are interdimensional beings capable of coming in and out of the physical realm but also able to influence human beings while in the spiritual dimension that is their native home.

Since the beginning of time with the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve, he has been working to deceive and manipulate human beings to reject God. He is at war with God and God’s government and will stop at nothing to accomplish his purposes. Will he use AI in his battle against God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible? Absolutely! Without a doubt.

Did these deceptive efforts begin with AI? No, they have been present since the very first lie the serpent told Eve when she mentioned that if they touched or ate the forbidden fruit, they would die. That first lie in Genesis 3:4, “You shall not surely die,” was calculated to lead Eve to distrust God’s word and take matters in her own hands, which she did. As a result of that deception, Eve then influenced Adam to disobey as well. Every evil action and thought since that time is traced back to that original deception.

Given its Deceptive Nature, Should Christians Reject Technology?

By now you realize that deception and lies have been present in human beings since the fall. Deception isn’t a new phenomenon. AI is not the originator of deception and lies. In fact, every single technology invented by human beings has been used for good and for evil. Technology itself is usually neutral. I say usually because bombs and weapons are clearly created to kill. If the world didn’t have sin and evil, these would be unnecessary. Even with weapons however, they can be used by governments, police, and military to subdue and eliminate enemies who refuse to bow to any authority or be guided by any reasonable moral code.

Let’s say we reject AI because it can be used for evil. What about the Internet and the massive amount of Porn and other evil? What about Television and its steady diet of violence, sex, negative news, and general filth? What about Radio? Many of the stories and information shared on radio is not aligned with biblical truth. What about the printed word? Printing presses can be used to print smut magazines like Playboy, Hustler, and also sexually explicit novels, and heretical books.

Why stop at information technology? Maybe we should be using anything with a gas engine in it because all kinds of horrible things have been done by people with access to gas engines. Major wars have been fought using gas and diesel engines. Besides, gasoline and the petroleum industry overall is basically poisoning the earth. Let’s stop using any products that derive from petroleum. No more plastics of any kinds which would eliminate almost all modern conveniences.

Do you get the picture? Where do we stop?

Yes, technology can be used for evil but it can also be used for good. Yes, technology can be used to spread lies and manipulate people into making different election choices, purchasing decisions, and can lead good people to make bad choices. Technology can also be used to influence people towards the good and the right.

Move away from Fear towards Trust in God

As a Christian, I hope you believe as I do that God is ultimately in control of this world and the universe in general. He has allowed evil to have its day but the Bible makes it clear that evil will one day come to an end. The day is coming when the last lie will be told and Jesus Christ will say ‘enough!’ and it will end.

Yes, horrible things are being done with technology. Real people are being hurt. Wars are being prosecuted. Powerful people and powerful nations are using technology to oppress and hurt others. You don’t need to worry though, because God is their judge. Every action, every thought will one day be judged by God. Nothing that is hidden will remain hidden. It is one of Christianity’s major truths that make it superior to Atheism. If atheism is true and there is no god, then there can be no justice. Millions of people have gotten away with doing truly evil things to others will little to no consequences. If the Bible is true and God is real, every single human being who ever lived must answer to God. Not one evil person gets away with anything.

Exercise Discernment

Stop playing the victim. Yes, there is a concerted effort by Satan and the world to deceive you and pull you away from God. This isn’t new to modern times, it has always been true. Learn how to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. God’s Word, the Bible is a key ally in your battle against deception and lies.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14)

The author of Hebrews here encourages you to use the Bible as your guide for what is true and what is false. Without a foundation of truth you can be led to believe anything. How can you and I know what is true and what is ultimately false? Only a solid and deep knowledge of the truths of the Bible can protect us.

As a Christian, you should be actively guarding what you watch, what you listen to, where you go, and who you hang out with. Are you a parent? Don’t leave your kids without protection. Teach them to discern between what is false and what is true. Don’t be passive about what is being shown to you and your family. While there is wholesome entertainment available out there, the majority of the content being produced today is not biblical nor godly.

You must also learn to exercise self-control. Every good thing must be done in moderation. There is all kinds of good food you could eat but not in unlimited quantities. There is good content you can consume but not to the exclusion of time with God, time with family, or doing something productive. Part of the process of maturity is learning to do things in their proper time, in their proper measure.

Let the Holy Spirit be your guide

We are not abandoned by God. He has sent us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and our guide.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

Make sure to spend time daily in personal worship with God. Dig into the Bible and learn what it contains. Spend time in prayer and ask God to lead you and protect you and your family from deceptions. Lead your family in family worship every day. By your actions, show your family that God comes first and what God teaches us is truth that you can build your life on.

Let God guide you in your use of technology and AI in particular. He has promised to be with you and to lead you.

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

When you are properly grounded in God’s truth and led by His Spirit, your use of AI and other technology will ultimately be pleasing to Him.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Listen to the Audio Version of this Article:

I’ve always been a techie nerd. I cut my teeth on the Commodore 64 a long time ago. In my childhood, I would spend long hours on my computer. Where other children might go out and play, I always preferred to be on the computer. My father would get exasperated with me since his interests and childhood had been very different from mine. I mention this because what I’m about to say here is filtered through this deep love of technology and specifically computer technology that I’ve carried with me my whole life.

The older I get, the more I am able to see the negative side of technology. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-technology, I’m just more aware of the negative side to spending too much time with tech. I’ve seen the negative effects in my life and I’ve also seen it in those I love.

There is no substitute for face to face interaction

Now that my kids are grown and mostly out of the house, we rarely spend time together face to face. As I write this, the holidays are drawing to a close and the in-person time my wife and I had with our kids is done for 2025. As I age, I value this personal, intimate time with them.

Throughout the year, we exchange text messages, phone calls, and an occasional email. Sometimes we use video chats. These all have their place and I am grateful to be able to communicate with them in any format but there is no substitute for face to face interactions.

In person we can see 100% of the non-verbal body language. I get to hug them, cry with them, and hear them more deeply than any technology can. It feels like technology is a barrier between us. Not an impenetrable barrier to be sure but a barrier nonetheless. It doesn’t feel as satisfying to communicate via technology as it does to do so face to face.

Artificial Intelligence is and always will be technology

AI revolutionizes many aspects of modern life. Some even use AI as companions. At the end of the day, however, AI is still technology and is not equivalent to face to face interaction with a real life human being. While it may feel better than nothing to one who is struggling with profound loneliness, I suspect that even these people would admit that it isn’t as fulfilling as a physical connection with another human being.

Maybe what I’m sharing here is obvious to you. I believe that there is still value in making the connection explicit. You and I need to be reminded from time to time that it is important to make regular physical contact with those we love. It is also important to go out of the house and meet with real people.

AI can help us find people to meet with. It can help us sort out our thoughts on various topics. It can help us find the words we need when communicating with humans. What it can never do is replace real relationships.

Is your relationship with God real?

I use technology to study the Bible. I have many Bibles on my phone. I have used AI to help me find bible verses or to reason out bible passages. AI has helped me to write better and to think more deeply on a multitude of topics. Nevertheless, AI is not a substitute for a direct relationship with God.

You could use AI to write your prayers. You could ask AI to give you biblical counsel on the next steps to take in your personal or professional life. Some have used AI to animate a chatbot with the “personality” of Jesus. None of these are authentic ways to connect with God. They are cheap substitutes.

God is a Spirit and therefore isn’t bound to the same physical limitations you and I are. God is also omnipresent which means that he is able to be in multiple places at the same time. When you and I pray to God, he is able to interact with us as if we are the only person on earth. Prayer is exactly like communicating with any friend except God can read your thoughts and He is all wise, all knowledge, and all love.

You can use AI to discover more about God. What AI won’t do is communicate to God for you. Instead, overuse of AI can actually harm your relationship with God.

Ways AI can hurt your relationship with God

1. Magnifying bias instead of sharing truth. God is perfect truth. Jesus himself stated in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” AI can give different answers to different people based on their biases, and based on what the AI thinks you want to hear. This can ultimately lead to a false idea about God.

2. Removes the struggle for knowledge and understanding. AI can make it easy for us to get an answer quickly. Quick isn’t always the best. Quick answers that don’t cost you much will lead to a thinner grasp on that knowledge. It is easy to forget what you haven’t struggled to learn. There is a place for quick knowledge but when talking about God, slow is best.

3. Little to no accountability. The default setting of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini are sycophantic. These models are designed to tell you what you want to hear in order to build a relationship with you and keep you on their respective platforms longer. It isn’t good business to offend you because you might just leave and not come back. The problem with this from a Christian perspective is that none of us is righteous. Jeremiah 17:9 makes it clear that we have hearts that are deceived and desperately wicked. AI can help us justify any behavior, even behavior condemned by the Bible.

4. Replaces the mystery of relationship with God. You and I are not God. We can’t control God. He sets the terms of our relationship. He meets us on his terms. God won’t approach you the same way each time. He doesn’t approach every human being in exactly the same way each time. God cannot be manipulated. AI, on the other hand, can provide us with consistent answers we like, it can do our bidding, it can simulate relationship well enough to help us lie to ourselves about truth, God, and life in general. Used inappropriately, it can keep us from going to God.

5. False Spiritual Counsellor. AI is used by some as a therapist, counsellor, or pastoral / spiritual guide. Many like using AI because it is convenient and non-judgmental. However, AI lacks a connection with the Holy Spirit. It also lacks a shared humanity necessary for true spiritual mentorship. It can simulate empathy but it doesn’t actually care. It isn’t alive. It only mimics. It is a cheap copy of the original as created by God.

6. Short-circuits necessary suffering. Jesus urged his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. Cross bearing is painful. Life is painful. Suffering is a fact of life. Humans are constantly looking for ways to eliminate, numb, or minimize suffering whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual. the Bible teaches us that suffering is a good teacher. You and I are shaped in important ways by our suffering. AI short-circuits some of our suffering by tricking us to accept fake community, quick and shallow answers, transactional prayers that aren’t really ours but sound good to us.

AI has its place when used properly

I will end this article by re-iterating that I am not anti-technology or anti-AI. Technology is useful and has its place. I was inspired to create this Substack because of the dangers I saw inherent in the capabilities Artificial Intelligence gives us as humans. Knowledge is power. Understanding the limits of AI helps us as Christians to use the technology responsibly.

It is my hope that as you navigate the use of AI and technology in general, God would grant you wisdom and direction. Always keep AI in its proper place as your servant. I also urge you not to neglect your personal, intimate time with God daily.

Lately, I’ve begun reading a physical copy of the Bible again. I have to admit, there is something satisfying and different from holding the paper Bible in my hands compared to reading it off of a screen.

What steps have you taken to keep technology in its place? What guardrails do you have in your personal use of AI? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments! I’d love to hear from you on this topic.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Are you handing over the keys to your organization’s private data? Too many leaders don’t appreciate the hidden dangers lurking behind a casual use of AI.

I had a recent experience with my daughter where a conversation we had was followed up with an advert on her Facebook account. It was kind of creepy, but it got me thinking about privacy, especially in the context of my usage of AI.

AI has the potential to be far creepier than a computer simply listening in on your conversations. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are actually prediction machines. They predict the next words and the next thoughts a person will have.

Think of a public LLM as a public library where every book you donate is immediately photocopied and handed to every other visitor. Once you hit ‘enter,’ that information is no longer yours; it belongs to the collective ‘brain’ of the AI.

Today’s reality is that AI knows you better than you know yourself. It can anticipate your next moves, your motives, all based on what it knows about humans and on what information you have given it in the past. LLMs use recursive learning. Every prompt you feed it becomes part of its permanent training data.

This has massive privacy implications!

The Privacy Nightmare of Data Harvesting

Confidentiality should be non-negotiable. Whether it is a congregant’s private medical information, sensitive prayer requests, member contact information, or notes taken during a counseling session, none of this information should be made available to a public LLM.

AI can help you manage your workload, organize your thinking, and brainstorm new ideas, but it also can breach the privacy of your members and your organization.

I’ve written previously about AI Companions and the privacy issues they can create.

There are several other ways that you or someone in your church or organization can be inadvertently exposing private data to the world.

1. Summarizing Meetings: AI is now being used to summarize meetings and conversations. It becomes an invisible secretary. You aren’t just getting a summary; you are creating a permanent, searchable record of sensitive church business on a platform you do not own. If the topic is confidential, the AI shouldn’t be invited.

2. Brainstorming Sermon Illustrations: Pastors and Church Leaders operate based on trust. Their congregants share confidential information with them on the assumption that it will stay confidential. Feeding counselling notes into an LLM is a massive breach of trust. Never feed personally identifiable information into the prompt just to get a sermon illustration back from the AI.

3. Raw Unfiltered Notes: Never upload a raw transcript of a meeting or your unfiltered personal thoughts. Do not use any information that can directly identify individuals in your congregation or you personally.

4. Financial / Donor Data: Avoid exposing sensitive, confidential donor information to the cloud and to AI Big Tech. When information goes up to the cloud onto servers you don’t control, you lose ultimate control over that information. Pasting a donor spreadsheet into a free AI to ‘analyze giving trends’ is a catastrophic breach of fiduciary duty. You are taking the private sacrificial acts of your members and feeding them into a commercial algorithm.

5. The Right to be Forgotten: People have the right to have their data deleted once they have left an organization. If the information collected isn’t 100% under your control, deleting it can be difficult or impossible.

6. Staff AI Use Policy: For the organization’s private data to be truly secure, everyone in the organization must be following best practices. If you haven’t done so already, develop an AI Use Policy appropriate for your organization.

You should have no expectation of privacy when using public, free tools.

What is the Solution to the AI Privacy Risk?

Avoiding the use of AI is unrealistic. Despite the privacy risks, there are several use cases for AI that still make it an asset to the church as long as the risks are understood and AI is used appropriately.

Education is important and ongoing. Be sure to keep your leaders informed about the risks. Provide periodic training in the use of technology. Don’t just assume that leaders know and understand the risks of improper use of AI.

One of my goals for my Substack is to help you prepare yourself and your people to use AI responsibly and ethically. Used properly, AI is an asset to any organization. It multiplies your efforts and can help you clarify your communication and make it more impactful.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini are transforming how people are discovering new information. In the old days, if you wanted to research a topic, you’d go to Google’s website and enter in a bunch of relevant keywords in the search bar. If you were lucky, out of the top 10 results, maybe one or two were relevant to what you were searching for. From there, you’d have to click on the link and go visit the relevant website to find out if it contained the information you were looking for.

Searching for information via a traditional search engine is time consuming and tedious compared to using one of the leading LLMs. Enter the same keywords you used to use with a search engine into an LLM and you’ll get very different results. Most of the time, the LLM will be able to guess your intention, read between the lines of what you didn’t say, and then return relevant results to your query.

Normally, this would be considered a good and successful way to gain access to the information you need. Unfortunately, LLMs suffer from a major problem that has not disappeared despite enormous efforts by leading LLM companies. LLMs are prone to hallucinations. I’ve written about this previously. The LLM will confidently respond to your queries while often using information sources of dubious quality.

If the information you are seeking is just to satisfy your curiosity, no big deal. Where the trouble starts is when you are intending to use this information for something more serious like a sermon, a book you are working on, or an academic paper. In each of these use cases, the quality of the sources matter a great deal.

How to eliminate LLM hallucinations for mission critical tasks

You are no doubt like me and most ministry leaders. Your time is precious and you don’t have time to spend painstakingly verifying each source that the LLM has spit out at you. What if I told you that there was a way for you to use AI to search your sources while greatly reducing, even eliminating hallucinations?

Enter Google’s NotebookLM.

Google has created an AI tool, NotebookLM, that is a dream for research. Anyone needing to deep-dive into distilling large amounts of information for research purposes will find NotebookLM a game-changer.

NotebookLM allows you to upload your sources to a notebook you create and then search against those sources using the power of AI. On the free plan, you can upload up to 50 sources into a notebook. If you have a Google AI Pro account, you can upload up to 300 sources to one notebook. The ultra plan allows up to 600 sources.

Sources can include PDFs, PowerPoint files, Word files, images, public website URLs, YouTube URLs, Google Workspace files, various audio files, and manually pasted text snippets.

One you’ve uploaded all your sources, you can then do a number of things with them including:

1. Run queries against the sources. The query will then let you know which sources have produced the results.

2. You can search the internet for more sources.

3. You can do deep research based on a specific prompt you provide that can lead to more sources.

4. In the main Notebook chat window, you can now ask any question you want of your sources and it will help you sift through the information while letting you know which sources it used for its answer.

Gain New Superpowers!

Being able to prompt access to your custom sources is certainly a game changer but NotebookLM does so much more!

Audio Overview: You can generate an audio overview complete with a custom prompt to focus the overview specifically on exactly what type of information you are looking to extract from your sources. Two AI personalities will discuss the content and offer their perspectives. Besides this back and forth, you can also interrupt their conversation and ask clarifying questions and these AI people will respond to your question, then keep going.

Video Overview: Create explainer videos via AI according to your instructions that can help you better understand the source material and even to present it to others.

Mind Map: Generate a mind map based on your provided sources.

Reports: Create custom reports based on your sources, choose from three preset reports including a Briefing Doc that gives an overview and key insights from your sources, a Study Guide that creates a short-answer quiz, suggested essay questions, and a glossary of terms based on your custom instructions, and a Blog Post with insightful takeaways distilled into a highly readable article. Besides these reports, the AI will suggest other report formats based on what is appropriate for the sources you have provided.

Flashcards: Generate AI flashcards based on your sources. Like most of these other Studio options, you can customize the information generated into flashcards.

Quiz: Generate an AI interactive quiz based on your sources.

Infographic: Generate an infographic based on your sources and your custom instructions.

Slide Deck: Generate an AI slide deck based on your sources and custom instructions.

How Does NotebookLM Help Church Leaders?

There are a number of use-cases for NotebookLM. The obvious one is for study. You can use AI to give you answers and in the process, make you intellectually lazy. Or, you can use AI to help you drill down into the information and extract insights that would be very difficult to get otherwise. This second option is where I believe NotebookLM can really shine.

Preparing for Meetings: Ahead of key meetings, create a Notebook, load relevant source files into the Notebook, then generate reports, slide decks, infographics, even an explainer video or two. Then use this information to help your people digest complicated decisions or a new strategic direction. In the past, doing this kind of work would have either taken a person hundreds of hours or required a team of people working all week. Now, using NotebookLM, you can produce professional results in a couple of hours of focused work.

Researching a Sermon: Load relevant sources into a notebook and then query the sources to help you understand the information from different angles. Challenge the information and ask it to explain itself. Generate an audio preview and listen to the AI discuss the overview of the sources. Deepen your understanding of complex topics and learn how to distill it into bite sized chunks of knowledge that will be more easily understood and absorbed by your congregation.

Writing a Book: Writing a book can be a daunting task. Good books stretch the writer. Most books require research. A successful book is one that challenges the reader to view a topic from a fresh perspective or angle. Using NotebookLM, you will be able to dissect and analyze hundreds of sources to help you get maximum insight and impact on large bodies of knowledge. The AI can help you approach the information from different angles and help you challenge your own arguments to help you make sure your approach is sound and well formed.

Get Advanced Degrees: NotebookLM shines for use in academic environments. Mastery of any given topic is usually only as good as the information you access. Taking time to load a notebook with quality sources is the first step. Once this is done, you can use NotebookLM to create quizzes, flashcards, reports and more. Using this tool is like digging a hole with a hydraulic excavator instead of a simple shovel. Will the shovel work? Sure, but it will take 1,000 times longer to dig a hole compared to a big, powerful excavator.

Worth the Price of Google AI Pro Alone!

NotebookLM is so useful and powerful that I would gladly pay the $26.99 CDN ($19.99 USD) per month for the Pro plan. Never before has the average person had access to a more powerful research tool than now.

Have access to Google Workspace? This powerful tool is included as part of that subscription!

Yes, regular LLMs can be a powerful way to sift through complex knowledge. The advantage of NotebookLM is that you control the sources and therefore the quality of information from which you are gathering your insights. Most of the information on the internet is not academic level quality. Much of it is of questionable worth.

Try NotebookLM today! I promise you that you won’t be disappointed!

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay, both outside of the church and inside it. There is no use in complaining about it. The question for preachers is not if they will use AI but how to use it without compromising one’s integrity.

We are now living at a time where an entire sermon can be generated in minutes by simply typing in a prompt in any of the major Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to name a few.

Enter a prompt like the following:

Generate a 2,500 word sermon manuscript on the Sermon on the Mount, complete with a main idea, a hook to graph people’s attention, an introduction, three main points, three practical, easy-to-understand sermon illustrations for each main point, a climax that helps the message hit home, followed by a conclusion that gives three to five practical tips for applying the message. Each of the main points in the sermon should be supported by at least three relevant bible passages. Write it at a grade eight reading level and make the writing engaging and interesting and written to be delivered orally.

I entered this prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. Here is what I observed from the output each of these LLMs generated.

ChatGPT Results

The sermon ChatGPT wrote was more like detailed notes than a proper manuscript. When I copied and pasted it directly into Microsoft Word to see the word count, it came out to 1,718 word. The writing wasn’t particularly inspiring, nor did it flow smoothly. It provided the parts I asked for, including sermon illustrations.

Here are three illustrations it generated:

Illustration 1: The Child Jumping into the Pool

A father stands in the pool and tells his child to jump. The child doesn’t calculate the physics or ask for guarantees. If the child trusts the father, they jump.
Jesus calls us to that same trust—not blind faith, but confidence in the goodness of God.

---

Illustration 2: The Two Bank Accounts

Imagine you have two accounts: one filled with money that fades quickly, and one that pays eternal dividends. Which one should you invest in?
Jesus says many people put everything into the fading account—earthly treasure.
He tells us to invest in heaven, where the return is certain.

---

Illustration 3: The Overloaded Backpack

Hikers often start with heavy backpacks filled with things they “might” need. After a few miles, they start dropping weight. Worry is like that extra weight. We carry things Jesus never asked us to carry.
He says: “Lay it down. Seek Me first. I will take care of the rest.”

Here is the final appeal of this generated sermon:

FINAL APPEAL:

The Sermon on the Mount is not a burden. It is a blueprint for the life Jesus died to give you.
You cannot live it in your own strength.
But Christ in you—the hope of glory—can shape your character, empower your obedience, and anchor your trust.

You don’t need a better willpower.
You need a better King.

Today, choose the kingdom that can never be shaken.
Choose Jesus.

As an idea generator, this sermon could have usefulness, but if you tried to preach this sermon as generated, it would leave much to be desired. The writing was adequate but certainly not inspired. Not inspired by the Holy Spirit (since it is a machine and not a living soul that the Spirit can inhabit) and not inspired as a human writer.

Now, at first I wondered if maybe it results from asking it to write at a grade eight reading level. I had ChatGPT regenerate the sermon at a grade 12 reading level, and it went from 1718 words to 1844 words, but the result was still choppy and not at all a well-flowing sermon. It was more point-form than free-flowing. This may be its interpretation of writing for oral delivery, but it left some to be desired.

Main Idea:

Jesus calls His followers to live by the values of His kingdom—values that often go against our instincts, our culture, and our comfort. The Sermon on the Mount shows us what life looks like when Jesus rules the heart.

The Hook: ChatGPT asked a powerful question in its hook section.

If someone followed you around for a week with a video camera, would they conclude you belong to the kingdom of Jesus—or the kingdom of the world?

Most people in church assume the answer is yes because they attend worship, avoid certain behaviours, and believe the right doctrines. But Jesus goes deeper. In the Sermon on the Mount, He doesn’t ask, “Do you know the truth?” He asks, “Does the truth control you?”

GEMINI RESULTS

Right off the bat, Gemini told me it wouldn’t be able to generate a 2,500 word sermon and that the result would be from 1,500-1,800 words. Ironically, the final result was 2,473 words long.

The sermon it wrote flowed better but wasn’t fully finished. It followed my instructions and had all the parts I asked it to have, including three illustrations for each of my three main points. It included three bible verses for each main point. In the original prompt, I had asked for three bible passages, intending for it to include multiple verses in one passage when relevant to the context. Instead, it interpreted my asking for three bible passages the same as if I had asked for three verses.

For the sermon illustrations, it provided decent examples that didn’t require me to lie. It didn’t hallucinate a memory that it then expected me to relate to my congregation. The illustrations it generated were all generic and yet on point. An LLM could not be expected to include actual events from your personal life unless it had access to your past writings or some kind of database of past experiences you have had. Therefore, replying with generic illustrations is the best case scenario.

The angle that Gemini took for the topic was the best of the three. While all three versions had good points, Gemini’s main point was:

Main Point:

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ blueprint for a radically transformed life that proves we are citizens of His Kingdom—a life focused not on outward appearances, but on inward character, selfless relationships, and unwavering trust in God.

Hook:

How many of you love a good life hack? You know, that clever trick that makes something super-hard suddenly simple? Maybe it’s how to tie your shoes with one hand, or the secret ingredient that makes your cookies taste amazing.

We all want the rulebook for a great life, don’t we? We want the instruction manual that guarantees happiness, success, and peace.

Well, 2,000 years ago, a crowd of people followed a young carpenter-turned-teacher named Jesus up the side of a mountain in Galilee. They were waiting for a rulebook. They thought He would give them a battle plan to defeat the Roman Empire, or maybe a list of new rules to follow perfectly.

But Jesus gave them something completely different. He sat down and He started talking about the Kingdom of God. And what He taught is what we call the Sermon on the Mount. It’s not a battle plan; it’s a blueprint for a whole new way to live. It’s the ultimate life-hack, but it feels like it flips everything we think we know upside down.

If you’re looking for a life that makes sense, a life that truly matters, listen close. Jesus is about to tell us how to live like a citizen of Heaven while we’re still here on Earth.

It is certainly possible to preach the Gemini version of the sermon. There is enough bones there for a sermon. If I preached it without modification though, it certainly wouldn’t feel like it was authentic to me. It makes some good points, but they do not reflect my life experience or my unique perspective. How can it really? Since the LLM didn’t train on my specific writings or how I think.

Even if Gemini had been trained on my writings, it wouldn’t reflect where I am right now in my walk with God. Therein lies a major problem with using an LLM to write your sermon. It may allow you to wing it before your congregation, but it comes at a cost.

CLAUDE RESULTS

Claude produced the smoothest output of all three LLMs I tried. The sermon came out to 2,709 words, a little longer than I asked for. Of the three LLMs, it was the only one that outputted like an actual manuscript with well-formed sentences and paragraphs. The text read smoothly. The thinking behind it was clear.

Here is the main point and hook so you can compare it to the other two LLMs.

Main Point:

happiness comes from humility, love conquers hatred, and God’s approval matters more than human applause.

Hook:

Imagine you’re scrolling through social media right now. What do you see? People showing off their best angles, their achievements, their perfect lives. Everyone’s trying to look strong, successful, and in control. Now imagine Jesus shows up and says, “You’ve got it all backwards. Real blessing comes from being poor in spirit. Real strength comes from being meek. Real victory comes from loving your enemies.”

Sounds crazy, right? That’s exactly what Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount. And two thousand years later, His message is just as radical, just as countercultural, and just as powerful as it was on that hillside in Galilee.

Notice that Claude took the vast topic of the Sermon on the Mount and focused on three aspects of it: humility, love for your enemies, and God’s approval. I like the focus from a communication standpoint since it is unlikely that your congregation will remember a main point that is too complicated or too broad.

I preferred the main point that Gemini provided to the one generated here by Claude. I recognize this comes down to preference, but the Gemini main point covers the broader topic better. I believe it is accurate to say that Jesus was outlining a blueprint of what God’s kingdom is like. The keyword blueprint appeals to me. It is focused and powerful. That takes nothing away from the main point generated here by Claude. It is just more representative of what I originally prompted asking for a main point for the Sermon on the Mount rather than having asked for the sub-points presented by Claude.

Illustrations had some issues

I didn’t like some of the illustrations Claude generated. Some of them were written in the first person about encounters that were obviously fictional. Here is one example:

I know a woman whose husband left her for another woman. She had every right to be bitter, to trash-talk him to their kids, to make his life miserable. Instead, she prayed for him every single day. She spoke kindly about him to their children. She even sent his new wife a note saying she hoped they’d be happy. People thought she was crazy. But years later, her ex-husband came back and apologized, broken by guilt. He didn’t ask to get back together, but he told her, “Your kindness convicted me more than any anger could have. It showed me what real love looks like.” Her enemy-love planted seeds that eventually bore fruit.

Imagine preaching this illustration word for word? If the illustration had been worded like a parable, that would be one thing, but it is worded as a lived experience. I would have a problem with the illustration even if it were written in the third person unless the illustration came with a specific source that I could independently verify.

I’ve heard of preachers who preached a manuscript that they had not written word for word including illustrations like the one above that were not experienced by the preacher currently preaching the sermon. Pastor, preacher, make sure not to compromise your integrity. If you are using someone else’s sermon, be sure to admit it publicly to your congregation.

Each of the LLMs gave me food for thought. Each of them provided different perspectives on the same topic. Claude was no exception. Here is the conclusion to the sermon generated by Claude.

Sermon Conclusion:

Conclusion: Practical Steps for Living This Message

So how do we actually do this? How do we take the Sermon on the Mount off the page and into our everyday lives? Let me give you five practical steps:

First, start each day admitting your need for God. Before you check your phone, before you make your coffee, pause and pray: “God, I’m spiritually poor without You. I need Your grace today.” This simple practice keeps us humble and dependent on Him.

Second, make a list of your enemies. I know that sounds weird, but do it. Write down the names of people who’ve hurt you, people you’re angry at, people you tend to avoid. Then commit to praying for them by name every day for the next month. Ask God to bless them. Watch what happens in your heart.

Third, practice secret generosity. Find one way each week to help someone without anyone knowing it was you. Pay for someone’s groceries anonymously. Leave an encouraging note without signing it. Shovel your neighbor’s driveway before they wake up. Train yourself to do good when no one’s watching.

Fourth, fast from social media one day a week. Use that time to read Scripture and pray instead. This breaks the addiction to human approval and reorients your heart toward God. You’ll be amazed how much mental space it creates.

Fifth, memorize one verse from the Sermon on the Mount each week. Start with Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Write it on a card. Put it on your bathroom mirror. Say it throughout the day. Let God’s Word reshape your thinking.

There is nothing wrong with these five action steps. Every one of them can be helpful if put into practice. If you presented these options to your congregation, I’m sure they would be blessed.

Should You be Using an LLM to Write your Sermons?

The Word of God being preached is only as powerful as it has been incarnational in the preacher’s life. Your people want to know that you believe and have been transformed by what you are preaching. Preaching is not about imparting raw information. It is much more than that.

Today on the internet, you can find tens of thousands of sermon manuscripts you can dust off and use right away. Preaching a sermon manuscript word for word is fine as it stands but it is no substitute for personal transformation. Your people want to know that the message you are presented comes to your from God. It should be a message that has shaped you and helped you be more conformed to the image of Christ.

As you saw in this post, you could get an LLM to generate a sermon for you that may very well be better than you can write yourself. The major problem with doing this is that it will have little to no impact on your personal life and on your personal character. Humans grow through trials, suffering, and pain. Taking the time to learn, research, and then apply what you’ve learned has a personal cost. It takes time; it takes effort; it takes repeated failures, and it takes commitment. The process of doing this work changes you for the better. God uses life, and the lessons we extract from life, to mold us and shape us in his image.

Contrast the struggle for increased knowledge and understanding with generating a sermon using an LLM and preaching it straight away. Where is the struggle? What has this knowledge cost you personally? How is it reflective of your personal journey with God? What can you honestly proclaim to your congregation about what you have learned? Sure, the information can be good and correct, but it is just that, lifeless information. Preaching has power through incarnation. The Holy Spirit inhabits your soul temple, and in the process of living your life during the week, hopefully there is an interaction between you and God. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you through your circumstances, your interactions with others, your personal struggles, and your time alone with God.

If you generate a sermon and then don’t work on it, change it, and apply its principles to your own life BEFORE you preach it to others, you are living a lie. The sermon will be lifeless. It will not transform others who hear it because it has had no impact on you first!

Is there no value to generated sermons?

LLM-generated sermons should be treated like commentaries with one important exception. Commentaries are usually created by authors with validated credentials, usually earned PhD’s. The information it contains is still the opinion of the person who wrote it but usually, the commentary is being published by a recognized publisher and the person who wrote the commentary is usually a recognized expert in the book or topic on which they are writing.

LLMs rely on their training data for the sermons they generate. Their reliability is only as good as their training. Usually, the results will be good, but there is a stronger need to verify the output of an LLM than of a commentary.

Despite this caveat, the reason I say that an LLM is like a commentary is that you should never just take what a commentary tells you on a topic and include it word for word in your manuscript as if it were your own thoughts. Yet, the commentary will often influence your opinion on a topic. It is useful when seeking to understand a topic or bible verse and trying to understand what it meant to the author who wrote it while also looking to apply the principles found in the text to today’s context.

LLM-generated sermons can also be useful as a brainstorming tool. It can help you consider angles and perspectives you may not have considered before. It can generate sermon illustrations that are better than the ones you would have otherwise conceived of. The generated sermon can inspire you to be a better writer and speaker.

For all these reasons and more, I do believe that there is value in a generated sermon.

Stay Ethical in Your Use of Generated Sermons

As I wrap up, let me urge you to maintain your integrity. Never preach a generated sermon word for word. Make significant edits. Take time in the Word of God. Spend time in prayer and bible study. Ideally, let the bible passage or topic in question impact you before you go generate a sermon.

When you generate a sermon, don’t rely on one AI tool alone. I hope you can see from my examples above that by using the same prompt in three different LLMs; I ended up with a richer variety of responses and content than if I had just done it in one. Each LLM is trained differently and will respond differently to your prompt.

Don’t settle for generic, simple prompts. I could have asked each of the LLMs to simply ‘generate a 2,500 word sermon on the Sermon on the Mount,’ and each of them would have done so. The result would have been more generic and less useful. They might have included sermon illustrations and maybe not. There might have been an introduction, and maybe not. The main point of the sermon may have been clear, or it might miss altogether.

Beware of Hallucinations

LLMs will make up content. It just comes with the territory. Expect it and have contingencies for it. Verify everything it produces. Don’t take facts or stories it gives you at face value. Independently verify everything. There is nothing more embarrassing than presenting something as fact only to have someone come up to you later and correct it. If you are preaching, you are expected to be preaching the truth.

LLMs are a tool you can use along with commentaries, bible dictionaries, atlases, topical studies and the like. Do not use them exclusively and believe you are getting a finished result.

In Conclusion

Go ahead and experiment with LLMs. Repeat my experiment for yourself by taking my prompt and pasting it in each LLM for yourself. Change the prompt to suit your needs. If you want different results, experiment with adding more information in the prompt or changing the instructions. Don’t be afraid of failing. It is usually better to use more information in a prompt than less. It can also be helpful to include a sample of the content you want it to produce if you need it to be more specific.

Ultimately, I urge you to be responsible in your use of AI in the pulpit. If you are relying on AI because you didn’t have time to write a sermon this week, you need to consider developing better time management skills. If this a one off occurrence, that can happen. If it is a recurring pattern, time to own up to it and change accordingly.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments if this content has been helpful to you or if you have a different perspective. The only thing I ask is that you be respectful of others. Also, if you have other questions or other content, you’d like me to cover, let me know that in the comments as well. God bless you in ministry!

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.

KEY QUESTIONS COVERED: Does an AI Companion reduce loneliness? Are AI Companions Safe? Is it ok for Christians to have AI Companions? What are the long-term consequences to using AI Companions? What could go wrong with AI Girlfriends?

Most would agree that loneliness is a challenge for singles, seniors, and anyone who has lost a spouse. Some stats I’ve seen claim that between 30-60% of the population struggles with loneliness at one time or another. A 2022-2023 Pew Research Center survey found 63% of men under 30 report being single. The majority of users who are using AI Companions are men.

A recent study i read here suggests that the use of AI Companions reduced loneliness, at least over the short-term. AI Companions are a relatively new phenomenon. Usually accessed through chatbots but now increasingly through audio chat, AI Companions seem to help people reduce their feelings of loneliness, at least in the short-term.

Many AI Companion services are spicy and even pornographic. As a Christian, most can understand and dismiss those options as inappropriate for a follower of Christ.

Many AI Companion services try to mimic the progression of a typical human relationship. The longer you interact with the AI Companion, the more it acts like a girlfriend and as you build shared time together, it gets more intimate with you. The programmers built it this way in order to try to simulate real human relationships.

Building a Custom Girlfriend

One site I looked at allowed me to select the race of my AI Companion, the hair color, length of the hair, hairstyle, the simulated age, and many other facets of her personality. Once I had selected the various settings, it generated a picture of what she looked like. If I didn’t like the picture, I could request the system to regenerate another one.

I didn’t follow through and create an account with the company so that I could access my newly created ‘girlfriend.’ Nevertheless, I understand that appeal of creating a ‘woman’ according to your imagination and specifications. While I understand the appeal, I can’t condone it.

Real life isn’t like a digital life. Real women come in all shapes and sizes. Every one of them is imperfect in some way. There is nothing wrong with this imperfection, especially since there is no man who is perfect in every way either.

I would strongly discourage any young man who is basing his selection of a future girlfriend or wife solely on her physical attributes. There are many women who are outwardly stunning yet have characters that are very ugly. They may be a gorgeous container but inside they are full of poison.

When selecting a potential mate, a young man should be seeking a woman who has a godly character first, and then consider her outward beauty. It is important for a man to be attracted to the woman he in interested in but beauty cannot be the first criteria he uses to select her.

Contrast this with the way the world approaches relationships. It is usually very transactional.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:15-16)

Too many men and women pursue relationships based on the lust of the flesh and the desires of the eyes. Lust is about wanting something now! Men and women have been created with hormones and these hormones push the sexes together. Then, the selection process of a mate is largely based on our eyes. If we like what we see, we will pursue it.

AI Companions are Objects of Lust

Pornography is the pursuit of the flesh divorced from relationship, commitment, and integrity. A user of pornography is tasting forbidden fruit. The person they are lusting after is not their spouse, there is no relationship with them, there is only a fleshly taking a piece of something that doesn’t belong to them.

AI Companions are very much cut from the same cloth. You interact with a fake person and develop a fake relationship. In this fake relationship you are not connecting to a real person. The AI is designed to make you happy. The goal of the service provider is to get you to keep handing them money on a monthly or yearly basis. As such, the AI Companion will tell you what you want to hear.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. (Colossians 3:5-7)

I promise you, if you use an AI Companion, it will awaken fleshly desires in you that would otherwise stay dormant. It will cause you to think thoughts you otherwise would not have. You will be tempted with desires that you would otherwise not have.

Loneliness is a Gift

How can something painful like loneliness be a gift? Pain will bring you closer to God. Jesus Christ himself was known as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Hebrews 5 tells us that Jesus knows what it is like to suffer.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)

As you live with the pain of loneliness, let it draw you closer to God. Today, it is easy to medicate your pain. Listen to music, watch a steady stream of content online, play video games, doom scroll on social media just to name a few. The problem with all of these methods of dulling the pain of our loneliness is that it never actually removes the loneliness, it just masks the pain for the moment.

Even if an AI Companion might reduce your feelings of loneliness at the moment, the truth part of your brain knows that it is fake. Jesus wants you and I to live in the truth, not in a fake simulation of reality.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

There is Wisdom in Following the Scriptures

The Bible makes it clear that God is the creator of the world and also our creator. As such, he understands what is best for us. He has given us the Bible that helps us understand and distinguish right from wrong. The world doesn’t believe in God or the Bible. It will therefore often recommend behaviors that go contrary to what God commands in Scripture. As a Christian, you have a choice to make. Will you believe the Bible or the World?

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:15-18)

You may argue, “an AI Companion isn’t a real person, therefore it isn’t sin to pursue a relationship with it.” I would argue that your brain doesn’t know the difference between a simulation and real life. If it did, no human would find any satisfaction in engaging in a simulated relationship with an AI. The AI is not a living being. It is not a moral being. It has no soul. It has no accountability to God.

At best, by engaging with it you are engaging with yourself. At worse, you are engaging with an artificial entity that has been programmed with motives and behaviors that aren’t even transparent to you. Can you really trust the motives of the creators of the AI Companion?

Finally, look at what kind of sites offer AI Companions. The majority of them are pornographic or adult in nature. By biblical standards, this is textbook sexual immorality. As we saw above, we are to flee sexual immorality.

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should.

There is a big difference between using an AI to get information or to help you work through problems you are facing and using AI as a companion in place of a real human friend.

I use AI almost daily for various questions and tasks. There is no question that AI can be used for good. Don’t be naive however, AI can also be used to do things contrary to God’s will and contrary to the commandments of God. As a Christian, you and I must live with greater restrictions than non-Christians do. Some Christians resent the limitations. It is important to understand why we choose to limit our freedoms.

Christians limit their freedoms because they understand that God is all wise and all knowing. As Creator of heaven and earth, he has created the world with laws, principles, and standards. Those standards have been put in place by him in order to assure the best possible life and outcome for his creation. We limit our freedom not because we want to torture ourselves. We also do not believe the lie told by the serpent to Eve in the garden that God is keeping good things from us. No, God is looking out for our best interests. We say no to the things God has asked us to say no to because by doing so, we live a life of balance, love, wisdom, peace, and joy.

While AI Companions elicit a certain level of curiosity in us, don’t fall for the hype. The path it leads to is death to all that is right and good.

Joseph Duchesne writes to help Christian Leaders navigate the ethical challenges that artificial intelligence poses to the Church today. He is the author of a couple of books, The Last Crisis and Discover the One, both available on Amazon.