Before You Reach for AI, Ask God
The 4 questions to ask yourself before using AI for answers to spiritual topics
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.
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.
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.