The 3-Step Reflection Method to Transform your AI Prompts as a Christian

A 3 step reflection method meant to go deeper and change perspectives. Adapted for Christians from Slow AI by Claude.ai

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 Slow AI . If you aren’t familiar with Illingworth’s work at Slow AI 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.

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.

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.

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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.