Faith in a Generation of Falsities
Story by Ashlyn Beck
Top: For church leaders, the message ‘Jesus Saves’ holds a new weight as AI brings a greater fear of the reliability of what information people are exposed to.
The robots might not yet have taken over and instigated Armageddon, but the advancement of technology has certainly raised ethical questions, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence. In the Bible Belt of Waco, and on Baylor’s Baptist campus, faith is a key aspect of individuals’ lives.
Leaders in churches all around Waco unanimously shared that AI is an advancement of technology, just like the internet and the smartphone were. The real teller is how it is used. Like all technology, it has the capability to do a lot of good, but also perpetuate a lot of evil.
Charla Dixon, art director at Harris Creek Church, said AI is just another aspect of the world that can be used for good or for evil. Though Satan has the capability to use it for a lot of evil, this doesn’t negate the fact that God is sovereign and can use it for His glory as well, Dixon said.
Students join in prayer during a campus ministry gathering called Vertical.
“I do think the enemy can use it, just like anything,” Dixon said, “But just like God can.”
Technology and specifically AI is a tool, said Trey Etter, minister to college students at First Woodway Baptist Church. That tools, like a hammer, are not inherently evil or good. However, the hammer can be used to build a house or to tear through a wall, and AI can be used to build up or tear down just the same.
“I think that there are really good applications of tools, and there’s really bad applications of tools,” Etter said.
A collective concern among churches seems to be AI’s capability to impact levels of human connection and trust. According to Dixon, it is getting harder and harder to differentiate between truth and falseness as AI grows and learns. It will require people to learn how to expand their faculty for discerning those things in order to live in a world of artificially generated content.
“I do think the skill sets that are going to have to grow in the next generation are discernment and ability to perceive reality and what’s true,” Dixon said.
Forbes recently released a study of AI taking on the role of a counselor, and in 2023 Firstpost released an article about a woman who created an AI bot to be her spouse. Church leaders agreed that human connection is essential for people, and is something AI cannot accurately replicate; furthermore, the attempt to do so might prove to have some negative consequences
“I think there’s a healthy fear of AI replacing what we were designed to have, which is human-to-human relationships with each other,” Etter said.
Drake Osborne, pastor for teaching and liturgy at Grace Church Waco, says AI can become something people begin to worship, and it can be a dangerous addition in encouraging self-autonomy.
Mick Murray, equipping pastor at Antioch Community Church, said it is the nature of humans to be relational. Lacking that connection has proven to be detrimental to mental health and levels of happiness, as seen through lockdown in COVID-19.
“There’s a dimension to being human that is fundamentally relational. We’re made for relationships, in my opinion. [We] are made for a relationship with God and with one another,” Murray said.
The Yale School of Medicine found that the increase in levels of anxiety and depression in teens is directly correlated with the rise of technology and social media. This has caused loneliness in Generation Z, which might only be amplified with the rise of AI. According to Etter, trying to use AI to replace human connection might only aggravate an issue already overwhelmingly present in younger generations.
“There’s this really interesting trend, especially within younger generations, of being hyper-connected electronically, but very lonely with other human beings,” Etter said.
While there aren’t many concerns about the capability of AI to turn into a sentient being bent on the destruction of humanity at all costs anytime soon, there are some sobering possible ramifications of something so powerful.
Many sources agreed that while AI is neutral in and of itself, it can easily turn detrimental in the hands of the wrong person. And all sources agreed: humans have a talent for taking things that are neutral and turning them into weapons.
“Think of every technological advancement. Think of weapons for example, like gunpowder can be used to blow a chunk of rock out of the side of a mountain to build a highway or it can be used in war to blow somebody up,” Murray said.
Drake Osborne, pastor for teaching and liturgy at Grace Church Waco, said AI can be a troublesome topic because it has so much power. Whoever wields and trains it then also holds that power.
Charla Dixon, art director at Harris Creek Church, says AI makes it more difficult for people to know what is real or fake, and that it brings with it a new era of growth in discernment for the church
“They [can] become things that we could be tempted to worship in some way because they have so much power in themselves,” Osborne said.
The power available from AI, coupled with the human desire for autonomy and control, can be a heady and dangerous mix. It is in the nature of humanity to think they know the right answer, which history shows is simply not the case most of the time.
“I think the inherent human problem that’s counteracting faith is self autonomy, at least right now. It’s, ‘I can be whoever I want to be. I can change who I am. No one has authority over me.’ And I do think that technology plays a big part in that,” Osborne said.
One of the biggest concerns all across the board was the capability for AI to erode trust foundations and hinder people’s abilities to perceive truth from falseness. According to Etter, Generation Z is already known for distrusting authority. This might be due to living in the age of technology and constantly having to filter information and discover what is accurate.
“The shifting of images is an attempt to try to make something real that’s not real. Then there’s this really interesting interplay between reality and artificial reality, something that’s pretty new to deal with,” Etter said.
If AI progresses at this rate, Dixon considered the possibility that people will grow tired of determining what is real and judge what they consume solely based on how it benefits them. This could create a dangerous intermingling between artificial reality and true reality.
“I think it may get to a point when people just don’t care whether it’s real or not. They’ll look at it maybe really pragmatically, like, ‘Does it benefit me?’” Dixon said.
One of the biggest themes of Christianity, according to Murray and Osborne, is reliance and dependence on God. The growth of technology has allowed people to have a lot of information at rapid speeds. This seems to have created a mindset of independence in humans that was not as present before the rise of technology, according to Osborne. He also said he will be unsurprised to see that worldview exacerbated by AI’s growth.
“The church is always going to operate under the understanding that the life of faith is a life of slow dependence on God. One thing that means to be human and to even be Christian is to live dependent on God,” Osborne said. “Sometimes technology can make us forget that.”
AI has many uses in the church, despite the knowledge of its possible downsides. If used correctly and with discernment, Dixon said it is a tool that can further the kingdom of God significantly. For example, ChatGPT can be used as translation on the mission field, to help find themes in the Bible, to write songs to Bible verses and to see what the Bible says about various topics.
Trey Etter, minister to college students at First Woodway Baptist Church, says while AI is a tool that can bring both good and bad, a fear of it replacing human connection is understandable.
“I would think this is another expression of technology that, used rightly, could be just a tool that augments growth in God or inhibits it,” Murray said.
Despite some of the sobering possibilities, Osborne said God has used the creations of humans since time began. God speaks through nature and the Bible, but also through people, and he uses human innovation to reveal his glory.
“[God] uses the tools that we’ve created to advance his kingdom, but he doesn’t need them. And in some sense, we do, and that’s what separates us from God. I think that’s the key. The moment that we need them, and we depend on our technology or our tools more than we depend on God, something’s gone wrong,” Osborne said.
Seeing the good in advancements like AI might require that people look for the ways it could reflect God’s glory, Dixon said. His glory is there, if one looks for it. AI is no exception, and is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Dixon said the church should consider how it will change the world around them and look for ways to further the kingdom of God through it.
“We’ve just got to look around you know, and kind of see what and how God might use it,” Dixon said.
Mick Murray, equipping pastor at Antioch Community Church, says this is a technological advancement just like any other, and there is a potential for AI to be used as a tool in God’s kingdom.
Some Waco churches have avoided the use of AI altogether. Some have used it for many things and have seen the benefits it provides.
Regardless, all agreed that it’s not time to hit the bomb shelters just yet. We have a bit more time before ChatGPT turns sentient and AI, just like all other technological advancements, can be used for good or evil. Whichever side AI ends up representing, church leaders agreed that God is using everything for the advancement of his kingdom.
“I have a high view of God’s sovereignty and his leading the world towards his own ends for His glory,” Murray said.
Students gather in prayer on Baylor’s Mclane Stadium Field, displaying what church leaders say is the most importance of community as a foundational aspect of faith
