The Creator Vs. The Created [Jesus Or AI]

The Creator vs. the created [Jesus or AI]

Early in the school year I was required to attend a three hour lecture about AI and the classroom student. It is a new inconvenience that we who teach writing are attempting to deal with. About the time there is a program that will detect the use of AI, someone makes AI more undetectable. In other words, when one group invents a better mousetrap, AI becomes a better mouse. Predictive text on my phone used to freak me out; AI really, really concerns me. It is terrifying that words generated by technology can come across as so … human.

What is AI?

Just in case there are those who are unaware, Effie explains AI writing this way:

• AI writing uses artificial intelligence to create content like essays and stories.
• It works by gathering internet data based on prompts and making it into human-like text.
• The process combines linguistics, data science, computer science, and AI.
• AI writing is fast but can’t match humans in emotional and engaging content.
• AI tools are used for many types of writing, from social media to emails.

That lecture taught me that AI was quite beneficial to students, particularly those who struggle with reading and writing because it can be used to frame ideas in creative text, or reduce text already written to grade-level or comprehension-level reading. It might allow instructors to simply list what facts they want to teach, and it will create lectures, tests, and other evaluation tools. It all sounds really good, but it is only an artificial entity masquerading as human.

AI Pastors?

Scary enough right there, but I have just learned that AI has made its way into the church world. One may receive instruction, counseling, and even prayer from an artificial source. I quote: “The Ron Carpenter Ministries Advanced Archive app is a unique place where people from every background, race, and walk of life come together in a place of community and purpose. This resource is dedicated to seeing people’s lives changed and leaders equipped. Get ready to change your mindset, master your feelings, and overcome life’s pressures. Transcend traditional time and access barriers by enabling 1-on-1 personalized interactions not possible at before now.”

Substitution is nothing new:

The Book of Ecclesiastes says that “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Perhaps not. There was a time, long ago, when people used a substitute for a human to reach God. “Substitution is one of the major themes of the Bible. God instituted the principle of substitution in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. By killing an animal to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21), God began to paint a picture of what it would take to bring humanity back into proper relationship with Him. He continued that theme with His chosen people Israel. By giving them the Law, God showed them His holiness and demonstrated their inability to achieve that holiness. God then granted them a substitute to pay the price for their sin, in the form of blood sacrifices (Exodus 29:41-42; 34:19; Numbers 29:2). By sacrificing an innocent animal according to God’s specifications, human beings could have their sins forgiven and enter the presence of God. The animal died in the sinner’s place, thereby allowing the sinner to go free, vindicated. Leviticus 16 tells of the scapegoat, upon which the elders of Israel would place their hands, symbolically transferring the sins of the people onto the goat. The goat was then set free into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the people far away” (Doctrine of Substitution).

God’s substitution

Of course, this was not the perfect plan. It satisfied the debt only temporarily, and animals had to continue to die. But God Almighty, YHWH, had arranged that in the fullness of time, there would be a substitute who would become the once and for all sacrifice–the perfect lamb. He would come Himself, but as a human.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

“The Word continues the opening words of the prologue in John 1:1. Became flesh does not mean the Word ceased being God; rather, the Word, who was God, also took on humanity (cf. Phil. 2:6–7). This is the most amazing event in all of history: the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinitely holy Son of God took on a human nature and lived among humanity as one who was both God and man at the same time, in one person. Dwelt among us means more literally “pitched his tent” (Gk. skēnoō), an allusion to God’s dwelling among the Israelites in the tabernacle (cf. Ex. 25:8–9; 33:7). In the past, God had manifested his presence to his people in the tabernacle and the temple. Now God takes up residence among his people in the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:17). Thus, the coming of Christ fulfills the OT symbolism for God’s dwelling with man in the tabernacle and the temple” (ESV Study Bible Notes).  

Of God’s commitment to becoming human, the scriptures also say:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).

Creator or created?

The Creator replaced the artificial with the real; the created, AI, replaces the real with the artificial. Sounds like we’re taking a precarious step backwards.

I like Pastor Cody Hale’s (Iron City Baptist Church near Anniston, Alabama) comments:

“Real pastors aren’t faces on a screen kept at a safe distance. They counsel you during hard times, take an interest in your kids, and celebrate your wedding. They know you, visit you in the hospital, and preach your funeral. They don’t just preach exciting messages. They spend time with God in study with the unique needs and struggles of their people in mind, because they know them personally and love them deeply.

“If your pastors aren’t close enough to you to disappoint you, they aren’t close enough. If your pastors would not counsel you through a hard time in your marriage, a loss of a loved one, or spiritual confusion, they’re not shepherding the flock. If your pastors wouldn’t officiate your wedding or preach your funeral, they would be unrecognizable to the New Testament.

“Christmas reminds us that God himself came to live among his people. Pastors — imperfectly and incompletely — aim to paint a similar picture with their lives.” AI, no matter how sophisticated, can not do that.

So, Jesus or AI?  One day, it’s probably going to come down to a choice. Do you know which creator you will choose?

May God, the Creator, bless you in a real and enduring way through His sacrifice in Jesus Christ.