Artificial Intelligence, AI, is now a fact of contemporary postmodern life, so what does it offer us, what does it mean, and how should we interact with it?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #235 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
I’ve address AI, artificial intelligence, in several earlier podcasts because it is now the most extensive and significant, potentially helpful yet potentially dangerous new technology since nuclear weapons.
AI is software that can learn, reason, understand, make decisions, or create in ways that resemble human thinking. AI doesn’t “think” like a human—but it can process information and make predictions based on patterns in data at a pace and to a near limitless extent, far out-stripping the minds of the highest IQ human beings. Machine learning algorithms allow computers to learn from data and improve their performance over time.
Deep learning involves training artificial neural networks with large amounts of data, which led to breakthroughs in image and speech recognition. AI natural language processing deals with the interactions between computers and human languages, which led to the development of virtual assistants, chatbots, and other applications.
AI is not coming. It’s here now. Auto-correct, personalized feeds, photo enhancements, GPS and navigation, commodity recommendations, fraud detection, streaming services, Siri, Alexa, security cameras, recruitment and hiring reviews, numerous academic supports, healthcare analysis, athletics analytics, generative text, audio, or video.
But AI’s enormous potential brings with it serious potential for abuse, Orwellian controls available to authoritarian governments, predictive behavioral profiling, and “Big Brother is watching you” loss of individual freedom. We now live in a mass surveillance digital world, a track-and-trace society.
Threats are also growing regarding identity protection and security in the face of Deepfake AI capability that can now generate entirely believable audio/video presentations that make people say or do things they never said or did.
AI is also being used in the production of pornography. “The FBI has documented an ‘explosion’ of sextortion schemes targeting children and teens, with these attacks linked to more than a dozen suicides.” Deepfake AI creates manipulated but realistic images and videos of real people in fake situations and are routinely used against women. “A study shows 96 percent of deepfake videos were nonconsensual pornography.” AI can take any photo and make it pornographic in seconds. This includes your photo and mine. Since the first deepfake video in 2017, the technology has only gotten better and no one is beyond reach, as for example actresses Gal Gadot, Scarlett Johansson, and Kristen Bell discovered when face swap software placed their image in pornographic films. Nonconsensual deepfake pornographic images are almost impossible to prevent.
But AI is also being used in a growing number of ways across churches, ministries, and individual Christian spiritual practice. Most of these uses are assistive tools—not replacements for pastoral care, discipleship, or Scripture—but they can support ministry, education, administration, and personal devotion.
Sermon preparation tools like pastors using AI to brainstorm sermon outlines (Logos AI, ChatGPT, Claude). Church management and administration (Planning Center, Tithe.ly). Worship planning: AI can help generate set lists based on themes. Some tools suggest transitions or Scripture readings that match the songs.
Church media teams use AI for sermon series graphics, announcement slides, or short video clips (Canva, Adobe Firefly). AI Bible study tools that help with word studies, cultural/historical context, devotionals (YouVersion, Hallow, Abide). Some ministries are using chatbots to answer questions about Christianity or guide seekers through gospel basics.
One of the most powerful applications is mission agencies using AI to translate Scripture or discipleship materials (SIL/Wycliffe AI tools). A similar application applies to dubbing or translating videos in different languages. YouTube already makes this available.
Meanwhile, Christian leaders are debating:
- Can AI be used for spiritual formation without replacing the Holy Spirit's work?
- Should AI write sermons? (Most say: AI can assist, but pastors should do the teaching themselves.)
- Concern about data privacy in ministry tools.
- Or the ongoing concern about AI deepfakes, meaning misinformation or outright falsehood or heresy.
- And importantly, whether use of AI inadvertently replaces human pastoral care with automation.
And AI may be a bit amazing at times, but it’s still just a tool, a human construction, so it’s important to remember that AI sometimes:
- misinterprets Scripture.
- combines ideas from different worldviews.
- lacks doctrinal understanding.
Leaders like Timothy Keller (before he passed not long ago), and Barna Group emphasize:
- Ethical use.
- Critical thinking.
- Human relational focus.
In 2019, “the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) spent nine months working on “Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles,” a document designed to equip the church with an ethical framework for thinking about this emergent technology.
“The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention issued the statement, Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles in April 2019. The document was published with the endorsement of sixty-five signatories.”
The Statement then lists 12 Articles or affirmations about AI based upon an Evangelical biblical worldview. Paraphrasing some points:
- Human beings are made in the image of God and technology can never usurp this.
- AI technology is good if used within the moral will of God, it must never be used to degrade human beings, and AI cannot fulfill humanity’s ultimate needs.
- While technology can be created with a moral use in view, it is not a moral agent. Humans alone bear the responsibility for moral decision making.
- AI should never be used to violate the fundamental principle of human dignity for all people. Neither should AI be used in ways that reinforce or further any ideology or agenda, seeking to subjugate human autonomy under the power of the state.
- We deny that the pursuit of sexual pleasure is a justification for the development or use of AI, and we condemn the objectification of humans that results from employing AI for sexual purposes.
- We deny that AI should be used by governments, corporations, or any entity to infringe upon God-given human rights.
- We deny that AI will make us more or less human, or that AI will ever obtain a coequal level of worth, dignity, or value to image-bearers.
Since that time, at least one of the scholars involved, Jason Thacker, is calling for an additional statement. He said, “the 2019 statement of principles was designed to jumpstart conversation about AI in the Church, which is needed now more than ever.”
“A Christian philosophy of technology,” Thacker notes, “is wholly unique in that it recognizes 1) that God has given humanity certain creative gifts and the ability to use tools, and 2) and that how we use these tools forms and shapes us.
Technology then is not good or bad, nor is it neutral. Technology, specifically AI, is shaping how we view God, ourselves, and the world around us in profound and distinct ways. While we rightly debate how to mitigate the risks and promote the good of technological advances, the Church must not give into the moral panic induced by AI, nor should we passively allow others to shape the conversation in ways that are directly at odds with the Christian tradition.”
“We must remember that the Christian moral tradition recognizes that no matter how advanced our technologies become, there is nothing that can fundamentally change what it means to be made in the image of the almighty God (Gen. 1:26-28).”
AI seems to be the bold new future, but remember, God is eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is “I Am,” meaning he exists in and knows the past, present, and future. He is not surprised by AI, nor should we be, but we are always to be responsible, to be God’s ambassadors on earth in the time he has placed us. In God’s providence, we live in an AI moment. How will we interact with and use it for the fulfilment of the Cultural Mandate (Gen. 1:28) and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20)?
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. For more Christian commentary, see my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com, or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025
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