Artificial Intelligence is in its infancy. It is part of myriad appliances, electronic devices, and machines today. There is a lot of conjecture, a lot of things said or written without knowledge behind them.

In the opening of the Barna Group introductory piece covering what American Christians are thinking regarding AI, they wrote the following;

“When the internet was introduced to the general public in the early 1990s, it was met with a mix of emotions. Some were enthralled by the idea of being able to easily connect with others online and access vast amounts of information. Others remained skeptical, concerned about the trustworthiness, reliability and privacy. Many held a genuine curiosity.

Now, it’s hard to imagine life without the internet. It has fundamentally changed communication, business, media and daily life.

Enter artificial intelligence (AI).”

Exactly. It’s difficult and nearly impossible for people to imagine living without the Internet and it as changed human life on earth. Not always for the better. The majority of cyber attacks, hacks, holding people and companies hostage, and the overwhelming majority of these heinous and criminal acts are never made public — due to fear of bad publicity. How it will impact image.

The Internet has also made human slavery, human sex trafficking, and every crime and sin under the sun increased to incalculable levels.

Yes, the Internet does a lot of good.  tremendous amount of good. I would not be sitting here doing this and you would not be where you are reading this were it not for our technology and the Internet.

There ought not be any debate or question, such as is asked in the article below, whether AI is here to stay. Of course it is. And it will only increase in ability and uses exponentially outpacing expectations.

it can and will be used for evil, for crimes and already is in how AI can take a mere handful of seconds of a human voice, imitate it, and create sentences, create a speaking language indistinguishable from the living human with that particular voice. This is being used already to extort money from people under false kidnapping pretenses.

My concern is lazy people. People not well grounded in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. In sound doctrine. In false teachers. Lazy pastors.

We live in a time when people do not carry real Bibles to church. Old style real books Bibles and they rely on the Bible translation downloaded onto the Smartphone permanently grafted into the palm of one of their hands. Never thinking or imagining that the electronic version they trust in can be — will be either altered or removed. Whereas if they have a hard copy of a good translation in book form?

People don’t think much and trust too much in things they ought not to trust.

I’ve read, and even published them here on ACP, articles on how AI is now writing sermons for pastors.

Remember the old computer saying “garbage in garbage out”?

Add AI to the ingredient mix. AI that is established by someone, some entity anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Holy Spirit, anti-truth, anti-Christian.

Can’t happen? Will never happen? And those electronic Bible versions so heavily relied upon will always be made available and never altered?

How naive.

There has been much erosion and laziness, apathy taking place. A lot of erosion. Within the Church. Within individuals.

What did the Lord Jesus Christ say as instruction to those desiring to be His true disciples?

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Matthew 10:16

The world, even the world of today’s so-called Christianity is rife with wolves appearing to be in sheep’s clothing, one of us, and us being so naive for the most part refusing to think badly of anyone professing to be one of us.

Bible translators of recent years are a prime example.

More and more pastors, preachers, and denominations are a prime example.

More and more individual professed Christians are a prime example.

The altering and changing of language and definitions are a prime example.

The people being given over to their wicked, reprobate, unrighteous minds by God are a prime example.

What has and is developed within technology.

As is the true nature and hearts and minds of men and women.

As is the clear totally true, no truer words than words found in God’s Word…

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude 1:4

Can’t judge?

Well, better begin soon to understand it is imperative and could not be more vital that keen Biblically based judgment needs to be present in all things every single day.

Don’t want to think poorly of people or things heard? Don’t want to appear negative, which is a worldly concoction not one from God?

Better start discerning well and wisely. Equipping and preparing for the days in which we live in this escalating spiritual war, the time of apostasy, the Great Falling Away, and all things prophesized in the Word of God.

Be wise, and crafty as a serpent in this world full of drooling devouring vicious wolves. While being as harmless as a dove. As Jesus was and is. As Jesus desires, commands us to be.

Soldering on. Not in park, in neutral, or in reverse. Not AWOL. There are no spectators only participants on one side or the other. Not screaming and shouting and protesting like the foolish and lost of the world. Peacemakers. Kind. Loving. Loving of our enemies peacemakers.

Aware of what is and is to come.

As told to us in God’s Word.

And AI while it may appear a great benefit and tool can become a deadly weapon as all tools can be in the wrong hands with the wrong intent.

Caveat emptor.

Ken Pullen, Thursday, November 9th, 2023

How U.S. Christians Feel About AI & the Church

When the internet was introduced to the general public in the early 1990s, it was met with a mix of emotions. Some were enthralled by the idea of being able to easily connect with others online and access vast amounts of information. Others remained skeptical, concerned about the trustworthiness, reliability and privacy. Many held a genuine curiosity.

Now, it’s hard to imagine life without the internet. It has fundamentally changed communication, business, media and daily life.

Enter artificial intelligence (AI).

AI has exploded into the public eye as tools like ChatGPT give everyday people a glimpse of how science can help them generate a lot of information in a brief amount of time. But is AI necessary? Ethical? Helpful? And is it here to stay?

You can expect ongoing updates from Barna on the topic of AI as we conduct research, in partnership with Gloo, to help answer these questions.

This article explores some of what we know so far about how Christians feel about AI and its potential use by the Church.

Christians Are More Reserved About AI in General
Most people are still getting acquainted with AI. Only around one in 10 U.S. adults say they use AI often, whether personally or for work. Generally, people also hold mixed feelings about AI, ranging from outright distrust (29% of U.S. adults say, “I don’t trust it”) to promising interest (35% say, “I am curious about it” and 21% say, “I am fascinated by it”).

Through the lens of faith, however, there are some opinions where Christians have very different views on AI compared to non-Christians. Just over one in four Christians (28%) say they are hopeful AI can do positive things in the world, compared to two in five non-Christians (39%). Today’s Christians are also less likely than non-Christians to feel fascinated or excited about AI, or that it would make their life easier.

Christians Are Wary of AI’s Use for the Church
Kenny Jahng, founder of AiForChurchLeaders.com and editor-in-chief of ChurchTechToday.com, recently shared this perspective to attendees at a Barna-led cohort on tech and AI:

“Technology is here to serve us and not the other way around. There’s all this fear that AI is going to be taking over the world, it’s going to be human versus machine. [But] if we step back and look at it, there are things that AI is really good for,” he says.

Jahng went on to note some of the possibilities for AI, like using tools for brainstorming or kickstarting the process of learning something new.

What many Christians feel AI is not good for, though, is the Church.

When asked how to express their level of agreement with the statement, “AI is good for the Christian Church,” just one in five U.S. Christians agree (6% strongly, 16% somewhat). Most Christians disagree (30% strongly, 21% somewhat), seeing AI and the Church at large as something that should not intersect. Just over a quarter (27%) says they don’t know, indicating that a sizeable portion of Christians are still making up their minds.

Christians Express Even More Concern About AI Use in Their Church
AI could probably be used in a multitude of ways to help run local churches, especially those with little to no staff. Regardless, over half of U.S. Christians (26% strongly, 26% somewhat) say they would be disappointed to learn their church is using AI.

This only strengthens the point that churches using AI should do so cautiously and openly. Jahng equates it to how one might use an intern:

“Don’t think of AI as a push-button vending machine, where you push one button, out pops a candy, you open the wrapper and you just consume whatever’s given. The more constructive way is to think of AI as a super-intelligent student intern.

Though Christians are carefully discerning their perspectives and uses of AI, there’s still growing opportunity, even for the Church.

About Barna

Since 1984, Barna Group has conducted more than two million interviews over the course of thousands of studies and has become a go-to source for insights about faith, culture, leadership, vocation and generations. Barna is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization.