So, last week we began by reading and article about how cheating is rampant on college campuses now that ChatGPT is so readily available and the simple reality is that any assignment meant to develop critical thinking skills is now useless—that is if it’s in written form to be taken home and then turned in. And I said that the death of the essay will be a major blow to a liberal arts education—and that’s not good for our republic. We need people with critical thinking skills if we want to have substantive debate on political issues. And if we don’t have that then tyranny is inevitable.
However, I said that as bad as AI will be for education and therefore public discourse, it has the potential to be even worse for preaching. “Why” you might ask? Well, because if half the pulpits in American become booths housing meat-puppets for AI theologians, then soon the Christianity of half of America (at least) will begin to reflect the positions and preferences of our silicon spiritual Strombolis.
It’s bad enough for a pastor to surrender his voice and his integrity to plagiarism or purchasing his preaching. It’s even worse to hand over the keys to a computer and let them control the congregation.
Admittedly, it is unknown how exactly the AI revolution will play out. What is not uncertain is that it currently is playing out. And what is certainly certain is that nefarious actors wish to harness the incomprehensible power of generative AI to achieve their evil ends.
AI could be and, in fact, is a powerful and immensely useful tool. There is no question about that. But is it a tool that we should have? Does its potential for good outweigh its potential for evil; I don’t know. But I do know that those who are currently developing AI software are not the kinds of people whom I would trust to have and control that kind of power.
But, alas and alack, genies don’t go back into bottles.
To give you a reason why this is so dangerous and terrifying, from the theological side, let me give you an example.
Let’s say that your favorite preacher IS in fact your pastor. Now, imagine that your pastor has a podcast—let’s say a daily podcast. Now, your pastor, if he’s been preaching a while, might have a few hundred hours of content available. This will include his speech, speech patterns, word choice, thinking patterns, sense of humor—everything that is authentically him.
Well, let’s say that pastor Todd, we’ll call him Todd; Todd decides that he really would like to take a break from the grueling pace of making podcasts, because he wants to spend more time…I dunno…doing Pilates or Jazzercise in the morning with his wife…doesn’t matter what he wants to do, he just doesn’t want to do the podcasts as much because they are a lot of work and he wants to do other stuff. But the podcast is popular—and as we know, it’s ALL about pop-u-u-lar—so he can’t give it up because that would hurt his brand. Correction…that would damage the church’s outreach capacity.
So Todd decides to try something. He goes online and has one of the generative AI programs produce a 1 hour podcast for him on the topic of what the Bible says about Miley Cyrus, or why God loves Hawaiian pizza—doesn’t matter---just random examples. Anyways, pastor Todd has the generative AI produce a one-hour podcast on whatever subject he wants. But this isn’t just the AI producing copy for him to read. No. This production will be in pastor Todd’s own voice with his own mannerisms with his own quirks and foibles. If pastor Todd always mispronounces a word or consistently uses a certain malaprop, the generative AI will make those same “errors” in a bid for consistency. All our hot-toddy has to do is prompt the program and let’r roll!
Now, if this seems disingenuous and lazy and pathetic—you’re correct, it is all those things. And if you think this won’t happen, then you are, what the French call, “naïve.” Of course, this will happen. The never-ending push for pastors to brand themselves and “produce content,” to be relevant, to incessantly be in everyone’s front-of-mind because he’s constantly trending, to, well to put it bluntly, to get and hold attention, has done nothing but feed the narcissistic egos of the people least trustworthy to have the attention of God’s people paid to them constantly. But the problem isn’t the narcissists. Well, of course, it IS the narcissists, but that’s not really the problem. There have always been narcissists in the church.
Philippians 1:12–18
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
3 John 1:9–10
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
There have always been self-serving people who want attention and who want to turn preaching the gospel into a means of financial gain. They want to trend. They say Washington is Hollywood for ugly people; well, celebrity pastors are often something similar—though admittedly the most famous of the celebrity pastors tend to be quite handsome and fairly rhetorically talented. But you get my point. Every pastor who desires to be a celebrity should by no means be permitted to so become one.
In fact, a pastor friend and I were talking in my study the other day about a certain pastor we both know and how this person has immense talent, but who didn’t simply like, but craved and needed attention. And we both said that every young preacher goes through a time when he thinks that he has all the answers and once he hangs out his shingle the world will beat a path to his door to hear his sage wisdom. Now, most pastors have that delusion beaten out of them by their early to mid-twenties. Some guys never give up the dream, however. Some guys are out there believing, how completely they believe this and how much is self-deception I know not, but they’re out there believing that if they can become mega-celebrities that they will be able to bring about peace and harmony and salvation to the multitudes—all it takes is a few more twitter followers. All it takes is another Instagram. All it takes is the book deal, or the podcast, or the merch table, or whatever. Now, for the ones who actually make it big and ride the tiger of celebrity pastordom, I’m sure it’s a helluva ride. But most never make it. They become miserable failures, or perhaps the most contemptable kind of narcissist: the local-celebrity.
Now, you might think that I’m just ranting about celebrity pastors…and, OK, I was…a little…but there’s actually a point here! The point is that when you look at what a celebrity pastor does to be a celeb, and all those dreaming of becoming celebrity pastors do in their hopes of achieving fame, when you look at these things you’ll see that all of it is “content production.”
Now, what I say next I want to say extremely carefully. There is a world of difference between pastors who are trying to “produce content” to content the slavering masses and pastors who are trying to preach and teach so that they can disciple disciples to disciple disciples. And, please, listen carefully—it is often VERY hard, if not impossible, to tell the difference. At least for a while. Eventually it becomes clear, or the Holy Spirit makes it clear, that some out there are just producing content. They are making media for the masses so they can manufacture more fame. Corrupt shepherds also show up with crooks in their hands and lambs on their shoulders. They look like real shepherds. But time will tell. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear will know, eventually. And, frankly, it isn’t usually that hard to tell.
But here’s my point. For those who wish to simply produce content generative AI is a windfall. They can increase their output astronomically and they can do it in such a way that it’s calculated, curated, and catered to the whims of all their adoring fans. The AI will know when you need a dose of Pastor Todd, and will give you that sweet, sweet content right when it matters most…for your dopamine levels and Pastor Todd’s market share, that is. AI will allow the lazy pastor to not do his job and the ambitious pastor to magnify himself. Deep fake tech and the research and writing capability will mean that a pastor will never have to get out of bed or crack open a bible or a self-help book to reach his fans. All he will need to do is to know what prompts to use and ensure he has the computing power necessary to utilize the AI’s capabilities.
So what can we do about it? Well that answer is very simple and very difficult. Stop seeking content. It really is that simple and it really is that difficult. Christians need to stop seeking after “content.” They need, instead, to seek after godly shepherds who will know them personally, care for them deeply, speak to them honestly, pray for them heartily, show them hospitality generously, and take the charge to guide and care for their souls with the utmost dread terrifying seriousness.
There IS a solution. Stop seeking content. Stop watching church on a screen and get yourself and your family to a church where there are not too many people for you to sit down and have a meal with the pastor once a month. By my calculations that means a church NO LARGER than 3-400 people and, frankly, I think over 300 is pushing it.
We need to stop doing everything online. We need in-person Bible studies. We need pastors who know the Word of God and can preach on ANY VERSE IN SCRIPTURE at the drop of a hat. You need a man you can hand an open Bible to and point at a passage and say “GO” and he’s gonna give you something that, nomatter how polished it is, reflects a deep and thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a wealth of experience in living the Christlife, and a visible and audible passion for Christ and His Church. And I think more pastors need to be challenged on this. I think that Bible studies should often be done this way. People show up with passages they want answers to and the call ‘em out and the pastor needs to explain them.
But more than that, we must stop viewing Christianity as the acquisition of knowledge. As though knowing a certain set of facts makes you a Christian and growing in the number and obscurity of facts makes you a better Christian. No. No friends, that ain’t how it works. Christianity is Christ. It’s about knowing Him. It’s about being in Him and Him being in you and living by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s about loving the brethren. It’s about being Christ to the world. That’s what it’s all about.
But we’ve turned church into some kind of self-help seminar and/ or 4th rate Bible college and seminary. We have fallen into the Gnostic Enlightenment folly of thinking that we’re souls who inconveniently are stuck for a while in these obnoxious, smelly, constantly breaking bodies. We think that the only thing that matters is the collection of facts or the temporary high of having a worship experience.
Again, don’t mishear me. I’m all for the acquisition of facts and I’m all for having powerful worship experiences. But these are secondary. These are byproducts and not the reality. The reality is discipleship—of being made like Christ. Does that involve learning? Of course, but learning isn’t discipleship, it’s part of it. Does it involve high-like emotionally charged experiences? Of course, but having a tear-jerking emotional release isn’t discipleship, it’s part of it. But there are more important parts. Love for God. Love for neighbor. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control. Generosity. Hospitality. Righteousness. Virtue. Courage. Holiness. Industry. Selflessness. Dedication. Zeal. Faith. Hope. Obedience. These are the kinds of things you can’t get from content. These are the kinds of things that you can never get from a celebrity pastor. These are the kinds of things that ChatGPT could care less if you develop, because generative AI doesn’t care about anything and I have serious doubts that the people who created the current iterations of generative AI are all that interested in inculcating the Christ-life in you either.
Content will never make you like Christ.
The Church can, because the Church is Christ’s body in the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit—by God in you and in the world to transform you into the image of Christ. The Church can do this if it’s done right. And here are a few suggestions about what kind of church can disciple disciples in the age of AI.
You want a church that A) is within walking distance of your home B) celebrates the sacraments C) rejects the content-production model D) whose pastor and elders are available and who want to spend time with you E) whose pastor teaches from the Word of God and is wiling to teach, in person, as often as the congregation so desires F) whose people desire in-person services where there is the breaking of bread and the hugging of bodies G) whose people open their homes in hospitality H) is no bigger than 400 people I) the building must have windows J) the services must promote congregational singing K) rightly exercises discipline L) The majority of books on your pastor’s shelf should be serious works and not devotional, church-growth, self-help, or staff-management in nature, and the majority should be by people who are dead.
Of course, I have more to say, but these should help. If you find such a church and you can tolerate the theology—that’s the church I’d make my own!