“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can they be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
As the age of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) encroaches upon us, we are at risk more than ever before to be seduced by the illusion of companionship. In our world , due to the high-tech effect of the internet, cell phones and chatGPT which progressively isolate us from one another, the one enduring bastion of real face-to-face conversation and human touch is the Church. Or it should be.
I fear we are missing all the lonely people that the Lord is bringing to our doors. Preoccupied with cell phone screens, we have played the fool in accepting counterfeit “relationships” in exchange for the real deal. An anonymous poet wrote a cautionary word to all of us entitled “Lonely In A Crowd”:
“I sit in a pew next to a warm body,
But I feel no heat.
I’m in the faith,
But I draw no act of love.
I sing the hymns with those next to me,
But I hear only my own voice.
When the service is finished,
I leave just as I came in;
Hungry for the touch of someone,
Someone to tell me
That I’m a person worth something
To Somebody.
Just a smile would do it.
Perhaps some gesture, some sign
That I am not a stranger.”
The most stalwart of us needs a Barnabus to encourage us with a hand on our shoulder. As the song sung by Twila Paris aptly notes, “deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child”. Two human beings are better than one. There are some things that A.I. just can’t do.
Man was made for God. Only God knows the cry of the human heart. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts, And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Ps.139:23
Only God knows the estrangement that sin and pride bring to our lives. Only God can do something about it. And He has.
We are in danger of conflating God’s voice with a “message”from ChatGPT. After walking in the garden in the cool of the day, communing with the Living God, and after being so easily duped, God must ask us, just as He asked Adam, “Where are you?”
God is not a machine. Neither is man. The quest for “ intelligence “ seems to have eclipsed the pursuit of the human qualities of love and compassion . “The God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples (or computers*) made with hands…”. (Acts 17: 24) * This word I added for teaching purposes and it is not in the original text.
In his book, 2084 and the AI Revolution, scientist and Bible teacher John Lennox astutely observes: “The ultra-speculative transhuman quest to elevate humans to godlike status pales into insignificance with this true narrative….Not that man becomes a god, but God has become man in Jesus Christ. God did not become a machine! A human super intelligence already exists. “
When we come to the communion table, remember what the Lord said would mark us as His disciples; not how intelligent or clever we are, but “ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for another.” John 13: 34-35
Including those that are “Lonely In A Crowd”. Especially those.
Questions To Think About
As the age of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) encroaches upon us, we are at risk more than ever before to be seduced by the illusion of companionship. In our world , due to the high-tech effect of the internet, cell phones and chatGPT which progressively isolate us from one another, the one enduring bastion of real face-to-face conversation and human touch is the Church. Or it should be.
I fear we are missing all the lonely people that the Lord is bringing to our doors. Preoccupied with cell phone screens, we have played the fool in accepting counterfeit “relationships” in exchange for the real deal. An anonymous poet wrote a cautionary word to all of us entitled “Lonely In A Crowd”:
“I sit in a pew next to a warm body,
But I feel no heat.
I’m in the faith,
But I draw no act of love.
I sing the hymns with those next to me,
But I hear only my own voice.
When the service is finished,
I leave just as I came in;
Hungry for the touch of someone,
Someone to tell me
That I’m a person worth something
To Somebody.
Just a smile would do it.
Perhaps some gesture, some sign
That I am not a stranger.”
The most stalwart of us needs a Barnabus to encourage us with a hand on our shoulder. As the song sung by Twila Paris aptly notes, “deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child”. Two human beings are better than one. There are some things that A.I. just can’t do.
Man was made for God. Only God knows the cry of the human heart. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts, And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Ps.139:23
Only God knows the estrangement that sin and pride bring to our lives. Only God can do something about it. And He has.
We are in danger of conflating God’s voice with a “message”from ChatGPT. After walking in the garden in the cool of the day, communing with the Living God, and after being so easily duped, God must ask us, just as He asked Adam, “Where are you?”
God is not a machine. Neither is man. The quest for “ intelligence “ seems to have eclipsed the pursuit of the human qualities of love and compassion . “The God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples (or computers*) made with hands…”. (Acts 17: 24) * This word I added for teaching purposes and it is not in the original text.
In his book, 2084 and the AI Revolution, scientist and Bible teacher John Lennox astutely observes: “The ultra-speculative transhuman quest to elevate humans to godlike status pales into insignificance with this true narrative….Not that man becomes a god, but God has become man in Jesus Christ. God did not become a machine! A human super intelligence already exists. “
When we come to the communion table, remember what the Lord said would mark us as His disciples; not how intelligent or clever we are, but “ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for another.” John 13: 34-35
Including those that are “Lonely In A Crowd”. Especially those.
Questions To Think About
- How much time would it take to get to know your brother (or sister) over a cup of coffee, during the week, apart from church?
- How did Barnabus make a difference in John Mark’s life? (See Acts 15: 36-40)
- If we are no more sensitive to the cry of the human heart than “Lonely in a Crowd”, how are we different from a robot?