Hmm, Christianity as an influence of AI development!? I think that approach may be a clear case of being careful what you ask for.
Can we even collectively define Christianity? Can Christians even collectively define Christianity. Down the road later, how does AI define Christianity? Are we to define Christianity as Jesus does, or as some of those. practicing under the banner of Christianity?
1 Corinthians 13:13 says “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus admonishes us to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" The operative word in both is love.
Matthew 25: 40 warns us "‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
I could go on, but you all know that Jesus teaches us to LOVE above all else.
Yet, and unfortunately, the most public expressions of Christianity come through our politics and our politics too often express the opposite of love. We see more expressions of hatred of others not like ourselves. We see hatred of those in need rather than treating them as if they were Jesus himself. Often, some perversion of the Bible is used to defend these abominations as it has been used to define all nature of abominations since its founding 2000 years ago.
If AI is somehow put in the service of Jesus' teachings of the primacy of love, that MIGHT be wonderful. If AI is put in service of enabling our government and our fellow citizens to further intrude on our lives in some misguided effort to "keep us from sin," or to establish Christianity as the religion of the state, watch out.
All that said, getting in front of AI so that it does not steam roll global societies and cultures for worse and worse ends as Social Media largely has is a very worthwhile endeavor.
Thank you, Tom. The polarity you're hitting on is the exact reason why I feel compelled to explore this topic...are Christians even capable and desiring to love in the way Jesus instructed? We may need it more than ever in the AI era.
Appreciated this post, Brent. I've found much of the discussion around AI to bring some really important topics to the forefront. Much of the conversation begs the question: are humans at the core fundamentally different than machines? The Christian worldview takes a clear stance on this, but I'm not sure that other worldviews (e.g., scientism or atheism) can make a meaningful distinction.
Thanks for taking on AI, Brent.
Hmm, Christianity as an influence of AI development!? I think that approach may be a clear case of being careful what you ask for.
Can we even collectively define Christianity? Can Christians even collectively define Christianity. Down the road later, how does AI define Christianity? Are we to define Christianity as Jesus does, or as some of those. practicing under the banner of Christianity?
1 Corinthians 13:13 says “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus admonishes us to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" The operative word in both is love.
Matthew 25: 40 warns us "‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
I could go on, but you all know that Jesus teaches us to LOVE above all else.
Yet, and unfortunately, the most public expressions of Christianity come through our politics and our politics too often express the opposite of love. We see more expressions of hatred of others not like ourselves. We see hatred of those in need rather than treating them as if they were Jesus himself. Often, some perversion of the Bible is used to defend these abominations as it has been used to define all nature of abominations since its founding 2000 years ago.
If AI is somehow put in the service of Jesus' teachings of the primacy of love, that MIGHT be wonderful. If AI is put in service of enabling our government and our fellow citizens to further intrude on our lives in some misguided effort to "keep us from sin," or to establish Christianity as the religion of the state, watch out.
All that said, getting in front of AI so that it does not steam roll global societies and cultures for worse and worse ends as Social Media largely has is a very worthwhile endeavor.
Thank you, Tom. The polarity you're hitting on is the exact reason why I feel compelled to explore this topic...are Christians even capable and desiring to love in the way Jesus instructed? We may need it more than ever in the AI era.
Appreciated this post, Brent. I've found much of the discussion around AI to bring some really important topics to the forefront. Much of the conversation begs the question: are humans at the core fundamentally different than machines? The Christian worldview takes a clear stance on this, but I'm not sure that other worldviews (e.g., scientism or atheism) can make a meaningful distinction.