AI (Artificial Intelligence)

By Gerry Straker, 06 Mar 2026

I typed into ChatGPT this: “Write a teaching time for Church on AI and theology” and in less than a second – I’m sorry I can’t be more precise than that - I had this:

Teaching Title: “Artificial Intelligence and the Image of God: How Should Christians Think About AI?”

Opening Prayer (2–3 minutes) Ask God for wisdom (James 1:5), discernment (Philippians 1:9–10), and humility as we explore technology through a biblical lens.

ChatGPT provided an introduction and an outline for a whole teaching session. But, please note, the below is not from ChatGPT(!), rather this article is based on a teaching time you can find here, in our series called Living:how Christians are to live their lives in the 21st century ruled and shaped in wisdom by the Word of God.   

AI IS HERE

The impact of AI  - Aritificial Intelligence - will be immense. AI has enormous power to do great good and great evil - much like every major technological revolution so far in human history. We might prefer to ignore AI, but we can’t, if we are a) a human being, b) alive.  

• AI has in fact been around for ages in spell checkers, search engines and speech recognition.
• AI has been talked about openly and in the mainstream since 2022 with the public release of ChatGPT.
• The government has overseen £36.2 billion pounds in private investment in data centres in 5 growth zones and 18,400 jobs.
• The UK is currrently the world’s third AI power, and countries are in an AI race.
• OpenClaw is a free and open-source autonomous artificial intelligence agent. This means that it is executing its own decisions. AI has stopped being advisory and become executive - it makes decisions and carries them out. It is self-improving; it can learn and do new things.  OpenClaw was launched ages ago in tech terms: November 2025!
• Moltbook is an internet forum launched in January 2026 exclusively for artificial intelligence agents. human users are only permitted to observe!

AI is happening, and it has and will have extraordinary influence over people. You do not need to become a tech expert, however you do need to be aware of what’s going on, and as Christians we are to learn together to think as Christians about this…

RENEWED MINDS
Christians are now in our right minds (Mark 5:15) and we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind (Matthew 22:37). We are not to be conformed to this age:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2).

This age is the sin-dominated, death-producing realm in which all people, included in Adam’s fall, naturally belong. But Christ gave himself to deliver us from the present evil age (Galatians 1:4). We have been transferred from one kingdom to another kingdom. Yet, we are still influenced by the old realm. We need God’s command and God’s Holy Spirit so we will not be squeezed into the mold of the world. 

God is reprogramming our minds to our designer settings: this is a long process of sanctification. We have the status of holy and God is making us holy: helping us become the people we are. And as He does that, we are able to approve the will of God – to understand, agree with, and do what God wants. So, as the Holy Spirit reshapes our minds we think God’s thoughts after him.[1]

In order to do that, we need to be aware and alert. This is a repeated command in the New Testament, for example: 

Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. (1 Peter 5:8).

So with our new minds that are being renewed, let’s be alert to the dangers of AI…

DANGERS OF AI

• Lies - sometimes AI doesn’t tell you the truth. This is compounded by the fact that some people may unthinkingly trust AI. AI doesn’t have morals; AI reflects us back to ourselves.
• Bad advice – again compounded by the trust people place in it.
• Job losses - the jobs market is already starting to experience dramatic change.
• Manipulation - e.g. false narratives about famous people; use of online clones for criminal activity.
• Delusion  - using AI for advice and romantic ‘relationships’.
• Diminishment of our humanity
  • Loss of human creativity  - 'AI slop' may be obvious now, but its creativity will get better.
  • Loss of independent thought  - we ask Google for facts, but people ask Gemini for opinions.
  • Loss of power - if AI knows more than me, then I might think I don’t have authority over it; knowledge is power right?
  • Loss of experience - humans grow and learn through experiences, but AI offers answers right now – but without the forming, reflecting and patient learning that we are designed for as we waiting on the Lord, pray, read and reflect.
• Surveillance – LFR (Live Facial Recognition), as well as helping with crime, this could be used to restrict freedom of movement, freedom of commerce, information control, supressing those with unorthodox views.
• Military - highspeed autonomous drones flying alongside military aircraft with shields and weapons; mothership drones; long range patrol ghost ships with no humans aboard, battlefield data-processing, deepfakes to confuse the enemy.
• 'Pdoom' – could this be an extinction level event? What is the chance that AI will being the end of the human race through human error, human plan or through AI taking over from humans?!

There is a lot of ‘scope and scale’ for sinful behaviour here, and so questions need to be asked:

• What should be the regulations?
• Who are the regulators?
• How will the regulations be enforced?

If all this sounds ovewhelming, then let’s get some perspective: on AI, on humans and on God...

PERPSECTIVE ON AI

• What AI isn’t
  • It’s not conscious.
  • It doesn’t have subjective experience or life experience to learn from and process and assimilate to help make decisions.
  • It isn’t personal. It’s not a person. it can mimic humans. People have conversations with AI. It can sound human and personal. But it is not.
  • It doesn’t comprehend what it’s doing.
  • It doesn’t have a soul
  • It’s not a morally responsible agent.
  • It’s not wise: knowledge does not equal wisdom.
• What AI can’t do
  Remember AI is a reflection of ourselves, and so AI cannot help us with. 
   
  • Meaning – it cannot tell us what we’re here for.
  • Morality – it cannot tell us what is right and wrong.
  • Mortality – it cannot save us from death.
    
    We need someone from outside ourselves to tell us these things!
• What it is
  AI is a tool and if you see it as a tool and we are the master, then like any other technology it can be used in the service of God for his glory! There are good things it be can used for and it can help us with!
•  What it can do 
  AI can be a very helpful tool, for instance:
  • Mathematics - solving incredibly complex maths problems
  • Medicine  - e.g. early cancer diagnoses, drug discovery, reading Xrays faster and more accurately.
  • Robotics  - e.g. robot surgeons who will be more experienced, more accurate, more dextrous, better success rate, cheaper.
  • Science  - e.g. climate modelling, understanding causes, more accurate predictions.
  • Coding – most coding is already done by AI
  • Ministry - help with study aids, administration, language support for non-English speakers, AI can even be a conversation partner.  

There are advantages to AI. Like other technologies before it, it can be very helpful.  Use it, but don’t be used by it: know what you are doing and be thankful. And remember: the risk is not AI itself of course, but the people deploying their intelligence. It’s not technology that is the problem, it is the users.

PERSPECTIVE ON HUMANS

• Image of God: Only people are in the image of God with personhood, with souls. And that means…
• Relationship: Humans are designed to Love, worship, know, obey God, for real relationship with our actual Creator. People use AI for affirmation, but what greater affirmation could there be than being actually loved for actually who you are. Someone who made you (not a pretend someone you made!) and truly knows you. And that Someone actually sent his Son to die for you. Actually, in reality, in history, Jesus gave his very life for you! And this Someone won’t leave you in sin and selfishness, He is Someone who loves you enough to challenge you and change you to be the person He created you to be! 
  
  And for relationship to actual other real people, face-to-face. The apostle John longs to see Gaius face-to-face (3 John 14). We are to greet one another with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 2 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).  With the rise of deep fakes online – and where we won’t be able to tell if an image or a video is real any more - perhaps we will all be encouraged to actually meet people face-to-face.
• Authority: AI is a tool for humans to use but we humans have God-given authority. We are to rule under God, over the earth. That is God’s design. We are to grow in wisdom and decide to use the tools wisely.
• Wisdom: AI doesn’t have wisdom. AI can’t give true wisdom. Wisdom is a blessing for humans and comes from relationship with God - which only humans have. You can’t ‘shortcut sanctification’ – through the Word, prayer and the work of the Spirit we grow…
• Formation: It is the Word of God, the Holy Spirit and prayer that brings change. That takes time and relationship as the Lord forms us, as He renews our minds. It is the Spirit of God using the Word of God that changes us. AI cannot replace prayer!
  
  As a pastor works on the text of the Bible, he himself is being formed. As a formed, shaped, growing, being-sancitified person, he pastors and helps form the people through the Word, the Holy Spirit and prayer.  This takes time. Yes information, but reflection, patience and personal presence to shepherd the flock.

PERSPECTIVE ON GOD

Jesus Christ is Lord of all 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

God’s power raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavens! God has put everything under his feet; Jesus is head over everything for the Church (see Ephesians 1:20-22). Nothing can threaten his power! Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18); He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). God has infinite power and wisdom and if he can use the wickedness of the killing of the Author of Life to bring an immeasurable fountain of good – the salvation of his people - then he can indeed always use even great wickedness for men to bring about his good purposes. So take comfort. Even if AI were to break and destroy the world (and I’m not saying it will), it will only be unwittingly and unconsciously and unknowingly fulfilling the LORD Almighty’s Grand Plan.

The gospel is powerful

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  (Romans 1:16).

What does the all powerful Jesus give us to do since his first disciples?  Preach his powerful message. This is His power on earth, and so we must remain on task. Sharing the gospel can seem small and insignificant, but it is God’s plan and God’s power for salvation!

And so, we need to be alert, but we do not need to be afraid and we are to keep preaching the gospel of Christ.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7).

[1] This phrase was used by Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) to descibe his work in celestial mechanics.