AI The Shepherd

Ron Carpenter is a pastor of a large church in San Jose called Redemption Church. He recently shared some new information on his upcoming app on his social media platforms. In the clip he says, “Ok, I'd love to have my own personal pastor so I hit the Ron Carpenter ministries and I call pastor Ron. After I call pastor Ron, let's say…i'm not feeling well and…” Then as he is doing this on his phone the app speaks up! It's the app talking to him in Ron’s own voice. It sounds exactly like him. The app says through his phone, “This is pastor carpenter how can I help”. So he says right back to his phone that he is not feeling well and if he could pray for him. Then his phone, after about a minute, speaks up again in Ron’s voice saying, “Hey there, I'm sorry to hear you are not feeling well. Let's take a moment to pray together. Heavenly Father….” and then he starts praying! Ron interrupts the app and says there is more to come that they are going  to announce about this new app.

This is just a new wrinkle in AI (artificial intelligence) technology. There has already been for a long time now apps, websites and programs that will take anyone famous and have them speak and say almost anything. I recently saw a clip where an AI program has Frank Sinatra sing an Eminem rap song! And let me tell you, if you didn’t know that Frank died before this song was even written, you may not have realized it was a computer doing it. I've used programs where it takes my face and superimposes it on Clint Eastwood or Sylvester Stallone in some of their movie clips. You can type up anything (literally anything) and AI will have a picture of it for you. I could take this very blog, drop it in some AI software and it will rewrite the whole thing to make it more readable, academic, efficient or whatever I want!  This is now the brave new world of computer technology. And now it has entered into the church. There has already been talk out there about AI writing sermons for pastors and is this ethical or not. But now Pastor Ron has taken this to a whole new level….he’s praying for you without actually praying for you!

 What does the bible say about this? What should be the church’s position on something like this? I honestly believe that it is unbiblical. I suggest that we first look at how God has made us. He has made us in His image. While this means a lot of things, one of the specific things it means is that we are relatable beings. We have relationships and relate to other humans in a way and at a level like no other creature on earth. And because we were made for this, that means we also need it. We need relationships with other humans. This is why God has instituted marriage, family, societies and the church. And not only do we need relationships, we are made this way because we also can relate to God! And by replacing your pastor with a computer, you are just simply replacing something God has designed to something man has designed. You are turning a real, helpful, God designed means of grace relationship to a superficial, shallow, unemotional one. The pastor is more than someone who just prays for you or preaches to you. But unfortunately I feel like that is what the modern church thinks. The pastor is supposed to be a shepherd. Ministering to you on many different levels. This is why I have never been a fan of the TV Chuches. Church plants that don't have a pastor at all. The just get together around a TV screen and watch the worship service from the home ,church. Who is ministering to these people?!

Also consider what prayer is. Prayer is a way we relate to God. Thomas Watson said, “Prayer is the soul’s breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father.” Jesus taught us to relate to God as a Father when praying to Him. But this app makes prayer seem like some sort of religious business exchange. I am sick, so something needs to pray over me so God can heal me, this computer will fulfill that. It's like we need a genie and this app will rub the lamp for us. Why would you even bother? Why not just go to God yourself if your own pastor can not do it for you? Do we honestly think that God will move at the whims and commands of a computer? Do we really believe that God will respond to a request made by something that is not human, not life and without a soul? This waters down prayer to just a religious ceremony of asking and receiving. It is just a transaction. But prayer is more than this. Thomas Brooks said, “God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly. The true mother would not have the child divided. God loves a broken and contrite heart, so he loathes a divided heart. God neither loves halting nor halving.”

But where is the heart in the prayer of the AI pastor? As we move into the use of AI technology, let us be careful not to replace that which God has designed for us. For no matter how smart the computers get, God still knows best.