We live in an age where artificial intelligence allows the creation of increasingly realistic digital avatars, deepfakes, and chatbots. While such technologies can be entertaining and useful, they also threaten to undermine trust and blur the line between authenticity and artificiality. For Christians seeking to live with wisdom, this development raises deep questions about discerning truth in a world of high-tech facades. How can we follow Jesus, who declared “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), when technology distorts truth and reality?
The Rise of Deceptive AI
Recent AI advances allow the generation of realistic fake media and interactive bots posing convincingly as humans. Apps can now synthesize near-perfect vocal impersonations after analyzing just a few minutes of someone’s speech. Algorithmically generated “deepfake” videos depict public figures doing or saying things they never actually did. Bots can pass the Turing test by engaging in free-flowing conversations on social media while personas like “digital twins” offer interactive AI duplicates of real people. Some envision a future “metaverse” where we interact as avatars in virtual reality.
While most current AI creations are detectable as artificial upon close inspection, they are becoming rapidly more sophisticated and seamless. Some technologists predict they will be indistinguishable from reality within decades. As Christian author and filmmaker Ray Kurzweil has said, “By the late 2030s, nonbiological intelligence will be billions of times smarter than biological intelligence. We will have actually merged with it, enhancing our own human intelligence with the synthetic intelligence we have created.” This raises profound moral questions.
Nicholas Carr summarizes it this way: “As AI technology grows ever more sophisticated, the thinking goes, it will become ever harder to tell the real from the fake, the human from the machine. Reality itself will seem to blur, so that it becomes increasingly difficult to know what’s true and what’s not.” Discerning truth may prove challenging.
The Deception of Facades
From a biblical perspective, the core problem with emerging AI tech is its potential to deceive. Advanced chatbots and avatars create an illusion of relationship without its substance. Deepfakes falsify reality rather than representing it accurately. Even mundane everyday virtual assistants like Siri masquerade as helpful human-like companions.
This echoes the biblical theme of warning against deceptive facades that conceal truth. Isaiah condemned ancient Judah’s false religiosity saying, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). Jesus quoted this passage in rebuking Pharisees whose outward piety hid inward corruption. They were whitewashed tombs that “outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27). Outward appearances can deceive.
The book of Revelation also warns against an ominous “image of the beast” that deceives the nations (Revelation 13:14). While the fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecies is debated, many scholars see this as a symbolic warning against Domitian’s cult of emperor worship and totalitarian power masquerading as benevolence in first-century Rome. More broadly, it cautions against political and cultural facades that oppose God’s truth.
As Richard Bauckham explains, “The image is the means of inducing people throughout the world to worship the beast…It gives a visible focus for devotion to the beast and so draws worship away from the true God.” Its deception leads to idolatry. This remains a danger with any technology promising more than it can truly offer.
The Reformers applied such warnings to various facades and falsehoods promoted by corrupt clergy of their day. Martin Luther critiqued indulgences masking spiritual bankruptcy: “Outwardly they appear righteous to men, but inwardly they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” John Calvin exposed late medieval superstitions as “the false disguises with which Satan has enveloped all lies to make them seem authentic.” Discerning facades requires biblical grounding.
Discerning AI’s Limitations
Unlike these biblical warnings, most current AI facades are not overtly deceitful but simply artificial constructs with significant limitations. Chatbots cannot relate empathetically as human friends. Avatars lack the complexity of real people created in God’s image. Deepfakes fabricate events rather than depicting reality.
These limitations mean most AI creations do not currently require moral condemnation. But biblical wisdom requires viewing them clear-eyed rather than credulously accepting the facades they generate. As technology critic Nicholas Carr puts it, “We crave connection so deeply, and AI seems to offer it. But it’s an illusion. And to indulge in the illusion prevents us from engaging in the real work of understanding ourselves and connecting with others.” Discernment is needed.
The book of Proverbs offers principles for seeking wisdom in an age of high-tech facades. It urges evaluating claims carefully rather than credulously: “The prudent consider their steps…Fools are wayward and lack judgment” (Proverbs 14:8, 15). It praises wisdom over folly: “The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin” (Proverbs 10:14). Scripture calls us to approach emerging technology with prudence and wisdom rooted in truth.
As John Calvin explained, “Wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” Grounding in theological truth allows appropriate evaluation of AI’s capacities. Carl Trueman argues that for historically orthodox Christians, “New technologies do not change human nature. And they cannot solve problems rooted in fallen human proclivities…sin does not disappear in some great virtual reality.” Our discernment must account for ongoing human fallenness.
Our True Hope
Most fundamentally, maintaining perspective requires grounding our identity and hope in the unchanging gospel rather than technology’s illusory promises. Paul warns against “deceptive philosophy” that lacks Christ: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8). AI facades fall into this category.
Tim Challies argues that when “new technologies give the impression of being able to accomplish things that only God is able to accomplish, they become dangerous rivals to true theology.” Any technology claiming to replicate human faculties enters this territory. But our “citizenship is in heaven” not digital realms (Philippians 3:20).
C.S. Lewis illustrates technological pride this way: “There seems no conceivable reason why [some new invention] should not finally dispense with subjects and objects altogether, should not absorb all the sovereignties and subsume all the realities. But when we encounter it in poetry, philosophy, or religion [we] expose it for the counterfeit it is.” Our hope remains in the creator, not the created.
J.I. Packer similarly warns, “The world dreams of autotheism, and offers us Promethean technology as the way to achieve it; but the biblical God is the only source and guarantee of truth, beauty, and goodness.” Truth is not found ultimately in AI systems but in joining Christ “who is the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Guidelines for Discernment
So how can we follow Christ faithfully in an emerging age of AI facades? Here are several scriptural principles:
- Test expressions carefully (1 John 4:1). Not all AI is deceptive, but we must test its claims and limitations rather than accept blindly.
- Value reality over artifice (2 Corinthians 4:2). Prefer relational messiness over seamless avatars and authentic speech over deepfakes.
- Recognize our limits (Psalm 131:1). Humility keeps us from seeking God-like knowledge or immortality through AI.
- Resist idolatry (1 John 5:21). Be wary of technology promising more than it can deliver. Avoid digital idolatry.
- Nurture wisdom (Proverbs 4:5-7). Approach new technology ethically, prudently, and skeptically. Think before embracing.
- Build genuine community (Hebrews 10:24-25). Invest in face-to-face relationships over online facades and ersatz sociality.
- Anchor identity in Christ (Galatians 2:20). Remember AI cannot replicate or replace our God-given dignity as image bearers.
- Accept mystery (Deuteronomy 29:29). Not all knowledge is attainable. AI’s limits remind us we cannot be omniscient.
- Embrace hope (Lamentations 3:21-24). Biblical hope persists despite unanswered questions. AI cannot deliver ultimate meaning.
- Pursue truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Study Scripture to ground discernment. Correct falsehood with God’s truth.
Discernment in an AI age requires carefully weighing risks and benefits while rejecting idolatrous claims that cross biblical lines. With wisdom, we can follow the one who declared “I am the truth” while navigating a complex new technological landscape. Christ-centered perspective is key.
Moving Forward in Hope
The rise of advanced AI facades will continue bringing new opportunities and risks. But the church can engage this landscape without fear by clinging to eternal truths that transcend any technology. Several hopes must ground us:
God’s truth above all. No facade rivals the living Word who took on flesh (John 1:14). As Jesus declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). His truth is eternal.
Our true identity in Christ. No avatar replicates the reality of being a beloved child of God and fellow heir with Christ (Romans 8:15-17). This is our ultimate identity.
The hope of resurrection. Our future is bodily life in a redeemed new creation, not disembodied digital existence (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). AI offers only a hint of the glory to come (Romans 8:18).
The primacy of love. No algorithm can replicate biblical love, the “most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 13:13). It never fails.
The gift of human dignity. We bear God’s image; AI does not. This is the basis for human worth (Genesis 1:27).
The promise of Christ’s return. Our hope centers on Christ’s future restoration of all things (Revelation 21:5). AI cannot deliver transcendence.
By embracing these core truths, we can engage artificial intelligence with wisdom, optimism, and faithfulness. Rather than accepting facades, we can walk in truth with the one who declared “I am…the truth.”
Cultivating Discernment
Practically speaking, how can churches cultivate spiritual discernment in an age of high-tech facades? Several suggestions may help:
- Teach a biblical theology of technology to ground perspective and evaluation. Understanding doctrines like the image of God guides application.
- Equip people to think critically about tech claims using reason, wisdom, and biblical truth. Ask good questions. Think before adopting.
- Model human community and embodiment as an alternative to the disembodied digital. Show the power of face-to-face fellowship.
- Tell stories of technology gone wrong – like social media addiction – to reveal the dangers of undiscerning enthusiasm.
- Confess the limitations of human knowledge. No technology gives omniscience. Honest humility engenders wisdom.
- Explore creative art as an avenue for expressing our God-given humanity in community. Creation reflects the Creator.
- Focus on eternal truth, not just pragmatism. Means must serve greater ends grounded in Scripture’s core teachings.
Approaching technology with nuance requires intentional cultivation of discernment within church community. But the dividends – wisdom, perspective, faithfulness – are well worth the effort.
Key Takeaways:
- Advanced AI is creating convincing but limited digital facades and bots.
- Scripture warns against deceptive appearances that conceal truth.
- Prudent wisdom is required to engage AI without accepting its illusions.
- Our hope remains anchored in eternal gospel truths, not AI’s promises.
- Biblical principles like humility and testing claims carefully should guide our discernment.
- Churches can cultivate discernment through teaching, modeling human community, telling cautionary stories, and focusing on eternal truth.