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Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing faster than most of us can track. New applications emerge constantly, major corporations and private individuals alike are adopting it, and what is true today may be overtaken by tomorrow. The aim of what follows is not to provide technical expertise but to think carefully—as Christians—about what AI is, what it is not, and how we might use it wisely.
What Is AI, Exactly?
Christians do not need to be specialists in a field to think biblically about it. You do not need to be an obstetrician to know that abortion is wrong, and you do not need a computer science degree to reflect on what AI means for everyday life.At its most basic level, what most people are now interacting with—through tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini—involves what is called large language models: text-based or voice-based systems that can analyse questions and respond in ways that feel remarkably human. That human-feeling quality is precisely where the challenge lies. These systems blur certain lines in ways we ought to notice.
It Is a Machine, Not a Person
AI is a machine. It has no soul. It has no consciousness. Genesis 1 tells us that God made humans in his own image—and if God is not the Creator, there is no human being, no soul involved. AI cannot become truly self-conscious or have genuinely unique thoughts. It is a mathematical algorithm that mimics life. It rearranges what already exists; it does not create from nothing.This is also worth noting in the current cultural moment. There is a troubling tendency in modern society to blur the lines between persons and machines. We want to do away with the distinction between male and female, while simultaneously making machines and animals seem more human. There is a spiritual dimension to all of this that deserves careful attention. Romans 1 warns us about the perversion of human thinking, and this confusion about what it means to be human is part of that broader pattern.
The Spiritual and Commercial Reality Behind the Machine
It is also worth remembering that these tools are not being made available to us out of philanthropy. They are produced by companies with particular worldviews, particular goals, and enormous financial investment. Freely accessible AI is not neutral; it reflects the values of those who build it. We do not need to be conspiracy theorists to acknowledge that sin is present in the world, and that the people designing these systems are not exempt from it. Awareness of that reality is simply wisdom.
AI as a Tool: The Dominion Mandate
Theologically, one helpful framework comes from Doug Wilson’s work on productivity, where he argues that technology is a form of wealth. The Bible does not address digital technology directly, but it speaks extensively about wealth and how we are to handle it. These tools can make our lives more productive—but the question is always whether we are being productive in the way God made us to be.Critically, the Bible speaks about fruitfulness, not efficiency. Fruitfulness involves processes—growth, cultivation, time. A machine will always be more efficient than a human being, but efficiency is not the same as fruitfulness. Work is not a curse. It is part of what it means to bear the image of God, and we should not be looking for tools that let us avoid it.The right category, then, is the dominion mandate. We are called to take dominion over creation—and that includes the tools available to us. We are to be the masters of the tool, not servants of it. The machine must serve us; we must not serve it.
The Dangers of Laziness and Integrity
Two dangers stand out clearly.The first is laziness. AI is extraordinarily fast. It can produce a sermon structure, summarise a biblical passage, or write an essay in seconds. But that speed can become a way of skipping the processes that are actually good for us. One of our elders tested this directly: Having prepared and completed his sermon, he inserted the same text into an AI tool. The output was, unsettlingly accurate in parts—though on closer inspection contained at least five sections that bore the clear marks of prosperity gospel teaching or other error. At face value it looked fine. Underneath, it was unreliable. Laziness in this space is not merely inefficient; it is spiritually dangerous.There is genuine value in the process. Synthetic food is never as nutritious as what grows naturally. A wine produced overnight will never rival one that has been properly aged. The process produces the quality. If we bypass the process of wrestling with a text, thinking through a theological question, or forming our own prayer in our own words, we lose something we may not even notice until much later.The second danger is integrity. Presenting AI-generated content as our own is plagiarism. The fact that the source is a machine rather than a human being does not change that. If the thoughts are not yours, if the words are not yours, saying they are is dishonest. This applies with particular force to pastoral work. A pastoral prayer is a personal and relational act—between the pastor, the word of God, and the congregation. To recite an AI-generated prayer as one’s own is not merely lazy; there is something duplicitous about it. And where did the machine get that prayer from? The Puritans? Creflo Dollar? A prayer book of unknown provenance? You simply do not know.
A Useful Benchmark
A helpful test for whether a given use of AI is legitimate is simply this: Would you, without hesitation or guilt, give this task to a personal assistant? If yes, then giving it to an AI tool is probably also fine. If not—if it would feel like commissioning someone else to do work that should bear your name—then it is not legitimate.Leonardo da Vinci would not have been served by commissioning others to paint his canvases. The genius would have been lost. Anything that requires your voice, your thought, your pastoral presence must come from you.
Legitimate and Helpful Uses
Within those boundaries, there is a wide range of genuinely useful applications.
Research and memory-jogging. Looking up which king a particular prophet addressed, finding a cross-reference, checking a historical fact are all tasks that previously required sifting through encyclopaedias and commentaries. AI can do it in seconds. The key is that you already know enough to verify whether the answer is correct. If you are asking about something in your area of knowledge, you will recognise nonsense when you see it. If you are asking about something entirely unfamiliar, the risk of accepting a plausible-sounding error is much higher.
Sharpening your thinking. Someone I know uses AI as a sparring partner. He states a position, asks the AI to argue against it from, say, an atheist standpoint, and then pushes back from a Reformed position. The machine can take on any intellectual posture. This sharpens his thinking without the need to find a willing debate partner—and it is entirely his work, his reasoning, his engagement.
Drafting and editing. AI can be useful for suggesting how to word something more clearly, tighten a paragraph, or say something in a different way. The key is that the thoughts remain yours. The machine is functioning like a grammar-aware editor, not a ghostwriter.
Practical and everyday tasks. Transcription, unit conversions, comparing documents (such as two insurance quotes), planning a route, working out the dimensions of a piece of furniture from a photograph, or answering a quick cooking question are entirely legitimate uses of AI. They are no different in kind from using a calculator or a dictionary.
A Word on Skill and Discernment
One further concern is worth raising: As AI becomes more prevalent, we may lose skills we do not even realise we are losing. Those of us who grew up in a pre-digital world learned the analogue methods first, and that foundation allows us to evaluate digital outputs with some degree of discernment. People who have never learned to do research, construct an argument, or write clearly will have no framework for recognising when AI is giving them rubbish—and they may simply accept it.This is not an argument against using AI. It is an argument for not using AI as a substitute for developing competence.
Be Fruitful, Not Merely Efficient
Work is not a curse. Do not use AI to escape it. Think in terms of fruitfulness, not efficiency. If a tool can remove a genuinely menial task and free you to do what actually matters, use it. But do not use it to shirk the work that God has given you to do.Give to the machine anything you would legitimately hand to a personal assistant without any sense of dishonesty. Anything that requires your words, your thought, your presence before God and before people must come from you.AI is not going to take over the world. It is not going to replace human beings. But it is powerful, it is shaped by people with particular agendas, and it rewards the thoughtful and penalises the lazy. Use it wisely.