The Flawed Promise of AI

I’m getting daily offers of some AI program to speed up my writing and achieve success. In every area of human endeavour, we’re promised some ill-defined nirvana.

In 2023 venture capitalist Marc Andreesen published the ‘techno-optimist manifesto.’ He wrote, “I am here to bring good news that there is no material problem whether created by nature or by technology that cannot be solved with more technology. . . . [we’ll make] everyone rich, everything cheap, and everything abundant.” What about moral, compassionate, loving, faithful, honest?

By contrast Catholic novelist Walker Percy declared; “You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because despite great scientific advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.” That is the real problem. Fallen sinful human beings think they call solve all human ills and even perfect mankind their own efforts. The cry is, “Technology is our Saviour!” Most recently—and temporarily—the cry has become, “Tariffs are our Saviours!”

In spite of the disaster that was the twentieth century, we haven’t learned where the problem lies. The problem goes back to the Garden when the Devil tempted Eve; “You shall be as gods.” He has been tempting us ever since. He even tempted Christ. “If you are the Son of God”…show us a miracle. Today he tempts mankind to think that if we only adopt AI, we can transform “the cosmos into a perfectly functioning machine.”

Christ reminded the Devil then, as he would today, man’s highest good is to live sustained by “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). May the Lord help us to be good students of the Word, giving it time to remake us within—not to make us gods, but to make us humble, devoted disciples of the Master through faith in his saving work on the cross.

Jeffrey Bilbro reminds us that “our vocation as Christ-followers , then, is to follow the path that Jesus trod, to walk, slowly with others, to suffer, and—ultimately to become capable of embodying God’s presence to others…Christ did good things slowly, and so must we.…Jesus didn’t jet around the world; he walked around Judea.…We must refuse technologies that promise to automate our relationships with the world and with one another.”

Speed up writing? Speed up poetry. Speed up art? I don’t think so.

(Ideas and quotations from; Christianity Today, January/February issue: AI and all its splendor by Jeffrey Bilbro, p. 59.)

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. If I can help you spiritually, let me know. Further articles, books, and stories at:  Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ; Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)

If God is All-powerful Why is there Suffering? – Pondering one of the big questions

God is all powerful, and yet some Christians get sick and die. Skeptics ask, If that is true, why does he allow bad things to happen—even to believers. Let me make some general comments about this question.

Firstly, we live in a chaotic, fallen world. God did not initiate the evil that pervades our world. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James. 1:13). Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. Their choice ushered the consequences of their rebellion into the world. Their choice has infected all their posterity. This inherited depravity is the root of suffering and evil which has spread throughout the world. Facing suffering is an inevitable result of living in this fallen, rebellious world.

Secondly, God overrules evil for the good of his children. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers and betrayed by Potiphar’s wife, explained God’s overruling of the evil he had suffered by saying; “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). Paul explains in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Although bad things happen, God overrules them for the furtherance of his good purposes, of which one is to bless those who love God.

Thirdly, although mankind is fallen, the salvation of men and women out of that evil chaos, through the working of his grace in Jesus Christ will powerfully manifest God’s glory—the glory of his love and mercy. As the moon shines brightest in the night sky, so God’s grace shines forth in stunning brilliance set against the darkness of human depravity.

Fourthly, having faith in God is foundational to dealing with questions such as this. The Scriptures urge us to learn to trust God. “Without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6) And without faith it is also impossible to live joyfully in a chaotic world. Lord, help us to walk by faith. Without learning to trust in the revealed character of God, we will never find stability and confidence, nor be able to deal with suffering. “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” ( Gen 18:25) Can we trust his character?

Fifthly, we must accept mystery and our own limitations. The ways of God are beyond our understanding. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33). Understanding the interplay of the myriad factors that combine to form God’s inscrutable will is beyond us. Moses laid down an important principle in Deut. 29:29. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Some things are secret. Only God understands them. The greatest mystery of all is God and how he operates. Let’s take what he has revealed about how we should live and so act. In the doing we often discover a measure of understanding. Why do we demand to know everything about how God works? Such a demand is not only arrogant but unrealistic. The complete answer to earth’s mysteries is our comprehension.

Sixthly, we need to realize that no one has a more satisfactory answer than the Christian. Most who pose this question use it as an excuse to avoid grappling with the Gospel or are dealing with grief over the suffering in a spouse or friend. Wherever we search, whether in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or Shintoism or among atheists, we will not find a more satisfactory answer to this question. Wouldn’t you rather trust the compassionate God who sent his Son into the heart of suffering to enable us to overcome misery and hopelessness to live victorious lives in a chaotic world?

The almighty God calls us to bring our concerns to him. He has not called us to live with doubts and fears, even in the most challenging circumstances. We can find help from him. But first, we need to ensure that we have an intimate connection with this Almighty God, who can be our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus Christ. Let us make sure that we have gone to Christ for salvation, confessing our sins and trusting in the penalty he paid for them upon the cross. Then let us walk in biblical truth, rejecting the lies of our culture that seduces us into believing that there is no help in the Christian faith, urging us instead to believe in ourselves. Instead, let us “Make the Most High your dwelling” (91:9). He alone is infinite, eternal, all powerful in his wisdom love and grace.

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. If I can help you spiritually, let me know. Further articles, books, and stories at:  Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ; Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)

The Mystery and Comfort of Providence

As Christians, providence is a truth we seldom mention, but a reality that is the ground of our consolation and hope. In an article in Christianity Today, Brad East unpacks some of the implications of providence.

He quotes Augustine, “The whole of creation is governed by its creator, from whom and by whom and in whom it was founded and established. And thus God’s will is the first and highest cause of all creatures and events.”

East goes on to explain that “providence is comprehensive, nothing is excluded from it. God wills some things actively, and these are ‘incontrovertibly good.’ But “God permits other things, and these are defects, errors, sufferings, or evils.” And here differences among theologians arise.

But despite their differences, all celebrate providence, for without its promise, Christians would find no consolation in a chaotic fallen world. Knowing that God works in and through all things for the good of his children (Romans 8:28) is an enormous impetus to persevere in following and serving Christ in spite of opposition, illness, or hindrances of many kinds.

East remind us that “the watchword for providence in all ages is Joseph’s response to his brothers: You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good (Gen 50:20).”

“Providence doesn’t make history easy to interpret. It makes living through it endurable.” Not only endurable but victorious because of the good news of Christ and his cross and resurrection. For he has entered history to overcome evil and lead us on in and through the murky waters of life.

“Here’s the difficult truth: The sheer fact that something has happened—that God willed or allowed it to happen—tells us nothing whatever about the thing itself. It may be a cause for celebration or lament, or, more likely a mixture of both…Sifting history” is a long game best left to its author.

Providence calls us to a life of faith, not faith in our own ability to discern the reasons for happenings, but faith in the God of providence. And “faith is the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1) nor understood.

Perhaps William Cowper described it best in his immortal hymn:

1. God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform.
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in the dark and hidden mines,
With never-failing skill,
He fashions all his bright designs
And works his sov’reign will.

Refrain:
So God we trust in you.
O God, we trust in you.
When tears are great and comforts few,
We hope in mercies ever new,
We trust in you.

2. Oh, fearful saints, new courage take:
The clouds that you now dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace.
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face.

3. God’s purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour.
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan his work in vain.
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

(article by Brad East, Christianty Today, Nov/Dec 20-24, Our Strength and Consolation, p. 84)

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. If I can help you spiritually, let me know. Further articles, books, and stories at:  Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ; Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)