AI is a Lousy Theologian
Why Christians Should Not Use AI for Spiritual Work
As a technology enthusiast and early adopter, I’ve been quick to test and use generative AI tools for a variety of tasks, ranging from note taking to generative photography and even blog post writing – often venturing too far beyond the boundaries of my gut and conscious.
I used AI to generate photographs to use in presentations. I used AI to conduct SEO research on top search results. I used AI to analyze my writing style and compose a blog post based on research notes I had compiled on a Christian topic (to my shame, I published it, then took it down later after much conviction).
I’ve both succeeded and failed at using AI in ways that are consistent with my Christian ethics. And what I’ve learned is that AI is a great notetaker, researcher, and idea generator, but is a lousy theologian, disciple maker, and artist.
Statement of Faith
When I joined a Christian organization four years ago, I signed a contract, agreeing with its statement of faith. When I joined a church, I likewise agreed to its statement of faith. The purpose of the statement of faith is to ensure that members of the organization are aligned on doctrine – sharing the same understanding of core biblical beliefs – protecting the organization from false teaching.
Prior to being offered the job, I went through an interview process and examination to reasonably ensure that I was, in fact, a true Christian and not someone who knew all the right answers but lacked evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life. It’s important to ensure that your members share the same God-given desires and motivation for ministry.
Natural Man and the Holy Spirit
The Bible teaches that natural man is blind to the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14), and that it takes the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit to awaken someone to spiritual matters. Without the intervening presence of the Holy Spirit, people remain in a state of spiritual darkness.
According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit enables Christians to experience salvation and do the work of ministry, including:
Spiritual rebirth and renewal (Titus 3:5, Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Living a holy life and bearing fruit (Romans 8:2-4, Galatians 5:22-23)
Knowing and understanding God (1 Corinthians 2:10-12, John 16:13)
Praying effectively (Romans 8:26-27)
Boldly witnessing and preaching the Gospel (Mark 13:11, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4, Romans 15:18-19)
Receiving and using spiritual gifts to build up the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
Assuring us of our salvation (Romans 8:15-16, Ephesians 1:13-14)
Strengthening us inwardly (Ephesians 3:16)
Helping us abound in hope and joy (Romans 15:13)
Worshiping, giving thanks and submitting (Ephesians 5:18-21)
Scripture even recounts how God filled Bezalel and other artisans with His Spirit (the first time anyone in the Bible is said to be “filled with the Spirit of God”) to enable them to create art for the Tabernacle. Their artistic skill was not self-generated but enabled by the Spirit of God.
“Then Moses said to the people of Israel, ‘See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.’” - Exodus 35:30–35 (ESV)
There are certain tasks God asks us to do that can only be done by humans empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Unequally Yoked
In the New Testament, Paul warns Christians to not be “unequally yoked” with non-believers (2 Corinthians 6:14). A yoke was a wooden beam connecting two oxen, requiring them to walk side-by-side. If they are “unequal” (different sizes or strengths), they can’t efficiently move forward together. This is a metaphor for any close partnership between a Christian and a non-believer (e.g., marriage or business). It describes two people with incompatible spiritual foundations, worldviews, or moral values trying to work together. In ministry, this usually results in friction and compromise.
What AI Believes
AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are trained by information found on the public internet and additional datasets you feed it. They analyze the data for patterns and predict answers to your questions. So, if you ask it to tell you who the greatest basketball player of all-time is, it will predict an answer based on the information it has access to (and choose Michael Jordan, of course).
Sometimes, you can limit its “knowledge” by explicitly telling it so. For example, in the section on Natural Man and the Holy Spirit above, I fed Claude a PDF of the ESV Bible and asked it to compile a list of things the Holy Spirt enables Christians to do – based solely on the text of the attached file – and include Scripture references and quotes. Since AI sometimes “hallucinates” (or makes faulty predictions), I manually verified each of the Scripture references before including them in this article.
Prior to the recent AI explosion, when conducting research on a particular topic, a Christian could easily limit his sources to those that align with his doctrinal beliefs. You might use Logos software to limit your search to just Calvin’s Institutes, John MacArthur’s commentaries, or Charles Spurgeon’s sermons – sources you trusted. You could account for their perspectives and biases.
With AI, you often don’t know the sources. AI is pulling information from all over the internet – and from sources of which you aren’t even aware. If you ask it to tell you who Jesus is, it will predict an answer informed by Atheism, Humanism, Islam, Catholicism, and every brand of Christianity under the sun. Every crackpot on the internet could have a say in that answer.
Conclusion
When Christians use AI tools, they should understand that those tools are not necessarily aligned with them doctrinally or missionally. These tools don’t believe that Christ is God, or that Scripture is the inspired, infallible Word of God. These tools do not possess the Holy Spirit to discern truth from error but are simply regurgitating what the world has said about Christian topics.
AI is basically an unsaved intern or contractor you’ve hired, who hasn’t signed the statement of faith. You might get them to take notes for you, design the bulletin, or fix a leaky faucet, but you would never ask them to lead a Bible study, compose your sermon, or create a God-honoring piece of art. Christians must be vigilant to ensure the tasks God routinely empowers Spirit-filled Christians to do are not outsourced to the spiritually blind.