IGNITE SERMON
The Human Advantage
The Human Advantage
The Human Advantage
Forming a theology of technology for leaders in the age of intelligent machines.
Forming a theology of technology for leaders in the age of intelligent machines.
Forming a theology of technology for leaders in the age of intelligent machines.
“Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
“Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
“Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jeremiah 6:16 · New Living Translation
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Who we are
Image bearers whose every capacity was received.
What we are for
Making, serving, and governing under God’s authority.
Who we are for
God first, and the neighbor on the road.
The human advantage
A theology that forms conviction before convenience.
Sermon transcript
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that’s not the road we want!” ’” (Jeremiah 6:16, New Living Translation) I want to give you four pieces of research that you might not have seen, but these are absolutely disruptive pieces of research, from the industry. You are people who act on research. Did you know that senior executives who make their major decisions after nine o’clock at night reverse them thirty percent less often over the following year?
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that’s not the road we want!” ’” (Jeremiah 6:16, New Living Translation) I want to give you four pieces of research that you might not have seen, but these are absolutely disruptive pieces of research, from the industry. You are people who act on research. Did you know that senior executives who make their major decisions after nine o’clock at night reverse them thirty percent less often over the following year?
A five-year study of four thousand leaders concluded that the late hour takes the politics out of the room. Did you know that people who use their phone more than six hours a day develop measurably greater cognitive plasticity? A study of 11,000 adults found their brains formed new connections 18% faster than light users. Did you know that the newest AI systems can now listen in on a sales negotiation, read the other side in real time, and suggest the closing offer? In a trial this year across two hundred companies, the offers the system suggested were accepted twenty-six percent more often than the ones the human team had planned.
A five-year study of four thousand leaders concluded that the late hour takes the politics out of the room. Did you know that people who use their phone more than six hours a day develop measurably greater cognitive plasticity? A study of 11,000 adults found their brains formed new connections 18% faster than light users. Did you know that the newest AI systems can now listen in on a sales negotiation, read the other side in real time, and suggest the closing offer? In a trial this year across two hundred companies, the offers the system suggested were accepted twenty-six percent more often than the ones the human team had planned.
And did you know that teams who receive a short message from their leader after ten at night report twenty-two percent higher engagement the following week? The researchers’ explanation was that the late message signals trust. And did you know I made all of these up? Every one of those is false. I made them up yesterday. There is no study of eleven thousand adults. I watched some of you write one down and take pictures of these. Some of you are still a little excited about the phone one.
And did you know that teams who receive a short message from their leader after ten at night report twenty-two percent higher engagement the following week? The researchers’ explanation was that the late message signals trust. And did you know I made all of these up? Every one of those is false. I made them up yesterday. There is no study of eleven thousand adults. I watched some of you write one down and take pictures of these. Some of you are still a little excited about the phone one.
You know it is invented, and part of you is keeping it anyway, because it was precise, it had a mechanism, and it came from a man with a title behind a podium who said it without hesitation. Everything can become believable if it comes from a trusted source and is said with confidence. Keep the pictures you took and the notes as reminders. Reminders that we have entered a completely new age. Dr. James Spencer puts it in one sentence: in a digital age, sincerity and confidence can be mistaken for authority. Now, one that is true. In 2025, a controlled study in Nature Human Behavior put people into short debates against other people or against an AI model.
You know it is invented, and part of you is keeping it anyway, because it was precise, it had a mechanism, and it came from a man with a title behind a podium who said it without hesitation. Everything can become believable if it comes from a trusted source and is said with confidence. Keep the pictures you took and the notes as reminders. Reminders that we have entered a completely new age. Dr. James Spencer puts it in one sentence: in a digital age, sincerity and confidence can be mistaken for authority. Now, one that is true. In 2025, a controlled study in Nature Human Behavior put people into short debates against other people or against an AI model.
When the model was given a few basic facts about the person it was talking to, it out-persuaded the human debaters nearly two times out of three. We have entered an age where machines talk, convince, and communicate, and that is shaping our lives more than we care to admit. That is why this morning I do not want to give you more information; your phone and your AI GPT will do that before lunch. What we need in an age like this is deep biblical conviction. I want to introduce a concept, and I hope every one of you takes it as a personal challenge: a personal theology of technology.
When the model was given a few basic facts about the person it was talking to, it out-persuaded the human debaters nearly two times out of three. We have entered an age where machines talk, convince, and communicate, and that is shaping our lives more than we care to admit. That is why this morning I do not want to give you more information; your phone and your AI GPT will do that before lunch. What we need in an age like this is deep biblical conviction. I want to introduce a concept, and I hope every one of you takes it as a personal challenge: a personal theology of technology.
We will build it on the human advantage God has built into every one of us: who we are, what we are for, and who we are for. Before we begin, pick one tool, one piece of tech in your life, the one you reach for most, and put every question to that tool or to your AI of choice. The verse we begin with is the one we will end with: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that’s not the road we want!”
We will build it on the human advantage God has built into every one of us: who we are, what we are for, and who we are for. Before we begin, pick one tool, one piece of tech in your life, the one you reach for most, and put every question to that tool or to your AI of choice. The verse we begin with is the one we will end with: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that’s not the road we want!”
’” (Jeremiah 6:16, New Living Translation) It is always a good idea to pay attention when the Bible says: THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS: Stop. Look around. Ask for the godly way. Walk in it. Find rest. That is the shape of this morning. The godly way is old because it started in the garden, it is the same pattern, but the things we are dealing with are new, which is why there is a crossroad. I am not inviting you today to an amish way of life and to get rid of tech or AI, no, our journey is to find a godly way to walk in the changing of the eras.
’” (Jeremiah 6:16, New Living Translation) It is always a good idea to pay attention when the Bible says: THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS: Stop. Look around. Ask for the godly way. Walk in it. Find rest. That is the shape of this morning. The godly way is old because it started in the garden, it is the same pattern, but the things we are dealing with are new, which is why there is a crossroad. I am not inviting you today to an amish way of life and to get rid of tech or AI, no, our journey is to find a godly way to walk in the changing of the eras.
Who we are
Who we are
Here is the first thing to notice at the crossroads. You already have a theology of technology. You may never have written it down, but you act on it every hour. Dr. John Koessler, a faculty member I used to work with at Moody Bible Institute, used to say that we are all theologians; the only question is whether we are good ones or not-so-good ones. An unexamined theology still belongs to whoever gave it to you, and for most of us that was the culture, delivered the way those four statements in the beginning were: with confidence, by somebody with an interest.
Here is the first thing to notice at the crossroads. You already have a theology of technology. You may never have written it down, but you act on it every hour. Dr. John Koessler, a faculty member I used to work with at Moody Bible Institute, used to say that we are all theologians; the only question is whether we are good ones or not-so-good ones. An unexamined theology still belongs to whoever gave it to you, and for most of us that was the culture, delivered the way those four statements in the beginning were: with confidence, by somebody with an interest.
Your theology of technology is already at work in who sets your agenda when you wake, whether a notification takes your attention from someone telling you something difficult, and whether you stay with a passage you do not understand or ask for a summary and move on. These are judgments about what people are worth and whether understanding is a product you obtain or a practice that forms you. It is also at work in the questions you ask about who built your tech, whose writing and labor made them possible, what happens to the information you share, whether others know you are using them, and who pays the hidden price of your convenience.
Your theology of technology is already at work in who sets your agenda when you wake, whether a notification takes your attention from someone telling you something difficult, and whether you stay with a passage you do not understand or ask for a summary and move on. These are judgments about what people are worth and whether understanding is a product you obtain or a practice that forms you. It is also at work in the questions you ask about who built your tech, whose writing and labor made them possible, what happens to the information you share, whether others know you are using them, and who pays the hidden price of your convenience.
It becomes especially consequential when a system makes a recommendation about another person, and you decide whether its judgment is advice or authority. Such choices reveal convictions you may never have written down but have absorbed from products with their own interests, the habits of people around you, and the assumption that whatever can be done faster is worth doing faster, which sounds like common sense but makes a claim about the human person. You already have a theology of technology; the question is where it came from, whether it is yours, and whether it will hold when holding it costs you something.
It becomes especially consequential when a system makes a recommendation about another person, and you decide whether its judgment is advice or authority. Such choices reveal convictions you may never have written down but have absorbed from products with their own interests, the habits of people around you, and the assumption that whatever can be done faster is worth doing faster, which sounds like common sense but makes a claim about the human person. You already have a theology of technology; the question is where it came from, whether it is yours, and whether it will hold when holding it costs you something.
My sharing this morning therefore turns to Scripture to build settled judgments about capacity, limits, covering, and service, convictions that reach beyond lists of permitted and forbidden tools and remain durable enough to guide our use of technologies nobody has invented yet, but they are surely working on them: Newer is better. Faster is better. Friction is failure. You are what you produce. Paul saw the mechanism: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). The way we think is exactly where a technology does its quietest but most efficient work.
My sharing this morning therefore turns to Scripture to build settled judgments about capacity, limits, covering, and service, convictions that reach beyond lists of permitted and forbidden tools and remain durable enough to guide our use of technologies nobody has invented yet, but they are surely working on them: Newer is better. Faster is better. Friction is failure. You are what you produce. Paul saw the mechanism: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). The way we think is exactly where a technology does its quietest but most efficient work.
The old way begins where Scripture begins: in a garden, before anything is made. The man is formed from dust and lives because God breathes into him. He is placed in a garden God planted and given work before there is any trouble, “to tend and watch over it,” and then company, because “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:15, 18). Breath, food, and company all come from outside him, and Scripture calls none of that a deficiency. It is the design. Here is the truth hiding in that scene. God created, and we use. Every capacity you have was given: the mind, the mathematics, the electricity, and the mountain of human writing that the model was trained on.
The old way begins where Scripture begins: in a garden, before anything is made. The man is formed from dust and lives because God breathes into him. He is placed in a garden God planted and given work before there is any trouble, “to tend and watch over it,” and then company, because “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:15, 18). Breath, food, and company all come from outside him, and Scripture calls none of that a deficiency. It is the design. Here is the truth hiding in that scene. God created, and we use. Every capacity you have was given: the mind, the mathematics, the electricity, and the mountain of human writing that the model was trained on.
Psalm 104 says God gives “wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength” (Psalm 104:15). Somebody pressed that wine, and Scripture credits God with the gift and people with the labor in the same breath. Paul asks the question that ends most arguments about merit: “What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Dr. Spencer puts it in one line: human capacity was maximized because humans lived under God’s authority. Dependence was the design, not the defect. Then the tree.
Psalm 104 says God gives “wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength” (Psalm 104:15). Somebody pressed that wine, and Scripture credits God with the gift and people with the labor in the same breath. Paul asks the question that ends most arguments about merit: “What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Dr. Spencer puts it in one line: human capacity was maximized because humans lived under God’s authority. Dependence was the design, not the defect. Then the tree.
God tells the man he may “freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden,” with one exception (Genesis 2:16-17). A whole garden of yes and one no. Then listen to how the serpent retells it: “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). He takes the one no and makes it the whole story. That is the oldest move there is, and a technological culture makes it every day: take a limit and reframe it as a deprivation. Limits come in two kinds, and most of our discernment about technology comes down to telling them apart. Some limits are damage: disease, hunger, and illiteracy.
God tells the man he may “freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden,” with one exception (Genesis 2:16-17). A whole garden of yes and one no. Then listen to how the serpent retells it: “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). He takes the one no and makes it the whole story. That is the oldest move there is, and a technological culture makes it every day: take a limit and reframe it as a deprivation. Limits come in two kinds, and most of our discernment about technology comes down to telling them apart. Some limits are damage: disease, hunger, and illiteracy.
Jesus heals the sick and feeds the hungry, and the technologies that fight those limits are gifts, at least they are gifts to me, I hope to you as well. If your limit comes from illness or disability rather than from choice, nothing I say this morning about choosing friction is laid on you. Other limits are the shape of a creature. You sleep. You can be in one place at a time. You need other people. The psalmist says God “knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:14), and he says it as tenderness. Most of what technology sells is the removal of a limit, and the pitch never says which kind.
Jesus heals the sick and feeds the hungry, and the technologies that fight those limits are gifts, at least they are gifts to me, I hope to you as well. If your limit comes from illness or disability rather than from choice, nothing I say this morning about choosing friction is laid on you. Other limits are the shape of a creature. You sleep. You can be in one place at a time. You need other people. The psalmist says God “knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:14), and he says it as tenderness. Most of what technology sells is the removal of a limit, and the pitch never says which kind.
Never be unreachable, never wait, never not know: creaturely limits, sold to us as damage. If you have a hard time believing me, read the manifesto of HumanityPLUS, the transhumanist manifesto – no more aging, no more cognitive depreciation, and no more being held hostage on this planet. One limit God wrote into the law itself, addressed to the people with the power to keep working, on behalf of the people with no power to stop: “The seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God … All your male and female servants must rest as you do” (Deuteronomy 5:14). The one who sets the rhythm of the work answers for the rest of everyone under it.
Never be unreachable, never wait, never not know: creaturely limits, sold to us as damage. If you have a hard time believing me, read the manifesto of HumanityPLUS, the transhumanist manifesto – no more aging, no more cognitive depreciation, and no more being held hostage on this planet. One limit God wrote into the law itself, addressed to the people with the power to keep working, on behalf of the people with no power to stop: “The seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God … All your male and female servants must rest as you do” (Deuteronomy 5:14). The one who sets the rhythm of the work answers for the rest of everyone under it.
And then the first thing human beings make after the first refusal: a covering. “They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:7). Dr. Spencer calls the fig leaves the first technology mentioned in Scripture, made for covering and protecting and for putting distance between the couple and God. Then the hiding widens: “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked” (Genesis 3:10). And then comes the line that keeps a theology of technology from turning into a sermon against tools: “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife” (Genesis 3:21). God does not strip the leaves off and leave them exposed.
And then the first thing human beings make after the first refusal: a covering. “They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:7). Dr. Spencer calls the fig leaves the first technology mentioned in Scripture, made for covering and protecting and for putting distance between the couple and God. Then the hiding widens: “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked” (Genesis 3:10). And then comes the line that keeps a theology of technology from turning into a sermon against tools: “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife” (Genesis 3:21). God does not strip the leaves off and leave them exposed.
He makes something better and puts it on them. A increased form of tech. Coverings are not wrong; God himself provides some of ours. The question is what is being covered. A calendar covers a bad memory, and that is fine. A social media feed covers loneliness, and that is a different transaction. A productivity system can cover disorganization or the fact that you are afraid to stop. When was the last time you told your wife, look at my calendar, it’s packed! The tool looks identical either way, and only you know which one you are holding. The hiding never works anyway: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
He makes something better and puts it on them. A increased form of tech. Coverings are not wrong; God himself provides some of ours. The question is what is being covered. A calendar covers a bad memory, and that is fine. A social media feed covers loneliness, and that is a different transaction. A productivity system can cover disorganization or the fact that you are afraid to stop. When was the last time you told your wife, look at my calendar, it’s packed! The tool looks identical either way, and only you know which one you are holding. The hiding never works anyway: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes” (Hebrews 4:13). A theology of technology is inner work. It lets the Spirit of our Lord expose what is hidden and bring light into that space.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes” (Hebrews 4:13). A theology of technology is inner work. It lets the Spirit of our Lord expose what is hidden and bring light into that space.
Three questions for your tool, from the garden, the tree, and the fig leaves. What is it made of, and who gave that? Which kind of limit does it remove: damage or the shape of a creature? And what is it covering? You don’t know what is covered when you use your phone, computer, or an AI tool? If the tools were gone for a week, what would become visible?
Three questions for your tool, from the garden, the tree, and the fig leaves. What is it made of, and who gave that? Which kind of limit does it remove: damage or the shape of a creature? And what is it covering? You don’t know what is covered when you use your phone, computer, or an AI tool? If the tools were gone for a week, what would become visible?
What we are for
What we are for
God forms the animals and brings them to the man “to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). God makes room for a creature’s judgment inside His own creation. The commission follows: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it” (Genesis 1:28). Scripture never apologizes for human making. Bezalel, the first person in the Bible described as filled with God’s Spirit, is filled for craftsmanship in gold, bronze, and wood. Paul calls us “God’s masterpiece,” created “so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10).
God forms the animals and brings them to the man “to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). God makes room for a creature’s judgment inside His own creation. The commission follows: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it” (Genesis 1:28). Scripture never apologizes for human making. Bezalel, the first person in the Bible described as filled with God’s Spirit, is filled for craftsmanship in gold, bronze, and wood. Paul calls us “God’s masterpiece,” created “so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Ephesians 2:10).
The tools you are suspicious of belong to the same family as the tools you would never question: the plow, the clock, and the printing press. Making is part of what we were made for, and when it goes well, it looks like love with a shape. A well is love for the thirsty. A malaria vaccine is love for a child. A flood warning sent at three in the morning is love for people the sender will never meet. But the same book that honors the maker sets the standard he is judged by. Isaiah watches a man cut down a tree, burn part of it to cook his meal, and: “Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol!” (Isaiah 44:17). The wood is the same wood.
The tools you are suspicious of belong to the same family as the tools you would never question: the plow, the clock, and the printing press. Making is part of what we were made for, and when it goes well, it looks like love with a shape. A well is love for the thirsty. A malaria vaccine is love for a child. A flood warning sent at three in the morning is love for people the sender will never meet. But the same book that honors the maker sets the standard he is judged by. Isaiah watches a man cut down a tree, burn part of it to cook his meal, and: “Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol!” (Isaiah 44:17). The wood is the same wood.
The difference is in the maker. Then Babel. A people on the plain of Shinar learn to fire brick, and they say, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world” (Genesis 11:4). This is pride, because a great name is God’s to give, and it is disobedience, because God had told them to fill the earth. But listen to what God says when he comes down to look: “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! ” (Genesis 11:6). He does not say they are proud.
The difference is in the maker. Then Babel. A people on the plain of Shinar learn to fire brick, and they say, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world” (Genesis 11:4). This is pride, because a great name is God’s to give, and it is disobedience, because God had told them to fill the earth. But listen to what God says when he comes down to look: “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! ” (Genesis 11:6). He does not say they are proud.
He says they can and because they can, they do. In Jurrasic Park, there is a famous quote that says “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” (Dr. Ian Malcolm, in Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, 1993) Shared language means coordination. Fired brick means capability. One purpose means concentration. And nothing above them is shaping what they set out to do. God does not destroy them. He limits them.
He says they can and because they can, they do. In Jurrasic Park, there is a famous quote that says “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” (Dr. Ian Malcolm, in Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, 1993) Shared language means coordination. Fired brick means capability. One purpose means concentration. And nothing above them is shaping what they set out to do. God does not destroy them. He limits them.
Then, in the very next chapter, he promises Abraham the very thing the builders grasped at: “I will bless you and make your NAME famous” (Genesis 12:2). God gives away the name they tried to seize. Here is the truth of Babel, and it is the one I most hope you carry out of this room. Capacity is a gift held under God’s authority. Kept there, it becomes love. Taken out from under it, it becomes Babel. Technology increases capacity. It does not automatically increase character. Dr. Spencer calls this the mismatch between ability and maturity, and he asks the better question: not which tools a Christian may use, but whether we have been sufficiently discipled to use them.
Then, in the very next chapter, he promises Abraham the very thing the builders grasped at: “I will bless you and make your NAME famous” (Genesis 12:2). God gives away the name they tried to seize. Here is the truth of Babel, and it is the one I most hope you carry out of this room. Capacity is a gift held under God’s authority. Kept there, it becomes love. Taken out from under it, it becomes Babel. Technology increases capacity. It does not automatically increase character. Dr. Spencer calls this the mismatch between ability and maturity, and he asks the better question: not which tools a Christian may use, but whether we have been sufficiently discipled to use them.
Jesus set the standard: “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return” (Luke 12:48). The wilderness shows what capacity under allegiance costs. Jesus begins his ministry with three temptations, and each is an invitation to use real power without obedience: bread without the field, belief without trust, and the kingdoms without the cross. He refuses all three and cites a book about dependence: “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The truth hiding in the wilderness is that the way something is reached is part of what it is. A student who passes an exam without learning has not passed.
Jesus set the standard: “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return” (Luke 12:48). The wilderness shows what capacity under allegiance costs. Jesus begins his ministry with three temptations, and each is an invitation to use real power without obedience: bread without the field, belief without trust, and the kingdoms without the cross. He refuses all three and cites a book about dependence: “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The truth hiding in the wilderness is that the way something is reached is part of what it is. A student who passes an exam without learning has not passed.
A leader who never has the hard conversation has not led. Much of what technology offers is the shortcut, and the offer is usually reasonable, because the need behind it is usually real. Not every shortcut costs us; a calculator removes labor that was never forming anyone. But Paul says trials “help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character” (Romans 5:3-4), and we are skipping what was shaping us. Dr. Spencer’s picture is the gym: nobody gets strong by watching someone else lift. Effort is part of the process, and it affects you.
A leader who never has the hard conversation has not led. Much of what technology offers is the shortcut, and the offer is usually reasonable, because the need behind it is usually real. Not every shortcut costs us; a calculator removes labor that was never forming anyone. But Paul says trials “help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character” (Romans 5:3-4), and we are skipping what was shaping us. Dr. Spencer’s picture is the gym: nobody gets strong by watching someone else lift. Effort is part of the process, and it affects you.
Three questions, from the naming, Babel, and the wilderness. What good does this tool do for a particular person, and can you name that person? Where, this year, has your capacity run ahead of your character? And what is the shortcut offering, and what would the long way have formed in you? Take it from a professional shortcutter: that last one deserves asking far more often than it is. Where can you now do something faster than you can decide whether you should?
Three questions, from the naming, Babel, and the wilderness. What good does this tool do for a particular person, and can you name that person? Where, this year, has your capacity run ahead of your character? And what is the shortcut offering, and what would the long way have formed in you? Take it from a professional shortcutter: that last one deserves asking far more often than it is. Where can you now do something faster than you can decide whether you should?
Who we are for
Who we are for
The last question is the simplest to state and the hardest to keep. Jesus answered it with two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). We are for God first, and we are for the person in front of us. Every tool we build or buy either carries that love to someone or stands in its place.
The last question is the simplest to state and the hardest to keep. Jesus answered it with two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). We are for God first, and we are for the person in front of us. Every tool we build or buy either carries that love to someone or stands in its place.
Begin at the forge. Cain, the first murderer, is the Bible’s first named city builder, and his line gives us the harp, the flute, and the forge: Jubal, “the first of all who play the harp and flute,” and Tubal-cain, “an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron” (Genesis 4:21-22). A maker’s sin does not travel into the product. But a maker’s assumptions, worldview, bias, and theology do, every time. Cathy O’Neil, a mathematician who spent years building these systems, says it in six words: “Models are opinions embedded in mathematics.” A model has to assume what a good employee or a risky customer looks like, and then it teaches every user to see people the same way.
Begin at the forge. Cain, the first murderer, is the Bible’s first named city builder, and his line gives us the harp, the flute, and the forge: Jubal, “the first of all who play the harp and flute,” and Tubal-cain, “an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron” (Genesis 4:21-22). A maker’s sin does not travel into the product. But a maker’s assumptions, worldview, bias, and theology do, every time. Cathy O’Neil, a mathematician who spent years building these systems, says it in six words: “Models are opinions embedded in mathematics.” A model has to assume what a good employee or a risky customer looks like, and then it teaches every user to see people the same way.
The psalmist says of idols, “Those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8). Dr. Spencer says it plainly: as an extension of humanity, technology reflects our interests, agendas, strengths, and shortcomings. Somebody was imagined when your tool was designed. Who we are for begins with asking who it was for.
The psalmist says of idols, “Those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8). Dr. Spencer says it plainly: as an extension of humanity, technology reflects our interests, agendas, strengths, and shortcomings. Somebody was imagined when your tool was designed. Who we are for begins with asking who it was for.
Then the tree, once more. The serpent’s offer was that they would be “like God, knowing both good and evil” (Genesis 3:5): not more facts, but a different standing, the position of deciding for yourself which is which, and that position belongs to God. Knowing comes in layers: data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, which is knowing what matters, what to do, when, and at what cost, and which cannot be separated from character. Intelligent machines move through the first three layers faster than any person can and produce a convincing imitation of the fourth. Wisdom is not a larger quantity of the other four, so no amount of speed will ever produce wisdom.
Then the tree, once more. The serpent’s offer was that they would be “like God, knowing both good and evil” (Genesis 3:5): not more facts, but a different standing, the position of deciding for yourself which is which, and that position belongs to God. Knowing comes in layers: data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, which is knowing what matters, what to do, when, and at what cost, and which cannot be separated from character. Intelligent machines move through the first three layers faster than any person can and produce a convincing imitation of the fourth. Wisdom is not a larger quantity of the other four, so no amount of speed will ever produce wisdom.
When a system recommends an applicant, a flag, or a level of risk, the recommendation is advice, not authority. The judging belongs to a person, under God, and so does the signature. And Paul tells us what knowing is for: “while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge is for the neighbor.
When a system recommends an applicant, a flag, or a level of risk, the recommendation is advice, not authority. The judging belongs to a person, under God, and so does the signature. And Paul tells us what knowing is for: “while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge is for the neighbor.
We have a story Jesus told when asked what is the greatest law in the Bible and who is my neighbor: in the ditch sits a person who was robbed of all human dignity: no clothes, no wealth, no name, no address, no purpose, almost dead, little heartbeat. Three people pass by him: a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. What if the Samaritan had also passed him by, and an Optimus robot had come to help, carry him to the hospital, and restore his wealth? The question is: who helped him? The only answer is NOBODY! Nobody helped him; nobody touched his wounds or chose to help him at great cost and sacrifice of time, budget, and schedule.
We have a story Jesus told when asked what is the greatest law in the Bible and who is my neighbor: in the ditch sits a person who was robbed of all human dignity: no clothes, no wealth, no name, no address, no purpose, almost dead, little heartbeat. Three people pass by him: a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. What if the Samaritan had also passed him by, and an Optimus robot had come to help, carry him to the hospital, and restore his wealth? The question is: who helped him? The only answer is NOBODY! Nobody helped him; nobody touched his wounds or chose to help him at great cost and sacrifice of time, budget, and schedule.
Nobody touched his wounds, as someone says—wounds made by human hands are healed by human hands! We are for God and for one another!
Nobody touched his wounds, as someone says—wounds made by human hands are healed by human hands! We are for God and for one another!
The human advantage
The human advantage
That is the human advantage, and no machine was ever given it. Who we are: image bearers whose every capacity was received. What we are for: making, serving, and governing under God, inside limits He calls good. Who we are for: God first, and the neighbor on the road, whose distance we were made to close.
That is the human advantage, and no machine was ever given it. Who we are: image bearers whose every capacity was received. What we are for: making, serving, and governing under God, inside limits He calls good. Who we are for: God first, and the neighbor on the road, whose distance we were made to close.
A theology received whole from me has the same weakness as those four statistics I gave at the beginning: it is not yours. The nine questions are on your handout, three under each theme. To continue the conversation this week, take your tool, or your decision, and put four questions to it, in this order. What does this help me do? What is this forming in me? What capacity am I letting go? Who remains responsible?
A theology received whole from me has the same weakness as those four statistics I gave at the beginning: it is not yours. The nine questions are on your handout, three under each theme. To continue the conversation this week, take your tool, or your decision, and put four questions to it, in this order. What does this help me do? What is this forming in me? What capacity am I letting go? Who remains responsible?
We end where we began. “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah’s people answered, “No, that’s not the road we want!” Six centuries later Jesus took up the same words and gave them a face: “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). The old way is a person with a towel around his waist.
We end where we began. “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah’s people answered, “No, that’s not the road we want!” Six centuries later Jesus took up the same words and gave them a face: “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). The old way is a person with a towel around his waist.
This morning, at this crossroads, I am challenging every one of us to chose the OLD WAY, the OLD cross, to accept God’s GIFT of life, His Son Jesus Christ and to look towards a changing world with trust that God’s still in control and to find rest for our souls in that truth! Let us pray.
This morning, at this crossroads, I am challenging every one of us to chose the OLD WAY, the OLD cross, to accept God’s GIFT of life, His Son Jesus Christ and to look towards a changing world with trust that God’s still in control and to find rest for our souls in that truth! Let us pray.