I’ve Been Thinking…Can I Trust AI?
AI is everywhere. Even if you’ve never opened ChatGPT or another generative AI tool, artificial intelligence is already influencing you in more ways than you probably realize. That makes AI a technology worth thinking carefully about. That's why this week’s sermon wasn’t really an AI sermon. It was a wisdom sermon.
The book of Proverbs was written thousands of years before smartphones, social media, algorithms, or artificial intelligence, yet its wisdom is remarkably relevant to the questions these technologies raise. Proverbs tells us:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
Wisdom begins by recognizing that God, not ourselves and certainly not a machine, is the foundation and authority for how we understand and live in the world.
Wise People Test What They’re Told
One danger of AI is that it can sound incredibly confident while being completely wrong. Proverbs gives us a remarkably modern warning:
“Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.” Proverbs 14:15 NLT
AI can be incredibly useful. It can help us research, organize information, solve problems, learn new things, and save enormous amounts of time. But there is an important difference between asking AI to help me think and allowing AI to think for me. The more we surrender that responsibility, the easier it becomes to accept answers without doing the work of evaluating them. Wise people don’t simply accept information because it sounds convincing. They test what they are told. That applies beyond ChatGPT. AI is already helping shape our social media feeds, searches, shopping habits, entertainment, news, and countless other parts of everyday life. You may not intentionally use AI, but many of the people and systems influencing you do.
So pay attention. Be discerning. Ask questions. Check sources. Wisdom doesn’t fear new information, but it doesn’t surrender judgment either.
Wise People Are Shaped by Real Relationships
Another temptation is allowing AI to occupy places in our lives that God designed for people. It is becoming increasingly common for people to give AI enormous amounts of personal information and then ask questions like, “Who am I?” “What’s wrong with me?” “What should I do with my life?” AI may help us think through questions like these, but it should never become the primary voice answering them.
“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
There is something important in that verse that technology cannot reproduce. Sharpening happens between people. It involves give-and-take: disagreement, encouragement, correction, accountability, sacrifice, and love.
That is why Proverbs also tells us:
“Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22
AI can imitate conversation, but it cannot replace Christian community. It cannot sacrifice its time to sit beside you when your life falls apart. It cannot pray with you, carry your burdens, lovingly confront you, or walk faithfully beside you for years. And most importantly, it cannot replace God. Jesus does not merely know information about you. He knows you. Hebrews 4:15–16 reminds us that Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to approach him confidently to “receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” God created us for relationship with him and with other people. If we aren't careful, a technology designed to help us can slowly isolate us from both.
So, Can I Trust AI?
Maybe the better question is: Can I trust myself with AI?
The biggest danger may not be machines becoming more like humans. It may be humans becoming more like machines. Isolated, relentlessly efficient, unwilling to struggle or wait, and increasingly convinced that we don’t need anyone else. Remember, like social media, AI isn't inherently the bad guy. Human nature is. Like many powerful tools, AI can amplify both wisdom and foolishness.
So can you trust it? Sometimes. For some things. With a healthy dose of skepticism. Use it as a tool. Let it help you learn. Let it make you more efficient. Let it help you solve problems. But don't give it the trust, authority, or dependence that belongs to God. Never forget: Wisdom is more than knowing the right answers. Wisdom is learning to live rightly in God's world.
This week, take some time to honestly ask yourself:
Am I thinking critically about what AI is telling me and how it's shaping me?
Is AI helping me think, or helping me avoid thinking?
Is AI strengthening or replacing something God uses to form me? (Time, thinking, learning, relationships, Scripture, prayer, wise counsel, and personal responsibility.)
Who is the authority for what I believe and how I live?
AI may contain an extraordinary amount of information, but Scripture points us somewhere infinitely greater: “In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3
Ultimately, Christians don't put their confidence in having access to all the answers. We put our confidence in Jesus.
To see how Quaboag Church handles AI with our staff, leaders, and volunteers, you can view our AI policy here.
