AI, Power, and the Question of the Human Soul, Part 1

Who Is My Neighbor?

²⁹ But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”…

³⁶ “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
— Luke 10:29, 36–37

There is a great deal of concern today about artificial intelligence. Some of it is overblown, some of it is under-informed, and some of it is probably not worried enough.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

1 Corinthians 12:12–13

Unity Is Not Uniformity

In any healthy community, there is always a quiet tension between two things: unity and uniformity.

Uniformity is simple. It asks that we all think the same, speak the same, and, often, keep our differences to ourselves. On the surface, it can look like peace. But over time, it becomes fragile. When disagreement finally surfaces, it often does so with more force than anyone expected.

²⁷ But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He spoke and argued with the Hellenists, but they were attempting to kill him. ³⁰ When the brothers and sisters learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. ³¹ Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

Acts 9:27-31

In his book Retrieving the Human, José Comblin observes that evangelization is not a program but a way of life, the natural expression of people whose lives have been changed by Christ. In his words, “the new person acts,” and that action becomes the good news others can see.

“We love because God first loved us.”
1 John 4:19

Scholar, teacher, novelist, and poet Robert Penn Warren once told a reporter that “a young man’s ambition is to get along in the world and make a place for himself. Half your life goes that way… then, if you’re lucky, you make terms with life and you get released.”

Greetings! In Psalm 34:8, the psalmist says:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Sometimes I like to check out the one-star reviews on Amazon when I’m buying a book or product. Recently, I purchased Your Designed Body by Steve Laufmann and Howard Glicksman. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the one-star reviews. As expected, they were negative, but something more telling quickly became apparent: none of the one-star reviewers had actually purchased the book. None mentioned having read it.

Greetings! In Psalm 34:8, the psalmist says:
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Sometimes I like to check out the one-star reviews on Amazon when I’m buying a book or product. Recently, I purchased Your Designed Body by Steve Laufmann and Howard Glicksman. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the one-star reviews. As expected, they were negative, but something more telling quickly became apparent: none of the one-star reviewers had actually purchased the book. None mentioned having read it.

“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

1 Timothy 4:7

Football coach Tom Landry is often quoted as saying that the task of a coach is to help people do what they would rather avoid in order to become what they ultimately hope to be. The same truth applies to the Christian life. Following Christ means intentionally practicing habits that do not always come naturally, such as prayer, Scripture, worship, and acts of service, so that over time we are shaped into lives marked by godliness. As Scripture reminds us, we are to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).

“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

1 Timothy 4:7

 Football coach Tom Landry is often quoted as saying that the task of a coach is to help people do what they would rather avoid in order to become what they ultimately hope to be. The same truth applies to the Christian life. Following Christ means intentionally practicing habits that do not always come naturally, such as prayer, Scripture, worship, and acts of service, so that over time we are shaped into lives marked by godliness. As Scripture reminds us, we are to discipline ourselves for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
 Galatians 5:22–23

She burst out of the Chestnut Quick Mart, hurling expletives into the universe, most of them landing squarely on the clerk she had just confronted. I stood beside my car, genuinely stunned. Others glanced her way as she smacked the gas pump, her car door, and anything else within reach. A minute earlier, I had been at that same counter, chatting with the cashier about how to join their rewards club. Then she flew in, a young woman who, by outward appearances, looked put together, but carried a storm cloud of hostility that filled the room.

 “‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”
Matthew 1:23  

There is perhaps no more disparaging feeling than the feeling of loneliness—the feeling of being alone. I’m not talking about being bored or simply missing those we love; that happens to all of us now and then and can usually be eased by a phone call or a movie. The loneliness I’m referring to is the aching lack of understanding and commitment surrounding us and supporting us.