This week the blog is sponsored by Zondervan Reflective. Join the discussion about AI with the newly updated and expanded edition of 2084 and the AI Revolution by John C. Lennox–now available for purchase. Get your copy today! 

We humans are insatiably curious. We have been asking big questions since the dawn of history – about knowledge, origin, and destiny. Their importance is obvious. Our answer to the first shapes our concepts of who we are, and our answer to the second gives us goals to live for. Taken together, our responses to these questions frame our world view, the (meta) narrative or ideology that directs our lives and shapes their meaning, the framework of which we are often barely aware. These are not easy questions, as we see from the many and contradictory answers on offer. Yet, by and large, we humans have not let that hinder us. Over the centuries, some answers have been proposed by science, some by philosophy, some based on religion, others on politics, and many on a mixture of all of these and more.

Many current developments were foreshadowed in famous dystopian novels such as the 1931 novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and George Orwell’s novel 1984, published in 1949. Of course, neither Huxley nor Orwell knew anything about AI, but nevertheless they imagined a future shaped by the technology around them and by their ability to imagine future developments in that area, many of which imaginings turned out to be prescient.

Philosophers, ethicists, theologians, cultural commentators, novelists, and artists must necessarily get involved in this wider debate.John C. LennoxShare

AI has been defined as the theory and development of computer systems that can perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. The term “AI” is often applied to the machines themselves. Just as the industrial revolution was brought about by the invention of machines designed to help with or replace human physical work, the AI revolution involves the invention of systems that facilitate or replace various forms of both human physical and mental activity. There is now a vast array of AI systems spawned by an information-technology revolution of unprecedented proportions: AI is not one, but many.

Driven by global commercial interests, billions of dollars are now being invested in the development of AI systems. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of interest in where this is all going: Will it bring about better quality of life through digital assistants, medical innovation, and human enhancement on the one hand, or will it lead to massive job losses, loss of freedom, Orwellian totalitarianism, and possibly the end of humanity altogether on the other?

This topic is not going away anytime soon. Indeed, it is likely to become more of a pressing question as technology advances further. It is of interest not only to people who are directly involved in AI research but also to mathematicians and scientists in other disciplines whose work and outlook are increasingly influenced by it. Indeed, since the outcomes and ideas surrounding work on AI will inevitably affect us all, many people are thinking and writing about it who are not scientists at all. Philosophers, ethicists, theologians, cultural commentators, novelists, and artists must necessarily get involved in this wider debate. After all, you do not need to be a nuclear physicist or climatologist to discuss the impact of nuclear energy or climate change on your life.

The God of love and peace be with you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: My Heart Longs for Justice (Kind of))
The reckoning of the Lord
Here is Al Mohler’s response to the report issues by Guidepost Solutions about abuse in the SBC. “I am writing this essay in one of the most difficult moments ever experienced by my beloved denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Considering the historical roots of the SBC, that is quite a statement, but it is true. It is a moment long in coming and it is not over.”
Hearing the Warning of the SBC
Samuel James makes some crucial observations about the report as well. “The consistent, pervasive, unifying, and unavoidable theme of the report is the desire by several SBC leaders to preserve the indemnity and reputation of the denomination above all else.”
More Powerful Than the Hate That Divides
This article was helpful in helping me better understand the recent shooting in Laguna Woods and its background—the antipathy between some Taiwanese people and people from mainland China.
How this Christian is responding to the Federal Election
Australia has just elected a new government and here is one Christian reflecting on what it means and how he will respond. What he says about the Anglican Prayer Book is especially thought-provoking.
3 Ways to Stay Focused While Praying
Doug Eaton offers some help from D.A. Carson.
Introducing Spring 2022 Eikon
CBMW has released a new issue of their journal Eikon. It offers lots of interesting reading!
Flashback: What Jesus Does Not Pray
We can have no confidence we will be preserved from falling into times of persecution, but every confidence we will be kept from falling into the evil hands of the one who, for now, is the prince of this world.

We trust as we love, and we trust where we love; if you love Christ much surely you will trust Him much. —Thomas Brooks

I noticed yesterday that the Grace and Truth Study Bible (edited by Al Mohler with notes by many professors at SBTS) is on sale in both print and Kindle editions—at up to 70% off. It is available in multiple cover styles in both NIV and NASB. Click here to see all the options.

Today’s Kindle deals include more excellent books. At the top of the list is probably the commentary on Mark. Also consider Dever’s The Church and Wax’s Rethink Your Self. On the general market side, Nicholas Carr’s Superbloom is brand new and already heavily discounted.

TGC has a helpful article about John Mark Comer and what he teaches, especially about a Rule of Life. “From my vantage point as a Gen Z Christian, it seems Comer is the most influential figure for evangelicals my age. Of course, this comes with much praise … and criticism …. But whatever we think of Comer, we should try to understand why he’s so popular.”

David Prince draws a helpful lesson from the career of Madison Keys. “She felt like winning a Grand Slam was the only way to validate her career. Keys entered the match under the shadow of everyone’s expectations since she was eleven years old. By her admission, after the loss, she was riddled with self-doubts. Will I ever do it? If I never do it, will my career be a failure?”

Stephen reminds us that sheep and wolf are not the only two categories the Bible offers us for people who are (or were) in a church. “We have to be careful that we don’t assume everyone who evidently shows themselves not to be sheep must, therefore, be a wolf. The Bible speaks of another category of person who will exist in the church too…”

This article asks whether witchcraft, and especially the kind practiced in African Traditional Religion, is real.

“Proverbs are often merely observational. If you literally avoid all conflict, you turn into a resentful doormat. But there are many times you’d be better off to say nothing at all. There’s two reasons for that.”

This article describes the sweetness of repentance and also helpfully distinguishes between two different forms of it. “Many of us may recoil at the thought of repentance. Indeed, it can at times feel supremely painful. Nonetheless, God is supremely good, kind, and merciful to demand of us repentance; it is the very healing of our souls. He is holy, holy, holy, utterly good and righteous, and as such He alone knows the true destruction that comes about because of sin.”

We knock to ensure we are waiting, to ensure we are ready, to ensure we will go to be with the Lord we love.

God does not plan salvation and leave it up to us, hoping we will believe and persevere to the end. No, God’s grace gives us every assurance that what he planned he will accomplish in us. He is that sovereign.
—Matthew Barrett