Who is the blogger The Devotional Guy™? This is a question I recently asked the AI (Artificial Intelligence) program ChatGPT.
To my great surprise, ChatGPT knew who The Devotional Guy™ is [GO FIGURE!].
Q: Who is the blogger The Devotional Guy™?
The The Devotional Guy™ is the online pseudonym of Rainer Bantau, a Christian blogger who shares his reflections, insights, and experiences related to faith, spirituality, and Christian living. The The Devotional Guy™ blog (www.thedevotionalguy.com) is focused on encouraging and inspiring readers in their spiritual journey and features a variety of content, including personal devotionals, testimonies, Bible study insights, and reflections on life, faith, and culture.
Rainer Bantau, the man behind The Devotional Guy™, describes himself as a “follower of Jesus, husband, writer, avid reader, and coffee enthusiast.” He seeks to provide thoughtful and relatable content that encourages readers to grow deeper in their faith and relationship with God. The Devotional Guy™ blog has gained a following among those looking for authentic, personal, and practical insights on living out the Christian faith in today’s world.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the headlines a lot lately, often a sideshow in the circus that we call the news these days. It’s the new boogeyman hiding in your grandmother’s closet according to some people. Others hail it as the greatest potential advancement in human history since the discovery of fire.
What is a Christian response to AI?
The Christian response to artificial intelligence (AI) will undoubtedly run the gamut because of the many diverse perspectives within the Christian faith. We don’t even agree on basic tenets of the faith cross-denominationally. How will we formulate a God-glorifying response to artificial intelligence (AI)?
Some Christians view AI as a tool that can be used for good, while others express concerns about the ethical, social, and theological implications of AI. A fringe will be fearful of the unknown even though God tells us repeatedly in Scripture that we need not fear for He is with us and He is for us. It is the similar array of responses Christians had to personal computers, computers in general, and too often science altogether. The words Christian and intelligence are actually terms that can go together, despite what our history may demonstrate.
So, what does our response to AI look like in our post-2020 Christian cultural context?
First, let’s try and define what artificial intelligence (AI) is so we can understand it better.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that focuses on creating and developing technological applications to perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence. Creepy, right !?! Yet, cool at the same time.
AI systems are designed to process information, reason, learn, make decisions, and adapt based on experience, without explicit programming for each task. In other words, based on experience, AI can learn and make decisions, solve problems using computational algorithms. AI can perceive and process data (information) and it can understand language(s). [Artificial Intelligence, Wikipedia 2023]
Nothing to see here, right!?!
AI is a tremendous advancement that naturally fosters many questions.
Here are 5 things that I think are worth contemplating and considering when we begin formulating a Christian response to the advancement of AI:
1. Ethics: Many Christians often emphasize the importance of ethical considerations when it comes to advancements in science and technology. Rightly so. This is true in the case of AI, as well. As Christians, we must strive to promote human dignity, uphold justice and fairness, and support the right to privacy and autonomy.
Christians should also raise concerns about potential ethical challenges associated with AI, like biases in algorithmic decision-making. Other potential ethical dilemmas to explore include the impact of AI on the workforce and relationships with others, as well as the possibility for AI to be used in ways that violate human rights or enable unethical practices.
2. Stewardship: As Christians, we can view the development and use of AI as an expression of human stewardship over divine creation. Naturally, we must strive to steward this new technology with responsibility and accountability, particularly given its potential impact on society, the environment, and humanity as a whole. We must consider advocating for careful and thoughtful development, regulation, and governance of AI, ensuring alignment with God’s principles of justice, compassion, and care for all of creation.
3. Care with Dignity: Being made in the image of God, every human being retains inherent dignity and value. As with any advancement of science and technology, Christians should advocate for upholding the inherent dignity and value of all humans, born and unborn. AI is not a replacement for human life and worth. Whatever we do with AI, we must make sure it respects and maintains our dignity and value.
5. Compassion and Justice: We should also advocate for using AI in ways that promote the common good, responds to social inequities, and advances the well-being of all people, particularly the those who are marginalized and vulnerable. Christians should work to ensure that the benefits of AI are distributed fairly and seek to minimize any potential harm.
4. Theological Perspectives: As followers of Jesus, we will obviously explore the implications of AI on our Christian faith. What is the role of technology in God’s plan? How does AI align with Christian teachings and scripture? Asking these types of questions will help us develop an informed and discerning response to AI that is grounded in our beliefs and values.
The Christian response to AI will be varied and multifaceted, reflecting our diverse range of theological perspectives. Formulating our response to AI requires discernment, responsible stewardship, and a deep commitment to upholding Christian values like compassion, justice, human dignity, and the common good.
Who is the blogger The Devotional Guy™? Please ask an AI chatbot like ChatGPT and learn for yourself. Be sure to share your findings in the comments below.
I pray that the rest of your week is filled with the abundant blessings from God above.
Rainer Bantau
The Devotional Guy™
#bgbg2#BibleGateway
The Devotional Guy™ Rainer Bantau © 2023
The Devotional Guy™ 
Definitely mixed feelings. While it is neat that a computer can do so many things, it is also scary. I fear, just like with anything else, it can be abused or overused. We need to be careful and intentional about the ways we proceed. Thank you for sharing on this topic. I appreciate your thoughts.
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Thanks for reading and adding your thoughts to the conversation. Yes, it seems like technological progress is always a mixed bag of blessings and curses. I think that’s why it’s important to talk about these things. Otherwise, they just happen without our input. Blessings, Bridget. Thanks 🙏 for stopping by my blog.
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Interesting post and reflections. Thanks Rainer.
My biggest issue is who controls what AI thinks and we’ve already seen how ridiculously skewed it is.
If it was allowed to learn naturally, I’d be more in favour.
But since it’s controlled by big tech, it’s ready basically a flawed exercise for me
And I love technology.
Andy B
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Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts regarding AI. Yes, it’s definitely an advancement that’s garnered backing from Big Tech and Big Government. That’s why I think it’s important that as Christians we get involved in the conversation.
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Very much. Yes.
For me, however, until it can be a neutral technology, I’ll be avoiding it as much as possible
Not from any form of fear. But the fact checking required makes it already obsolete as a form of technology to me.
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When we as adults are struggling to weigh its good and bad applications, I find myself growing even more concerned for the youth and how it is already impacting them socially and educationally.
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True. Can you expand on those concerns a bit, Beth?
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Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with my husband who is a junior high teacher on how students are submitting “original” papers written by AI. Programs are available that help identify such papers but require more work for already overworked educators. Who is responsible for teaching kids what are and aren’t proper uses of AI? Parents? Schools? Sadly they’ll learn more from social media sources about how to use it then reputable sources. How much damage will be done before adults “catch up” and try to implement a set of rules to protect young, impressionable minds? That said, I don’t think we as a society have done a good job of helping kids navigate what is already at their fingertips in the way of their devices and social media platforms like tik tok, snapchat, etc. If I sound technology weary I am both as an educator myself and as a parent of teenagers.
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It does seem like social media and interactive gaming are two new social platforms that have advanced faster than the adults in the room have been able to keep up with it. As such, we don’t know what the impact of all that will be as that generation who never knew a world without apps, smart phones , and social media becomes adults. And I believe AI is something that will take all this to a new level. I’m not sure whether or not that’s good or bad—-I know it will certainly be different. I greatly appreciate the discussion and dialogue, Beth. You make several good points and I don’t envy you trying to teach and raise teens in this current era. Many blessings.
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