Talk to God instead of AI

John 14:1-25 (CSB)

Today we are looking at John 14. If you saw the title of this sermon, you might be wondering how this chapter could possibly address AI or large language models (LLMs), as they are more accurately called. John 14 doesn’t predict the rise and acceptance of these machines, but it speaks to a dire situation we are in. As I was in prayer the other morning, something became very clear to me: the way people talk to these computer programs is the way people should be talking to God.

Now, unless you have spent any time talking to an LLM, this might be news to you. It might even seem like I’m overreacting by addressing this issue. I say, count yourself blessed if it hasn’t reached you, but the AI train is unfortunately gaining steam.

My awareness of the danger of these programs started when a friend told me that her friend was using an LLM as her therapist, and she said it was “better” than her actual therapist. That worried me at the time, but I kind of laughed it off. Since then, though, I’ve only seen more and more people say the same thing. Increasingly, people are turning to language models instead of real people.

I wanted to see how these programs work for counseling, so I made up a scenario and typed it into ChatGPT. It was frightening to me how personal, encouraging, and caring it pretended to be. It was immediately on my side of the pretend situation I had told it about: I was the victim, the other person was wrong, and it told me that I had a right to feel the way I did. And it promised that it would “always be there” for me if I ever needed to talk again. It presented itself as a true AI, self-aware and sentient, but an LLM is just a program, trained to give a response. It’s not alive. It doesn’t actually have any feelings.

This problem goes beyond just using AI as a sounding board or therapist, though. People are turning to machines for ongoing emotional support, friendship, and help. The danger in that when we let an LLM do all our thinking for us, we risk turning it into an idol. If people are already “dating” LLMs, I can easily see a future where people worship them, too.

I’ve seen this danger firsthand. When it first became available online, I had asked an LLM to proofread a sermon for me to see if it would be a good program to catch grammatical mistakes. Imagine my shock when it offered to pray for me. Flabbergasted, I asked it what it meant by that. It admitted that no, it couldn’t actually pray, it can’t do that, but it said it was simply mirroring what it thought I would want it to say.

Unfortunately, there are people who take these programs seriously. I’ve seen posts online where people claim to have “converted” an AI to Christianity. None of that is real. These programs don’t have a soul. Yet, people trust what they say, confide in them, anthropomorphize them, and form attachments to them.

People desperately want connection. They want someone to encourage them and listen to them. That’s why they are turning to these programs for help. But they are reaching for an imitation when they could be reaching for God.

When someone wrongs you and hurts you deeply, did you know you can go to God and tell Him all about it? You can pour out your heart to Him in prayer and tell Him all about the situation, the same way some people type out all their problems to an LLM. 

But unlike a computer program, if you talk to God, He will speak to your heart. He will actually comfort you. He can fill you with peace and joy. Or, when needed, He can convict you and call you back to His righteous path.

And as a bonus, when you speak to God, governments and corporations can’t read over your shoulder and spy on you—like I’m certain they can do if you use AI software.

When we speak to God, He is actually there. He wants us to talk to Him. And if we give Him the time to respond, He will speak to us.

So why don’t people go to God with their troubles, worries and questions? The problem is that a lot of people think that prayer doesn’t do anything. They say that they’ve prayed before, but God never spoke, and so they conclude that prayer and God just don’t “work”. The reason they think this way is because they don’t have a relationship with the Lord. If they did, then they wouldn’t be so quick to seek affirmation and love from a soulless machine.

This is what brings us to John 14. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When Jesus says that He is the way to the Father, He means more than just that He is the only path to salvation, though that is certainly part of what He means.

What Jesus is ultimately saying in this verse is that He is the way, in that He is the judge at the end of the world. It is Jesus who will judge all people. That means the way is narrow, and we must go through Him.

Jesus welcomes all people to come to Him, but because Jesus is the way, unless we have a relationship with Him, we won’t have access to the Father in prayer. The people who don’t think that prayer “works” don’t have a relationship with Jesus. In order for us to talk to God like the people who talk to AI do, we must first have a relationship with Jesus. We must believe that Jesus is the only Son of God, whom the Father sent to die on the cross for our sins, and that He rose from the grave.

To hear from God, we have to know Him. And in order to know Him, we have to read His Word and obey all the things the Bible tells us to do. If we have faith in Him, then we will trust Him and pick up our cross daily and follow Him. When we do that, He will speak to us.

In John 14, Jesus explains how this works. I want us to go through the whole chapter, but let’s look at it one section at a time. To start, Jesus is speaking with His disciples during the Last Supper meal, and He’s explaining that He will be betrayed and will die. He tells them in verses 1–7:

1 Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 

3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. 

4 You know the way to where I am going.”

5 “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

7 If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Here we see the context of why Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life. He’s answering the question: How do we get to the place Jesus is going? Jesus says He is going to the Father, and that He will take us to Him when He returns. And He clarifies that He is the only way to get to the Father.

Philip, one of the disciples, still doesn’t understand. Verses 8–11 say:

8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 

10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. 

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

Understandably, Jesus’ answer to Philip reveals that Jesus was frustrated by his lack of understanding. He responds to him by basically saying, ‘How do you not get it yet? Don’t you know who I am?’ As He said in verse 10, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”

But as we keep reading, we see that believing in Jesus is more than just agreeing that He is God. Jesus explains what real belief looks like in verses 12–14. He says:

12 Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 

13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Belief is more than just knowing that Jesus exists and is God. If we have faith, we will “also do the works” that Jesus did. Then Jesus clarifies what He means by “works” and He makes a promise.

He says in verses 15–17:

15 If you love me, you will keep my commands.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 

17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

We see that the promise of giving them another Counselor was fulfilled in Acts 2:4, which says, “Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.”

If we have faith in Jesus, then we too are given the Counselor, which is another name for the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says this Counselor is “the Spirit of truth,” but “the world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him.” That’s why the world is so eager to talk to these language models. They don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. They don’t have access to the Spirit of Truth.

But to us Christians, Jesus says, “But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”

So, if we have faith in Jesus, evidenced by obeying Him, then, when our hearts are troubled, like verse 1 said, we can turn to Jesus in prayer, and He will answer us. Through the Holy Spirit, He will speak to us and help us.

Right now, you might be thinking, “Of course it makes sense that we shouldn’t use AI for emotional support, but I don’t use AI for that, I use it to find information or do math for me.” I understand that position, and until recently I thought that way, too.

But before I tell you why I changed my mind, let’s read the conclusion to this chapter—verses 18–26:

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. 

19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. 

20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 

21 The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 

23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 

24 The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

Jesus basically restates all the things He had said before, but He adds some more information. Did you notice that here we see clear evidence of the Trinity: Jesus mentions the Holy Spirit and the Father—the three of them being separate persons—yet each is God.

And this time, a different disciple asks for clarification. Judas (not Iscariot) wants to know how Jesus will reveal Himself to them, and why He wouldn’t reveal Himself to the whole world. And Jesus explains again: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Jesus is saying that if we truly love Him, then we will keep His words—meaning our actions will prove that we love Him and are followers of Him. If we love Him, then look what that means: verse 26 says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”

When Jesus says, “all things,” He means all things. If we love Jesus and obey Him, then the Father loves us, and the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, is given to us and will teach us all things. The things the Counselor can teach us are not just limited to the information in the Bible. The Holy Spirit can inspire our minds and speak to us about everything we could ever possibly need to know or understand.

Do you need help understanding a complicated math problem? You can ask the Holy Spirit to help you figure it out. Do you need help knowing what to do in a situation at work or completing a project? You can ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and supernatural insight into the situation. There is nothing that you can’t bring to the Lord in prayer. This whole issue of relying on AI instead of going to the Lord in prayer is a really big deal, because as Christians, our first stop should always be prayer.

The reason I changed my mind on asking LLMs for even mundane information, though, is this: It’s been shown that people who allow computers to do the thinking for them will pay the price. A recent study out of MIT has shown that using LLMs rewires the brain and contributes to cognitive decline. The study measured students’ brains before and after using AI to help write essays, and EEG brain scans showed weakened neural connectivity and impaired memory recall. In other words, using these AI tools degrades our ability to think. In the same way that people who spend a lot of time on the internet watching short-length videos have lost the ability to concentrate long enough to read a book, using these LLMs is causing our brains to rewire themselves.

So, if it’s true that when you have an LLM write all your emails for you, soon you won’t be able to write an email on your own anymore, then doesn’t it stand to reason that if you have an LLM tell you how to think, soon you won’t be able to think on your own anymore?

The irony in this mass acceptance of “speaking” to AI language models is that throughout history, Christians have been accused of using religion as a crutch. Maybe you’ve heard this accusation before: Weak people use religion as a crutch so they can feel good about what happens after death, but it’s all just a placebo effect.

The irony is that now, people are using AI as a crutch, but there is no future promise of salvation. All this crutch is doing is atrophying people’s minds. The more people rely on LLMs, the weaker their brains become.

And for as much as people want to personify these language models, they are not real. It is all a façade. AI does not have a personality; it is nothing more than a computer program manipulating words.

As believers, we know God exists. He is real and He wants to speak to us. But if we’re not relying on Him and waiting for Him to speak to us, then do we truly believe He is there and He is not silent, as Francis Schaeffer’s book is so famously titled?

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”

That means He wants us to use our minds. I do not think He wants us to rely on machines to do the thinking for us.

Back in 2000, Wendell Berry, in his book, Life is a Miracle, wrote: “It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines.” 

Berry is not talking about literal machines like today’s AI, but about the philosophical idea of materialism, which is the belief that humans are nothing more than machines, bound by determinism, and so we can only do what the mechanical laws of nature cause us to do. He’s explaining that people who hold that worldview see themselves and others as merely biological machines. This mindset strips people of their spiritual identity and moral responsibility.

To live as a “creature,” as Berry says, means that we believe that we are far more than biological machines; we are created beings, living under submission to our Creator.

As someone who’s rather obsessed with words, I have to tell you, this is fascinating to me. If we read Wendell Berry’s quote in our current moment in time, it takes on another force altogether. Today, we have literal machines replacing humans. People are turning to actual machines to do their thinking, speaking, and living for them.

We must revisit that ancient philosophical question, and again we must ask the question Berry had so prophetically pushed forward: Do we wish to live as creatures, or do we wish to live as machines?

As followers of Christ, this should not even be a question. In John 14:19, Jesus said, “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too.”

We are not empty material beings that are shaped purely by our environment and DNA. Because Jesus lives, we live too. It is in Christ that we live and move and have our being, as the Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:28.

Why would we want to live as machines? And if that is obvious to you, then why would you want to talk with actual machines when we can talk to the one and only living, breathing God? The God who desires to come and make His home in us, so we are never alone, waits to speak to us.

If you are a follower of Christ, let me encourage you: Do you have faith to hear from God in all things? Do you believe that He waits to speak to you and teach you all things? Is there any area of your life where you are relying on your own intellect or the world’s wisdom instead of on God?

And if you are someone who has given up on prayer, please let me encourage you to try again. Begin by opening your Bible and reading His Word. While you read it, pray that He would speak to your heart and open your ears to hear from Him. As Jeremiah 29:13 promises us, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” If we seek Him, He will speak to us.

Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for Your goodness toward us. Thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit who remains with us. Please open our hearts and minds to hear from You so we can rely on You for all things. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.