Real with Rue

I truly feel that the older I get, the more of an “aunty in Christ” I become. Everything is now spiritual to me, food, friends, and certain decisions just feel as though there are spirits behind them. I genuinely believe that everything does have a spirit behind it because we are spiritual beings living on earth in these bodies. My latest addition to the “that’s demonic” list is now AI. Hear me out. I’m not saying we shouldn’t use it, but, as with everything involving human beings, we tend to abuse it. It becomes an idol that consumes us and eventually turns into the toxin we thought would be the antidote to our problems.

I love a good podcast, especially those with dilemmas, partly because I like learning from other people’s mistakes, and partly because I’m just nosy. So imagine my shock and horror listening to The Dr John Delony Show. A woman calls in saying she feels betrayed because her husband has been having sexual fantasies with AI. While I don’t think we’re all at this extreme, I do believe AI is going to widen the gap between us as humans. In a generation supposedly suffering from a male loneliness pandemic, toxic femininity, and increased screentime, constantly being bombarded with opinions and “story times”, AI offers a supposedly private escape, a place to be free and receive an apparently unbiased opinion.

I’ve heard stories of people putting their dating dilemmas into ChatGPT, or even seeking spiritual advice from it. We may judge the man having sexual fantasies with AI, but many of us are only one slippery slope away from befriending AI and even viewing it as a kind of god. This worries me deeply because AI is not a human being; it is a programme designed to imitate one, an imposter, if you will. AI cannot advise you properly; in fact, it is biased towards being supportive.

I’m genuinely scared for the future because we are a generation that longs so deeply for emotional connection, yet feelings and emotional expression are seen as cringeworthy. The worst part is that we now have access to so many people’s thought processes, and we adopt views and opinions we may never have been meant to encounter. So now, non-judgemental AI programmes feel like a refuge, a freedom from judgement. But honestly, I think this is why God gave us the Holy Spirit, and we are not utilising Him enough. Notice how I refer to the Holy Spirit as Him because He is, in fact, a person, God on earth. To me, relying on AI when God has given us such a precious gift, His presence and a heart that is constantly pursuing us, feels like a missed opportunity.

Paul even affirms this in Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is literally nothing God is not willing to do to show us His love. In fact, He gave up someone He loved in exchange for a horrible, painful death, for our union, for relationship. The world offers many idols, and to me, these are the anti-Christs, things that are not of God and that steal our attention.

Now, I say all this as someone who does use ChatGPT. I use it to quickly find Bible verses, for real, with rue, and to check my spelling and grammar. But it is not my Lord and Saviour. Neither is the internet. And while it may sound like I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill but just look at your screentime, and compare it with how much time you spend in His presence. I am guilty on counts 1 and 2.

My advice is this: seek the Kingdom first. Go to God first and everything else second. And make time for community.

Its been real,

Rue