AI and God
by Jonathan Tsai -
The horse and its rider, thrown into the sea
Who Am I To Write This?
I'm a software engineer with over two decades of professional experience. I've been programming for nearly 30 years. I'm not observing AI from a distance — I'm neck-deep in it, shipping code at inference speed, running agent swarms, watching this technology reshape my own profession in real time.
And I'm a Christian. Reformed, conservative, but not reactionary. I take the Bible seriously because I believe it's true.
So when I look at AI, I see it through both lenses — as someone who understands the technology intimately, and as someone who loves and fears the Lord Jesus Christ.
A note on tensions: My conservative Christian friends sometimes think I'm too engulfed in technology. My technology coworkers often don't know I'm a Christian at all — or think I'm too religious when they find out. There often seems to be a divide between biblical fidelity and cultural engagement — between those who take Scripture seriously and those who understand the technology shaping our world. This essay is an attempt to speak to both. If the tensions feel uncomfortable, that may be unavoidable; truth often lives in tension.
AI Is Here
This is not science fiction. This is not hype. This is not theoretical.
From OpenAI to Anthropic, from Mistral to DeepSeek and Qwen, from simple chatbots to autonomous agents like OpenClaw and Manus that can code, research, and process complex information in ways that mimic reasoning — artificial intelligence has arrived, and it's accelerating.
Block's layoffs this week are a sign of the times.
Jack Dorsey announced that Block (Square, Cash App) is cutting over 4,000 employees — nearly half the company. Not because business is bad; the opposite:
"Our business is strong. Gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. But something has changed. We're already seeing that the intelligence tools we're creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company."
They're targeting $2M+ gross profit per employee — 4x their pre-COVID efficiency. That's not a typo; four times.
This is not an isolated case. This is the beginning of a pattern that will reshape every industry.
The Horse and the Rider
During the time of the Exodus, and later during the times of kings, horses and chariots were the premier, eminent technology of the ancient world. They were the tanks and fighter jets of their day — overwhelming force that decided the fate of nations.
Egypt pursued Israel with the full weight of this technology.
Then the sea closed.
Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said,
"I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted;
The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea."
— Exodus 15:1 (NASB)
Miriam took up the tambourine and sang the same refrain (Exodus 15:21). The most advanced military technology of the ancient world was nothing before the God who parted waters and closed them again.
Do Not Boast in AI
The Scriptures are remarkably consistent on this point:
Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.
— Psalm 20:7 (NASB)
Thus says the LORD,
"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD."
— Jeremiah 17:5 (NASB)
Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
— Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NASB)
The warning is clear: Do not boast in AI. Boast in knowing the Lord God.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
— Proverbs 9:10 (NASB)
Technology comes and goes; empires rise and fall. This has not changed; this will not change.
AI Is a Tool
Consider money — Scripture does not say money is evil:
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
— 1 Timothy 6:10 (NASB)
It's the love of money that's the problem. Money is a tool; it can build hospitals or fund human trafficking. The tool is morally neutral; the human heart is not.
AI is the same: it is a tool — perhaps the most powerful tool humanity has yet created. It can accelerate research or generate deepfakes to deceive; it can assist pastors in studying the original languages and cross-referencing commentaries, or it can produce content that corrodes the soul.
But a sober warning is needed here: AI-generated sermons and plagiarism have already become a plague in the church. A pastor who outsources the hard work of study, prayer, and personal wrestling with the text to a machine is not stewarding a tool — he is starving his own soul and the souls of his flock. The difference between using a concordance to go deeper and using AI to skip the work entirely is the difference between stewardship and sloth.
The question is not whether you can use this tool, but how and why.
The Coming Disruption
Let me be honest about what's coming, because I've lived it.
From what I have seen firsthand, AI is already unlocking an era of unprecedented productivity. I've personally experienced a 20-100x productivity multiplier in my own work after adopting these tools; that's not hyperbole — that's my lived experience.
Before AI, an average day saw 0-1 pull requests merged; a good day was 3-4. Now I'm averaging 30-50 pull requests on an average day. On a good day? 200+. I'm just as busy as before — but doing far more. Items that have been on my todo lists for years are finally getting done.
But here's the pattern we need to understand: AI is not replacing humans. Humans using AI are replacing humans not using AI.
This is exactly what happened during the industrial revolution. Factories didn't eliminate human labor — they eliminated certain kinds of human labor while creating new kinds. The loom didn't put all textile workers out of work; it put hand-weavers out of work. Those who adapted thrived; those who didn't were displaced.
The same will happen now.
Block isn't laying off 4,000 people because robots can do their jobs. They're doing it because the remaining employees — armed with AI tools — can be dramatically more productive. The work still gets done, just by fewer humans.
The coming years will test the church's commitment to care for the vulnerable, to love our neighbors, to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2).
AI Is Not God
Now a warning that should be unnecessary — but increasingly is not.
AI is not God. AI will never be God. AI will never even approach God.
There are those who speak of artificial general intelligence with religious fervor. There are those who imagine machine consciousness as a kind of technological rapture. There are those who would worship at the altar of the algorithm.
This is idolatry in new packaging.
Consider: AI requires electricity to run. God can black out the sun — the source of all energy on Earth, the fusion reactor that powers every watt we generate. The God who spoke light into existence can extinguish it.
I am personally a fan of Elon Musk and appreciate his technological and professional achievements; I know there are plans to build data centers in space — and it's not a bad idea from an engineering standpoint. But God, who holds the planets in His hands (Isaiah 40:12), can send an asteroid, a comet, or a piece of space debris to obliterate every satellite, solar farm, and data center in orbit. If not in this life, then in the judgment to come — for "the conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
— Isaiah 45:5 (NASB)
God will humble the proud and arrogant (Isaiah 2:12). He will raise up the lowly (Luke 1:52). He laughs at those who imagine their towers reach heaven (Psalm 2:4).
No amount of compute will change this.
The Tower of Babel, Revisited
Some are working on longevity — extending human lifespan, curing age-related diseases. This is reasonable; we should steward our bodies well and seek the good of our neighbors through our work.
But others are working on something different: immortality. The dream of uploading consciousness, of transcending biological death, of becoming gods ourselves.
This is not new. It is the Tower of Babel rebuilt with silicon and code.
They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them."
— Genesis 11:4-6 (NASB)
God's response then was to confuse their language and scatter them. His response to human hubris has not changed. Every attempt to storm heaven on our own terms ends the same way.
Working on longevity is wise stewardship; pursuing technological immortality is fundamentally futile. Death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12), and no amount of engineering will undo that reality. The only path to eternal life is not through silicon, but through the One who conquered death itself.
Be Wise With Your Time
Yet for all Christians who are able — who have the time, means, resources, and capacity — there is wisdom in learning about this technology.
There is a difference between using a tool wisely and trusting in it for salvation. A hammer can build a house, but you don't worship the hammer. Stewardship is not idolatry.
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
— Ephesians 5:15-16 (NASB)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.
— Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NASB)
Learning to use AI well is not capitulation to the spirit of the age; it is stewardship. It is doing more with less; it is being shrewd as serpents while remaining innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).
A pastor who uses AI to assist in sermon research — cross-referencing Greek lexicons, surveying commentaries, checking historical context — is not abandoning the Spirit's guidance, any more than a pastor who uses a concordance. But there is a critical line: AI as a shortcut to bypass the prayerful, reflective, soul-shaping work of sermon preparation is spiritual malpractice. The tool must serve the work, not replace it. A business owner who uses AI to serve customers better is not worshipping technology — any more than one who uses a telephone. But when AI replaces the personal, human dimension of service — when customers interact only with machines and never with people who bear God's image — something essential is lost.
Tools are tools. But the person wielding the tool must remain engaged, thoughtful, and present. Use them wisely.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Solomon wrote:
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
— Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NASB)
Every "new" thing is recycling old things; AI is no exception.
The large language models are trained on human text — including Scripture itself. Meta has explicitly trained its LLaMA models on the Bible, pulling from FaithComesByHearing.com, GoTo.Bible, and Bible.com. Studies have analyzed how models like GPT-4, Claude, LLaMA, and Mistral handle biblical texts.
These systems remix and recombine what humans have already thought, said, and written. They are impressive; they are useful; they are not unprecedented in the spiritual economy. And here lies an opportunity: faithful Christian engineers and theologians could build tools grounded in sound doctrine — curating what these models ingest rather than leaving them to train on the undifferentiated mass of the internet.
Human nature has not changed. The heart is still "more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9); pride still comes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18); greed still corrupts; fear still paralyzes.
That which has been is that which will be.
Honor God With Your Firstfruits
Many users of AI and many entrepreneurial minds will get rich in the coming years. This is simply true; productivity gains create wealth; early adopters capture value; new industries emerge.
This will happen to believers and unbelievers alike. The rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).
For those Christians who prosper in this new era, remember:
Honor the LORD from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce.
— Proverbs 3:9 (NASB)
The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.
— Luke 3:11 (NASB)
Here is what haunts me: We now have — or will soon have — the technological capacity to address human suffering at a scale previously unimaginable. The obstacles are not merely technological; government corruption, misguided policy, and the perverse incentives of dependency have historically undermined even well-funded efforts. Money alone has never been the biggest hurdle in meeting the needs of the world. But technology can address some barriers that were previously insurmountable — and what remains is not a resource problem but a righteousness problem.
The greatest strength is also the greatest weakness.
Those who prosper in the age of AI will face a simple question: What will you do with what you have been given?
Night Is Coming
Jesus said:
"We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work."
— John 9:4 (NASB)
Jesus spoke these words about His own earthly ministry — the window of time the Father had given Him to accomplish His work before the cross. But the principle of urgency echoes throughout Scripture: our time is short, our days are numbered (Psalm 90:12), and the opportunity to work will not last forever.
Technology compresses timelines; AI compresses them further. The question is not if the night is coming, but when. And in the meantime, there is work to be done.
For believers, this means using every tool at our disposal — including AI — in service of the kingdom. But let us be clear about what "advancing the kingdom" actually means: it is not primarily about information dissemination or technological scale. The need of the hour is personal, incarnational, human ministry — bearing one another's burdens face to face, discipling in relationship, being physically present with the suffering. AI can supplement this work; it cannot replace it. No algorithm can substitute for a believer who sits with someone in their grief, or shares a meal with the lonely, or opens the Scriptures with a new convert.
For those who do not yet believe, I want to say something directly:
All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). The wages of that sin is death — eternal separation from the holy God who made us (Romans 6:23). We are not merely imperfect; we are rebels against our Creator, and no amount of self-improvement, moral effort, or technological achievement can bridge that gap.
But God, being rich in mercy, did what we could never do for ourselves. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ — fully God and fully man — to live the perfect life we could not live, and to die the death we deserved, bearing the full weight of God's wrath against sin on the cross (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later, He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death forever (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The call of the gospel is twofold: repent and believe (Mark 1:15). To repent means to turn — to acknowledge your sin as an offense against God, to grieve it, and to turn away from it and toward Christ. To believe means to trust not in yourself, your works, or your achievements, but in Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior. This is not a transaction; it is a surrender. No one can embrace the Savior while clinging to sin and self. One must "become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed" (Romans 6:17).
"If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
— Romans 10:9 (NASB)
By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). GRACE: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.
This is not about religion or ritual. It is about being reconciled to the living God through the finished work of Jesus Christ. If you want to understand the gospel more fully, I invite you to read a clear presentation of what it means to know God. Or reach out — to me, or to a faithful Christian who takes the Bible seriously — and have an honest conversation. The door is open; the invitation stands.
As For Me and My House
Technology will change; tools will evolve; some companies will soar and others will collapse; the hype will cycle through peaks and troughs.
But some things do not change.
God is still God. Christ is still risen. The Spirit still moves. The Word still stands.
And so we return to Joshua's ancient declaration — as relevant today as it was three thousand years ago:
"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
— Joshua 24:15 (NASB)
The horse and the rider are thrown into the sea. The chariots rust. The empires crumble.
But the word of our God will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).
Soli Deo Gloria