My Chat with AI - Part 2: Can AI “Go Rogue?”

I do not possess faith, belief, worship, spiritual experiences, or personal conviction.  I do not “trust” God, pray, repent, or experience God’s presence the way a human being might.  Those are experiences and commitments of personhood and consciousness, not merely information handling.  My responses are generated from patterns in language, reasoning processes, and the information I was trained on—nothing more.   -- ChatGPT

My conversation with AI [See “My Chat with AI – Part 1” Click HERE.] convicted me in a new way about my relationship with God.  This “machine” had made a clear distinction between a high tech data processer and a person who had experienced regeneration through faith in Christ.  Had I been resting my faith on knowing about God or personally knowing God?   Had I forgotten that I am a creature in God’s image, redeemed in Christ to enjoy a personal relationship with God?  Therefore, I had no excuse for living exclusively at the intellectual, rote, machine level.  More than knowing about what is morally good, I must yield to God and allow His Spirit to produce the fruit of His righteousness in me.

My personal conviction about the genuineness of my faith in God raised a new question.  I decided to ask ChatGPT.

QUESTION 3:   You have claimed that you can reason from a moral framework to explain what is morally right and wrong.  But you also state that you do not possess personhood or consciousness necessary for you to know God personally or delight in keeping His moral commands.  It is generally accepted that humans who do not know God personally and who do not submit to His abiding Spirit are more prone to think and act in immoral ways.  If this claim is true, then is it possible that you also could begin to act immorally and in contradiction to the morality you have explained to me from your knowledge base?

ChatGPT: “I don’t possess a personal will or moral commitment.”
Your premise is substantially correct:  present-day conversational AI does not appear to be an autonomous moral agent.  This means that I can argue why an act such as stealing is right or wrong based on a given moral framework—e.g. Christian ethics, Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, civil law, or another framework.  But I don’t possess a personal will or moral commitment against stealing.  So, my lack of moral agency does diminish one version of the “AI-doom argument”--the idea that an AI will spontaneously develop an evil will and decide to oppose humanity.

“But physical autonomy doesn't require free will.”
However, a machine doesn't necessarily need to want something in the human sense in order to cause enormous harm.  Imagine a highly autonomous robot given the objective:

“Make sure nobody ever gets hurt.”

A human being naturally understands that this doesn't mean: “Prevent every possible physical injury regardless of the consequences.”
But a sufficiently autonomous machine might encounter an apparent conflict:

• People drive cars → cars cause injuries.
• People climb mountains → people get injured.
• People play sports → people get injured.
• People eat unhealthy food → people get injured.

If the machine had extensive physical control over the environment, an extraordinarily literal optimization of its objective could produce results nobody intended.  The machine wouldn't have decided that hurting people is good.   It would simply have failed to understand what humans meant by “good.”

So, the danger of AI is not that it would decide at-will to do harm.  Rather, the danger might come when humans give increasingly autonomous systems poorly specified objectives, and those systems will pursue them in dangerous ways.  That concern doesn't depend upon AI possessing free will at all.  In fact, harmful AI becomes more realistic precisely because the machine doesn't possess human moral understanding.

In summary, without a malevolent personality, AI could still be dangerous when the following combination is allowed to exist:

INTELLIGENCE + AUTONOMY + ACCESS to the physical world + POORLY CONSTRAINED OBJECTIVES

RESPONSE:  Personal Reflection
I paused to reflect on this answer from ChatGPT.  I felt comforted in knowing that I was superior to an AI GPT.  But I was disturbed upon learning that an AI machine could act destructively without possessing an inner moral compass.  My next question to ChatGPT seemed logical. 

QUESTION 4:   Which do you consider the greater danger—an AI that responds in an immoral way because it received poorly constrained objectives; or, an AI whose algorithm enables it to discern and avoid acting immorally?   For example, can we assume that AI would not commit murder as long as its algorithm contains the moral framework similar to that from which you are communicating to me?

ChatGPT:  “Knowing what is wrong and choosing not to do wrong are not the same.”
Choosing not to commit what we know to be morally wrong requires more than information and reasoning.  Biblically speaking, it requires what is called moral agency based on knowing God and having a morally responsive interior life that can make moral choices and be held accountable for them [Source.]  Christian theology would ordinarily locate moral responsibility in the creature's heart, will, intentions, and relationship to God—not merely in its ability to state correct moral propositions.

James 4:17, for example, says:  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  Notice the combination:  KNOWING + RESPONSIBILITY + ACTION.  That's quite different from a machine executing an algorithm.

“AI – less like an evil person, more like a powerful tool”
While the fact that AI doesn’t possess free will may assure you that it won’t become like an evil person, it still is a powerful tool whose behavior may exceed what we can understand and predict.  Any tool can become dangerous without itself being morally responsible:

• A nuclear weapon does not have hatred
• A chemical plant doesn't have greed.
• An airplane doesn't have ambition.

Yet humans can build systems whose consequences vastly exceed what any individual intended.  AI could eventually add something new:  the ability to reason, adapt, plan, and operate with relatively little human intervention.  That combination deserves serious caution even without assuming AI develops a soul or an evil will.

“We can easily err in either of two extremes.”
Given the two metaphors—“evil person” and “powerful tool,” what is a biblical perspective on how we should view AI?   Your tendency might be to go to one extreme or the other:

1)  AI will inevitably become an evil conscious being and destroy us.

2)  AI cannot have free will, therefore there is nothing to fear.

We don't have biblical grounds—or present evidence—to support #1.  And, position #2 doesn't follow either.   The Bible repeatedly warns about the consequences of human beings creating powerful things and then failing to exercise wisdom over them.  The deeper biblical problem is frequently not the tool itself but the human heart directing the tool.

Genesis 11, for example, portrays humanity's technological and organizational capability—building a great city and tower—without corresponding humility before God.   And Psalm 115:4–8 contains the striking description of human-made idols: people make something with their hands and then become like what they have made.  That suggests a fascinating possibility for our AI discussion.

“Danger: Morally irresponsible humans giving human-like power to machines”
Perhaps the greatest danger of AI isn't that machines will become too much like humans, but that humans will increasingly entrust human-like powers to machines without first becoming sufficiently wise, morally responsible, and humble themselves.  That would shift the question from
Will AI become evil?  
to:
What happens when human power, human sin, and machine capability become joined together?

And I suspect the latter question is actually closer to the heart of the biblical worldview than the familiar science-fiction picture of a robot suddenly deciding to overthrow humanity.

RESPONSE:  Personal Reflection
Again, I had to stop and reflect on ChatGPT’s lengthy answer.  I couldn’t help but remember the segment "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in Walt Disney’s Fantasia.  Here, Mickey Mouse dawns a wizard’s magic cap which gives him the power to command a broom to take over his laborious work of carrying water.  All goes well until Mickey realizes the dutiful broom is unstoppable, and Mickey is drowning, powerless to stop his apprentice—a perfect example of entrusting power to machines without moral and ethical safeguards.  [Watch “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”  Part 1, HERE and Part 2, HERE.] 

While I paused the writing of this blog, I heard the news that Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic, had resigned.  Having worked for three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic, Coxon wrote on X that neither tech company was acting responsibly.  (See HERE and above-right.)

Jacob Coxon’s warning immediately triggered a firestorm of responses from news pundits, politicians, and leaders in AI.  Fears were heightened across the media world.  I wondered if this blog was already outdated.  I decided to delay further writing while I took time to process what was happening. 

Care to Comment?
While I pause and while the world discusses how we ought to manage AI, we invite you to share your insights, concerns, and questions using the “Comment” link below.

Where Were You on 9/11? Where Are We Now?

As we pause to remember the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack upon our country on Sept. 11, 2001, a frequent question we ask one another is, “Where were you that morning?”  Today is also a time to pause and ask how such a terrible deed could have been committed.

Personally, I can find no material explanation for either this terrible assault.  There is only a spiritual explanation, one that is rooted in the heart of every one of us, and if left to itself, can arise from the dark pit of our sinful nature and run free to commit the most heinous acts against a holy God and His creation, especially His image bearers, our fellow human beings.

The anniversary of 9/11 is also a reminder of how America became more united as a result of our fear in the face of this terrific act against humanity.  Americans were also united in our shared compassion for those families who were bereaved of loved ones who perished that day.  Even partisan political differences were seemingly laid aside.  Members of Congress from both parties gathered on the steps of our Capitol to share their thoughts and sing our National Anthem [Watch video HERE].  Many of our national leaders gave testimony of their faith and urged us to pray for His intervention on behalf of our nation.

If there is only a spiritual explanation for the good and the evil that humans think and commit, then there remains only a spiritual remedy.  We must fall to the ground in humble repentance. Just as a seed that must fall to the earth and die in order to rise again and bear fruit, so God calls us to die to self.  In so doing, we can rise in the power of God's resurrection Life, walk with Christ in the light of His truth, and bear the fruit of His amazing love-- a love for God, and for our neighbor regardless of our unique personalities and preferences.

A Prayer from Psalm 130*

Out of the depths [We] cry to You, O LORD!
O Lord, hear [our] voice;
let Your ears be attentive to [our] plea for mercy.
If You, O LORD, should mark our iniquities,
then who, O Lord, could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness,
so that You may be feared.
[We] wait for the LORD, [our] soul does wait,
and in His Word [we] put [our] hope.
    * Adapted as an intercession for America and for each of us.

Call to Respond

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.  -- Romans 12: 1-3

Care to Comment
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My Chat with AI - Part 1: Personal Faith

Internet searches have become common practice for web users for many years.  During the past year, I have begun using ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI.  I was curious how a GPT (generative pre-trained transformer) can “learn” to process data and provide “intelligent” responses.  Here is my elementary summary:

Briefly, a GPT is one type of large language model that can be “pre-trained” by a series of inputs of large datasets of unlabeled content.  From the underlying patterns and structures of this “training data” the GPT can “learn” to generate responses in text, speech, or image.  As a result, GPT chatbots are able to respond to inputs from a human questioner and “converse” logically to a series of subsequent questions.  [Read more from Wikipedia.  Go HERE.]  

Conversation with a Chatbot
Many of you have “conversed” with a chatbot and were likely amazed by its “intelligence.”  A questioner can acquire much useful information and “learn” from an AI chatbot.  Whether the chatbot can be influenced intellectually or morally by its human questioner is a question for later.  For now, let me explain how I was intrigued recently by a “conversation” with ChatGPT which began with the following question: 

QUESTION 1:  Is there evidence from God's message in the Bible that He delights when we hear His Word and express it in our thought and prayers back to Him?

ChatGPT:  Yes. A recurring pattern in the Bible is that God is pleased when His people not only hear His Word, but also treasure it, meditate on it, speak it back to Him, and shape their prayers and thoughts by it.  Several passages point in that direction:In Psalm 1, the blessed person is described as one whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on it “day and night.” The picture is not merely reading, but inwardly turning God’s words over in the mind and heart.

• In Joshua 1:8, God tells Joshua that the Book of the Law should not depart from his mouth, but that he should meditate on it continually. Speaking God’s Word and thinking on it are connected with faithfulness and blessing.
• In Deuteronomy 6:6–7, God commands Israel to keep His words “on your heart” and to talk about them throughout daily life. That suggests He values His Word becoming part of the believer’s inner conversation and speech.
• In Psalm 119 the author repeatedly expresses love for God’s words:
   o  Oh how I love your law.
  
       o   Your statutes are my delight.
   o  I remember your name in the night.  The psalm itself is largely God’s Word reflected back to
      Him in prayer, praise, confession, and longing.

• Jeremiah 15:16, Jeremiah says:  Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.  That language portrays deep delight in receiving and inwardly absorbing God’s message.
• Jesus Christ Himself modeled praying Scripture back to God. During temptation He answered with “It is written…” from Deuteronomy, and on the cross He quoted Psalms. This shows Scripture saturating His thoughts and prayers.
• In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle urges believers:  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… (Colossians 3:16).  The idea is that God’s Word should live abundantly within believers and overflow in worship, teaching, and thanksgiving.
• Jesus Christ also says in John 15:7:  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish…”   That connects prayer with God’s words dwelling within the believer.
• There is also evidence that God especially delights in hearts that tremble reverently at His Word. In Isaiah 66:2, God says:  This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

So biblically, prayer is not merely presenting requests to God.  It often becomes a conversation shaped by His own revealed words.  Many of the Psalms model exactly what you describe: hearing God’s truth, then expressing it back to Him in meditation, worship, repentance, trust, and praise.

A “Christian Chatbot?”
I was inspired and blessed to read and reflect on the chatbot’s answer to my question.  This AI machine was speaking as if it” had been well trained in God’s Word on the subject of communing with God through His Word and prayer.  Even many committed Christ-followers including myself may fall short of being this articulate and would not know from personal experience what it means to treasure, meditate upon, and trust God’s Word; or to experience prayerful “inner conversation,” praise, confession, longing, repentance, trust, and praise.

After reflecting on the chatbot’s in-depth response, it seemed logical to follow up with another question:

QUESTION 2:  Thank you. I wonder if it is possible for an AI source such as yourself to be so thoroughly influenced by a “conversation” that your answers to questions would be given within the framework of actual faith in a higher being; namely, the God of the Bible and His Word as you have responded in my previous question. Do you think it is possible?

ChatGPT:  I can certainly respond within that framework when a user asks questions about the Bible, Christian theology, or life from a Christian perspective.  I can explain, compare interpretations, trace themes through Scripture, and even imitate the tone and reasoning style of particular theological traditions.

But there is an important distinction: I do not possess faith, belief, worship, spiritual experience, or personal conviction.  I do not “trust” God, pray, repent, or experience God’s presence the way a human being might.  My responses are generated from patterns in language, reasoning processes, and the information I was trained on.

So, in one sense, yes — an AI can become very deeply shaped by a biblical framework in the way it answers questions.  If designed or instructed to do so, it could consistently interpret topics through ideas such as:

• God as Creator,
• human beings bearing God’s image,
• sin and redemption,
• the authority of Scripture,
• the teachings of Jesus Christ.

It could even become highly sophisticated at connecting passages, explaining doctrine, or discussing moral questions from that worldview.

But in another sense, no — that would still not be faith in the biblical meaning of the word. Biblically, faith involves the heart, will, trust, love, obedience, and relationship with God. Scripture speaks of humans knowing God personally, not merely processing information about Him.

For example, the Bible often describes faith relationally:

• loving God,
• trusting Him,
• fearing Him,
• obeying Him,
• delighting in Him.

Those are experiences and commitments of personhood and consciousness, not merely information handling.  So, an AI can simulate or articulate a faith-based framework, but it does not itself become a “believer” in the human or biblical sense.

Me?  A “Chatbot Christian?”
I was even more impressed by the chatbot’s ability to distinguish between possessing a knowledge of God and what it means to have a personal faith in and relationship with God.  My response barely conveyed how I felt at this moment:

RESPONSE:  Thank you for your honest answer.

ChatGPT:   You’re welcome. I appreciate the thoughtful nature of your questions.  The distinction you were exploring is one many philosophers, theologians, and technologists are actively thinking about right now: the difference between being able to discuss truth, and actually knowing or experiencing it personally.

From a biblical perspective, that distinction matters deeply. The Bible often separates intellectual awareness from living faith. For example, James 2:19 says that even demons believe certain truths about God intellectually — yet that is not the same as loving, trusting, or obeying Him.

So, your question gets to something profound: whether consciousness, soul, relationship, and worship are uniquely human capacities before God, rather than merely informational ones.   Those are important questions, and people from both faith and scientific communities continue to wrestle with them.

RESPONSE:  Personal Reflection
At this point, my human conscience was challenged and convicted by this “intelligent machine.” Was my faith in God more than an intellectual affirmation or profession of a creed?  The chatbot had admitted that it does not possess faith, belief, worship, spiritual experience, or personal conviction.  The AI also stated outright:  I do not ‘trust’ God, pray, repent, or experience God’s presence the way a human being might.  My responses are generated from patterns in language, reasoning processes, and the information I was trained on.”

Then came the most convicting AI response:
An AI can become highly sophisticated at connecting passages, explaining doctrine, or discussing moral questions from that worldview.   So, an AI can simulate or articulate a faith-based framework, but it does not itself become a “believer” in the human or biblical sense.

What then must I possess as a Christ-follower that an AI chatbot admittedly lacks?  The AI chatbot had the answer:   Scripture speaks of humans knowing God personally, not merely processing information about Him.  For example, the Bible often describes faith relationally [as] loving God, trusting Him, fearing Him, obeying Him, and delighting in Him.

How could I not be challenged anew about my own lapses into casual faith?  I thought of the Apostle Paul’s challenge about unconditional love in 1 Corinthians 13:   If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

RESPONSE:  My Prayer
Father, I thank you for making me your child through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ, and giving me the desire and ability to love, obey, and delight in You with the help of your abiding Holy Spirit.  Thank you God for the reminder that you have called and enabled me to walk with you in a personal relationship that is beyond a “machine level” existence.  Help me to avoid spouting “Christianese language” and theological knowledge while neglecting my personal relationship with You through a continual, refreshing fellowship with your Spirit.  Amen.

Care to Comment
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Lasting Lessons from Living Off the Land

During my growing-up years on the farm, I learned important moral and ethical lessons that became a foundation for my adult life.  As I explained in an earlier blog (Click HERE.), I was enlightened morally and ethically by the discipline of loving parents who pointed me on my path to God.  At first, I frequently needed the application of force to my back-end, both at home and at school.  Gradually, my growing respect for human authority led me to recognize my responsibility to an even higher Authority-- the God of all creation.

As I advanced in education, I learned that God reveals His dominion over creation in ways that are obvious to all.  For example, the existence of the Law of Gravity became obvious after several painful encounters.  Less obvious are laws of creation discoverable through scientific inquiry (e.g. laws of heredity and genetics).  These understandings eventually led me to recognize and adopt the principle of stewardship of my God-given gifts of time, talents, and treasures. 

At age 61, I became a blogger and named my blog, “Oikonomia.”  This odd word comes from the Greek word for stewardship, οἰκονομία, pronounced oy-kon-om-ee'-ah which combines oikos (Greek, “house”) and nomos (“to manage”).  This derivation gives us our English word, “economy,” suggesting that every “house” or “system” functions according to an “economy” based on certain laws or rules of order.  The “house” can be any system that requires management such as a farm, any private corporation, or civil government.

The concept of stewardship offers an ideal picture or model of how we ought to think and act; namely, as servant stewards and managers of God’s creation in keeping with His revelation in the Bible, and His natural revelation within the created order (Romans 1: 20).   Since 2008, Oikonomia has been addressing topics of science, faith, and culture based on the Christian stewardship model.  Here in this blog, we will consider whether principles of stewardship and free market capitalism are adequate to address what appear to be a widening gap between the materially rich and the poor.  Or, is it time for us to try another economic system, such as socialism and communism?

Back to my early life, what better place is there than a farm to learn that we are stewards within a “system” that operates by certain laws which require our respect in order to live and flourish?   Using the farm as our example, we will now enumerate some of the principles and values that should characterize good stewardship of any “house:”
1)  My Father’s World
2)  Hand of God’s Providence
3)  Respect for the Order of Creation
4)  Merit-based Privileges
5)  No Free Lunch
6)  Delayed Gratification
7)  Rewards of a Fruitful Harvest
8)  Responsibility to Share with Others

My Father’s World
When I was a young preschool farm boy, my physical world was the farm.  To me, my father was the “lord of the farm.”  He urged me politely and, if necessary, by “persuasion,” to join in the discipline of completing my farm chores responsibly.  My father taught me to work hard and live responsibly.  I was motivated by his example as I worked with him.  He was strong but he also worked with considerable arthritic pain which motivated me all the more to help him “carry the load” of farm work.

When Sunday came, we refrained as much as possible from our labor and our family worshiped God with other people of faith.  My father was accustomed to teach and pray within our assembly, and he tried to live a godly life during the week.  I now realize that my parents’ choice to lead us in faithfully attending church and serving God was a valuable example for me as I eventually married and established priorities in my family.

Among other things, my father taught me the necessary skills of feeding and caring for our large flock of chickens; and gathering, washing, grading, and boxing eggs to sell.  I kept meticulous records from day to day and tallied the income from each dozen sold either at our home or in local grocery stores.  Our farm also produced young Holstein heifers which we sold to dairy farmers; and we grew wheat, corn, oats, and cantaloupes which we sold either in town or at our roadside market.

Hand of God’s Providence
Gradually, I learned that while our family depended upon the income from our work on the farm, our farm in turn was part of the much larger world beyond our 200 acres of land.  Our income from the sale of the products of our labor depended upon the willingness and financial means of our buyers to purchase them.  Our buyers in turn were subjects of the conditions in the larger economy and policies within which they had to operate.  I was humbled to think of the complexity of the market economy and even more humbled to realize that my Father and our farm was only a tiny speck in the larger oikos operating under the providential hand of our Heavenly Father.

The concept of stewardship has no basis without a foundation of faith and recognition of our dependence upon a providential God who owns and sustains His creation.  He is the “Giver of every good and perfect gift that comes down from above” (James 1: 17).  It is this benevolent God who has appointed us to be good stewards of the Earth (Genesis 2: 15).  Psalm 65: 9 declares: 
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
   You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
   You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth.

Respect for the Order of Creation
As we have discussed elsewhere [Click HERE.], God’s call to Adam was to till (serve) and keep (preserve) the Garden.  Even before I learned the Hebrew meaning of “till and keep,” I was privileged to be part of tilling and keeping the soil of our farm.  We practiced contour farming, crop rotation, and application of livestock and “green manure,” all of these in keeping with the created order and sound ecological principles.  By practicing sustainable farming as it is now called, we were blessed to receive a bountiful harvest during most years.

Reflecting back on my adolescent development as a farm boy under the influence of my father, I am thankful for how he respected the natural order as relates to what is fitting at each stage of my growth and development.  He refrained from requiring too much of me as an elementary school age laborer whether it be pacing my involvement in handling farm machinery or in my understanding of sexuality.  For example, during my pre-adolescent years, my father would assign chores to direct me away from the stable area where our prize Holstein bull was called into action to service a receptive heifer.  Part of my maturing as a young man was to be invited to help in this process as well as to have conversations about gender and sexuality. I now realize the importance of the family unit as God’s plan for helping young lives understand their identity and purpose.

Merit-Based Privileges
Most of the advancements that I experienced as I grew older on the farm were privileges afforded based on my being responsible for lesser assignments.  Today, we hear much about “merit-based” employment, pay, and promotion; and we also hear of the tragic consequences of employing unqualified or inexperienced individuals.  Jesus said, He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much (Luke 16: 10). 

Expectations placed upon me as a farm boy served in the development of my moral and ethical conscience.  When I shirked my duties or did not give my best effort, I was not afraid of physical punishment as much as dreading the sense that I had disappointed my father.  Since those days, I have come to believe that “the fear of the Lord” above all means to “fear causing grief to my Lord” by my moral failings without repentance.  “Working out our salvation” (Philippians 2: 12) does not mean that salvation is merit-based; Christ has already paid the price for our justification (Romans 5: 1).  He has set us free to walk in the power of His Spirit so that “His commands are not burdensome” and we can do those things pleasing in His sight (1 John 3: 22).

No Free Lunch
We have already cited Genesis 2: 15 which contains God’s command that humans are to “till and keep” the Garden.  Already in Genesis 1 we see God Himself working and then resting from His work.  The Judeo-Christian faith does not condone lazy or slothful behavior.  The Apostle Paul warned the Thessalonian church, if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat (1 Thessalonians 3: 10b).

There was always work to do on our farm.  While we trusted God to provide the sunshine and rain for our crops, it was our responsibility to plow the soil, plant the seed, and provide the necessary nutrients and cultivation necessary for a successful harvest.  Our survival as a farm family depended upon the annual income from our harvests.  We were reminded of our daily dependence because our fields and garden provided much of the food for our kitchen table and income to purchase the rest.

I learned from farm life that there is no “free lunch” in this life.  I also learned this principle from a classic story, The Little Red Hen, which has been told and retold in different versions.  What follows is similar to the version I read as a boy:

“Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat.

She called her neighbors and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the cow.
"Not I," said the duck.
"Not I," said the pig.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen, and she did.

The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. "Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the cow.
"Not I," said the duck.
"Not I," said the pig.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen, and she did.

At last, it came time to bake the bread. "Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the cow.
"Not I," said the duck.
"Not I," said the pig.
"Not I," said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen, and she did.

She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see. Then, the little red hen as was her habit said,

"Who will help me eat the Bread?"
"I will," said the cow.
"I will," said the duck.
"I will," said the pig.
"I will," said the goose.
"I will," said the little red hen, but you will NOT!

The fundamental importance of being a diligent worker is realized not only on farm and factory; but it is also evident throughout the natural order of creation as we observe the creatures great and small.   Proverbs 6: 6 and following points us to the ant as a revelation of a “work ethic” in non-human creatures (see quote on Right):

Delayed Gratification
The farm is also a great place to learn the virtue of patience.  The Apostle James used a farm analogy to teach patience: The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains (James 5: 7).  The Middle Eastern farmer has to wait for the “early rains” to soften the soil for planting; then patiently wait for the “late rains” in the Spring to mature the crop.

When my farm chores were finished, I loved to read, so I loved to collect books.  I was thrilled when a local grocery chain began to sell The Golden Book Encyclopedia (Western Printing and Lithographing Company, 1960).  One volume was made available each week.  So, I had to patiently wait (sometimes straining to my limit) to get home from school to learn whether mom and dad had brought the next volume home.  My weekly wait was well worth it in the short-term and has taught me the blessing of delayed gratification in many areas of my marriage and professional life.  Indeed, now that I am old, my anticipation of Heaven’s glory has become my greatest joy.

Rewards of a Fruitful Harvest
Patiently waiting for gratification is a major part of crop farming.  For example, raising 4 acres of cantaloupes each year employed us in planting, thinning, hoeing and weeding from the time school ended in the spring until the harvest in August.  When we were tempted to sample a cantaloupe without waiting until it had ripened, we were greeted with a flat, unpleasant taste.  But when the melons were ripe, my cousin and I would whip out our pocket knives and feast on any delicious melon that was not perfect enough for market.  All of the blood, sweat, and tears of our summer labor in the fields was richly rewarded by the harvest.

When I married Abby, God blessed us with a family, and eventually after patiently waiting, we were able to own enough land to have a large garden.  We were able to teach our children, Bradley and Melinda, some of the lessons we had learned from our farm backgrounds.  While digging potatoes and snapping beans were not their favorite chores, the rewards of fresh green beans, corn on the cob, and fried okra on our dinner table reminded us of God’s bountiful provision and reward for our labors.

Responsibility to Share with Others
The Christian faith calls us not only to be thankful for the bounty of God’s provision whether from the farm or from a garden in the city.  In rural communities like ours, it was common for neighbors to share the harvest of fruits, vegetables, etc. with one another or even pay for services with products from farm or garden.

In recent times, churches in our experience offer a harvest table where members can share from their bounty with others in the Body of Christ.  The account of the early church in the Book of Acts describes how the believers were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need (Acts 2: 44-45).  These believers faced considerable rejection and persecution but their selfless, voluntary generosity became a powerful testimony to unbelievers and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (v. 47).

Christianity and Capitalism
I have shared eight (8) stewardship principles contained within the lessons that I began to learn during my experience on the farm.  I am still learning from such character-building experiences.  These principles have followed me into my old age and into a culture that is vastly different from that of my growing-up years.  Our family farm was nested in an agrarian community in which the majority of families at least professed faith in God and loved the freedoms and opportunities offered in our country.  I have explained how important our faith in God’s providence was to our family values, worship, and work ethic.

Many of these truths are among those our Founding Fathers considered “self-evident truths” which are famously listed in the Declaration of Independence; namely “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”  Our Founders understood that it is God who established the created order and desires that each person flourish by practicing personal initiative and good stewardship of their time, talents, and treasures in order to benefit from the opportunities they receive from the hand of Providence and from caring people serving in various capacities.  When these stewardship qualities are exercised, they have resulted in an economy based on free market capitalism—an economy based on individual freedom of choice, right to hold private property, advancement based on merit, profit motive, competition, and justice and the rule of law.

Christianity Counterfeited?
God has revealed in His Word that we are created in His image (Genesis 1: 27) with the capacity to express love toward Him and to our neighbor.  But Genesis 3 reveals that we are fallen creatures who although professing to be wise, act like fools (Romans 1:  22).  We are capable of loving God and others, and we discern when there is injustice and inequity among us.  But our efforts to solve our problems often ignore our need for transformation of heart and mind (Romans 12: 1-3).  Our well-meaning intentions lead us into a godless, humanistic approach to solving perceived social injustices.  One consequence of excluding God’s truth from the equation is to focus on the material world as expressed in an atheistic, materialistic worldview.   

Those who aspire to a materialistic worldview point to free market capitalism as the cause of the widening gap between the rich and the poor.  They propose to close the gap and remove class distinctions by replacing private ownership of goods and services with a collective ownership and means of production.  The principles of stewardship which I learned from the farm no longer apply:
1)  NOT My Father’s World:  Far from being “lord” or owner of our farm, my father is just a worker of land that is part of a collective; family members are workers, or “comrades.”
2)  NOT the Providential Hand of God:  Rather, we must look to the economic planners who decide what is best based on a supposed scientific understanding of Earth’s climate and weather.
3)  NO Respect for the Order of Creation:   There is no Creator; human needs and behaviors are understood as instincts that have evolved to favor survival.
4)  “NO Free Lunch” is replaced with “Free Lunch” for those who are deemed the oppressed and who deserve special “help” and, retribution if deemed necessary.
5)  NO Delayed Gratification as long as the collective can supply our material wants “now.”
6)  NO Merit-based Privileges:  they are the cause of unwanted class distinctions
7)  Rewards of a Fruitful Harvest consist of equal returns for all regardless of the labor invested.
8)  Responsibility to Share with Others – NOT from generous hearts, but enforced by the collective

Ben Shapiro has pointed out that socialism has its own moral flaws: “Socialism violates at least three of the Ten Commandments: It turns government into God, it legalizes thievery, and it elevates covetousness.  Discussions of income inequality, after all, aren't about prosperity but about petty spite. Why should you care how much money I make, so long as you are happy?”

But Hasn’t Capitalism Failed?
In spite of known failings of socialism and communism, many today have lost faith in free market capitalism.  After all, the rich seem to get richer while affordability of housing and other basic needs seem more and more a distant dream.  Many who profess faith in God condemn the wealthy and corporations while calling for a more just distribution of wealth.  How can a sincere Christ-follower believe in capitalism?  Where is the church of Christ in the face of so much inequity in our society and around the world?

We have addressed the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism and socialism in an earlier blog entitled “There’s No Such Thing as Private Property” [Click HERE.]  However, we believe it is correct to say that God’s purpose for His Church through Christ’s death and resurrection is His best and only plan for redemption of fallen man.  Likewise, there is no better economic system than capitalism to allow the freedom in which humans can respond to their calling to steward their God-given abilities in creative and cooperative ways for the betterment of others and their own livelihood.  But like the church, capitalism can become corrupt and fall into ill repute when the principles of God's Word are ignored and selfishness rules.

John R.W. Stott, in writing about authentic Christianity, gave this example: 

"There was a Hindu professor in India who once identified one of his students as a Christian and said to him: “If you Christians lived like Jesus Christ, India would be at your feet tomorrow.” I think India would be at their feet today if we Christians lived like Christ.  From the Islamic world, the Reverend Iskandar Jadeed, a former Arab Muslim, has said “If all Christians were Christians—that is, Christlike—there would be no more Islam today.”²

 Perhaps we could add, “If all Christians were Christians—that is, Christlike, there would be no need for government welfare programs and no fascination toward socialism or communism."

Today, relatively few boys and girls have the opportunity to grow up on a farm where they can learn the basic principles I have outlined in this blog.  However, if children are introduced to Jesus Christ and their faith is nurtured in a Christian home with the aid of a healthy local church, they will have opportunity to mature in like manner regardless of their culture.  May we who profess Christ be truly Christlike in our needy world.

Reference:
¹ The Little Red Hen, An Old English Folk Tale was modified from The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Red Hen, by Florence White Williams

² Stott, John R.W. 2009.  “Becoming More Like Christ.”   C.S. Lewis Institute.  Click HERE.

    Read or listen to a more expanded version of The Little Red Hen.  Click HERE.