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.

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