Less than a week to sign up for my new course at Heritage College and Seminary.

What we imagine most is what we image best. To navigate technology wisely, we must know Jesus.

Read enough Wendell Berry, and you might reject AI for the sake of nature. Read enough Jacques Ellul, and you might reject AI for the sake of telos. Or at least that’s how it seems to happen. The truth is much more complicated. I wrote about that here: www.andrewnoble.net/p/whats-your...

A "religionless" human is a mere construct, as thin and vacuous an abstraction as the "natural man" of Rousseau and the adherents of the social contract. In reality it never existed. - Herman Bavinck

Idols must be named, understood, and demythologized as part of Christian formation.

Technology is not just something that mediates between our mental intentions and the physical world about us, technology gets inside our heads and affects the very way in which we conceive our reality. - George Pattison

"Screens can be like a Swiss Army knife at a meal. The extra features distract from what’s important." @andrewnoble.bsky.social ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/phys...

Every physical substance contains a spiritual reality.

It is only in Christ that we know what it is to be human. - Herman Bavinck

Modern people have no moral ideal, no example; they are only infatuated with progress toward a misty ideal. They are, therefore, restless, empty, without authority, disconnected, and emancipated. - Herman Bavinck in the early 1900s

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sheep. - God

Top 7 biblical themes to teach on technology: 1) idol / identity / image 2) creation / cultural mandate / new creation 3) exile / Babylon 4) shame / clothes / ark / imputation 5) possessions / ownership / money 6) relationship / church / love 7) virtue / Spirit / fruit

Would we have gotten C.S. Lewis’ enchantment without Barfield’s participation?

Theology podcasts I enjoy: - Into Theology - London Lyceum - Mere Fidelity - Grace in Common - Thinking About The Faith (I cohost this one with Jon Cleland)

A story in two images.

All of modernity's problems stem from man's inability to admit he is not his own.

Love is best understood not merely as an act of will, in contrast to the act of the intellect, but rather as an ontological unity, within which we properly will and understand. - D.C. Schindler

Sympathy/empathy in Calvin.

Knowing “technology” for what it is requires the recognition of what has been lost politically and ethically. - George Grant

Three kinds of Christians who aren’t ready for AI. Those who lean too much on: 1) Pragmatics 2) Passivity 3) Pontification Who is ready? The ones who are strong in prudence and purpose. They will thrive while the rest stumble.

Seeing younger Christians think like this makes my heart sing! “It is better for a pastor to be present w/ his people and to preach a text w/o elegance or extensive research than for a corner-cutting pastor to rely on technology.” @andrewnoble.bsky.social ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/your...

Important piece from @gravleyaustin.bsky.social www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/chur...

Let us Christians, therefore, give thanks to the Lord our God — not to heaven and earth, as Cicero argues, but to the One who made heaven and earth. - Augustine

I’ve read or skimmed around 5 or so books on AI. When they talk about AI in HR, they struggle. They cherry pick data, exaggerate data, and either make AI seem better or worse than it actually is. I sometimes wonder if AI is so vast a field that “experts” should speak more narrowly.

We nurture what we love, and we love what we nurture. - Sherry Turkle

If you regard evangelism as the primary and/or foremost function of the church, then things like “virtual reality church” seem plausible. Too often, spiritualized pragmatism, rather than biblical ecclesiology, drive decisions as to what ought to be done and how.

True “mortification” in the context of Colossians 3:5 has to do with a transformation of the will, a new attitude of the mind (cf. Rom 6:11)... “a radical shifting of the very centre of the personality from self to Christ" (Moule) - Peter O’Brien

Looking forward to diving into this!

Great podcast series. Highly recommend. Last few episodes have been incredibly good.

I have so much to learn.

GenAI tends to be inaccurate, especially in the way it summarizes. "In a direct comparison of LLM-generated and human-authored science summaries, LLM summaries were nearly five times more likely to contain broad generalizations."

Having kids is awesome.

This book is essential reading for anyone who is interested in AI. If you know Ellul’s anthropology in Propaganda, this is a qualitative documentation of it (but with robots).

Trying to find the thought process [in an LLM result] is like trying to find the body on the other side of a mirror. - Shannon Vallor (paraphrased)

AI is not a fad. It's not going away. But the ad-free honeymoon phase will end.

Imagine going to the gym and bringing a robot to lift the weights for you. It's stupid. But we have students thinking ChatGPT is okay. Wild times.

“He must become greater, I must become less” is descriptive rather than prescriptive. In some cases your greatest will increase alongside the glory of Christ (e.g. Joseph). Greatest can be a part of how God uses you.

Dear Christians, Please be more discerning with the AI products you use. Sincerely, Someone who used to work in AI

From Noble: You can see the lack of moral telos or soul early in the Techno-Optimist Manifesto: “There are only three sources of growth: population growth, natural resource utilization, and technology.” What’s absent, of course, is spiritual or moral growth.

Excellent conversation with Luke Simmons on ways churches and pastors can leverage digital media for the sake of discipleship. Very practical!

At the core of our beings we are imaging creatures. It is not possible to be neutral on this issue: we either reflect the Creator or something in creation. - Gregory Beale

My current research questions: - what makes idolatry idolatry? - what makes idolatry wrong? - how physical is idolatry? - why are we drawn to idol worship?

If there is no truth, gone with that, too, is all knowledge and science. The Christian religion thus shows its wisdom primarily in this,

“The Kingdom of God can be realized on this earth,” said Edgar Chambless. How? He said this is possible if we all followed the principles in his Roadtown city manifesto, where city life is built in a line by the best of modern technology.

The moon is beautiful tonight. God is good.

“The technological world is a strangely dim world, despite all the LED and XDR displays. We need the glory of Jesus. We need his grace.” Beautiful thinking and writing from @andrewnoble.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/andrewno...

The number of those who call for a new religion, a new dogma, and a new morality increases day by day. - Herman Bavinck in 1904

Even when your shoulders slump and eyes water, remember your misery reflects a desire for its opposite — joy. It’s the eternity in your heart groaning for the divine. The wrongness in your life reflects your desire for all to be made right. And that is good.

There are nine contradictions in our technological age. And a secret is revealed when we recognize them for what they are. open.substack.com/pub/andrewno...

As long as you follow the right people this can work really well.