“Write 800 words on the topic of Christian writers and the dangers of using AI.”
If I were to write that prompt into a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Gemini, beautifully crafted lines would fill my computer screen in about three seconds.
If I were to feed more details into the little text box, all those lines could even sound like they are in my writing voice, drawing from an online repository of my articles collated over the last decade.
I could then email “my” article to a platform like TGC India and voilà, my work would be complete in minutes instead of hours. Goodbye, deadline pressure and writer’s block. Hello, free time, and the opportunity to appear smarter than I may actually be.
What We Lose When We Depend on AI
But in depending on AI to write for us, we are not just walking away from performance pressure; we are also bidding farewell to creativity, deep thinking, and human ingenuity.
Writing is an embodied art that fuels passion and purpose. As Christian writers, our words are not merely a collection of (hopefully) insightful phrases; they are a means to glorify God through the gifts he gives us. When we employ a machine to think, create, and even emote for us, we diminish our capacity to magnify God.
In the past couple of years, we have all been captured by the magic of AI. The speed, the accuracy, even the “creativity” and seeming “wisdom” of the content produced by generative AI have left us stunned.
Some of us have embraced LLMs with the enthusiasm of catching up with a best friend after years. Others have been wary of this “thing” that strips us of communication skills, whittles our sense of agency, and steals our jobs.
Many of us sense the need to draw unambiguous boundaries around AI use before it depletes our skills and distances us from God.
As Christian writers, how does the gospel shape our use of AI? In a world where we have an overdose of facts, how can we harness AI to be a voice of wisdom? Or in John Piper’s words, “How can [we] most effectively benefit from [AI’s] potentials, and avoid its pitfalls?”
Why We Need Boundaries
We are in the throes of an unfathomable technological revolution. AI is an incredible tool that can speed up research, drive medical breakthroughs, propose travel itineraries, design meal plans, and help us through the muddle of both everyday and highly technical tasks.
As our dependence on AI grows, our reliance on God inevitably diminishes.
But for the Christian writer, this tool can become a temptation when we can convincingly present AI-generated content as our own. We can easily hide behind euphemisms like “instrument or means” (rather than “substitute”), and polite phrases like “amplify my voice” (rather than “replace my words”), or “clarify my thoughts” (rather than “generate ideas on my behalf.”)
When we rely on AI to do the heavy lifting for us, we essentially morph into the third servant in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30). We can easily choose the path of laziness, forget what we have been entrusted with, and end up burying our talent. Like the unfaithful servant, we can develop an elevated view of ourselves and a warped view of the Master.
One of our greatest privileges as Christian writers is that we get to depend on God in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). As our dependence on AI grows, our reliance on God inevitably diminishes. We run on self-reliance that comes from a few keystrokes rather than God’s power and grace.
How Do We Create Boundaries?
How do we honour God with the skills, intellect, and creativity he has given us without becoming obsolete in the Information Age?
Rehearse Your Why
AI is not inherently “moral” or “immoral.” How we use it often overflows from our hearts and is determined by our why. If the purpose of all our work is to glorify God, we will use AI with wisdom and transparency. Perhaps we need to remind ourselves repeatedly about why we engage in the craft of writing. If it is self-promotion, AI will become a slippery slope, leading to content that lacks integrity. If our intent is to magnify God, then AI will become a valuable tool. Pray for clarity in the why of your calling. And bring it to mind often.
Depend on God
In Exodus 31, God commissions Bezalel as the master craftsman for the tabernacle. God says to Moses that he has “filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills…” Imagine if Bezalel had responded to God’s call with a “That’s not good enough. I need another source to do the work.” God’s blueprint for the tabernacle would not have changed, but perhaps Bezalel’s joy in fulfilling his calling would have.
When used with integrity, AI can be an efficient tool that serves as an editor and trainer rather than a replacement writer.
Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to trust in the Lord and to lean not on our own understanding. Today, our “own understanding” is moulded by a machine that gives us answers and advice faster than our brains can process. A good boundary to draw would be to ask the question: Am I relying on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom to write this, or am I leaning on artificial intelligence?
Pre-Decide Your Scope
One practical step is to predetermine what we will use AI for and what we won’t. In a podcast, Michael Graham, programme director at The Keller Center, makes a vital distinction between using AI for toil (a consequence of the fall) and labour (the original mandate to have dominion, be fruitful, and subdue the earth). Graham says that one question he asks when using AI is whether it is eliminating toil or labour. He adds, “I’m far more inclined to use it if it’s eliminating toil.” What constitutes “toil” for the Christian writer? Perhaps it is collating links for research, transcribing interviews, or brainstorming synonyms. But may we steer clear of using AI for the holy labour of the fruitful work to which the Lord has called us.
Do the Heavy Lifting
Meditate on Scripture. Wrestle with theology. Read widely. Create outlines. Write sentences. Rewrite them. And then perhaps look to AI for suggestions to improve your writing. When used with integrity, AI can be an efficient tool that serves as an editor and trainer rather than a replacement writer. If we were to go back to the parable of the talents from Matthew 25, perhaps we can see ourselves in the role of the second servant—we may not have as many “resources” as the first servant. Yet, with what we have been assigned, we can multiply our impact by leveraging AI.
Embrace Radical Transparency
If we are using LLMs to generate large sections of content, as Christian writers, it behooves us to let our editors—and maybe even our readers—know. In our digital economy, trust has become one of the rarest commodities. As Christian writers, we need to be transparent in our writing to earn our readers’s confidence. This may sound naive, but most readers still expect to hear our authentic voice (as prompted by the Spirit), rather than data crunched by a machine.
As someone who writes Bible-based content, I have seen that God first works in me before he works through me (Phil. 2:13).
In the quietness of sitting in his presence, in wrestling with his Word, in reflecting on my experiences, something real and raw emerges. It likely will not be polished, perfect, or as pithy as what AI can produce. But it will go out with power because of the work of the Holy Spirit.
