Are we better for it? Some say yes. The self scanner at the supermarket is better than a real person, right? The AI chat or phone queue is better than a real person, right? Is it better for us to know where to go for our information rather than to know it ourselves? Is it better for us to cede to technology what we once knew and could do for ourselves? The mighty Musk tells us we will all be better off when AI takes over our jobs and lives and we do nothing. Will we be better ff? When the day comes and I hang up my hat I will walk out the door with 32 years of institutional memory. People think I am concerned about giving up power or control but I seem to be almost alone in worrying about the loss of this institutional memory. Just Google it, right? When my wife retired at the height of her knowledge and expertise as a nurse, her employer saw her as a budget line. Is that all she was?
Sadly this whole thing has had a profound effect upon the Church. Our people do not know Scripture, do not memorize the Catechism, do not know their hymns, do not recall great prayers or collects, and do not seem to think this is a problem. We live in a Google age in which we do not need to know anymore than where to go. AI pastors already dispense spiritual counsel over the internet. Why bother with flesh and blood? The lesson of Covid to some is that we do not need the Church or to be in worship or to have a pastor. We have the world wide web. Is this advancing the cause of Christ in the home or in the Church or in the world? Does it glorify God that we know Him more by caricature than His Word? More by what we imagine Him to be than what He has said? Does this have consequences for us as people and as a Church? We live in an age of Biblical illiteracy which affects us more than we know and not for our good. Without our knowledge of His Word and our ability to discern truth from error based on that Word we are now more than ever vulnerable to that error, to the devil's taunts, to the world's temptations, and to our own weaknesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment