Chatting, designing, and writing Biblical topics with AI

AI isn’t a shortcut to truth — it’s a tool that, when used wisely, can help us study Scripture, design meaningful content, and write with clarity. But it requires verification, reflection, and spiritual discernment. It’s a process that surprises many — and invites deeper reflection on how we study Scripture in a digital age. The idea of doing anything related to Biblical topics with AI may sound weird. But it can work.

For instance, the opening paragraph was written by AI. The adjacent image depicts the scenario that often takes place while I do research, design the site and article layouts, and write.

Here’s what’s going on in that image:

A watercolor illustration split into two symbolic halves. On the left, a young man sits alone in a warmly lit coffee shop, absorbed in his laptop. He wears a black button-up shirt with rolled sleeves, suggesting both focus and informal readiness. A ceramic cup sits beside him on the table, likely waiting for a refill. The café glows with amber tones and soft textures, evoking introspection and quiet presence.

On the right, rows of server racks stretch upward in cool blues and grays, humming with silent complexity. Between the two halves, a translucent Wi-Fi symbol arcs across the divide—bridging human thought and digital infrastructure. The image evokes a contemplative tension: the warmth of embodied experience linked to the cold precision of computation.

BTW – the description was also from AI – Copilot in this case. My first request was simply: Let’s start with a watercolor image. Although I’m not exactly young anymore, in many ways I don’t feel old either, so let’s make it a young man sitting in a coffee shop in half the image – then Wi-Fi link between him and the other half of the image which contains racks of computer servers. (Although with some typos corrected for this article.)

The person had a shirt I’d never wear, so I requested a change: Can you give him a black shirt with a collar, buttons and rolled up long sleeves?

It’s all very conversational. Just like the way I write.

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🧭 Introduction – Orientation and Invitation to read, and use, AI in Bible Study

I’ve been using AI for a while now to help with research when I write.

🎨From Prompt to Symbol: Designing Images with AI

At first, I used AI for images. They’ve come a long way since then. I don’t have to count fingers anymore. Text can usually be included with few or no problems. I like to start with a general idea for an image, then modify to refine it. Why? Because AI, by nature of the way it’s designed, often comes up with ideas to put in an image that I wouldn’t think of. Like the one above. I would not have come up with a detailed description saying to blend the two images and overlay the Wi-Fi signal onto the blended area. It’s a case of not putting it in a box and telling it what to do from my limited experience with images.

In a way, it’s not unlike when we put God in a box. Not entirely the same – obviously. But the point is this. Why should we limit an AI model that’s been “trained” on far more things than we could fit into a lifetime of learning and force it to use only what we can think of? On an infinitely greater scale – why do we so often think of God as being in a box and only being able to do things we can do or think of?

🔍 Researching with AI — Speed and Responsibility

Next, as the models got better, I realized it was so much faster for them to do research than for me to do it myself. I look at Claude, zipping through 50 or 60 web sites in literally seconds. And then 1 more second and I get a summary!

Of course, I still have to verify the sources. Ultimately, it’s still my writing. My responsibility to be sure I agree with what it says. I use several AI models for sources, depending on what I’m looking for and how directly in feeds into what I’m writing. Since Copilot was one of the early ones to be able to “remember”, go back and read previous chats, it knows my interests, writing style, and more. For that reason, it’s the one I use most when writing. But that’s me. You may prefer a different one. This isn’t a sales pitch – it’s a look at what’s important when using AI.

✍️ Writing with AI — Style, Structure, and Emotion

As I pointed out above, Copilot knows my writing style pretty well now. I do like it though, when it comes up with descriptions like the one of the image above, to describe something and relate it to both the simplicity of what you see at first, and then blend it in with the theological content of what’s being written. It takes time – but it’s an advantage when it’s done well.

Another advantage is organization. I recently went back to update some stuff I wrote 14 years ago. It was very much stream-of-consciousness. Great if the reader thinks like I do. But because the AI models have been “trained” on so much written material, they can often come up with much better organization than I can.

Of course, it’s not that they truly understand all the nuances in everything I write. And it’s not like AI models have emotions. However, because of the pattern matching they do, and assuming they’re had the right kinds of training, they can do a really good job of putting things in a logical order. It can be difficult to take theological concepts, especially when they’re so intertwined, and when we have them so ingrained in our mind and in our hearts, to be logical!

And now, I’ve reached the point where I was reading a business-related article, saw some important societal impacts from the topic. It was about automation and robotics in China. That immediately took me to the differences between China – an avowed Atheist country but with a heavy influence from ancient eastern religious thought – to the U.S. that is seeming to claim to be so “Christian”.

That’s a whole range of topics. And it brought me to an entirely new concept on how to write about it: an Ai Dialogue.

🧠 Introducing AI Dialogues: A New Way to Write

Here’s a description Copilot wrote for my first AI Dialogue, which I’m working on now.

A raw, unedited conversation with AI exploring the spiritual and societal cost of exclusion in America—through the lens of automation, atheism, and the gospel’s call to compassion. This dialogue invites readers to wrestle with national identity, religious conviction, and the ethics of dignity.

It’s so different that I had to get Copilot to lay out a whole new design pattern for it. At first, I thought it would be just a question-and-answer thing. Simple. Wrong! As I write, I need to comment on both my question and the AI answer. Then, I discovered there were follow-up questions needed to clarify or check on some of the answers. It got very complex.

To make things even more difficult, my new sites will both have major support for people with various vision issues, from being color blind to being completely blind and using screen readers.

Here’s what you actually see in one of these AI dialogues

🤖 Why Western Executives Are Terrified by China’s Automation

You said:

Copilot said:

👷 What Happens to the Workers?

• Job displacement is real: Millions of low-skilled workers face job losses or wage stagnation as machines take over repetitive taskstomorrowdesk.com.
• Mixed worker sentiment: Interestingly, not all workers are opposed to automation. A 2025 study found that many internal migrant workers (those who move from rural to urban areas for work) are less anxious about automation than local workers. Why? Because they often see factory jobs as temporary and are more open to switching industries or returning home to pursue other opportunities {Cambridge University Press & Assessment}.
• Exit options matter: The Chinese household registration system (hukou) plays a role. Migrant workers often don’t have access to full urban benefits, so they’re more willing to leave factory jobs for other types of work, like service or gig economy roles {Cambridge University Press & Assessment}.

💼 How Do People Make a Living?

• Shift to services: Many displaced workers move into service sectors like delivery, hospitality, or retail.
• Entrepreneurship: Some start small businesses, especially in their hometowns.
• Government support: China has rolled out retraining programs and subsidies in some regions, though coverage and effectiveness vary.
• Social safety nets: These are still developing. Urban residents tend to have better access to unemployment insurance and pensions than rural migrants.

In short, while automation is displacing many factory jobs, China’s workforce is adapting through mobility, retraining, and sector shifts. But the transition isn’t painless—especially for older or less mobile workers.

Would you like to dig into how this compares to automation trends in the U.S. or how China’s policies are evolving to handle this shift?

Sources:

tomorrowdesk.com

China Shock: Factories Downsizing – Automation Crushing Low-Skill Jobs!

Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Little to Lose: Exit Options and Attitudes towards Automation in …

Given the topic and contents of the robotics article, it’s not surprising that Copilot wants to know if I want to dig in on the business side.

Maybe now you can see a bit of why it takes so much time to do just one of these under this new format, especially with the accessibility tags included. But hey – the good news of the Gospel is supposed to be Good News for everyone.

As far as what you actually read though, I hope is simple to follow. It’s Q&A, color coded – and tagged for those who need it. The format never changes form that. And the times when I go back and ask additional questions are clearly indicated.

These will be important issues, in this format for a reason, so I hope it works for you.

🔍 Why AI? Why Now?

While it does make sense to use AI for what I do, it’s also a weird time to be doing it. As AI goes more and more mainstream, it hits the news more as well. And as we all know, good news doesn’t sell. Bad news does. And really bad news sells for an even higher price.

Plus, you may remember The Terminator movies. The end of the human race, AI style. The thing is, if AI does get out of control, it’ll be from the things we humans put into it. Sure, AI can do lots of things. But everything it does comes from what we give it. And yes, it’ll come up with combinations of things that we didn’t, if for no other reason than it’s faster than we are.

Speaking of which, there’s quantum computing being developed now as well. It’ll make today’s AI systems look like they were stuck in the mud. In 2016, I wrote about titled Quantum Computers – Quantum God. It’s on my old site. I need to bring it over here, but for now you can still read it in its original home.

So, with that as a backdrop, why use AI at all?

I think we can learn the answer from the Bible. In fact, we can go all the way back to Proverbs. Wisdom written down for us by the wisest man ever.

Moral Benefits of Wisdom 🔍

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Pr 2:1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,

Pr 2:2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,

Pr 2:3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

Pr 2:4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

Pr 2:5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

Pr 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Did you notice the coffee cup on the table in that last image. I suspect there weren’t coffee cups quite like that back then. Actually, there weren’t, because according to Gemini AI the first consumption of coffee as a beverage likely dates back only to the 9th century.

But that wasn’t the only issue with that image. The first one looked like the same guy as the image at the top. I asked for a redo – with someone who looked different. It was still too close. So, I asked for a female. It’s funny, but it’s the kind of thing that can happen if we’re not careful with AI.

Is all wisdom from God?

There are verses where we can imply that all wisdom is from God. But there’s a catch to that. The more correct way to say it is that everything good is from God. Wisdom, like everything else, can be corrupted. So I went back to Solomon in Proverbs for my verse.

Even that’s an example of using AI though. I don’t have a photographic memory. I’m not even very good at memorizing book/chapter/verse numbers. But I did spend an entire career working with computers. I know how to get one to find something for me, and it’s easier now than ever. So, why not use it? The way I look at it, it’s far better to know what the Bible says, and especially what it means, than to memorize verses and have little to no clue as to what they mean.

To me, using AI to help me with research, including where things are in the Bible, is “good” knowledge from God. But if we twist that around, make AI do things like generate porn, that’s taking something God gave is the ability to do – and corrupting it. And hey – we don’t need machines to corrupt things. We can do that all on our own. What we need, no matter whether something comes from a person or an AI computer, is discernment to be able to tell if it’s good or bad.

Sometimes AI can even help with that. I frequently ask if studies have been done on subjects or topics that could be controversial. By getting those results, checking out who did the survey, we can get more than just a bunch of statistics on the topic, or ideas about it from someone who happened to make the news. If you’ve looked at the news much at all lately, for nearly every topic, you can find polar opposite opinions – even “facts” – within the same news feed.

At a time when we seem to be closer than ever to the end of the age, I believe it’s up to us to use every tool that God gave us to save ourselves, and to save others. If we abandon every potential tool that Satan has corrupted, then we have nothing. Jesus spoke to that in a rather lengthy passage in Matthew: Sign of the End of the Age.

Signs of the End of the Age – Matthew 🔍

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24:1-51 pp — Mk 13:1-37; Lk 21:5-36

Mt 24:1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Mt 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Mt 24:4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Mt 24:9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Mt 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

Mt 24:26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

Mt 24:29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

Mt 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Mt 24:32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

This isn’t the place to do an analysis of this passage. However, it is the place to look at all these warnings. They were long before AI. I say that not to exclude AI from out list of things to be watchful for, but to remind us that AI also isn’t the only thing we need to examine closely.

If you want to examine this passage more closely, I do have an article on my old site titled: Will the beast in Revelation be able to deceive Christians? I wrote it about 5 years ago, so it doesn’t get into AI, but it does have the people kinds of things that were happening then. We can start with then, and then move the concepts forward to today’s world. I’ll update this link when it’s moved over here.

The paradox of seeking spiritual clarity through a machine

I know, it seems odd to be using an AI engine to learn about God. But maybe it’s not so weird.

Consider the discussion above on knowledge. And the warnings about false statements claiming to be “knowledge”.

In large part, a very large part, what we get from AI is perceived knowledge from people. One catch for us is that we need to distinguish between true and false knowledge.

Think of it like the difference between data and information. A ton of data, with no context, no verification, of doubtful origin, and so on – is useless. It may seem impressive, but it has no value unless something can be done with it or some useful conclusion can be reached about it. Once someone can use the data, it becomes information. But – as we saw that not all knowledge is good, not all information is good either. Like knowledge, data and information from it can both be corrupted. And so, just like anything that comes from people directly, anything and everything that comes from AI must be verified to be trustworthy.

Conclusion – Chatting, designing, and writing Biblical topics with AI

I hope you find this concept interesting. I pray you learn from it. It opens up avenues of research that normally wouldn’t even be considered. Even though I try to keep an open mind as to the direction my research goes, as mentioned earlier, AI processes data so quickly and across boundaries I might not think of.

You may remember something Jesus said:

The Children of Abraham 🔍

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Jn 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
…

The key, of course, is what Christians call discernment. The Holy Spirit in us helping us to recognize the truth. If we do that, more information is good. As long as we are discerning about what we hear and read.

AI can help us study, design, and write — but only if we stay grounded in truth, compassion, and discernment. The gospel is good news for everyone. Let’s make sure our tools reflect that.