Week Thirty-Eight, 2024
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
AI-Powered Necklace Will Be Your Friend for $99. “Friend” is a pendant about the size of an Apple Air Tag. Avi Schiffman, the twenty-one-year-old Harvard dropout who invented it, said he created the device at a time when he had “never felt lonelier in my entire life.”
The onboard microphone listens to everything happening around you. Powered by AI, it will answer questions, but also send unprompted messages to engage in conversation and offer encouragement.
In other words, it’s a technological companion to make up for the real thing. Not a day goes by that we don’t use some form of technology. Technology’s influence on our lives stretches back thousands of years to the use of shovels and spears. Whether it’s as simple as a chair or as complex as the systems proposed with brain-computer interfaces, technology is all around. In the last decade or two, we have seen exponential growth in technological innovation. This has led to many asking fundamental questions about how we use technology and what kind of influence it has on our lives.
AI, short for artificial intelligence is the latest exploding on the technology scene. It is big and it is powerful. If AI algorithms are biased or used in a malicious manner — such as in the form of deliberate disinformation campaigns or autonomous lethal weapons — they could cause significant harm toward humans.
While a quick search in a concordance doesn’t yield words like ‘technology,’ ‘artificial intelligence,’ or ‘smartphones,’ Scripture does speak to how we are to live in this world in light of the message of salvation found in Christ Jesus. Technology has always posed difficult ethical and moral issues that are not directly addressed by Scripture. And as much as we want it to, the Bible does not explicitly address how to use or when to avoid certain pieces of technology. However, it does address the moral behavior of Christians in everyday life. The biblical approach to technology is not one of complete withdrawal nor unquestionable embrace.
As technology grows increasingly more complex and powerful each day, it is natural to ask about the moral nature of it. We see the power and influence that our smartphones have on our speech and how they have changed how we interact with one another each day.
As technology grows increasingly more complex and powerful each day, it is natural to ask about the moral nature of it. The Bible doesn’t talk about “intelligence” but it does talk about wisdom, actually in forty-five different verses.
Intelligence in the Bible embodies wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. These elements are seen as interconnected and essential for a virtuous life. Knowledge represents the accumulation of facts and data, whereas understanding underscores the interpretive process.
The Bible never makes blanket statements on whether specific technologies are inherently good or bad, but it does hold Christians to a biblically-grounded morality and engagement with the world around us. We must think wisely about how we use these innovative tools.
Sometimes True Stories
I want to be a blank slate or a blank page for God. Where He can write His story on me. Where He can mold and make me into the man that He wants me to be.
How I long to be that blank screen.
To be wiped clean and made new, all I had to do was repent and ask Jesus into my heart as Lord and Savior and ask Him to forgive me of my sins. At that point, I was wiped clean, washed in the blood of the Lamb and made fresh and clean as the new fallen snow.
For some reason becoming a blank screen and clean page that longs to be used by God tends to be the harder part. At least for me. That’s where my will and my way collide with God’s will and God’s way.
When I surrendered and accepted Jesus, my will and my sin collided with Him and His grace, love and holiness.
Today, it’s my will and my ways, my dreams and my goals colliding with Him.
For some reasons those things are the hardest to let go of.
His will and His ways are far better, and though they are not necessarily my ways, they are far greater and far more than mine could ever be. His goals and dreams for me, far bigger, far loftier than anything I could ever dream or chase.
He has the keys and the car, but all too often I still want to drive.
So, I have to let go and give even that part of me to Him, and allow Him to take my will and my dreams and make them, even change them into His will and His way for me. It’s hard to let go and allow the Great Creator to create. Marty Stubblefield
Quotes You Can Use
We can be critical of the children of Israel worshipping a golden calf, but before we get carried away, think about how many times we checked on our own bank accounts and retirement accounts to see how many pieces of gold we are trusting. Dwight Short
You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. Margaret Thatcher
Of all duties, prayer certainly is the sweetest and most easy. Laurence Sterne
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own. Cicero
Saying nothing sometimes says the most. Emily Dickinson
Man’s laws cannot make moral what has declared immoral. Even if sin is legalized, it’s still a sin in the eyes of God.
It is better to admit that you walked through the wrong door than to spend your life in the wrong room.
If money is the root of all evil, why do they ask for it in church?
The highest rank you can have in the body of Christ is servant.
If you ever see kids selling lemonade in your neighborhood, stop and buy a cup or two. Those kids have more ambition than the majority of adults in today’s work force.
Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader. They set out to make a difference. It’d never about the role – always about the goal.
Happiness is elusive because we look for it in the future instead of the present.
The older you get, the more you realize how precious life is. You have no desire for drama, conflict or stress. You just want good friends, a cozy home, food on the table and people who make you happy.
Worry is a conversation you have with yourself about things you cannot change. Prayer is a conversation you have with God about things He can change.
I serve a God that has a plan and a purpose for my life. I serve a God that is greater than my troubles. I serve a God that makes all things possible.
Worship isn’t about your circumstances, it’s about who God is.
Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions.
You are the greatest person you will ever work on.
Watch your thoughts, for they will become actions. Watch your actions, for they’ll become… habits. Watch your habits for they will forge your character. Watch your character, for it will make your destiny. Margaret Thatcher
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