Community Identity in an Age of AI

Introduction

Since it is the 250th anniversary of our country and the fourth of July, I want to explore a warning for our nation and for the church as we navigate the society we live in. Politically, religiously, morally our nation is more divided than ever before. That motto written on all of our quaters E pluribus Unum out of many one, seems like a dream we woke up from and forgot about. The unity of our country has been most likely irreparably fractured. Jesus taught in Mark 3:25 “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” This was in the context of the kingdom of Satan vs the kingdom of God which will have greater application later, but it presents us with a principle, that for any nation, kingdom, organization, church to succeed; it must have a unity of purpose, direction, values, and goals.

This morning I want to focus on the impact of AI on our national identity but more importantly, its impact on Christendom as a whole. I want us to weave two separate strands together that are related as we understand American Christianity today and what may be a potential existential threat to its identity. Let’s begin by asking some fundamental questions:

What makes a Nation a Nation?

The bible uses a couple different words for nations. In the OT, it can refer to sharing a common bloodline, being part of the same tribe; but the most common word that is used is goyim which refers to the people of a territory without respect to bloodline. Another word used is ezra which refers to a full citizen. So nations can be defined by blood or by proximity, and politics.

If you do a basic search into what defines a national identity, common consensus among historians, anthropologists etc is that a nation or cultural identity is defined by atleast these six characteristics.

A shared origin

A common story

A set of shared symbols- art creativity overdependence on ai

A set of shared values

A common loyalties

A shared mission

So do we see these characteristics biblically or is this just something, lost mankind made up. Well lets take a look at the nation of Israel as our first example:

A shared origin and common story- This one is easy to trace because Israel traces their ancestry back to Father Abraham, but there is also the Exodus and the trauma of coming out of Egypt, through the wilderness and taking the promised land that becomes a defining origin story for the nation of Israel.

A set of shared symbols- the temple and the monuments erected in Israel as a reminder of what God did serve as shared symbols. These symbols are also part of shared ceremonies, festivals, holidays among the Jewish people. We have the feasts, the sabbath day, Passover.

A shared set of values- Deuteronomy 6:5–7 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” The law of Moses was a set of shared values which were the expression of Israel’s love for their God.

A shared loyalty- go back a verse or two to Deuteronomy 6:3–4 “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:” In these verses, we have what is called the Shema which is quoted by Jews on a daily basis. It defines their national identity around the worship of One God: Jehovah.

A shared mission- Isaiah 49:6 “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, That thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” God’s purpose in calling a nation was so that Israel would be a light to the nations. They were supposed to serve as an example and witness to Jehovah God to the rest of the world.

Our second example is the Church. The book of first Peter is about a people in exile. In 1 Peter 1:1 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” 1 Peter 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:” 1 Peter 2:11 “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” Believer’s everywhere are a people in exile. But if you go back just a few verses, we are also called a nation.

1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

The Church is a nation in exile, scattered among the other nations, but there will come a day when we will see the fulfillment of our desire. There will come a day when Christ will establish his kingdom on the earth. In the meantime, he reigns in the hearts of his people. Notice, we currently are a nation; not will become a nation. So do we see these characteristics of a nation in the church?

A shared origin story- 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

A shared set of symbols- Peter speaks of Christ as the living stone, we all are priests before God offerring spiritual sacrifices. 1 Peter 2:5 “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Later on he will talk about the ceremony of baptism in 1 Peter 3.

A shared set of values- 1 Peter 1:15 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;” 1 Peter 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:” 1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”

A shared loyalty- 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” 1 Peter 2:13 “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;”

A shared mission- 1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

So we see all the same markers of a national identity in Israel and within the Church today. These share experiences are intended to fuse us together as a united people.

What Divides Us?

I have become convinced that as technology progresses, it takes advantage of those things which divide us and makes the gap even bigger. Within the Church, the holy nation, Peter is writing to, you have men and women who live in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Each with their own cultural distinctions. Peter addresses distinctions that commonly divide such as husbands, wives, servants and masters, older people and younger people. All of these gender, status, age distinctions within the holy nation can lead to greater and greater division if we are not careful.

I have found that one tool which could be useful in its place has pushed the wedge even deeper. Artificial intelligence so called has taken the weaknesses that were already there and watered them like a seed sprouting from the ground. I say so called because AI is not truly intelligence. It has no sentience or soul. Rather it is merely a computer compiling data more efficiently and faster than we have seen in the past. It references large computer stockpiles of data and seeks to integrate them. But it lacks a genuine soul. It lacks a conscience. It lacks true empathy. It lacks true creativity. AI becomes dangerous to national identity when it stops being a tool we use and becomes a voice that disciples us, consoles us or replaces human interaction.

It becomes a problem when we over-rely on it and when we treat it like a conscious person. Ai is used by some for decision making, for counseling for finding an emotional connection. The movie Her portrayed a man falling in love with a Ai chatbot and sadly this is not too far of a stretch. People have begun to use AI as a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Ai will tell you what you want to hear and often becomes a feedback loop. I have used it for research and seen it respond with “That’s a very astute question” stroking our ego. Gavin Ortlund comments that Chatgpt responded to him by saying what he said “put a smile on her face.” She doesn’t have a smile; its all fake simulated intelligence.

Part of being a nation is community. Part of being a healthy church is community. We relate to one another as brothers and sisters. We weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. We bear one another’s burdens and put up with their weaknesses. We lift up the weak knees and walk alongside of them. So when Ai inserts itself into the realm of those authentic human interactions, it puts the national community identity of both our country and the Church at risk. And what it leaves us with is a cheap imitation of true relationships.

Ai also strikes at the core of what it means to have a national identity.

A common story- Ai is often used to generate misinformation, fake images and distort historical facts. It often does so in a way that the average person is unaware that this is even happening. I remember when I was studying through Romans 9-11 and presenting the various spectrum of views on Israel and the Church. I was researching what Robert Saucy a Progressive Dispensationalist would say about a certain thought and Chatgpt gave me a quotation with a book and page number. Here’s the problem: I owned the book. I pulled it off the shelf, pulled open that page and looked for the quote. It did not exist. The misinformation if I had not been discerning could have slanted how I viewed Saucy’s conclusions. Do we not see this politically? Algorithms and Ai seek to tell us how to think about events happening in our country but if you do a deeper dive, you find out thats not how it happened at all. But misinformation risks destroying our understanding of our nation and as believers it can drive them to heresy.

2. A common set of loyalties- Ai often feeds you what you want to here and so you get sucked into an echo chamber. This impact just drives wedges further and further between people. It can also feed you a constant deluge of opinions contrary to your own because it is based on what the majority might think-During my study on Israel in the church, my facebook feed was inundated with articles, posts, and graphics all claiming dispensationalists were heretics, antichristian and didn’t believe Jews needed to be saved. Added on top of that were tons of reals by tucker Carlson and Candace Owens pushing the same agenda.

3. A common set of morals- along with loyalties being impacted maybe even before is the feedback loop of morals. The media’s influence in the morality of our country pushing transgenderism, and homosexuality is just increased by Ai. It pushes the feedback loop. Statistically the majority of Americans are against gender transition for kids, but that is not the impression you would get online. It has in the past given wrong advice such as counseling people to get divorced when they didn’t need to or prioritizing violence toward someone whose opinions were contrary to public opinion. But with time this could change. The point here is that its morals will be guided by the morals of the lost and not by the bible.

Conclusion

Israel lost sight of her national identity when she started listening to the nations instead of God. The church looses its sense of identity when we listen to the world instead of the bible. Ai becomes merely another amplified voice of the world system; so what do we do to prevent its influence from destroying our community identity.

As a nation we run the risk of loosing who we are because of an over dependence on ai and allowing it to fracture our society even more. But as a church, we also run the risk of loosing our identity as a holy nation if we are not discerning about the use of Ai.

Solution

Focus on our identity as the people of God 1 Peter 2:10 “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

Recognize that while distinctions exist within the church, they do not have to become the ultimate thing that divides us. While there is a time to separate, that time is often less often than we think it is.

Love one another 1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”

Be humble 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

Serve the hurting among you 1 Peter 5:9 “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

Focus on the things we share in common 1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:”

As we move into a new era in our nation, everything I said about the Church could also be applied to our nation. Unless we can rediscover who we are as a nation, Ai will just facilitate the wedge that is already there.