Artificial Intelligence and Us

 I was introduced to the prospects of Artificial Intelligence in 1968. I was sitting in my car at a drive-in theater watching the blockbuster movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  HAL, the on-board computer, had taken control of the spaceship Discovery and shut down life support for the crew who were in suspended animation for the voyage to Jupiter. Dave, the lone surviving astronaut, was trapped outside, demanding re-entry.  HAL’s red cyclops eye stared back at Dave and said calmly and without emotion, “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” In 1968 Artificial Intelligence was science fiction.  Today Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reality, and scientists appear scared.  

  The cold calculating ability of computers has been raised to the next level, and, according to experts, might have no limits.  Geoffrey Hinton, 75, considered the “Godfather of AI,” recently resigned his job at Google to speak freely about artificial intelligence. Speaking at a conference at MIT he said, “I think it is quite conceivable that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence.”  He went on to explain that scientists have created an “immortal” form of digital intelligence.

 Sam Altman, the CEO of the artificial intelligence company ChatGPT, spoke to Congress in a Senate hearing recently and warned about the risks of AI.   AI models, he said, could “self-replicate and self-exfiltrate into the wild.” He proposed a U.S, or global agency to regulate AI.  

 While scientists project the advance of Artificial Intelligence with the capability of manipulating or even surpassing human intelligence, most have refused to recognize the source of our own intelligence.  Most reject theories of intelligent design in creation and opt for random chance, a cosmic soup out of which life evolved following the “big bang” and, somehow, humans rose up on two legs and studied the stars.

 Most scientists are betting on the odds that in a cosmic universe as big as ours, with billions of galaxies, there must be other intelligent beings. But, so far, we have not found them. And, as far as we know, they have not found us. Intelligent existence is rare, unique, and beckons us to look not only to the future, to what might be, but to the past, to what came before.  

 Perhaps A.I. can remind us that all intelligence has a source, that behind it all is the Master Creator, a higher intelligence than we can comprehend.  An intelligence that, for starters, designed us. We did not create ourselves nor did we design ourselves. Our existence and our intelligence come from another source. According to Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.“ (Isaiah 55:8-9).

 We need  not fear.  The highest expression of Divine Intelligence is found in the person of Jesus Christ. He stands alone among all persons in history as the supreme likeness of the Creator who designed us. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible,” (Colossians 1:15-16).

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When Marriage Fails

 Jesus maintained a high bar for marriage.  “What God has joined together,” He said, “ let not man put asunder.”  But whenever he encountered people who were broken and wounded, he always responded with compassion and redemption.  When a woman was caught in adultery and thrown at his feet, he challenged her accusers.  “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Convicted by their guilt, the crowd melted away.  Turning to the woman, Jesus asked, “ Does no one condemn you?”  She replied, “No one, Lord.”  “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:3-11).

 The first person to whom Jesus disclosed his identity as the Messiah was a Samaritan woman who had 5 husbands and was living with a man to whom she was not married.  His conversation with her changed not only her life, but the entire Samaritan village where she lived.

 I came to know Sharon a long time ago.  She worked for a printing company in Illinois that helped publish some of my books.  She was great to work with, helping finalize the layout and look for my books.  She did such a good job that she was promoted to a higher position in the company. We never met in person.

 After several years she contacted me, knowing that I wrote Christian books.  She was going through a difficult divorce, a painful end to a difficult marriage.  She was filled with shame and guilt. When she moved to the small town in Illinois, she wanted to find a church that might help her, but she was terrified of the condemnation and rejection she might find. I tried to encourage her and prayed for her.

 She wandered by a local church, liked the looks of it from the outside, and sought a personal visit with the pastor to explain what she was going through.  It took courage for her to do that.  She was afraid, but she found acceptance and support, and started to attend.  

 With much weeping, she shared what she was going through with her newfound friends in a Bible study class.  Later she presented herself for membership.  She was surrounded by believers who hugged her and welcomed her.  The pastor asked her to say a few words.  She told the congregation she was going through a difficult trial.  She said, “Worldwide the church is so good about making sure everyone knows John 3:16, That is a good thing, but we need to keep going because John 3:17 says ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ The world has enough condemnation -- it needs more Jesus.”

 We need to do all we can to help every marriage survive and thrive.  But divorce is a reality in our world.  Most, if not all, of our families have been affected by it.  We need to embrace and help those whose dreams have been shattered.  Like Sharon said, the world needs less judgment and more Jesus.

Marriage and Family

Young families embody the hope and dreams of our future.  Few scenes move me as much as a young couple strolling along the seawall pushing a stroller; fathers splashing in the surf with their children while young mothers lounge on the beach; children laughing in the park flying kites with their fathers, giggling on playgrounds with their mothers.

 It is this special bond that God’s seventh commandment seeks to nourish and protect: “You shall not commit adultery.”   Sex, in all of its beauty and pleasure, was given to men and women to celebrate the mystery by which human life is conceived, cradled and nurtured.

 This year my wife and I celebrate our 55^th anniversary along with many of our friends who “pledged their troth” about the same time as we in 1968. We continue to celebrate life with our 3 children, their spouses and our 6 grandchildren ranging in age from 6 to 23. Marriage is worth holding on to, worth working through the difficulties, worth the investment.  The seventh commandment provides the foundation for trust and a love that lasts. It is the foundation of the family where children are born and nurtured.

 Some have rejected the Biblical view of marriage.  Somewhere along the way sex became recreational.  I guess this happened around the time birth control was introduced.  It revolutionized sex when my generation came of age in the 1960s: free sex with whomever without the consequences of conception.

 Melissa Batchelor Warnke, writing in the L.A. Times expressed current sexual values, “I believe that everyone should have exactly as much sex as they do or don't want to have, with whomever they do or don't want to have it, in whatever fashion they do or don't want to have it. So long as consent is present in any resultant exchange, one need not justify their choices.”  

 We have witnessed the consequences of the cavalier attitudes spawned over the last half-century. Wealthy and powerful men who once dominated the news have passed from the scene. Harvey Weinstein is in prison. Jeffrey Epstein hung himself.  Matt Lauer, Bill Cosby and other household names that once commanded respect are gone, leaving behind a trail of disgrace and embarrassment.

 As with other commandments, Jesus raised the bar.  “You have heard that it has been said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you, he who looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27).

 I like what Jeff Christopherson wrote in his book, Kingdom First, “The husband who faithfully and sacrificially loves his wife over a lifetime not only receives the personal blessing of a joyous marriage, but further, the Kingdom ripples of that union emanate through generations.  … Children, grandchildren, colleagues, friends, and neighbors are all secondary recipients of the grace experienced in a godly marriage.”

 I love watching young couples who are starting their journeys. Our neighborhood will welcome two newborns this summer to two young couples we have come to love. The strollers and minivans will soon follow, along with children’s laughter. The miracle of life and joys of marriage carry us forward into the next generation!

Lessons From the Coronation

 England crowned a king and the world watched.  Perhaps not as much as they did 70 years ago when Elizabeth ascended to the throne.  After all, Charles is not his mother and Camilla is not Diana.  The faults and foibles of the royal family are open knowledge, especially after Harry’s recent tell-all book, Spare. 

 It has always been so.  Royal families of the past provided Shakespeare with abundant material to compose his plays: Henry VI; Richard III; King John; Henry IV;  Henry V; Hamlet; and King Lear among his other classics.

 The Bible does not gloss over the failings of kings, beginning with Israel’s first king, Saul.  A handsome youth standing head and shoulders above his contemporaries, Saul was dragged from his hiding place among the baggage to be anointed Israel’s first king.  His insecurities soon rose to the surface, including his manic-depressive paranoia regarding David’s popularity.  Even David, considered to be the greatest of kings to occupy Israel’s throne, has his failures exposed, including adultery and murder. (2 Samuel 11).

 We all share in this human condition.  As the Bible says,  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.  Who can know it?”(Jeremiah 17:9). “There is none righteous, no not one.... All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” (Roman 3:10,16).  The spotlight and the temptations make it more apparent among the powerful who sit on thrones.

 The corrupt human condition that Shakespeare portrayed in his brilliant plays always leads to the decline and demise of nations. One Kingdom alone supersedes them all. 

 Jesus stands alone and reigns supreme over all kings for all eternity.  His presence and His reign were referenced in the coronation of Charles III. In his coronation speech, the Archbishop of Canterbury  stated, “The King of kings, Jesus Christ, was anointed not to be served but to serve.” Following the public oath, the archbishop privately anointed Charles with oil drawn from trees on the Mount of Olives.  Before kneeling to receive the crown, Charles first knelt to receive communion, bread and wine symbolizing the body and blood of Jesus shed for the remission of sins.

 The Bible describes a much greater coronation in Heaven. “Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God;  ... and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come,” (Revelation 4:5-8).   

 Isaiah predicted, “For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will ^[a]rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over ^]his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore, (Isaiah 9:6-8).

Remembering

Every year we mark important dates on the calendar to remember historic events. Next week, May 8, is one of them.  For centuries it was celebrated as the date Joan of Arc led the French armies to defeat the English at Orleans in 1428.  This 17-year-old girl, who could neither read nor write, responded to “voices” that called her from her obscure village at Domremy to lead troops into battle and crown the dauphin, Charles the VII as King of France. It is one of the most astounding and best documented events in history. Her efforts led to the end of the 100 Years War and the preservation of France.  Without her extraordinary victories, England would have controlled France and there might have been no ally to aid the American colonists 350 years later.

 In 1945 Joan’s exploits on May 8 were eclipsed by Germany’s unconditional surrender to end World War II, celebrated as V-E Day in the United States. It is difficult to imagine the celebration that erupted in the Allied nations. The videos and photos from that day capture a moment of global elation. Very few who fought in that war survive.  The youngest are now in their late nineties. This year marks the 78^th anniversary of V-E Day.  The memories have faded with the vanishing generation.

 We have many holidays and traditions that help us remember significant moments in history, most of them events that occurred within the last few generations. One event in history refuses to fade.  One event has never been eclipsed by the rise and fall of nations.  That event is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

 Over two thousand years after it occurred, that event is remembered and celebrated around the world. Every time followers of Jesus Christ gather to observe the broken bread and the shared cup, they remember that moment in history when God gave His only son for the forgive our sins and the promise of eternal life.

 Churches refer to this observance in various ways: as the Eucharist, Communion, or, simply, The Lord’s Supper.  It began in an upper room in Jerusalem on a Thursday evening, when Jesus sat down with his 12 closest followers for the Passover meal. Hours before he would be taken to the cross and crucified, Jesus took the unleavened Passover bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body which is broken for you.”  Then he took the wine and passed it among them saying, “This is my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins.”

 I have participated in this observance with churches in many nations, among believers of various languages.  Twice I have  shared the bread and the cup with fellow believers in the garden near the empty tomb where Jesus was buried. Last Sunday I observed the Lord’s Supper with over 100 believers in a new church, less than a month old, at the University of Northern Colorado  Once again I recalled His words, “Do this, as often as you do it, in remembrance of me,” (1 Corinthians 11:25).