A meme recently made its rounds online: “Your future doctor is using ChatGPT to pass med school—so now’s a good time to start looking after your own health.”
At first glance, it’s funny. But when you stop and think, it’s also revealing.
It’s revealing of something much deeper than our opinions on technology—it exposes how quick we are to mock progress when we don’t understand it. And worse, how comfortable we’ve become with cynicism dressed up as discernment.
As a psychology student and someone who uses AI regularly to enhance learning, I can tell you this plainly: the problem isn’t that people are using tools like ChatGPT. The problem is when we stop using our own minds. When we stop reading. Stop growing. Stop studying. Stop being curious.
This isn’t just an academic issue. It’s a spiritual one.
Because somewhere along the way, many in the Church started labeling every new advancement—from social media to AI—as a tool of the enemy. And while yes, anything misused can become harmful, fear alone is not a spiritual gift.
Let’s talk about it.
Discernment vs. Suspicion
Discernment is a mark of spiritual maturity. Suspicion is a byproduct of fear. We’ve got to stop confusing the two.
True discernment requires proximity to God, not distance from the world. Hebrews 5:14 tells us that mature believers have their senses trained to discern good from evil. That means they’re not reacting blindly—they’re observing, analyzing, and filtering everything through the Spirit and the Word.
Suspicion, on the other hand, is lazy. It doesn’t ask questions. It assumes the worst. It draws premature conclusions and calls it “wisdom.” And it spreads fast, especially when it plays into fear.
When we label every modern tool as dangerous, we’re not being spiritual. We’re being small-minded. And that kind of posture closes us off from innovation, influence, and growth.
AI Isn’t the Real Threat
Let me say it clearly: AI isn’t the real threat. Complacency is.
The people who scare me the most aren’t the ones using ChatGPT to study or build. It’s the ones who haven’t picked up a new book in years. The ones who base their worldview on what they learned decades ago and never update it. The ones who have more opinions than insights, and more arguments than understanding.
Take, for example, fields like medicine, mental health, and nutrition —we’re seeing how rapidly information evolves. That doesn’t mean truth changes, but it does mean our understanding of what supports or hinders human flourishing must be continually refined.
Staying informed is not the same as chasing trends. It’s about stewardship.
What Does This Mean for the Church?
Let’s be honest: if we’re truly studying the Word—especially books like Revelation, Daniel, and the other prophetic texts that speak about the end times—we already know that under the Antichrist system, everything will be weaponized. Not just AI. Not just food. We’re talking about housing, healthcare, employment, finances, the ability to buy or sell.
If we’re going to label every advancement as inherently evil simply because it can be corrupted, then we’d have to forsake our homes, cars, electricity, internet, jobs, and go live in caves like Paleolithic nomads—wearing animal skins and surviving off the land. Most of us aren’t about that life. So let’s stop pretending like that’s a viable spiritual solution.
This kind of thinking is known in psychology as catastrophic thinking—a cognitive distortion where people imagine the worst possible outcome and then live from that fear instead of reality. Spiritually, it shows up as paranoia masquerading as holiness. But let’s call it what it is: fear wrapped in false righteousness.
It means we need to start training our minds the same way we train our spirits. It means embracing tools that help us think better, not rejecting them out of fear. It means letting go of this habit of spiritualizing every discomfort as if caution is the same as wisdom.
We can’t reach the world if we’re always ten steps behind it.
God is not threatened by technology. He is not confused by AI. And He certainly didn’t call us to be stuck in the past while the world evolves. He called us to be salt and light in the present tense.
A Call to Rise Higher
This isn’t a plea to blindly adopt every new thing. It’s not even about convincing you to use AI or embrace the latest tech. This is about something deeper—your posture. Your willingness to grow. Your hunger to understand instead of retreating.
What I’m addressing isn’t about tools. It’s about the condition of our minds and the posture of our hearts. Somewhere along the way, we stopped pursuing understanding and started spiritualizing ignorance. We labeled caution as wisdom, when in truth, it was often just fear in disguise.
Use your brain. Seek understanding. Ask questions. Dig into the data. Pray for wisdom. And walk it out with courage.
The early Church didn’t grow because it ran from the world. It grew because it engaged the world with truth, clarity, and power.
So let’s stop mocking people who use tools to learn. Let’s stop confusing fear with discernment. And let’s stop spiritualizing our laziness as if it’s holiness.
Laziness avoids learning. Wisdom pursues understanding.
AI isn’t the real threat. Complacency is.
— Fe
