Amos begins with a fairly well known formula: “For three transgressions of [place] and for four…” Here are the places and the main accusations (Amos 1.3 – 2.8):

• Damascus
  • “They have threshed Gilead…
• Gaza
  • “They carried into exile a whole people…”
• Tyre
  • “They delivered up a whole people to Edom…”
• Edom
  • “He pursued his brother with the sword…”
• Amorites
  • “…ripped open pregnant women in Gilead…”
• Moab
  • “He burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom…”
• Judah
  • “They have rejected the law of the Lord…”
• Israel
  • “They sell the righteous for silver…trample the head of the poor…

Note first the order of countries: he starts outside of Israel – 6 countries – and his nation, “Israel,” would be applauding. Then “Judah” – remember, the southern tribes of the divided kingdom. Israel would really applaud that. But, of course, not so fast: he closes with condemnation of his audience. Second, only Judah is judged because “they rejected the law of the Lord.” Judah still claimed the law. The others, even Israel, didn’t.

Then another well-known section of Amos: the cause and effect list:

• Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
• Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
• Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it?
• Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
• Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
• Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? (Amos 3.3 – 6, ESV)

The first one is slightly mistranslated in the King James:

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3.3, KJV)

The sermons I heard growing up emphasized the need for agreeing with God. How can you walk with God unless you agree with him? Not a bad application, but the more accurate translation in context is: if you see two people walking together in the desert, it’s not by accident. They have agreed to meet. Five other cause and effect observations follow.

The application?

For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy? (Amos 3.7, 8, ESV)

“The LION has roared…the Lord GOD has spoken…” Hang on.

It’s been a while since I’ve quoted Annie Dillard…

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ― Annie Dillard, “An Expedition to the Pole” from Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982)

We started Amos yesterday in our Prophets Reading Plan, and, as usual, I can’t give you a better introduction than Eugene Peterson’s as it occurs in The Message Bible. In fact, I often tell folks that The Message is worth the price if all you read are the book introductions. Here’s part of his take on what Amos is about and why the book is important:

…The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering. The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.

The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on this earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate. Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb...

They pay little attention to what men and women say about God or do for God. They listen to God and rigorously test all human language and action against what they hear. Among these prophets, Amos towers as defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use God’s name to legitimize their sin.

None of us can be trusted in this business. If we pray and worship God and associate with others who likewise pray and worship God, we absolutely must keep company with these biblical prophets. We are required to submit all our words and acts to their passionate scrutiny to prevent the perversion of our religion into something self-serving. A spiritual life that doesn’t give a large place to the prophet-articulated justice will end up making us worse instead of better, separating us from God’s ways instead of drawing us into them.

Wow. Makes you want to read it! And as we start, here is a “just the facts” introduction from the English Standard Version:

Amos, possibly the first of the writing prophets, was a shepherd and farmer called to prophesy during the reigns of Uzziah (792–740 B.C.) in the southern kingdom and Jeroboam II (793–753) in the north. During this time both kingdoms enjoyed political stability, which in turn brought prosperity. It was also a time of idolatry, extravagance, and corruption. The rich and powerful were oppressing the poor. Amos denounced the people of Israel for their apostasy and social injustice and warned them that disaster would fall upon them for breaking the covenant. He urged them to leave the hypocrisy of their “solemn assemblies” (5:21) and instead to “let justice roll down like waters” (v. 24). Nevertheless, said Amos, God would remember his covenant with Israel and would restore a faithful remnant.

This introduction isn’t magic. Part of it’s right out of verse 1:

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. (Amos 1.1, ESV)

And here’s a central theme as suggested above from chapter 5:

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5.21 – 24, ESV)

As Peterson said, religion doesn’t impress God. Justice does.

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1.11 – 17, ESV)

When I wrote about The Big Three – Gambling, Alcohol, Sex – some of you might have objected to my phrase: “gambling in all its forms.” I hear, “Surely a just-for-fun small wager on a game or small stakes poker with some guys in the neighborhood isn’t hurting anyone.” Stay tuned.

One of my heroes just passed away last month. Ken Love who was part of our discipleship ministry in Alabama, passed on September 25.

This sentence from the obituary needs a bit of expansion:

On February 1, 1999, he made a life-changing decision and accepted Jesus as his personal savior.

As Ken tells the story, his wife had been dragging him to church for about a year. On that day in February he pulled into a business parking lot off the Troy Highway, south of Montgomery, and accepted Jesus…

I was coming off of a three-day drunk and had just dropped $50,000 on the Super Bowl.

He continues:

After that, I never took another drink; I never laid down another bet.

An alcoholic and a compulsive gambler, Ken went on to share his story and lead recovery programs. 27 years of effective ministry before his homegoing. I was Minister of Discipleship in Ken’s church from 2001 – 2006, and along the way, I taught Ken how to have daily time with God. I teach a simple template: Read, Reflect, Respond, Record.

Ken put that template into a spreadsheet with a tab for each day’s time with God. When he showed me the spreadsheet, he had recorded over 400 consecutive days! He would get up at 4:00 a.m., lift weights, and have time with God. (He would have been in his 60s at the time.)

When I left the church in 2006 to go full-time with The Navigators, Ken was a significant, faithful donor for many years.

Back to the opening paragraph and my caution against “gambling in all its forms.” Ken, how did you get started gambling? Answer: “Playing penny poker in the Marines.”

The Apostle Paul wrote:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.(1 Timothy 1.12 – 14, ESV)

Paul continued:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4.7, 8, ESV)

I believe Ken was greeted by Jesus:

Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25.21, ESV)

I mentioned San Antonio Spurs’ giant center, Victor Wembanyama, 7′ 4″ tall, when his team lost to the Knicks in last year’s NBA finals. “Wemby” is in the news again for something way more important than a basketball game. Here’s the headline from ESPN:

Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama not interested in promoting betting sites

He said:

I want to promote things that have a good impact, have a good influence with who I can share messages and values. Obviously, we earn millions and millions. This is not our biggest strength. Our biggest strength is inspiring. I want to inspire in a good way. That’s the strongest thing I can do.

Good for him. My basketball hero Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets is a fine man, an extraordinary basketball player frequently described as humble and selfless. But Jokic “…became the first brand ambassador of Superbet in Serbia.” Disappointing.

Likewise the Manning family:

Supporters expressed disappointment that multi-millionaire, legendary athletes with clean, family-friendly reputations are actively pushing gambling onto the public. – Yahoo Sports

So Wemby, who claims no particular religion, from “secular” France, is principled enough to recognize evil when he sees it. May his tribe increase.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. (Proverbs 4.14 – 16, ESV)

As we consider the Delivering Cheese blog – faithfully doing the task in front of us – in the middle of reading the prophets, calling us to do that very thing…or else, we have a modern-day lesson. It also relates to yesterday’s blog on The Big Three – Gambling, Alcohol, Sex.

It’s the sad story of the great golfer Tiger Woods. I’m not against Tiger. I was a fan. It was breath-taking watching him close out a tournament in which he was leading. Day four, wearing a red shirt, fending off the competition, usually winning going away.

But here we are, he’s 50 now, and he’s just had his driver’s license revoked for five years for impaired driving. I don’t think he drinks alcohol, but he is hooked on pain-killing drugs. The ESPN report explains:

Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI and refusal to submit to a lawful test March 27 after his SUV clipped a trailer being hauled by a truck and rolled on its side...Woods told authorities that he was looking down at his cellphone and changing the radio station in his SUV, which caused him not to see a truck slowing down…Martin County Sheriff Deputy Tatiana Levenar wrote in an arrest affidavit that Woods was “sweating profusely” and his movement was “lethargic and slow” while she interviewed him...A Martin County sheriff’s deputy found two hydrocodone pills in Woods’ left pants pocket…

It’s not the first time:

In 2017, Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI after police officers found him asleep at the wheel in his running car, which had two flat tires and damage on the front and rear bumpers. Woods said he had taken a bad mix of painkillers…Woods checked into a treatment facility that year to get help with prescription drugs.

And this is BEFORE his horrendous accident in 2021:

In February 2021, Woods suffered significant leg injuries in a one-car crash outside of Los Angeles in which his SUV rolled several times and left him trapped inside. He later had surgery to deal with “open fractures” to his lower right leg, had a rod placed in a tibia and had screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. Woods was hospitalized for three weeks following the surgery.

When did his problems start and why?

In November 2009 at 2a, Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree. [His wife Elin] Nordegren later told police she used a golf club to smash the vehicle’s rear windows to help pull her dazed husband out, amid a confrontation over reported infidelities. – Google Gemini

You can read a detailed analysis of the 2009 incident which exposed multiple affairs and destroyed his image as a “global icon of success and discipline.” – Global Sports Desk, Times of India, July 26, 2026

I remember at the beginning of his career, when he was winning everything in sight, people were saying, “He’ll break Jack Nicklaus’ record of winning 18 “major” tournaments. I thought, “Only if he keeps his act together over a lifetime.” Sadly, I was right. Tiger won 15 majors.

One difference between the two golfers? Jack has been faithfully married to his wife, Barbara, for 66 years. Tiger didn’t make it six years with his wife. Another difference? By all reports, Jack is a Christian who takes his faith seriously. Here’s a sample of reports:

• Jack Nicklaus is a Christian who has lived out his faith through personal prayer, integrity, and family values rather than performative public displays.
• According to his son, Jack Nicklaus II, his father chose not to attend group Bible studies on the PGA Tour, preferring instead to keep his prayer life and worship private.
• Nicklaus viewed the golf course as his place to demonstrate his values, believing that honorable conduct, respect, and kindness toward others mattered more than public displays of faith.
• His family life and parenting have long emphasized Christian principles, love for neighbors, and strong moral character.

By contrast, Tiger was raised Buddhist by his Thai mother and even drifted from that, crediting Buddhist teachings on restraint and personal responsibility as important influences in his life, though he has noted that he takes “bits and pieces” of the philosophy rather than adhering to every strict tenet. Indeed.

Scripture is full of warnings on the dangers of illicit sex and the adulterous woman. Proverbs 7 is one of the longest and strongest ending with:

With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. (Proverbs 7.21 – 23, ESV)

I’ve thought from time to time how to summarize some of society’s evils. GAS comes to mind: Gambling, Alcohol, Sex. Meaning all forms of gambling, excessive use of alcohol and drugs, and illicit sex. That’s not all, of course. We could list consumerism and materialism, not taking care of the poor, and a host of other ills.

But in terms of the obvious things by which we harm ourselves and those around us, it’s hard to get away from GAS, and I’m stunned to find all three in one verse in Joel:

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they

• have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and
• have cast lots for my people, and
• have traded a boy for a prostitute, and
• have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. (Joel 3.1, 2, ESV)

Note the last three:

• Cast lots (gambling)
• Traded a boy for a prostitute (sex)
• Sold a girl for wine (alcohol)

Among today’s top news stories is the Cornell rape case which gets two out of 3: sex and alcohol/drugs. Al Mohler summarizes and analyzes for World Magazine:

As the story broke, the young woman was claiming to have been the victim of a gang rape at the fraternity house that night. She admitted that she had been drinking and using drugs, and that at least some of the sexual activity was consensual, but some days after the incident she did accuse at least some of the young men of non-consensual sexual activity. As the story unfolded over the last few days, the moral disaster looms ever larger. Texts shared by young men in the fraternity advertised the availability of the young woman for sexual activity. There seems to be no reason to doubt much of her story. The campus police did report the incident, but the report they passed on to the local district attorney was incomplete, apparently including no accusation of sexual violence or rape. The story has exploded on the Cornell campus and the national press just can’t get enough of it. The story is complex and corrupt and vile and confusing, especially to those who try to operate out of the ethical system that is now established on elite campuses.

That ethical worldview refuses to make any moral judgments about the rampant debauchery of the campus culture until and unless the new moral boundary of consent is breeched. That is basically all that now remains of campus sexual ethics and rules. You can do anything, with anyone, so long as there is legal consent given. That’s it. Most major universities make absolutely no attempt to place any meaningful restrictions beyond consent. Add free-flowing alcohol and drugs to the mix and you turn the local campus into a weekend bacchanalia. – Al Mohler

Sad. And proving that in some areas, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

Joel 2 opens with a nice definition of “Day of the Lord.”

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. (Joel 2.1 – 2, NIV)

I think “Day of the Lord” is always negative. A day of judgment. By contrast, the New Testament sometimes talks about the “Glorious Appearing” at Jesus’ second coming. The Glorious Appearing is positive; the Day of the Lord is negative.

Then the description of the locusts:

Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. (Joel 2.7, 8, ESV)

I’ve written about this before: a five-part series starting with Lessons from Locusts – Introduction. So let’s move along.

Then Joel calls for repentance:

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? (Joel 2.12 – 14, ESV)

And there’s a promise with respect to the locusts:

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame. (Joel 2.25 – 27, ESV)

But Joel is remembered most, not for the locusts but for the promise quoted by Peter in his sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit...And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved… (Joel 2.28, 29, 32, ESV)

Again, an apparent two-part fulfillment just as with Hosea 11.1. Part of this occurred at Pentecost.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance…But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel… (Acts 2.1 – 4, 14 – 16, ESV)

A great event. The Spirit has come! Scripture has been fulfilled.

But this part is still future, is it not?

…wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (Joel 2.30, 31, ESV)

But for now, Jesus’ promise has been fulfilleld:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14.15 – 17, ESV)

Our Prophets reading program takes us into Joel today. It’s a short book comparing a recent invasion of locusts to a future “Day of the Lord.” Eugene Peterson writes:

When disaster strikes, understanding of God is at risk. Unexpected illness or death, national catastrophe, social disruption, personal loss, plague or epidemic, devastation by flood or drought, turn men and women who haven’t given God a thought in years into instant theologians. Rumors fly: “God is absent” … “God is angry” … “God is playing favorites, and I’m not the favorite” … “God is ineffectual” … “God is holding a grudge from a long time ago, and now we’re paying for it” …

It is the task of the prophet to stand up at such moments of catastrophe and clarify who God is and how he acts. If the prophet is good—that is, accurate and true—the disaster becomes a lever for prying people’s lives loose from their sins and setting them free for God…

The event that Joel used as his text was a terrible locust plague that was devastating the crops of Israel, creating an agricultural disaster of major proportions. He compared it to a massive military invasion...

There is a sense in which catastrophe doesn’t introduce anything new into our lives. It simply exposes the moral or spiritual reality that already exists but was hidden beneath an overlay of routine, self-preoccupation, and business as usual. Then suddenly, there it is before us: a moral universe in which our accumulated decisions—on what we say and do, on how we treat others, on whether or not we will obey God’s commands—are set in the stark light of God’s judgment.

In our everyday experience, right and wrong and the decisions we make about them seldom come to us neatly packaged and precisely defined. Joel’s prophetic words continue to reverberate down through the generations, making the ultimate connection between anything, small or large, that disrupts our daily routine, and God, giving us fresh opportunity to reorient our lives in faithful obedience. Joel gives us opportunity for “deathbed repentance” before we die, while there is still time and space for a lot of good living to the glory of God. – from Introduction to Joel, The Message Bible

The book opens with the locusts:

The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. (Joel 1.1 – 4, ESV)

The result?

Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. (Joel 1.5 – 7, ESV)

There’s more. Stay tuned.

As we wrap up Hosea today, it’s the “usual” condemnation for forgetting God:

But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs… (Hosea 13.4 – 8, ESV)

“When they became full…they forgot me.”

Moses warned them:

“And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6.10 – 15, ESV)

Hosea ends with a call for repentance…

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” (Hosea 14.1 – 3, ESV)

…and Hosea’s last word is a reminder to discern God’s ways and “walk in them:”

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. (Hosea 14.9, ESV)

I’ve already written on my latest misgivings with AI in the form of ChatGPT. It’s entirely too chatty! Since then I’ve talked with four friends, two of whom are pastors, who use AI to help them in their work, and I’ve read more articles than I can count (since that’s all that’s in the news or on the OpEds these days). This blog will refer to some of those articles and lay out my position on AI, for what it’s worth. As you’ll see, I’m making observations and conclusions for myself. I’ll NOT be telling you what you should do. I hope this is my last blog on the subject, at least for a while.

Stuff I’ve read contains three basic messages:

• Apocalyptic: AI will destroy humanity; even AI insiders believe that, so we’re told.
• Praise: look at all the good it’s done already.
• Caution: it’s not human, but it pretends to be. Avoid it!

I’ve reached the conclusion that I’m not going to worry about or put much stock in the apopcalyptic predictions. First, there’s nothing I can do about it if it’s true. Second, it reminds me too much of stuff “they” have been feeding us for years. Overpopulation , global warming, for example. There’s always a group who wants to keep us in a “state of fear.” See The Purpose Behind the Panic. And often those who deploy a technology first want to write rules to keep others out. See AI and the Dangers of Electricity.

With respect to those who praise the technology, again, as Seth Godin pointed out, what I think doesn’t matter. The Amazing Things AI Is Already Doing for Humanity captures the point of view that AI is not causing the harm that was predicted AND it’s facilitated real progress in many fields.

On the problem that AI pretends to be human, I finally found some essays that share my concern. In Pygmalion’s Passion, Paul Kingsnorth shares an essay by Andrew Caspersen arguing that AI’s very nature is wrong:

Are there certain features or applications of AI that are inherently wrong? Yes! Marc Barnes uses natural law to show why conversing with a chatbot is a corruption of inter-personal communion. D.C. Schindler explains the essential duplicity of AI, which tricks the subconscious into accepting its personhood.¹

…

What I’m presenting is a very simple Christian argument against AI:

1. The human intellect was made in the divine image
2. AI seeks to replace at least part of our intellect in practice
3. Therefore, using AI would be a rejection of part of our divine image
4. A partial rejection of the divine image is a partial rejection of God Himself, one small act at a time.

There are two sources in the first paragraph above. Marc Barnes writes:

The nebulousness of the thing—ought we use the infinite-use machine?—forces me to consider a narrower case, a specific “use” of AI: generative AI in its form as the chatbot. 

It is obvious to me that it is immoral to speak with a chatbot—that you’d be doing a bad thing to type up a back and forth with Grok or Meta or ChatGPT or Truthly or Whoever, and that repeating this bad act of conversing with a fake person makes for a bad habit which will ultimately make you a bad person. 

…

Still, whatever category of wickedness we place the thing in—and I am prone to think of it as a form of “superstition”—here is where I stand: conversation with non-intelligence as if it were intelligence is disordered, a deliberate frustration of the natural end of the human act of conversation, which is for the sake of loving communion with another intelligence.  

This is the problem I recognized in my ChatGPT blog. The other source, D.C. Shindler, points out something I had also observed:

My rather simple contention is that AI is essentially duplicitous. In one sense, this is so obviously true it may seem hardly worth drawing attention to. But if the thesis is obvious, its significance is perhaps less so, and warrants more consideration and contemplation than we have been giving it. The reason it has such importance is that this new technology introduces duplicity more profoundly into the human soul than perhaps any other technology that the human spirit has yet devised.

I recommend you read all three essays in their entirety, Kingsnorth (Caspersen), Barnes, and Schindler.

So where are we?

• With respect to doom and gloom, we don’t know.
• With respect to net positive/net negative, we don’t know.
• None of us can escape certain applications of AI. It’s everywhere.
• The only thing I have control of is how and how much do I use it for myself. E.g., ChatGPT, Claude (Anthropic), etc.
  • Avoid it altogether (Caspersen’s, Barnes’, and Schindler’s position)
  • Use it with caution (my position)
  • Play with it “joyously” (Seth Godin’s position)

Does that make using an AI chatbot a “disputable” matter? I think it does. If so, does Paul’s counsel apply?

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. (Romans 14.13, 14, ESV)

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor…So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10.23, 24, 31, ESV)

PS This essay needs a lot more work, but I’m tired of wrestling with issues that are mostly “above my pay grade.”