Artificial Intelligence and the Need for Real Wisdom
The article below is a summary of the presentation on AI that I will give on October 9, 2026, at Lutheran Brethren Seminary. I used AI to generate it (and edited its summary). While I did not write this specific article, I did write the source material I had AI use to summarize it. I have done this intentionally, not as a shortcut, but to invite your reflection on the endeavor. Is this a legitimate use of AI? Why or why not? As you consider the question, reflect on the competing goods in play. How do these influence your conclusions? In my presentation, we will be wrestling with these sorts of questions. Come ready to discuss! –Pastor Jonathan Conner
Artificial intelligence has arrived. It’s answering customer service calls, diagnosing diseases, detecting financial fraud, translating languages in real time, generating artwork, writing student papers, and increasingly finding its way into our churches. Pastors are being encouraged to use AI to write Bible studies, repurpose sermons into social media posts, generate discussion questions, produce podcasts, and extend the “reach” of the gospel.
Is that exciting? Terrifying? Both?
How should Christians think about AI? Should we eagerly embrace it, adamantly reject it, or navigate a middle path? Before we can answer wisely, we first need to understand what AI actually is―and then we need a framework by which to evaluate it.
Most people think of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar chatbots when they hear the phrase “artificial intelligence.” These Large Language Models have been trained on staggering quantities of books, articles, websites, images, and videos. Imagine the internet as an enormous box stuffed with information. AI is a remarkably sophisticated sorting and pattern-recognition machine placed inside that box. It devours the contents and regurgitates them according to probability.
That is an astonishing achievement. But we should remember what AI is―and what it is not.
AI simulates intelligence. It is not human intelligence. It is not conscious. It does not possess wisdom, morality, imagination, or a soul. It doesn’t celebrate a victory, grieve a loss, wonder about tomorrow, or marvel at a sunset. It has no inner life. It only recombines what has been placed inside its box. It appears remarkably intelligent, but appearances can be deceiving.
That distinction matters because Christians have something no machine possesses: wisdom. And wisdom comes from beyond the box.
Scripture teaches that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Real wisdom does not arise from larger databases or faster processors. It comes from God himself through his Word. As we wrestle with AI, that truth gives us the framework we desperately need. The question we must ask as we evaluate AI is not merely, “Can AI do this?” but, “Does this align with what God has called good?”
From the opening pages of Genesis, God repeatedly declares his creation good. He creates order from chaos. He creates embodied human beings, male and female. He establishes marriage, family, vocation, worship, and fellowship with himself. Throughout Scripture he defends these gifts through his commandments. God further gives his good gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Word and Sacraments. These are the enduring goods by which Christians evaluate every cultural development―including artificial intelligence.
As we evaluate AI, we must appreciate another truth our technological age often forgets: No tool is neutral.
History bears this out. Give a hammer to a toddler and suddenly the whole world begins to look like a nail. Railroads changed the way we understood time. Air conditioning changed the way we built our homes. Microwaves changed our expectations about cooking and meals. Smartphones and social media have reshaped our attention, our relationships, and even our understanding of friendship.
Tools don’t simply help us accomplish tasks. They reshape the people who use them. AI will do the same. It will change what we believe is possible, what we consider reasonable, and perhaps even what we think ministry itself is.
Already pastors are being encouraged to become content generators. Sermons become social media clips, podcasts, and articles with a few clicks. Everything can be multiplied, repurposed, optimized, and distributed. At first glance, that sounds wonderful. Who doesn’t want more people hearing the gospel? But perhaps we should ask another question: Is a sermon merely content?
The sermon is not simply information transferred from one mind to another. It is the living proclamation of Christ through the called servant whom Christ has placed among his people. That incarnational reality ought to make us pause before treating preaching as raw material for endless algorithmic distribution.
The larger danger is subtler still. AI tempts us to worship efficiency.
Our culture already prizes speed, productivity, and measurable output. AI magnifies those expectations dramatically. Machines never grow tired. Content can be generated around the clock. Before long, pastors and church workers may feel pressure to produce at machine speed while congregations unknowingly begin expecting machine-level productivity from embodied human beings.
But wisdom has never operated at machine speed.
Deep thought moves slowly. Meditation cannot be automated. Prayer refuses to be rushed.
Martin Luther described theological formation with three words: prayer, meditation, and trial. None of those processes can be outsourced to artificial intelligence. Psalm 1 pictures the blessed man meditating on God’s Word day and night, sinking deep roots beside streams of living water. That is not the picture of frantic productivity. It is the picture of patient wisdom.
In the Church we need to recover a forgotten truth: Thinking is doing something.
AI can certainly assist our thinking. Used wisely, it can become an extraordinary research assistant. It can summarize broad fields of literature, organize information quickly, identify sources worth pursuing, or serve as a capable copy editor.
But only if wisdom comes first.
If you do not bring wisdom to AI, AI will make you the fool.
The person who already possesses competence in a subject can often use AI profitably because he recognizes its mistakes. The person who lacks wisdom may never notice when AI confidently mixes truth with falsehood. It regularly invents quotations, fabricates citations, and reproduces propaganda alongside accurate information. It generates grammatically correct sentences, but grammar and truth are not the same thing.
Easy is not always wise.
Consider the microwave. Has it saved us time? Absolutely. But has there been a cost? Has it affected our ability to cook? Has it changed our expectations about food? A little sober reflection suggests that while the microwave has made meal preparation easier, it has not necessarily made us healthier or wiser. In many homes it has cheapened both food and the fellowship that traditionally surrounded it.
Artificial intelligence may prove to be a similar “Easy Button.” It can gather and organize information with astonishing speed, freeing us to spend more time with our families, serve our neighbors, or pursue meaningful work. But if it performs the hard work of thinking for us, it may also prevent us from learning. Wisdom grows slowly. It is forged through careful reflection, patient study, and sustained meditation on God’s Word. AI can accelerate research, but it cannot accelerate wisdom.
The same caution applies to content generation. Having AI write sermons, articles, or Bible studies in our name crosses an important line. Christians should not present machine-generated work as though it were their own. Yet there remains room for thoughtful discussion about AI serving as an assistant/summarizer rather than a ghostwriter―reviewing grammar, suggesting organization, or identifying logical inconsistencies while leaving the thinking, writing, and theological responsibility with the human author.
These are not simple issues. They require wisdom rather than slogans.
Artificial intelligence may become one of the most powerful tools humanity has ever developed. Like every powerful tool, it carries tremendous opportunities alongside profound dangers. Christians need neither panic nor naïveté. We need something far older than artificial intelligence.
We need real wisdom.
That wisdom will not be found “inside the box.” It comes from outside of us―from the God who created us, redeemed us, and still speaks through his Word. As AI continues reshaping our world, the Church’s calling is neither to chase every innovation nor reject every innovation, but to bring God’s wisdom to bear on each one.
Perhaps the greatest gift AI could give the Church is reminding us that wisdom has never been artificial. It has always been cultivated slowly, prayerfully, and faithfully in the presence of the living God. Now, more than ever, is the time to slow down, go deep into the Scriptures, and pursue the wisdom no machine can ever generate.
Pastor Jonathan Conner is Pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Manning, IA, and the speaker at the 2026 Fall Conference.