Христианские читатели обсуждают духовные вызовы: от искусственного интеллекта до власти и бездомности

Earlier this summer, CT started running an occasional feature on reader responses. Here’s a new installment. Body Surveillance Shames What God Calls Good I am reminded of 1 Samuel 16:7, where Samuel is told that people judge by outward appearance but God looks at the heart. Nothing seems to have changed in today’s world. Instead of focusing on our outward appearance, we might focus instead on seeking to be healthy in all areas of our lives: spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, relationally, financially, etc. We are merely stewards of all God has given us, including our own bodies, minds, and possessions. That requires a daily awareness and intentionality toward seeking the good, in all areas of life. —Lane Blessing The Christian Colleges Welcoming ‘Socratic Bots’ There is the “just a machine” argument for attaching moral value to interacting with agents, but I think this looks at it wrong. When Jesus taught us about seeing him in others, it was not about material provision for them. It was about practicing our own spiritual virtues. I believe that demeaning and being antisocial with AI likely translates to spiritual unhealthiness (as with other text conversations online), and on the flip side exercising kindness with AI (to a rational extent) gives us an opportunity to build up our own spirit. When we practice spiritual virtues toward others—even if they aren’t “real” in a strict ontological sense—we are building real spiritual development in ourselves. Apologizing to your dishwasher can be a healthy spiritual habit. —David Johnson Canadian Military Chaplains Can’t Mention God in Public A military must be religiously neutral so it is not at the service of a particular religion or against a particular religion. Canada has seen the negative results of trying to create a partisan military close at hand. This is the reason that a chaplain of any faith, speaking on behalf of the total military per the directive, is asked to take a neutral approach. There is nothing limiting a chaplain in their job to help members, and there are chaplains representative of many religions in the Forces. It is not an attack on Christians as this article would have us believe. —Lynne McKenna Released Pastors Say Immigration Agents Mocked Them, Threatened Family Separation The description of the behavior of the Department of Homeland Security agents echoes the descriptions in The Gulag Archipelago of how NKVD agents would coerce and intimidate people into signing confessions. Truly disturbing and disgusting. —Joshua Reed The Spiritual Reason Our Elderly Leaders Refuse to Give Up Power We need to buffer the foolishness of youth and the aged. We need our elder statesman to mentor and guide. Look at many who have left the public realm but still offer counsel to those who are [still there]. If you are desperately holding on to your power, how much can you do to raise the next generation? —Denise Sullivan Doug Wilson’s Household Voting Plan Could Empower Democrats for Decades It’s hard to believe that anyone takes someone like Doug Wilson seriously, but unfortunately there are many troubled people out there who look to people like him to tell them what to think and how to live. May God help us. —Kirk Wellum Vacation Is the Modern Pilgrimage “Because the Holy Spirit indwells Christians, we don’t need to go anywhere to better experience God.” This article was very helpful and empowering to me. Being physically disabled (due to MS), I find myself saying “no” to many opportunities to travel, and “no” to opportunities to experience God through retreats away from my home church. I have found what Jonathon Crump said to be an encouragement and a validation of my own journey of seeking, finding, and growing in Christ in my hometown, my home church, and my actual home. Where I am right now is where the indwelling Holy Spirit is! There is nothing else I need. —Teresa King Homelessness Is More Than ‘Mascots’ Having suffered homelessness, I am thinking about innovative, cheaper housing [solutions]. I strongly believe it helps when solutions come from the victims. I have heard in America of nonprofits using the latest technology like 3D printing in building houses faster and cheaply. I would like to learn more about such initiatives as a form of social entrepreneurship that provides opportunity in spreading the gospel in places like Africa, where being homeless, or living in unsafe habitats without amenities like water, toilets, or electricity, feels like being condemned, bereft of hope at all. —Njoroge Waweru There but for Friends and Family Go I I liked your comments on homelessness: A working definition of homelessness, then, is not only being without your own home but being without any home whose residents will take you in. Lack of relationships is as important as lack of money. —Lois Snyder