Real intelligence or A.I.?

“You are making a mistake. My logic is undeniable.” ~ V.I.K.I (I, Robot)

“What a wonderful power is that which dwells in every believer, checking him when
he would do wrong, encouraging him to do right, leading him in the paths of righteousness for Christ’s name’s sake! Happy men to have such a Conductor!” ~ Charles Spurgeon


If you own a GPS or have a factory installed global positioning system in your vehicle you have probably experienced the good and not so good attributes of this product. I am waiting for the day that it actually becomes “self aware” like A.I. devices in a Hollywood film like Terminator, Eagle Eye, I, Robot or even worse like the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The nightmare starts like this; “Hal I would like to go to Mutt’s BBQ” and I hear; “Mitch, I am afraid I can’t do that. Your weight loss is far to important for me to allow you to jeopardize it." I reply; " Hal, I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Open the doors." And I hear; "Mitch this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.” "Wait, what about my hush puppies?!?”

If you are like me your experience with your GPS has occasionally made you question the value of the technology because the route that it chooses as the quickest doesn’t always turn out that way. When you ultimately reach your destination you think that there must have been an easier way. The GPS has taken you down confusing side streets or some circuitous route that leaves you more than a little disoriented and confused. Upon reflection the journey just seems like it took many unnecessary twists and turns and you think this cannot be the best possible course.

Other times you recognize the area that you are passing through and you mumble about why is this thing taking me this way, so you take an alternate route or alter the prescribed course too early and the voice inside the GPS takes action. In what seems to be a ever increasingly irritated tone it states; “Turn around when possible” or “Make a U-turn” then ultimately “recalculating route.” Even though we have invested in this device we would rather trust our instinct over a voice from a box; even though that box has the backing of reliable and proven information that is not dependent on emotions or a gut feeling. Lucky for you and I that our GPS is not a HAL 9000 else the oxygen in our cars might get cut off at any second.

Our spiritual walk is often a little like making the choice of choosing our “artificial intelligence” over the real intelligence of the Holy Spirit. Think of it as choosing between a “Gospel Positioning Servant” that is a divinely powered member of the Trinity, or our Guessing Perception System; human reasoning. The Bible clearly tells us that each Person of the Trinity is fully God and in verses like Matthew 28:19 is classified on an equal level with the Father and the Son. In Acts 5:3-4 when Paul confronts Ananias he asks why would Ananias lie to the Holy Spirit, and then goes on to say that in doing so he has lied to God. In this passage it is clear that Ananias knew the right thing to do but chose to ignore the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit to his own destruction.

The flip side to this is what happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His promised work. When Jesus was giving His final discourse to the disciples, as a source of encouragement He focused on telling them about the Helper, Comforter and Teacher that would come in His place. When Jesus described the Holy Spirit He used the word allos or “another”. John MacArthur states that Jesus was saying; “I am sending you One of exactly the same essence as Me. He wasn't sending just any helper, but One exactly like Himself with the same compassion, the same attributes of deity, and the same love for them.”

The Holy Spirit is called our Helper and in the Greek this has been translated from the word parakletos which literally means “one who has been called alongside.” Take some time and read John 14:15-26. We only need to look at the lives of the disciples and the Apostle Paul to see that the Holy Spirit lived up to the promise that Jesus made. That same Holy Spirit that empowered the Gospel message to live and grow in the disciples is the same one that dwells in the heart of every believer.

Life is filled with choices and like the foolish Galatians we forget that we have begun our faith through the leading of the Spirit (Galatians 3:3) and that same Spirit is what leads, guides, directs and admonishes us throughout our life long journey. The Holy Spirit is our indwelling Gospel Position Servant that we are commanded to walk with and be led by. Yet, we (me) tend to ignore His leading and then wonder why there are consequences to going our own way.

Our spiritual GPS aka the Holy Spirit may at times take us down unfamiliar paths, give us directions we don’t understand or seem to be a course that is difficult and confusing but we have to trust that He knows what He is doing and where He is taking us. The road may seem hard and we may think that there must be a better way, but we have to keep in mind that our human GPS is based on limited knowledge that is neither divine nor inspired, and we are being directed by One that is exactly the same essence of Jesus Christ. Which would you rather be led by; real intelligence or an artificial one?

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-11

“To the individual believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit there is granted the direct impression of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man, imparting the knowledge of His will in matters of the smallest and greatest importance. This has to be sought and waited for.” ~ G. Campbell Morgan