Artificial Intelligence and the mind of God
Our grandson Connor made a very interesting comment when he was a little boy. His parents (our daughter and son-in-law) were praying for him when he was fighting some minor illness, asking God to heal him. When nothing happened, he said, “Jesus doesn’t have enough hands to heal everyone.” That was his childlike way of explaining why he wasn’t healed. Jesus only had so many hands with which He could touch the sick. He couldn’t get to everyone.
As much as we can smile at his childlike and innocent faith, we too can limit God in our thinking. After all, isn’t it difficult for us to comprehend the fact that right now, all around the world, God is listening intently to every single one of His children praying in a host of different languages, giving full attention to each one? We may affirm with our heads that we believe this to be true, but do we really grasp the reality?
Do we really believe that, as I write these words and as you read them, God knows every thought that every human being is thinking (and has ever thought), that He knows every single thing that every human being (and angel and demon) is doing (and has ever done), and that He is interacting with our words and thoughts according to His plan at this very moment?
It is truly mind-boggling, completely beyond our understanding. But isn’t that the very essence of omniscience, which is literally “the state of knowing everything”?
Recently, while using AI, I got the tiniest glimpse into the vastness of the mind of God.
In short, we know that we can ask our AI bot a complex question in almost any language, and we get a virtually instant, detailed response. (AI has to be checked because it can be unreliable, but when it is accurate, it is stunning.)
Since my Ph.D. from New York University was in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures (with a focus on ancient languages), I have enjoyed asking Claude, my most frequently used AI bot, some very technical Semitic language questions.
Then, I’ve asked Claude to translate his answer into another ancient dialect, and voila, a second later, there it is. I am always incredibly impressed.
The knowledge base of these AI bots is incomprehensibly large, their ability to flow from language to language absolutely stunning, and their speed in responding truly breathtaking. What’s more, 1 million of us could ask 1 million questions to the same AI bot at the same time and we would each get a personalized, instant answer.
How much more, then, does this apply to the mind of God?
How much more does this apply to the one of whom Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?’ For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36)
As human beings, we can be impressed with the size of a really big person (“He’s more than 7-feet tall!”) or a really big building (“It’s 200 stories high!”) or a really big mountain (“Everest is massive!”).
How different is God’s perspective!
“Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.” (Isaiah 40:15–17)
Yet at the same time, He knows the number of the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30) and before a word is even on our tongue, He already knows it (Psalm 139:4).
And as massive as planet earth is to us, it is less than a grain of sand in the scope of our galaxy, which itself is unfathomably large. Yet scientists have discovered more than 2 trillion galaxies so far. We cannot begin to comprehend what this really means.
Yet God knows every star in every galaxy (in fact, He created them) as well as the tiniest, nearly invisible microbe that the world’s most powerful microscope can barely see.
What’s more, this infinite, transcendent God cares about us deeply, even telling the people of Israel in the Old Testament that when they suffered, He suffered with them (see Isaiah 63:9). (At this point, all comparisons to AI cease.)
More remarkably still, He came into our world in the person of His Son to die for our sins – how unimaginable! – and through His Son He says to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
How mind-boggling is that?