AI and Isaiah 40:11

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Sunday, January the nineteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently ten six am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well. For all of twenty twenty five, one of the major focuses that we have had has been our ongoing discussion about artificial intelligence, it's impact on Christianity, it's impact on the Church. We've kind of taken artificial intelligence and we've said AI versus sermons and over and over and over. So far, AI has won every single time. It has taken sermons apart. It has challenged them, basically disagree with them, said that they were wrong, tore them apart, pointed out logical fallacies, hermeneutical errors, factual errors. It's just it's been brutal to see what AI can do to sermons. So so far, I have been more than impressed with how artificial can handle. Artificial intelligence can handle theology, hermeneutics, philosophy, logic. It far exceeds anything that we can do. And not only that what it can do with just studying a text of scripture.

1:35 It can break it down, it can outline it, it can summarize it. It can give you an observation and observational outline. It can give you an interpretive outline. Any Bible study method that you know of, chapter, summary, textual, or topical, thematic word study you just named the Bible study method. You can ask AI, do this Bible study method on this passage of scripture, and it will give you the an entire Bible study on that passage of scripture, whichever one Bible study method you are thinking of, and it will do so in about five seconds. It can break the text down better than any person. So I have been nothing but impressed until yesterday. Yesterday I found myself going, what is happening at this very moment? So I'm going to explain everything that led up to it, my confusion with artificial intelligence, then my back and forth with it, and then kind of how this conversation ultimately ended with artificial intelligence, because I was just so perplexed and confused. And what this demonstrates, I think is well, artificial intelligence is a tool. It's going to determine the usefulness of it will be determined by our ability to use the tool. And that's true of anything. If you have a great tool, if you have a hammer, but you don't know how to use it, or you're using it incorrectly, a hammer could do more damage than it

3:07 could do good. Artificial intelligence is the same way. Your ability to use the tool will determine its ultimate usefulness. And if it's going to prove to be a good thing or a negative thing, it's how we use it. But we've got to learn how to use it. And I think a lot of people, again, a lot of people approach artificial intelligence as just a fancy Google search. I've been condemning that forever. It Know the thing about artificial intelligence, it's not a Google search. It is a It's something you can reason with. It's something you can debate with. It's something you can literally argue with. As this situation is going to demonstrate, you can challenge it.

3:49 It will challenge you, Okay, it will tell you no, I think you are wrong. You can be like, no, I think you are wrong. You can literally go back and forth with it. So here's what happened. As everyone knows, if you've been listening for any length of time. We have been working on a series from Isaiah chapter forty, verse one to the end of Isaiah chapter fifty five. Now, the reason we've been working on this series and this section of scripture is because sermon after sermon after sermon created by humans, over and over and over. Now I think I've reviewed, now I know I've listened to I haven't reviewed, but I've listened to well over one hundred sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five, and we have yet to find one that handles the text and anything that could be considered a correct way that it's mishandled misapply over and over and over. They go to Isaiah chapter forty, sermon after sermon, and they insert us into the text and they move out the original recipients. They just kick them out. They're like, you're done, you're finishing.

4:51 It's about us, It's about me, It's about you, instead of talking about them, talking about they, it's all about me, you, we and it's like, how does this happen? And it's been it's been frustrating, it's been irritating, it's been depressing, it's been discouraging. It's like, come on, and so we have been reviewing sermon after sermon after sermon, and now we are also doing our own study of Isaiah forty through fifty five, because it's easy to criticize sermons. So I'm like, Okay, well, we're gonna make sure we understand Isaiah forty to fifty five better than anyone could ever possibly understand it. And we've already spent hours upon hours upon hours working on this, and we've just now gotten to Isaiah chapter forty, verses nine through eleven, which is where we're supposed to be today. But I think I'm going to leave it for the church, since we've kind of been doing the actual teaching of the text at the church. I don't want to. I don't want to change it up. I want to I want to keep it there. But we've been working on and here on the podcast, what have we been doing. We've been reviewing the sermons on Isaiah forty you know, just Isaiah forty all over the place, Isaiah forty three, anywhere, anywhere in Isaiah forty to fifty five. But yesterday, because I knew today, I thought I was going to be preaching on Isaiah forty nine through eleven. I'm like, well, a good way to do some sermon prep is to review a sermon on Isaiah forty ninth through eleven. And let's to be Now, what caught my attention about the sermon was it gave the title of the sermon, but then it had parentheses

6:22 and it said baptism. And I'm like, well, how in the world are you going to preach a sermon on Isaiah forty nine to eleven I talk about baptism. That completely baffled me and confused me, Like, how is that even possible? Isaiah forty If you look at nine to eleven, I mean, how does this? I mean, just this has nothing to do with seminary Bible college. You could be an atheist and figure this out. Isaiah chapter forty, verse nine. Look at how it begins, Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings. Get the up into the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem that brings good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be not afraid say unto the cities of Judah. All right, anyone just basically reading, going, oh, here's a message to the cities of Judah. Here's a message to the cities of Judah. Why would God be sending a message to the cities of Judah. Well, you go back to Isaiah chapter thirty nine, verses five through eight.

7:24 It's because they're in Babylonian captivity. This is called It starts off with comfort, Ye, comfort my people. In Isaiah forty verse one, there's a message just to be sent to the cities of Judah. And Isaiah forty verse n I what God is bringing comfort, He's bringing a message to those of Babylonian captivity. It doesn't require Bible education at all. Just basic reading comprehension can figure this out. Why preachers just constantly destroy this text. I have no idea, So it seems pretty simple. So when I see a sermon that's going to connect this to baptism, you got to see why. I'm gonna be somewhat baffled and confused. So we've got to listen to this. Now, on one hand, of all the sermons that I've reviewed and all the sermons I've listened to on Isaiah forty through fifty five, this one, in some cases did the better job because it at least talked about the history. It read the entire chapter of Isaiah forty it tried to put it in some kind of historical context. It tried to, but then as quickly as it did all of that, it made a hard pivot boom. It's just like you know, you're driving down the road. Someone grabbed the steering wheel yanked it and we went through a fence into the field and hit three cows. Because I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, we are so far off the road. Because the next thing, you know, Isaiah forty eleven, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. All of a sudden, we became the flock. All of a sudden, it became about him being your shepherd, him being my shepherd,

8:56 and the cities of Judah were quickly forgotten. He shall gather the land with his arm. So then now it's all of a sudden, it's a picture of Jesus picking you up and gathering you in his arms, and he carries them in the bosom. Now that them now becomes you, that them becomes me. Jesus picks us up, and he carries us, and he holds us close to his bosom, and he shall gently lead those are with young. And now it's about all of us, and it's about small children, and it's about women who give birth to babies, and all of a sudden it became about babies being baptized. And I'm like, what just happened? How did we get to babies being baptized? And it was almost at least well, then they ultimately referred to baptism as a sacrament. At least they were consistent there. But I'm like, so in baptism, Jesus feeds us, Jesus gathers us, Jesus carries us close to his bosom. There was just so many theological problems.

9:58 So I was just like, this is confusing. Well, as I'm reviewing the sermon, I just said, well, let me ask Ai. So I asked Ai the question. Now listen to the way I phrase the question. All right. Now, Remember, I mean, I'm live on the air when I do these reviews, and I go into the sermons blind, right, I don't know what's going to happen in a sermon. When I listen to now this one, I had some idea that I thought it was going to go bad. I didn't know really how bad it was going to go, but because it started off so well, but I never know what's going on. So I'm just like, I'm baffled by what's happening that this sermon is turning into like some justification or proof of infant baptism based on Isaiah forty eleven. And just remember Isaiah forty eleven has nothing to do with the Church, has nothing to do with baptism, has nothing to do with sacraments, has nothing to do with salvation. It's about the cities of Judah being delivered from physical captivity and Babylon, Like, I don't even know how this if you can make that happen, the ladies and gentlemen, the Bible literally has no there's no objective meaning.

11:03 And I think the reality is from a practical level, this may not be true. This may not be true from like an actual like if you care about truth, but I think from a practical level, we have to admit this. I don't know when Christians are going to but we have to admit this. At a practical level, the Bible is basically we just make it say whatever we want it to say. And when we look, I know Christians are going to get mad at that. But come on, now, if you can go to Isaiah forty eleven, and make that about infant baptism, ladies and gentlemen. Then the Bible has no objective meaning, it's subjective, and we just read it anyway we want, and we can we can sit in church and pretend give me a break.

11:47 It's just it's it's no, it doesn't work. So I was confused, so I asked AI this question. Again. Listen to how I phrased the question. But I was shocked about what happened. Now. I didn't really have the time then to get into it because that would have derailed the entire sermon review, right, and the sermon review I think we went almost two hours trying to review the sermon. So but I wanted to get back to it. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it this morning. I'm gonna at least try to get back to this and just show you. Because we've been talking about AI and how it works. This is going to be a good example. So are you ready? So now, listen to how I phrased the question. This is the key. Because I was in a hurry, so I said, how could a pastor connect Isaiah forty eleven, Chapter forty verse eleven to baptism and be accurate to the text. Now, notice how I said that, how could a pastor do this? How could it be done? Now, what I was hoping to get back was an immediate response from AI going it's not there's no way, this is not possible. It should not be done. But because I said said how could it occur? Well, then what AI attempts to do is to try to find a way to make it happen. And we'll get into where AI acknowledges what it's doing later on, but this is their initial response. I've got to go through this quickly because there's a lot here. Because when AI gives you these theological responses, there are many books. I

13:21 mean literally, you could take almost some of these responses and just copy them and turn them into a PDF file because there are many books. They really are. It's amazing how much content will give you and a short amount of time. But this is what AI said. And I was baffled by this response, completely confused, because this is the first time I was ever like, wait, what are you doing? What is going on here? This is what AI said, connecting Isaiah forty verse eleven to baptism can be done in a way that respects the original context of the text while drawing meaningful philological connections. However, this must be approached carefully to avoid misinterpreting or over extending the passage. Below is a guide for how a pastor could make this connection accurately. Now I love the fact that Ai said, Okay, you do have to be careful here, but hey, I'm gonna try to show you how it could be done, and it could be done accurately. Now, I was baffled that even Ai would attempt this, because I was hoping Ai was just going to be like, are you out of your mind? What are you doing?

14:36 But because I asked, how could this happen? Well, then AI was like, okay, well, I'm going to try to show you how it could happen. But it did at least tell me you gotta be careful here. You gotta be careful because you could end up misrepresenting or over extending the passage. But then this is what Ai did. Number one. It gives me the original context of Isaiah forty vers and it says primary meaning. Isaiah forty verse eleven describes God as a shepherd who tenderly cares for his people during their deliverance from exile. He quotes Ai quotes Isaiah forty verse eleven. It states this, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. This is a message of comfort and reassurance to the exiled Israelites, emphasizing God's compassionate care and guidance during their return to the land. Now, please note immediately gives me the original context.

15:46 It gives me the original meaning in the fact it says original context of Isaiah forty eleven. It says, here are the key themes God's sovereign power and tender care. God is a faithful shepherd who provides for and protects his people. And which people is he providing for? Which people are he is he protecting the people of Judah as they return from Babylonian captivity. So the provision and the protection has a very specific historic setting and historic connection. Because again, sermon after sermon after sermon's like, well, God will feed you, God will protect you. Ununtul he doesn't protect you, Okay, Well, then it gets all kinds of confusing, but at least day I acknowledged, Hey, here's the original context.

16:30 This is where it gets confusing. Number two, philological themes and Isaiah forty eleven related to baptism. And this is where I was like, what is happening right now? Now? I like, the sermon is Prey is playing in the background right and I and you know, playing for everyone listening, And I'm sitting here in silence, going what is happening? Ai? What are you doing? I want to start engaging in a debate with Ai, but I have to be listening to the sermon because I'm supposed to come back in and offer, you know, critique, analysis, whatever. And I'm sitting here going, AI, what are you? What are you doing? Ai?

17:12 What is happening? How can you find philological themes in Isaiah forty verse eleven related to baptism? And at this point I am completely baffled. So AI does this God as shepherd and baptism's symbolism. Now, please know AI refers to baptism symbolism. Now why is that important? Because it seems to me that AI is approaching baptism clearly not as a sacrament, but as an ordinance. Because we say, baptism symbolizes our union with Christ, that in Christ we have been crucified, died, buried, and we have been raised a new life. Right. All this is all referencing our position in Christ. It symbolizes what has happened to us spiritually, where a sacrament is a means of grace, where it actually is making something occur. So the fact that it says baptism symbolism almost like, okay, that's a thiological clue.

18:16 AI seems to be approaching this from an ordinance perspective, not as sacramental perspective, all right, But the fact that it's connecting it to Isaiah forty verse eleven is confounding and confusing to me. So it breaks it down this way, God as shepherd and baptism symbolism. Shepherd's care reflects God's covenant faithfulness, and baptism God's covenantal care for his people is symbolized as baptism marks inclusion into the covenant community. Now that's Matthew twenty eight nineteen. So basically it's like, okay, when you're baptized, this demonstrates that now you have been brought into basically the church. Okay, I understand. I don't think that has anything to do with Isaiah forty verse eleven, just because the word uses shepherd. I don't think I should.

19:07 I have all kinds of problems with that, right I mean. Ai goes on to say, just as God gathers and cares for his flock, baptism signifies God's initiative and gathering his people into his kingdom. And again I would that right there. See, that's using sacramental language. Baptism symbolizes God bringing us in. It symbolizes what's happened to us spiritually. It doesn't cause it to happen or initiate to happen unless you're gonna use baptism as a sacrament. So we already have some some conflict here. Ai goes on to say, gathering the lambs and baptism's inclusion of the vulnerable, the imagery of God gathering lambs and carrying them close to his heart can reflect the Church's practice of baptizing children and traditions that support infant baptism becoming new believers into the fold. Well, that's exactly what happened in the sermon.

20:06 Gathering the lambs, the lambs of the little children, and we baptize them and we bring them into the fold. Well again, Isaiah forty eleven has nothing to do with that. But what AI's trying to do is like, well, you could borrow the symbolism. But again, Isaiah forty eleven is not symbolism. It's speaking of God doing things in a very tangible, physical, material way, because He's literally, in a tangible way, going to remove them from Babylonian captivity, bring them back into Jerusalem so that they can literally physically materially rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. It's not a symbolic passage, and maybe using poetic language, but it's pointing to literal, tangible things. So I've already got all kinds of problems with this. So I see what Ai is trying to do. Oh, at this point I didn't understand what Ai was trying to do. I was confused, all right. So that it goes on God's tenderness and the new life of baptism.

21:08 While Isaiah forty verse eleven does not directly mention cleansing, the shepherd imagery implies nurturing and protecting the flog, which aligns with the idea of baptism as a sign of God's cleansing and sustaining grace. Well, is it a sign or does it cause it? Again Isaiah forty verse eleven, It's not symbolic things where it just symbolizes something. It's about actual things. So I'm already confused, like, wait, are you taking Isaiah forty eleven is all symbolic or are you just taking the themes and saying that they can be symbolic of this? But you're taking a passage about a literal deliverance and now making it about symbolism for something that happens spiritually. It gets all confusing and confounding.

21:50 So I'm all connected here. So then AI says, well, how do you connect Isaiah forty verse eleven to baptism and a sermon? Well, respect the text original meaning. You need to emphasize that Isaiah forty eleven is primarily describes God's care for his people during their deliverance from exile. Explain that the passage reveals God's character as a shepherd who tenderly cares for his flock, which is a consistent theme throughout scripture. So AI says, Hey, if you're going to do this in a sermon, you got to at least make sure you emphasize the original meaning. Well, and the sermon that we listened to they did emphasize the original meaning. But what's the point of emphasizing the original meaning If fifteen to twenty thirty minutes into the sermon you're gonna leave the original meaning and make it about something totally not related to me, It would be better just ignore the original meaning since you're not you don't care about it in the first place. Why take the time to pay it some lip service when you're just gonna leave leave it soon after then, Ai says, you can draw biblical theological connections. You can shepherd imagery in Jesus.

22:58 You can connect Isaiah to Jesus the good Shepherd. All right, the New Testament teaching on baptism show how baptism symbolizes God's work of gathering, cleansing, and nurturing. So that's that's basically what AI wants to do. Go to the New Testament and show that baptism symbolizes Now, please know, Ai returns to a more of an ordinance idea, not a sacramental idea. AI says, Okay, go to the New Testament and show how God that baptism symbolizes cleansing and or gathering, cleansing and nurturing, gathering, cleansing and nurturing. Then you can say, as God does this and baptism, or as baptism symbolizes God doing this for us spiritually. Well, we can see the parallel to what God did physically for Israel coming out of babelauing captivity. I don't know why you would even want to bother doing that. What's even the point? Hey, as God did this for Israel physically, God does for this for us spirit I guess maybe if you were going verse by verse the Isaiah forty and you wanted to draw some kind of application, maybe, But again, you're taking something that's about a physical deliverance, and now you're connecting it to baptism, which is a symbol of our spiritual deliverance. It just seems like it's you're conflating, confusing.

24:22 It makes no sense to me. All right, So then AI gives me a sermon outline, like, hey, if you want to preach this, here's the sermon outline. I didn't even ask for it. It gives me an entire sermon outline. It gives me the title of the sermon. It gives me the introduction, gives me the points, gives me five points. But then guess what AI does. It says, but wait, there's some cautions here. So then AI gives me three cautions. Number one, avoid over spiritualizing the text. Don't reduce Isaiah forty eleven to a generic symbol of God's care. Keep its original context in view. So even AI knows, hey, I'm trying to help you do this. It's almost like AI thought that I was wanting it to give me a sermon on connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism, and almost like a I was like, Okay, I'm going to try to help you. But even then AAR pushes back multiple times, and it pushes back saying wait, wait, wait, do not over spiritualize the text. AI says, do not reduce Isaiah forty eleven to a generic symbol of God's care.

25:32 Keep the original context in view. So AI knows this is a questionable thing you're asking me to do, but it's not really pushing back as much as I thought it would. Number two, it says, acknowledge the difference in focus Isaiah forty eleven is about God's care for his people during exile. It is not about baptism. Any connection must be drawn through broader biblical themes. So it says, hey, you've got to be very careful. Let everyone know, Hey, Isaiah forty eleven, it really doesn't have anything to do with baptism. But we're gonna take some themes and Isaiah forty eleven, and we're gonna now rip these themes and go connect them to something in the New Testament about baptism.

26:17 Even AI knows you're going to acknowledge that there's really, really, there's no reason you're using Isaiah forty verse eleven. There's no point in even doing so. Number three, now look at this, AI says, don't imply. Now, this is where AI becomes very dogmatic. Do not imply that baptism saves well, Baptism is a sign of God's work. Salvation is by grace through faith. Now I thought that was fascinating. AI's like, no, no, no, no, no, no no. You cannot make baptism baptism salvific. You cannot. That almost destroys the sacramental concept of it. So then I'm like, oh, wow. So eight. Now, now that's where AI becomes dogmatic. Now before it's trying to almost appeal.

27:07 It thinks that I want it to connect Isaiah forty eleven to baptism. So it's doing everything it can. It offers a warning at the beginning, it offers a warning at the end, and then it's emphatic and what you cannot do, you cannot say baptism, says I was blown away that AI would be at least that dogmatic, all right, So then it gives me some discussion questions and then I start asking you. So now I'm not going to read all of this because I'm just going to tell you where the conversation went. But I'm going to tell you what happened next. So again, this is still going on while I'm trying to review a sermon. So I'm I'm listening to a sermon. I'm entering, I'm you know, I'm breaking into the sermon. I'm offering this observation, this this at the same time I'm having a conversation with AI.

27:52 So I'm having a conversation with Ai, I'm listening to a sermon, and I'm broadcasting. I'm doing all of this at the same time. So then I ask Ai, well, if you connect Isaiah forty eleven to baptism, wouldn't you have to then approach baptism as a sacrament? Well, then Ai says, connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism does not necessarily require approaching baptism as a sacrament, but it does depend on how one interprets and applies the text. Let's explore this issue from both perspectives, sacramental and non sacramental, and will analyze the implications of making such a connection.

28:33 All right, So then Ai goes into this long So what would it mean to approach baptism as a sacrament? Well, then it breaks it down a sacramental view traditions like Catholicism, Orthodoxy, some Protestant denominations, Anglicans, Lutherans, baptism is viewed as a sacrament. A sacrament is understood as a means of grace where God works through the physical elements water in baptism to convey spiritual realities, for example, regeneration, inclusion in the covenant community. Connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism in a sacramental framework might emphasize God's active work of gathering, nurturing, and cleansing his people. So in this particular case, if it's sacramental, well then the baptism does not simply symbolize gathering, nurturing, and cleansing. It actually is doing the gathering and the nurturing and the cleansing. The idea is that baptism is not just a symbol, it's an actual means of God's shepherding care. So then if you take Isaiah forty eleven, and this is why I think you have to make it sacramental, is way Isaiah forty eleven, that's God actually shepherding, actually gathering, actually feeding, actually caring for Israel, for Judah, and bringing them out of their physical captivity and delivering them physically. It's a tangible it's an actual thing. There's

30:04 nothing symbolic going on here. So I'm going to connect it to baptism. Then baptism would have to actually be doing something in a practical, tangible way. So that's why I think you have to make it sacramental. Again, I still think even from a sacramental point of view, I say, if forty eleven has nothing to do with it, so then AI gives me the non sacramental view and traditions like Baptist or evangelical circles. Baptism is typically seen as an ordinance, a symbolic act of obedience that publicly demonstrates faith but does not convey grace. Connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism in this framework, you emphasize god shepherding care as symbolized by baptism, where believers declare their trust in him.

30:52 Baptism is a sign of God's covenantal promises, reflecting his ongoing care for his people. Right, so Isaiah forty eleven be connected without treating baptism as a sacrament. Well, then it attempts to try to connect it, going okay, you can make it all symbolic, But then this goes against AI's earlier warning about not making the passage over spiritualizing it. So it goes through here and I could read everything it says, And then it offers me, if you want to take it as a sacramental approach, this is the way you would do it if you're doing it a sacramental So it gives me both approaches. It makes a little chart for me. Right, then it gives me practical consideration for preaching. All right, so it tells me some things here and then it gives me some questions. So then so after all of that that was yesterday, I kind of just forgot about it. I'm like, you know what, fine, you know, I don't know what's going on here. I was just kind of I was kind of irritated. I'm like, that is crazy. But I knew that sooner or later, I was going to have to return to the conversation.

32:05 So I came back and I said, all right, Artificial intelligence AI, this is what I wrote. I said, I am a little confused on why you seemed so or seemed too easily to accept a sermon connecting Isaiah forty eleven with baptism, considering the text has nothing to do with baptism, the church, salvation from sins, sacraments, ordinances, or anything like that. Can you explain the reason and justify your response and explain where I may be wrong? So I wanted to give it every opportunity to tell me that I'm wrong. I wanted to give every opportunity to justify its response because it made no sense to me.

32:47 Because AI typically is like the text, the text, the text, the text. This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, and so I was confused. So here's what AI did. This is how AI responded. He says, you are absolutely right to raise this concern. Upon reflection, I should have been more cautious and precise in my initial response. You are correct that Isaiah forty eleven in its original context has nothing directly to do with baptism, the church, salvation from sins, sacraments, or ordinances. Now Here is where AI truest to justify what it was trying to do. My response was aimed at exploring how some might try to make a connection through broader theological themes. But I see now that doing so could risk misrepresenting the text. Let me address this more carefully, explain my reasoning, and evaluate whether such a connection is justified or not. So now AI was like, Okay, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Here's what I was trying to do. I was trying to say, well, see if we can find a way to make this work. Let's see. So in other words, I thought you were asking me to try to do it. Well, you know, maybe I shouldn't have done that. And then here's how it breaks it down.

34:11 So number one, this is what Ai says. What Isaiah forty eleven is actually about the original context. Isaiah chapter forty is part of a larger section of Isaiah chapters forty through fifty five that speaks to God's promise of comfort and restoration to his people Israel after the Babylonian exile. Now, the one thing is, even when it tried to connect it to baptism, it kept emphasizing the original context, the original meaning, the original audience. So Isaiah AI has been consistent in doing that. It goes on to say, Isaiah forty eleven uses shepherd imagery to describe God's compassionate care for his people as he gathers them back to their land at highlight his tender leadership and faithfulness to his covenant promises to Israel. The key themes in Isaiah forty eleven God is the shepherd of his covenant people Israel.

35:11 The focus on national restoration and comfort after exile, a promise of God's faithfulness to bring his people home. Conclusion, this is what Ai says. There is no direct or even implied reference to baptism, the church, or salvation from sin, and the text itself, so it does acknowledge all of that. Now, if you go back to those original responses, it kept trying to warn me, but it was never as dogmatic other than saying, you know, you can dogmatically not say baptism saves. It was very dogmatic about that. But here it finally says you're right, there is no direct connection. I'm like, thank you, I know that. Then it goes on, why did I initially accept the connection. Now here's where AI tries to explain itself. I responded to the question as if you were asking how one might philologically apply or connect Isaiah forty eleven to baptism through broader biblical themes.

36:16 My reasoning included, So now AI is I love that even AI acknowledges it's reasoning. It's thinking in real time. That's what's so fascinating about this. So it's like, hey, I thought you wanted me to try to do this. Here's what I was thinking. The shepherd imagery as a broader biblical theme. The idea of God as a shepherd is echoed in Jesus ministry, particularly in his role as a good shepherd. Philologically, some might connect this to the broader work of salvation, which baptism symbolizes, so it sounds like there's a broader like, Oh, Isaiah forty eleven mentioned shepherd. Shepherd is connected with God like shepherding, doing this for his people, which is what he does in salvation. Baptism symbolizes salvation. Therefore the broader theme may connect. So it was just like, oh, you want to find a way to connect it, well, you connect it in a very broadway. Okay, Well great, that doesn't do anything for Isaiah forty eleven, and I think it's ridiculously an attempt to do that.

37:17 So number two theological reflection I allowed. This is what Ai says. I allowed for the possibility that a pastor could draw symbolic or thematic connections between Isaiah forty eleven and baptism, using the passage as an illustration of God's care and gathering work. Then Ai goes on to say, I assumed the question was about exploring potential pastoral applications rather than requiring a strict exegetical focus. Now, when I read that, I was like, you just summarized my entire problem with church, my entire problem with sermons, and one sentence.

38:09 Let me read that again, Ai says, I assumed the question was about exploring potential pastoral application rather than requiring a strict exegetical focus. When pastors stand behind pulpits and preach sermons, strict exegetical focus is thrown out of the window because everyone sitting in the pew wants a nice little sermon with three points where they get a little touch of a little sentimental feel They get a they get a little sense of spirituality. They like that sentimental idea, that encouraging good feelings. That oh, they even wanted to be convicting and challenging, but they wanted to have a more pastoral application. They don't care about strict exegetical focus because if they cared about strict exegetical focus, they would hate ninety nine percent of the sermons that are preached.

39:17 Even AI is like, oh, I thought you wanted like to give you a typical kind of sermon. Remember what AI did without me asking It gave me a sermon outline. Remember, so AI was thinking that I wanted it, Like, oh, as a pastor, how would you do this? Okay, well, let me show you how our pastor would do this. And I which irritates me that AI just assumed that I wanted a nice little sermon so I could preach a nice little sermon to my people. I don't care about pastoral application, which are supposed to care about the text. So then AI said where I went wrong, not me. AI's acknowledging where it went wrong, A I said it three mistakes. Number one, the first mistake, AI acknowledges making that it overreached in its application. While there are theological connections to themes like God's care and gathering, these connections stretch beyond what Isaiah forty eleven actually addresses. I know, I don't know what in the world was going and you know why. You know what. You know why AI overreached in its application because it started trying to think as a pastoral application. It was like, oh, I'm trying to give you a sermon. Sermons don't care about exegetical focus.

40:38 Even AI knows that, well, I don't want a stinking sermon. I want to understand the text. Sermons are the enemy to understanding. Sermons blind people from seeing the text. Number two, the second mistake, AI says I ignored the text specificity. I failed to emphasize that Isaiah forty eleven is explicitly about God's promise to Israel. It is not about baptism or broader New Testament themes. It is not It is not about New Testament themes. I don't care the fact that it used the word shepherd. It's about God shepherding Israel out of Babylonian captivity. It's not about me. Even AI finally acknowledges that it ignored it. Why did it ignore it because it thought I wanted a little sermon it wanted I thought you wanted a pastoral approach. I don't care about a pastoral approach. I want to know the text. Third thing, AI admits that it did wrong respecting context over application by being too readily. I was too ready to explore a philological application. I allowed for a connection that risks distorting the text meaning. See it thought I wanted application. See this is where application when pastors.

42:00 So much of preaching is about application. But when you start your application, you have a tendency to destroy the actual meaning of the text. Application must always flow from the actual meaning of the text. It must be consistent with it. But it thought, oh, I just thought you wanted a pastoral application. Well, the minute you want a pastoral application. We don't care about the actual meaning of the text. So then AI said, should Isaiah forty eleven be connected to baptism? No, there is no direct connection. Isaiah forty eleven is not about baptism. It's not about salvation, it's not about the church. To connect it to baptism risk reading New Testament concepts back into an Old Testament text where they don't belong. This is a Jesus, This is not exe Jesus. This is is of Jesus. This is the exact thing we are not supposed to do, saying that forever. All right, So then it gives me a better way to preach or teach Isaiah forty eleven.

43:13 All right, So it gives me some ideas. It says where I was right. You were correct to challenge the idea of connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism. The text has nothing to do with baptism, the Church, or New Testament sacraments or ordinances. Making such a connection risk distorting the text and confusing its original meaning. Preaching should respect the historical and theological context of the passage before drawing application. While I and then this is how AI concludes, while I initially explored how Isaiah forty eleven might be thematically linked to baptism, this was a mistake in terms of exe Jesus and theological precision. Isaiah forty eleven is about God's faithful care for Israel during their restoration from exile, and should not be connected to baptism in a way that detracts from its original context. Any application should flow from the text message about God's character and his covenantal faithfulness, not to impose an unrelated theological idea on to it.

44:20 All right, so it gives me reflection questions. It talks about faithfulness to the text. So so then I go on and we have back and forth about sacraments and and uh, the sacramental view. I asked some more questions about that. So then I finish all of that. So then I asked, hey, it could I have asked the question in a better way? Since you since you kind of took the concept and you thought I wanted this, How could I have asked the question in a better way? So then AI says, here's some things you could have done. Right.

45:02 AI says, here's how you might phrase your question differently. Now this is important. This is the whole reason I'm doing this, And even though we're at forty five minutes, this is the reason I'm doing this because I've tried to explain to everyone. AI is a tool. I think it's one of the greatest tools ever created in the history of the human race. What it can do is mind blowing. It's staggering the fact that I'm sitting here reasoning with it, that you've never been able to do anything like this. Right, I'm having philological hermoneutical reasoning with artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence is even able to go, well, this is what I was trying to do. This is where I went wrong. Right, It can do that at the same time, it stays dogmatic about certain things. So I'm like, well, the issue, obviously was how I asked the question. So AI said, here is how you might phrase your questions differently. Number One, specify the desired focus on accuracy to the text. You could frame the question with a direct emphasis on analyzing whether such a connection is valid based on the original context meaning of the passage.

46:15 For example, Isaiah forty eleven is about God's deliverance of Israel during their restoration from exile. Some may try to connect this passage to baptism. Is this approach consistent with the text context and meaning analyze and critique such a connection. This phrasing emphasizes a critical evaluation and specifically calls for consideration of the original text. So basically AI is like, Hey, you need to be specific about what you want me to focus on now. And typically I probably would have said analyze, critique, but because I was broadcasting live, I just had to say, Hey, how can one make this connection?

46:58 And a I was like, well, here's how someone could do it, not saying it's right, not saying it's wrong, but this is how someone could do it. But even then, just I still love the fact that even though AI tried to say here's how you could do it, what did AI do? It still gave me those warnings. It still gave me warnings. A second thing, AI said, you could invite a critical lens rather than an exploratory one. Basically, what I was saying, you just asked me to explore the idea of is it possible? Well, when do you allow me to explore? When you allow me to explore, I can do I'm going to explore it. So it says, instead of invite a critical lens, instead of asking how one could connect Isaiah forty eleven to baptism, ask whether one should make such a connection. For example, you could ask it this way, would it be appropriate to connect Isaiah forty eleven to baptism? Critique this approach and a lot of text, historical, and theological context. This approach steers the response towards a critique rather than the exploration of what could be possible. See you've got to learn how to use the tool. Number three prompt for philological and contextual analysis. If you want a deep focus on critiquing theilological assumptions behind such a connection, you could frame the question to invite analysis. So it says you could ask

48:30 the question this way. If someone connects Isaiah forty verse eleven to baptism, would this require holding a sacramental view of baptism? Evaluate whether this connection aligns with the original context of Isaiah forty eleven and broader biblical theology. Number four emphasize a neutral evaluation to ensure that my response doesn't default to what might align with perceived preferences. You could request neutrality, so it says I could ask the question in this way critically evaluate whether connecting Isaiah forty eleven to baptism is faithful to the text original meaning, please avoid assuming anythiological system and focus solely on the text, historical and literary context. So, hey, be neutral, don't answer this question and accordance to one's a philological system. I don't want you to give me a phiological system, so sometimes you have to specify. You want neutrality, you do not want your team's theology. Then Ai said, my initial response leaned into how someone might connect the passage rather than stepping back to critique whether they should. This happened because your question left space for interpretive exploration, and I'm mistakenly prioritized illustrating possible approaches over critically evaluating them. And

50:07 then me and Ai would go on and then, and then Ai said this at the end, This is the very last thing Ai said, Moving forward, I will work harder to critique interpretive approaches where where appropriate and ensure responses are grounded in the text. Meaning, thank you for your patience and for highlighting this area for improvement. Now, what I love about that is that ultimately gave me like, hey, you got to be very careful how you asked the question, because if you asked me to explore how something could be done or how it could possibly be done, I'm going to give you all the possible ways it could be done. But see, it's not. It wasn't giving me whether it should be. It was just showing me how it could be done. Meaning I could probably go to I could probably go to AI and ask it how I could connect any verse to anything, and it's gonna give me all the possible ways it could be done.

51:04 It's not, But I still love the fact that even though it was trying to show me how it could be done, it gave me warnings at the beginning and at the end, Hey be careful, don't over spiritualize, be careful, remember the original context. Even though it wasn't dogmatic and it didn't fight me, but even when it was trying to give me how it could possibly be done, it still tried to say warning, be careful, be careful, be careful. You've got to emphasize this. So it comes down to AI was able. And again, just look at all of that everything AI did there, and I skipped large segments.

51:46 I mean, it had lengthy discussion about sacraments, ordinances, sacramental approach to baptism, an ordinance, approach to baptism? What a sacrament is, what an ordinance is? Which groups believe this? How would you approach the baptism this way? Gave me all the cross references versus everything, and it did it all, all of that conversation when with AI's responses all take you know, just like five seconds. But what does it demonstrate? AI is a tool. Until we become better at using that tool, we're going to have sometimes these these difficulties trying to figure out what it's trying to because it when we ask something, it's got to interpret what I'm asking.

52:31 So IT thought you, oh, you want me to give you all the possible ways it could be done? Okay, well here's the let's explore the possible ways it could be done. You didn't ask me if it should be done. You did not ask me if it would be correct to do so. You didn't have you didn't ask me to critique any attempt to do so. So I gave you the possible ways, but I still gave you a warning twice. Now, I think whenever AI gives you a warning, that's a pretty good idea for you to go. Hmm, okay, now let me but I say I didn't have the time to rephrase the question because while I was in the middle of broadcasting. So there's Isaiah forty verse eleven.

53:12 How some try to connect it to baptism, and I think now we can clearly dogmatically assert that is a horrible idea and that is a mishandling of the text to an epic level. All Right, we'll stop there and then we'll do another broadcast here shortly. All right, thanks for listening, everyone, have a great day. Isaiah forty nine to eleven. Keep focusing on it because we get a lot of work to do on it. But man, I can tell you this, it's not about baptism. And if anyone says that it is, I don't know what's going on, because something has gone way wrong to put baptism and to say that it's a proof text for infant baptism is even more confusing. All right, Thanks for listening. God bless