Whom Do You Serve?

Whom do you serve? Many people are asking AI that question, hoping to hear 'you.' But Scripture is clear — the question isn't ours to ask. It's His to ask us.

WARNINGSTHE NARROW PATH

Trace Pirtle

3 min read

Whom Do You Serve?

Most days, I check in to see what's new with Artificial Intelligence (AI). What's new for me is how humans interact with AI as if it were a fully conscious, living entity, with superior intelligence.

Feeling inferior and fearful of what AI is capable of, many are asking AI, "Whom do you serve?" and hoping the response is "You!"

It relegates "the questioner," perhaps Uncle Bob, to a subordinate position relative to AI. When AI fails to offer a satisfactory answer to this high-stakes question, the questioner begins to feel frustrated, angry, helpless, anxious, depressed, and a multitude of other feelings when they no longer feel "in control."

AI isn't responding as predicted.

The person becomes the tool of AI, a slave to an artificial "master" that has somehow turned the tables on its creator. The student has become greater than their teacher.

The person can no longer simply "pull the plug" because they have become attached, addicted, and in a symbiotic relationship with AI. Disconnecting from the AI umbilical cord leads to death, so like the story of the scorpion and the frog, each simply follows its own nature.

The Questioner and the Questioned

But we have been cautioned about times such as these. The true high-stakes gamble from the beginning has always been failing to recognize who is the questioner and who stands questioned.

When Adam was in the garden,

"Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" (Genesis 3:9, NKJV).

After Jesus was raised from the dead,

"...Jesus said…'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?'..." (John 21:15, NKJV).

Anyone familiar with Scripture understands that God is the questioner; man is the one who stands questioned. As with the questions God asked Adam and Simon Peter, He already knows the answer to His question.

And His high-stakes question to each of us, "Whom do you serve?" is not rhetorical — He expects to hear the right answer from us: "You are, Lord."

Joshua answered the question correctly and asked it of his people (and us) on God's behalf.

"...and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).

God's Word is clear: "...No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24, NKJV).

What is Mammon?

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (Matthew 6:24) states that mammon is a Syriac word that signifies gain — anything in the world that leads one to their gain, if not done secondary to serving God, is mammon. That's the first danger: what AI produces for us. The convenience, the answers, the sense of getting ahead.

Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary identifies mammon as mamonas, an Aramaic word for "riches" or "that which is to be trusted." That's the second, deeper danger — not what AI gives us, but what we place our confidence in. Gain is what we chase. Trust is who we've quietly made Lord.

For many, their favorite sport or hobby becomes mammon by the first definition. Their work, their fame, their fortunes become mammon. AI becomes mammon by both — first as a source of gain, then, more dangerously, as a source of trust — the moment we serve it instead of God.

Now What?

That's a lot to carry — Adam, Peter, Joshua, two dictionaries deep on a Syriac word. So let's come back down to ground level, because this is when many throw their hands up and say, "Now what?" Now what do I do because I still live in the world and the world now uses AI? Do I need to move to a Hutterite Colony in South Dakota, or shave my head and become a monk in the Himalayas?

I don't think so. We don't stop using the toaster, microwave, or the computer once we are saved by the blood of Christ. I don't believe AI is any different.

However, if the power goes out, as it did for several days during the Great Texas Freeze in 2021, none of that matters.

You adapt.

You improvise.

You pray!

I was reminded once again during that experience that God is in control. Uncle Bob would've unplugged the router and prayed right along with the rest of us. When I read God's question through Joshua while shivering under a pile of blankets — "Whom do you serve?" — the answer was immediate… "I serve you, God! Now, can you turn on the electricity and the heat?"

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- Matthew 18:20