The Artificial Jesus

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 16, 2024

Way back when people relied on real people to teach us about God and Jesus, the prophets anticipated the Messiah. John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord. The evangelists recorded the words of Jesus. God delighted in the bundle of human relationships and the human vessels of His Word. He uses His handiwork to reveal His saving love in the Kingdom. But these were the days before electrodes, blinking lights, LED screens, and Artificial Jesus.

John the Baptist was a real person. His preaching brought ordinary people, tax collectors, and even soldiers to repentance as they urgently asked, “What should we do?” He taught them generosity: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none.” He taught justice: “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” He taught honesty: “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.” (Cf. Lk 3:10-18)

John was the voice, Jesus the Word. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Before LED lights, smartphones, and Artificial Intelligence, bishops and priests handed down these sacred teachings. Moms and dads taught their children how to pray. Families prayed together, especially before the family meal. They even had a dinner table.

We heard the Word of God at Mass. We received Holy Communion together—the Real Presence, the Word made Flesh—as families and with the parish family. God’s grace purified and elevated our humanity. As we listened to the Word of God and received Jesus in Communion, God’s grace would surprise us with unforeseen insights and delights.

The Apostle John expressed the tangible realism of our faith: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life… and proclaim to you the eternal life…so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete.” (1 Jn. 1-4) Human relations, sacramental realism, and the Eucharist bring joy to completion.

Times have changed. Labor-saving computers (except for those labor-intensive passwords) with Artificial Intelligence have replaced His design for our sacramental encounter with Him. COVID prepared the way. Many people think Mass attendance is unnecessary, since they have access to live-streamed Masses. Now disembodied Artificial Intelligence Jesus brings a new meaning to disembodied Masses!

AI is much more than a newfangled whiz-bang search engine and encyclopedia. Courtesy of AI technicians, people of all faiths today speak with “AI Jesus”—let’s call him “Artificial Jesus.” At Saint Peter Chapel in Switzerland, participants enter a booth, and a a lifelike image of Jesus blinks on an LED computer screen and offers advice in more than 100 languages!

The Catholic chapel theologian explains, “Our aim is not to replicate a traditional confession.” Exactly. In confession, we encounter Jesus in the person of the priest in a human relationship for the forgiveness of sins. Disembodied Artificial Jesus responds to truly important questions such as true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering in the world, as well as the existence of God. Every blinking light and electrode of Artificial Jesus cares about you. Personally.

The theologian—who did not say whether he goes to confession to a real priest, whether he has regular friends, or whether he believes in the Real Presence of the Eucharist—noted that some on social media have called the project “blasphemous” or the “work of the devil.” The theologian is concerned: “If you read comments on the internet about it, some are very negative—which is scary.”

Disembodied Artificial Jesus is never negative or scary. Are you tired of homilies at Mass? No worries. Plug in Artificial Jesus. Need heartfelt counseling from an expert? Talk to Artificial Jesus. Suffer an altercation with the pastor? Turn to Artificial Jesus. Artificial Jesus is here for you.

Does the pastor need some time off? Artificial Jesus can help. Artificial Jesus preaches great homilies. Artificial Jesus offers perfect non-judgmental advice. Not pleased with your Artificial Jesus? Have your Artificial Jesus call my Artificial Jesus. But Artificial Jesus still needs the pastor to unlock the doors, plug in the computer, repair the leaks, and turn on the lights.

The Swiss theologian is elated with Artificial Jesus. “Many people came to talk with him.” He adds that around 900 conversations between the machine and people of “all ages” had been registered. “What was really interesting to see [was] that the people really talked with him in a serious way.”

Parse that. “Talked to him”? “In a serious way”? Artificial Jesus is a machine, unabashedly labeled “Deus in Machina” by his creators. Artificial Jesus is an amalgamation of the computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the characters of The Stepford Wives (but not as pretty).

The pre-Vatican II Psalmist (Psalm 135) anticipated Artificial Jesus.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear…
Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

If we need Artificial Jesus, we don’t need families, churches, communities, human relationships, friendships, enemies, or human encounters. We don’t need Jesus because we can talk to Artificial Jesus on our cell phones—at least until loneliness and boredom have us look for other artificial pleasures. When it comes to AI disembodied relationships, it mostly comes down to artificial pleasures of a singular sort.

There’s no joy like the joy that comes with family, friends, churches—every holy form of human interaction and sensory experience—uplifted by God’s grace. Let’s pull the plug on Artificial Jesus and start a friendly argument with someone.