When Jonathan Edwards delivered his famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon at the height of the First Great Awakening in 1741, there was said to be a great moaning and crying out throughout the whole house from people who were gripping the pews because they feared they might literally slip into hell.
Such is the power of a great sermon crafted by an anointed preacher.
Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas says such conviction will never come courtesy of ChatGPT.
"The preacher not only has to discover the meaning of the text; he has to pour it through his own repentance, his own conviction, his own belief before it can be applied to other people," Jeffress recently told Fox News. "I've never met a machine yet that can repent of its sins."
As AI becomes more entrenched in everyday life, Jeffress acknowledged that it can play a role in the church, specifically for pastors.
"I think AI for sermons can be useful in researching the meaning of words and what others have said about the text, but AI can never compose a successful, effective sermon all by itself," he said.
He also pointed out that AI is unreliable, and he echoed Ronald Reagan's "trust but verify" advice to pastors.
Jeffress also added that pastoring is far more than just preparing and delivering a sermon a week. He stressed that AI cannot replace the human element that is essential for spiritual transformation and genuine pastoral presence.
"When somebody is going through an illness or they've lost a loved one in death, they don't want to talk to a machine," he said. "They want to talk to a pastor."
