My Own Hand
See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! – Galatians 6:11 (NRSV)
After dictating his letter to the Galatians, Paul took the stylus from the scribe for the conclusion. He wanted them to know these words were laid on his heart by the Spirit, from his own mind, inscribed on parchment by his own hand. Combined with his idiosyncrasies and imperfections, Paul’s unique handwriting attested to the letter’s authenticity—essential in a time of fraud and false prophets.
Compiled from various sources, reconfigured and regurgitated into an ersatz Paul-like letter, Adversarial Instigators were leading early Christians astray with disinformation. They had the right lingo but it was all plagiarism, no passion. All counterfeit, no conviction. Ask them about the source of inspiration, for clarification, to debate or defend a point, and discover there’s nothing more than pretty words on the page. Their supposed intelligence was…artificial.
Replace these ancient adversaries with modern technology, and consider generative AI today. We damage and degrade our God-given gifts when we trade emotion for efficiency, authenticity for automation, and Spirit-filled, meaning-making human creativity for resource-devouring, environment-destroying data centers. And when we remove the human, we lose our humanity.
There is tremendous beauty in the unique, diverse, and authentic creative expressions laid on our own hearts, formed in our own minds, generated by our own hands. So what if some artificial author has gooder spelling or grammer than you? Your authentic creativity is perfect in its imperfection.
The God-given, Spirit-filled gift of human creativity knows no limitations and accepts no imitations. Artificial creativity is hollow. Authentic creativity is holy.
Prayer
Prompted by your Spirit, may we generate authentic works of our own hearts, minds, and hands. Amen.
About the AuthorChris Mereschuk (He/Him) is the Director for Legacy and Church Redevelopment for the Southern New England Conference, UCC.