Hello! Excited to Be Here and Would Love Your Thoughts

[BarakJon]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the community and wanted to introduce myself by sharing an idea that's been on my heart. I'm working on a service that offers personalized, instant guidance rooted in Christian teachings. The idea is to help Christians navigate daily decisions with answers that reflect the values and teachings of Jesus.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Do you think a service like this could be helpful in your daily life?
• What kind of questions or situations do you think would benefit most from this kind of guidance?
• How do you see this fitting into your faith journey?

I'm here to learn and grow, so any feedback or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to being part of this community!

 

[AlexB23]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the community and wanted to introduce myself by sharing an idea that's been on my heart. I'm working on a service that offers personalized, instant guidance rooted in Christian teachings. The idea is to help Christians navigate daily decisions with answers that reflect the values and teachings of Jesus.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Do you think a service like this could be helpful in your daily life?
• What kind of questions or situations do you think would benefit most from this kind of guidance?
• How do you see this fitting into your faith journey?

I'm here to learn and grow, so any feedback or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to being part of this community!

Welcome, brother in Christ. I am not a theologian, so I can not help, but I can invite @Daniel9v9 to help.

 

[PloverWing]

Welcome to CF!

Can you give me a little more detail about what you're envisioning?
- Are you thinking of a software system, or a group of people on call to answer phones?
- How would this be different from asking your priest/pastor or asking a trusted friend?
- Would the advice be tailored to different Christian traditions? I might give different advice to a Catholic, a Quaker, and a conservative Baptist, depending on the situation.

It's an interesting idea. I agree that it's good for Christians to be able to get faith-based advice when they need it.

 

[BarakJon]

Welcome to CF!

Can you give me a little more detail about what you're envisioning?
- Are you thinking of a software system, or a group of people on call to answer phones?
- How would this be different from asking your priest/pastor or asking a trusted friend?
- Would the advice be tailored to different Christian traditions? I might give different advice to a Catholic, a Quaker, and a conservative Baptist, depending on the situation.

It's an interesting idea. I agree that it's good for Christians to be able to get faith-based advice when they need it.

Thank you for the warm welcome and for your thoughtful questions! I'm happy to share more details.

• Software System: I'm envisioning this as a software system that uses AI to provide instant, faith-based guidance. The idea is that users can ask a question and receive an immediate response rooted in Christian values.
• Difference from Traditional Advice: While asking a priest, pastor, or trusted friend is invaluable, this service aims to offer a more accessible, immediate option for those moments when you need quick guidance but can't reach someone. It's not meant to replace personal relationships but to complement them by providing a tool that can be used anytime, anywhere.
• Tailoring to Traditions: Initially, the service will focus on core Christian values like love, compassion, and forgiveness, which are applicable across various traditions. However, I plan to expand the service to allow users to select their specific tradition (e.g., Catholic, Quaker, Baptist) to receive more tailored advice.

I appreciate your interest and would love to hear any additional thoughts or feedback you have!

 

[AlexB23]

Thank you for the warm welcome and for your thoughtful questions! I'm happy to share more details.

• Software System: I'm envisioning this as a software system that uses AI to provide instant, faith-based guidance. The idea is that users can ask a question and receive an immediate response rooted in Christian values.
• Difference from Traditional Advice: While asking a priest, pastor, or trusted friend is invaluable, this service aims to offer a more accessible, immediate option for those moments when you need quick guidance but can't reach someone. It's not meant to replace personal relationships but to complement them by providing a tool that can be used anytime, anywhere.
• Tailoring to Traditions: Initially, the service will focus on core Christian values like love, compassion, and forgiveness, which are applicable across various traditions. However, I plan to expand the service to allow users to select their specific tradition (e.g., Catholic, Quaker, Baptist) to receive more tailored advice.

I appreciate your interest and would love to hear any additional thoughts or feedback you have!

Wait, I use AI to make devotionals. It is run locally, using the Mistral 7B AI on the open source GPT4All platform by Nomic. I have it hooked up to Christian documents on my computer. The documents on my computer are from Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox denominations.

 

[Paidiske]

Honestly, and I hate to be negative, I think this would be the opposite of helpful.

When we have difficult decisions to make, or the like, having to sit with that difficulty, reflect on it, pray about it, wrestle with it, and so on, is how we can gain new insight and grow in maturity and character. Having a service which provides us with an instant answer short circuits that kind of process and the growth that comes from it.

 

[RileyG]

Honestly, and I hate to be negative, I think this would be the opposite of helpful.

When we have difficult decisions to make, or the like, having to sit with that difficulty, reflect on it, pray about it, wrestle with it, and so on, is how we can gain new insight and grow in maturity and character. Having a service which provides us with an instant answer short circuits that kind of process and the growth that comes from it.

I agree

To the OP: Welcome!

 

[Michie]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the community and wanted to introduce myself by sharing an idea that's been on my heart. I'm working on a service that offers personalized, instant guidance rooted in Christian teachings. The idea is to help Christians navigate daily decisions with answers that reflect the values and teachings of Jesus.

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Do you think a service like this could be helpful in your daily life?
• What kind of questions or situations do you think would benefit most from this kind of guidance?
• How do you see this fitting into your faith journey?

I'm here to learn and grow, so any feedback or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to being part of this community!

Welcome!

You might want to inquire in this forum:

Requests for Christian Advice

A forum to request Biblical advice from Christians.

www.christianforums.com

 

[BarakJon]

Wait, I use AI to make devotionals. It is run locally, using the Mistral 7B AI on the open source GPT4All platform by Nomic. I have it hooked up to Christian documents on my computer. The documents on my computer are from Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox denominations.

View attachment 353515

This is supper cool

 

[AlexB23]

This is supper cool

Hey, thank you. I just used the AI to help someone with his question about born-again Christians. It seems very effective, this technology, however, we must not rely on AI too much, as patience and discernment is also important. Not everything can be learned through instant gratification. Religion is not fast food, my brother. Anyways, it is getting late here, so I hope you have a wonderful day, brother. God bless. We can talk tomorrow about technology if you want to.

But, here is the AI helping my guy @mikeforjesus :

https://www.christianforums.com/threads/what-is-the-reasoning-to-differentiate-one-who-considers-one-a-born-again-christian-who-believes-christ-must-be-lord-to-obey-him-from-bible-christians.8307763/post-77820347

 

[BarakJon]

Honestly, and I hate to be negative, I think this would be the opposite of helpful.

When we have difficult decisions to make, or the like, having to sit with that difficulty, reflect on it, pray about it, wrestle with it, and so on, is how we can gain new insight and grow in maturity and character. Having a service which provides us with an instant answer short circuits that kind of process and the growth that comes from it.

This is very helpful. I appreciate the honesty. The easy thing to do is say nothing, but it is much more meaningful for me to receive such feedback now before I am long and deep into the creation of this tool.

 

[Daniel9v9]

Thank you for the kind invite @AlexB23!

My 2c is that I think a comprehensive resource like this would be rather difficult to make because life is complex! But it's great that you want to comfort and encourage people with God's Word in different situations — that's a good and noble thing. Regrettably, though, there's a fundamental problem here, because the question assumes that everyone agrees on how God speaks to us. Sadly, different churches believe and teach different things about how God speaks to us, and out of that comes different teachings and practices. Let me demonstrate with a practical example:

Let's say there are Christians who are burdened by sin, who feel they are not forgiven, and who are looking for comfort. That comfort may be difficult to provide to a Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, and non-denominational alike, because the thing that is comforting to them is bound up with their own theology. Now, I see you have Non-Denom in your profile, so perhaps you can consider the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism on this point. That is, what's comforting to a Calvinist may not be the same as what's comforting to an Arminian, and you're likely to find both within the larger body of non-denominational churches (though Arminians would be in the majority).

Perhaps one idea would be to create an index of Scripture passages that speak to different topics. There are already many good concordances in existence you could draw on. Although even this can have biases or the potential for misuse, at least in this way we can let God's Word speak for itself.

God bless!

 

[AlexB23]

Thank you for the kind invite @AlexB23!

My 2c is that I think a comprehensive resource like this would be rather difficult to make because life is complex! But it's great that you want to comfort and encourage people with God's Word in different situations — that's a good and noble thing. Regrettably, though, there's a fundamental problem here, because the question assumes that everyone agrees on how God speaks to us. Sadly, different churches believe and teach different things about how God speaks to us, and out of that comes different teachings and practices. Let me demonstrate with a practical example:

Let's say there are Christians who are burdened by sin, who feel they are not forgiven, and who are looking for comfort. That comfort may be difficult to provide to a Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, and non-denominational alike, because the thing that is comforting to them is bound up with their own theology. Now, I see you have Non-Denom in your profile, so perhaps you can consider the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism on this point. That is, what's comforting to a Calvinist may not be the same as what's comforting to an Arminian, and you're likely to find both within the larger body of non-denominational churches (though Arminians would be in the majority).

Perhaps one idea would be to create an index of Scripture passages that speak to different topics. There are already many good concordances in existence you could draw on. Although even this can have biases or the potential for misuse, at least in this way we can let God's Word speak for itself.

God bless!

You are welcome. Thank you for inputting your two cents for @BarakJon .

 

[BarakJon]

Thank you for the kind invite @AlexB23!

My 2c is that I think a comprehensive resource like this would be rather difficult to make because life is complex! But it's great that you want to comfort and encourage people with God's Word in different situations — that's a good and noble thing. Regrettably, though, there's a fundamental problem here, because the question assumes that everyone agrees on how God speaks to us. Sadly, different churches believe and teach different things about how God speaks to us, and out of that comes different teachings and practices. Let me demonstrate with a practical example:

Let's say there are Christians who are burdened by sin, who feel they are not forgiven, and who are looking for comfort. That comfort may be difficult to provide to a Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, and non-denominational alike, because the thing that is comforting to them is bound up with their own theology. Now, I see you have Non-Denom in your profile, so perhaps you can consider the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism on this point. That is, what's comforting to a Calvinist may not be the same as what's comforting to an Arminian, and you're likely to find both within the larger body of non-denominational churches (though Arminians would be in the majority).

Perhaps one idea would be to create an index of Scripture passages that speak to different topics. There are already many good concordances in existence you could draw on. Although even this can have biases or the potential for misuse, at least in this way we can let God's Word speak for itself.

God bless!

Thank you very much for taking the time to clearly explain this. I understand the potential problem and complexity.
I am glad I came here to hear your feedback before completely building this.
I will take the time to re-think my idea.
Thank you again, it was very valuable for me.

 

[AlexB23]

@BarakJon , my guy @zippy2006 says that using AI might be risky for Christians. So, I recommend that you do not use AI for your online service, as not many people may have spiritual discernment. The AI that I personally use has already mislead me just today.

He said this: "I would say that LLMs are a danger to those who have no way to discern true answers from false answers. Without that discernment one does not know whether the LLM has led them into understanding or misunderstanding."

I responded back with this: "Agreed. Discernment must be used at all times, especially when using an LLM (large-language model). Even if the local LLM on my computer is hooked up to a dozen and a half Christian documents, it can still answer in a way that is biased. I have already found out that the LLM has an affinity for the document by John Calvin. That already disturbs me, cos John Calvin goes against the Catholic teachings. You seem very wise about AI and stuff, thank you for giving me advice on this. I will be careful when using AI to make devotionals, and I will try to check other resources that are human to make sure the AI spits out correct doctrines."

 

[zippy2006]

@zippy2006 says that using AI might be risky for Christians

Yes: I would say, "Use with care," and do not trust an LLM to the same extent that you would trust a Church authority or a well-accepted theologian.

 

[AlexB23]

Yes: I would say, "Use with care," and do not trust an LLM to the same extent that you would trust a Church authority or a well-accepted theologian.

Agreed. Artificial intelligence should come with a warning label "Use with care, answers may be biased or downright false". Anyways, it is getting late here, so I hope you have a wonderful night, brother in Christ.

And yes, I hope that @BarakJon takes our advice about AI. It is a tool that can help, but it may cause more harm than good, especially to newer Christians.