By Jess Santacroce
Writer/Editor: The 315
Research is an important part of a lot of artists’ careers, whether that be the primary research of going out and experiencing things to write, play, sing, paint, photograph, or draw, or the secondary research of reading and watching videos to learn more about something we want to address in our art.
Those who are not Christian, but would like to learn more about Christianity for their art, to create a Christian character or address a Christian teaching, concept, or stereotype in their work, will likely look to websites like TikTok and YouTube for information and insight. Those are indeed good starting places, but when evaluating Christian sites, take the time to examine them carefully.
True Christian content is always backed up by scripture
Any Christian podcast or video host you watch should be citing scripture to back up what they say, and that scripture should actually back up what they say. If you are not a Christian, you don’t read the Bible, and you would have no idea how to judge this, there are free Bible apps you can use. The website “Bible Hub” is especially easy to navigate, and even contains articles with life application lessons and historical explanations of Bible verses. If you’re not sure, double and triple check.
A channel host who begins every sentence with “God told me,” but isn’t following that up with references to the Bible is a content creator to avoid. Receiving visions and word from God is indeed part of a Christian’s walk with Jesus. Some people even have the gift of prophecy. But true word, true visions, and legitimate prophecy are always in line with the teachings of Jesus.
And even then, nobody is perfect. You may find someone who bases 99% of what they say on sound examination of scripture, but just can’t resist getting their own political views woven in there on one or two issues. You don’t have to completely avoid someone like this, just remember that Jesus was neither a Democrat nor a Republican. If some content creator is making it sound like He was, look deeper into that portion of their content before accepting it as Christian doctrine.
God is not the Amazon guy
Many Christian channels and podcasts, along with several of the books you see in Christian sections of the bookstore today, teach that God rewards His children materially for the good works that they do. This “Amazon wishlist” approach to God, the belief that if I pray this much or go to church this often or donate this much to this ministry or be kind to this many people today, God will bless me with material things, is not Christianity. This is an un-Biblical offshoot called “prosperity gospel.” Proponents use the name of Jesus and even reference the Bible, but at its core, prosperity gospel is closer to the pagan practice of adopting a patron deity and making offerings in exchange for assistance than it is to Christianity.
The Bible does say that God will provide for the needs of His children. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the glory in Christ Jesus.” In Matthew 6:26, we read, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
The detail that prosperity gospel likes to skip over is the “according to the glory in Christ” section. God’s idea of “need” and “blessing” are more than a little different than our own earthly human idea of a need and a blessing. God gives us what we need, blesses us with, those things that are necessary for each of us to do His will, to further His kingdom on earth for His glory. He doesn’t give us things based on our own will, as presents for being good.
Christians you see being kind to others, serving in their church, attending church, donating money to their church or supporting missions, are doing these things because once you start serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you want to do these things. You’re not doing them to get something in return.
Everybody is not possessed by the devil but me, you, or a random person on social media
Many of the Christian channels you will find in search results will have titles like “These are doorways to the demonic” or “These products draw demons.” Known as “deliverance ministries,” some Christian channels focus almost exclusively on driving demons out of people. Demons are real, and they do influence people, but chasing them around shouldn’t be the primary focus of Christian life. Most of the people in deliverance ministries get so caught up in yelling Jesus’ name at demons, they forget to actually spend time with Him. They grow so content that their casting out of a demon solved the problem, they neglect to walk with Jesus through the completely mundane parts of life.
Poverty may exist because of the human sins of greed and pride, but if I’m called to fight poverty, studying scripture related to poverty, praying and asking Jesus to guide my steps, and then working at the food bank or homeless shelter He leads me to is going to do a lot more to fight back than standing over people who have less than me screaming at a demon who likes poverty to get out.
Christian clickbait is still just clickbait
“God will show you this video when you’re about to have a breakthrough.” and “God will show you this right when you need to see it” as video titles are nothing more than clickbait designed to get you to click on videos.
God does everything at the exact right time. Some random YouTuber’s video isn’t any more under the control of God than anything else that happens. Some of these channels may still quote scripture. They are not necessarily prosperity gospel or deliverance channels, just because they use these titles. At the same time, when you see titles like this, you already know that this person is perfectly willing to use references to God, the name of God, to boost the clicks on his or her own channel. That is certainly not in keeping with scripture. In 2 Corinthians 2:17 the Apostle Paul warns that unlike many, “we do not peddle the word for profit.”
AI slop content is running through Christian social media
That same scripture should come to mind when videos with titles like “Use Bible versus to make easy money with AI” are offered up by the search results. Christians read the Bible for guidance on our attitudes and practices concerning money. We don’t try to use Bible verses as quick cash generators.
There are some beneficial or neutral uses for AI. Many in the medical community are finding it useful to conduct deeper research faster and organize information more efficiently. Those in all fields may find the now built-in summaries of search results helpful when they need to know something quickly. And we all have fun with those little cartoons and pictures. At the same time, there are multiple drawbacks to AI. The technology being woven and crammed into every available online space leads to the building of data centers that put far too much strain on the environment and on the community around them. Overuse or misuse of AI is diminishing our critical thinking skills and social skills. Some even experience psychosis from AI usage.
In business and in the arts, AI is especially detrimental because the use of “AI slop,” or content generated from AI rather than created by a person, is being peddled as a replacement for marketing and for many forms of art. Of lower quality than actual created content, this material is driving away customers and supporters.
One of these misuses of AI centers around the Bible. Rather than using the Bible as a way to learn the word and the will of God, some content creators use it to create a money grab by running Bible verses through video generating AI content machines, slapping their names on the resulting product, and posting it to a YouTube channel.
Some of these videos may be encouraging, engaging, even helpful. Others are clearly slop, featuring cartoon characters with mouths that don’t line up with their voices and people who appear to float instead of walk. But like anything else created by AI, these generators could easily have found something someone who never read the Bible posted on Reddit as one of their sources. If you’re going for the money grab, copying and pasting Bible verses and prompts and then posting as fast as possible, there’s a chance you posted a “Bible story” that is not even in the Bible.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions
Anytime you find Christian content online and you either don’t know enough about Christianity to evaluate it, or you just aren’t sure for any other reason, ask a friend who is a Christian, or ask a pastor. Any church that is truly following the teachings of Jesus will welcome you to attend a service or a Bible study and ask questions.
Author’s note: I have no formal training in Bible studies or Theology, but I have been a Christian since late September of 2016.. If you would like to ask me anything about Jesus, please feel more than welcome to email me at: artistcafe315@gmail.com. This will not be considered asking for content. I will help you find the information you need free of charge.
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