'Write a new Bible': Harari
AI won’t have spiritual answers Yuval Harari thinks it will
World Economic Forum-connected Yuval Noah Harari is an atheist and transhumanist who believes science and technology is the savior of mankind.
So, it should be no surprise that Harari, in a Lisbon, Portugal interview on May 19, stated that AI could “write a new Bible,” producing “religions that are actually correct.”
Imagine a future where the countless “Nones,” people having no religious affiliation, around the world would get their ears tickled by an AI producing virtual spirituality.
It’s pretty obvious where an AI holy text is headed:
No sin;
No spiritual accountability to God;
No need for forgiveness or repentance;
No need for the Great I Am when man, with science and technology at his disposal, has great machines and great data that produce a great eternity.
Harari is an Israel-born author, philosopher, and historian who also confesses to being gay. Harari was interviewed in Portugal by journalist Pedro Pinto for a program titled, “Humanity is not that simple.” During the early stages of the interview, Harari stated the following:
It’s the first technology ever that can create new ideas. You know, the printing press, radio, television, they broadcast, they spread the ideas created by the human brain, by the human mind. They cannot create a new idea. You know, [Johannes] Gutenberg printed the Bible in the middle of the 15th century; the printing press printed as many copies of the Bible as Gutenberg instructed it, but it did not create a single new page. It had no ideas of its own about the Bible: Is it good? Is it bad? How to interpret this? How to interpret that? AI can create new ideas; [it] can even write a new Bible. Throughout history, religions dreamt about having a book written by a superhuman intelligence, by a non-human entity. Every religion claims our book; all the books of the other religions, humans wrote them, but our book no, no. no, no, no. It came from some super-human intelligence. In a few years there might be religions that are actually correct. Just think about a religion whose holy book is written by an AI. It could be a reality in a few years.
Many people were quick to point to the rebukes in Deut. 4:2 and Rev. 22:18-19 regarding adding to Scripture. That is valid. But an atheist like Harari doesn’t care about that because Christianity was never “correct” for him and others.
Harari is renowned for his books Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. He’s been on the WEF main stage in Davos more than once in recent years.
Harari wants spirituality, but not religion. I have spent my entire life in Baptist churches under the reformed theology tradition. We would agree with Harari. However, the real issue is not religion, rather faith. Where Harari has faith in science, technology, machines, and data, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob says something very different. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.” Harari’s faith in science and technology leaves no room for Jesus Christ or any form of a relationship with Him.
Upon the time AI writes a new ‘holy text,” as Harari forthrightly predicted, it’s hard to guess the nation’s spiritual state. Will the wokeness in race and gender prevail, potentially driving a deep wedge into some churches that are inclined on those and other issues? Or would there be a backlash in American culture where there is a renewed priority of faith and spirituality on objective truth as defined by the Bible? Would there be a greater interest in the Nones above the nearly one-third of all Americans who now identify with this group?
Any AI “holy text” would be a world and reality devoid of God, purpose, and meaning for the big issues of life. Sin would be purged as a relic from a time when religion wasn't correct. Additionally, the priority of forgiveness and being reconciled to one another would be replaced by something to make people feel good, rather than having a transformation of one’s life that causes them to be good before God and man.
Jesus Christ said the two greatest commands are to “love God” and “love others.” Multiple faith traditions around the world have a focus on treating others the way you would want to be treated. They are likely to be replaced by other emotionally-appealing, warm and fuzzy nothingness.
If the future involves humans with machines, or humans as machines, there are countless scriptural ideas that would be “replaced,” especially for a religion that is ”actually correct.” I sense a religion that is the science and technology version of prosperity theology, a current false teaching in some charismatic circles. Think Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar, among others. You can have it your way, as long as science and technology authorize it.
Whatever they will call it, this “actually correct” religion will be something with no objective reality or truth. It will be a soft, commitment free, false religion that is stacked on top of what makes up much of American Christianity and feel-good spiritualism. And it will end up like everything else that opposes genuine, Scriptural Christianity.
While lovers of all things science and technology would relish this future, millions of others would reject it because it will offer no meaning, no purpose, and no peace.