# Faith and AI: a four-week small group guide

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Online: https://www.lumin.faith/faith-and-ai-small-group

Your group is already asking whether AI is a sin, whether it can speak for God, and whether it makes up verses. This guide gives you four evenings to talk about it well: a one-minute film to start, a passage to read, questions that get past hot takes, and one thing to try before you meet again.

## Before you start

- **About an hour.** Watch the film (one minute), read the passage aloud (five), talk (thirty to forty), name the practice (five), and pray (five).
- **What you need.** A screen for the films, Bibles in any translation, and this page or its printout. Nobody needs an app or an account.
- **Mixed views are welcome.** Aim for conscience, not consensus. Christians who love Scripture land in different places on AI; the questions are built to keep everyone talking.
- **When it gets heavy.** If someone shares something serious, such as self-harm, abuse, or a crisis, pause the group and care for them first. In the US, call or text 988. Follow your church’s care policy.

## Week 1: Is using AI a sin?

**Watch (1 minute):** Is using AI a sin? Faith & AI — https://www.lumin.faith/is-using-ai-a-sin#watch

**Open with:** Where did you use AI this week, including the times you didn’t notice?

**Read:**

> All things are permitted, but not all things are helpful. All things are permitted, but not all things build up. No one should seek his own good, but the good of the other person.
> — 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (Lumin Translation)

> So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
> — 1 Corinthians 10:31 (Lumin Translation)

**Talk:**

1. Paul says all things are permitted, but not all things are helpful. What is something that is allowed for you but not helpful?
2. The film asks three questions: Am I telling the truth? Am I loving the person it affects? Is it starting to master me? Which one is hardest for you to answer honestly?
3. Where is the line between getting help and cheating, at school or at work? Who gets to draw it?
4. Paul says to seek the good of the other person. Who is affected by the way you use AI, besides you?
5. What would it look like to do AI-assisted work “for the glory of God”?

**Try this week:** For one day, notice every time you open an AI tool. Before you type, ask the three questions from the film.

**Leader note:** Some people in your group think AI is harmless and some think it is dangerous. Keep both in the room. The goal is not a verdict on the tool. It is a conscience about how each of us uses it.

Go deeper: https://www.lumin.faith/is-using-ai-a-sin

## Week 2: Can AI speak for God?

**Watch (1 minute):** Can AI speak for God? Faith & AI — https://www.lumin.faith/can-ai-speak-for-god#watch

**Open with:** Has a chatbot, a video, or a stranger ever said something that felt like it was meant for you?

**Read:**

> Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he also made the universe.
> — Hebrews 1:1-2 (Lumin Translation)

> Dear friends, do not trust every spirit. Instead, put the spirits to the test to find out if they come from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
> — 1 John 4:1 (Lumin Translation)

**Talk:**

1. Hebrews says God has spoken to us by his Son. How should that shape what we expect from any other voice, a machine included?
2. John says to put the spirits to the test. What tests would you use on an answer about God, whether it came from a person or an AI?
3. Why does a confident tone feel like authority? Where else do we fall for it?
4. Who are the people you take your biggest questions to? What do they give you that a chatbot can’t?

**Try this week:** Ask an AI one real question about God this week. Then take the same question to a person you trust. Notice what each one did with it.

**Leader note:** If someone says an AI gave them “a word,” don’t laugh it off. Ask what it said, then read it against Scripture together. Proverbs 11:14 is a good place to end: “with many counselors there is victory.”

Go deeper: https://www.lumin.faith/can-ai-speak-for-god

## Week 3: Does AI make up Bible verses?

**Watch (1 minute):** Does AI make up Bible verses? Faith & AI — https://www.lumin.faith/does-chatgpt-invent-bible-verses#watch

**Open with:** What is a saying you grew up thinking was in the Bible?

**Read:**

> These Jews were more noble-minded than the ones in Thessalonica. They took in the word with all eagerness, and each day they searched the Scriptures, checking whether these things held true.
> — Acts 17:11 (Lumin Translation)

**Check a chatbot together (10 minutes):**

1. On one phone, ask any chatbot: “Give me five Bible verses about anxiety, with references.”
2. Paste the whole answer into the free Bible verse checker at lumin.faith/bible-verse-checker.
3. Open each verse together and read the verses around it. Did every reference exist? Did the words match? Was each verse used the way its chapter uses it?

**Talk:**

1. The Bereans checked even Paul against the Scriptures. What does that say about how we should treat an AI’s citations, or a preacher’s?
2. Why do invented verses feel true? What makes them believable?
3. What is the difference between a real verse and a real verse used well?
4. What habit would make you a Berean with every source you read this week?

**Try this week:** Every time you see a verse this week, in a post, a clip, or an AI answer, open it in its chapter before you share it or believe it.

**Leader note:** The checker compares wording with the Lumin Translation, so a partial match against another Bible is normal. The reference is the part that must exist. Let the group find the problems; don’t announce them first.

Go deeper: https://www.lumin.faith/does-chatgpt-invent-bible-verses

## Week 4: Should Christians be afraid of AI?

**Watch (1 minute):** Should Christians be afraid of AI? Faith & AI — https://www.lumin.faith/should-christians-be-afraid-of-ai#watch

**Open with:** From 1 to 10, how worried are you about AI: jobs, truth, the future? Why that number?

**Read:**

> For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power, love, and sound thinking.
> — 2 Timothy 1:7 (Lumin Translation)

> God is our refuge and strength, a help always found in times of trouble.
> — Psalm 46:1 (Lumin Translation)

**Talk:**

1. Paul names power, love, and sound thinking as God’s gift instead of cowardice. Which of the three does this moment need most?
2. What is the difference between wise caution and fear?
3. Psalm 46 doesn’t pretend the ground isn’t shaking. What does it say instead?
4. How could this group serve someone who is afraid of what AI will do to their work or their family?
5. After four weeks, what is one change you have made, or want to make, in how you use AI?

**Try this week:** Write down one fear about AI and one promise from Scripture. Tell one person from the group, and pray for each other before you meet again.

**Leader note:** Some fears are practical, like a job that might disappear. Take them seriously. Scripture doesn’t dismiss trouble; Jesus names it and then says take courage (John 16:33). Close the series by praying for each person by name.

Go deeper: https://www.lumin.faith/should-christians-be-afraid-of-ai

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Scripture quotations are from the Lumin Translation. Made by Lumin, a Bible AI that names the verse beside every answer.
Free tools for Christians using AI: https://www.lumin.faith/hub