What Would Jesus Tech

We will soon live in a world where cars drive themselves, brainwaves can be connected to prosthetic legs, and where robots shake your hand. Are you ready for it? Do you see the introduction of more and more technology as a good thing for our society or does it deprive us of opportunities to love God with all our strength? These are the questions we consider in this episode of What Would Jesus Tech. Episode 28. Thanks for listening.

Outline:

0:00 - Intro

1:45 - Quick Questions (Robots, Self-Driving, Idols)

1:41 - Why talk about robotics?

9:35 - What are humanoids? Why?

13:02 - Boston Dynamics - Spot

14:34 - Tesla Bot - Optimus

16:30 - Ameca Robot

17:40 - Love God with all your strength or let the robot do it?

20:01 - The economic argument for building robots

26:50 - Anticipating the future

WWJT Show Notes and Things We Discussed:

• Boston Dynamics
• CNET Highlights coverage of Tesla Optimus Robot
• K-nex Roller Coaster by Chris Bennett on YouTube
• Tesla Self Driving Car vs Everyday Roads by Marques Brownlee on YouTube
• Connect ChatGPT to Boston Dynamics Spot Dog by StucBot on YouTube
• Ameca Robot by Engineered Arts.
• WWJT Episode Quoting Andy Crouch was back in episode 2 on the metaverse NOT the Smart Home episode.
• For Herman Bavinck on the Image of God, see book by Cory C. Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, Neo-Calvinism, or listen to their podcast, Grace in Common.
• For Augustine on the Image of God, see his book called Confessions.
• For a helpful look at industrialism and its impact, see Jake Meador's book What Are Christians For?
• Evangelical Statement of Principles on Artificial Intelligence
• WWJT episode with Jess Joustra on all things are religious and glorify God -
• FaithTech
• Figure AI
• Sanctuary AI

Co-hosted by Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob

• Original Music by Abigail Neale
• Website Design by Zeke Gancena

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

How do we protect our digital possessions? What are some of the underlying technologies used by companies to protect user data? In what way should Christians protect their digital possessions and in what sense might they want to share them with others? In this episode, we tap into Joel Jacob's cybersecurity background, share password tips, and discuss how Christians might want to "keep things safe" today. 

0:00 - Intro and thanks

00:55 - Current state of digital security

8:18 - Make Good Passwords

11:12 - Choose Reputable Companies

12:22 - Assess Risk

14:25 - Password Manager Guidance

17:55 - Audit your password use & ask companies to delete your data

19:15 - The Bible says no passwords amongst Christians?

22:05 - Personal private property in Scripture?

26:55 - Security of others?

28:56 - Getting practical, physical and digital security

34:50 - ... guns?

37:00 - Pulling it all together & updates

What Would Jesus Tech is a podcast helping Christians use technology as Jesus would if he were to live today. WWJT is co-hosted by Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob. Original Music by Abigail Neale. Website Design by Zeke Gancena. Episode 27. 

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

For too many of us, a sense of rest is merely aspirational whereas digital addiction is a reality. The "platforms" are built by intelligent minds to serve specific purposes. In the same way scientists once explained the negative impact of cigarettes, in this episode we unpack how digital devices entrap us in their trance, and how to get out. Or at least, how Joel Jacob and Andrew Noble are trying to get out, use technology for good, and find our rest in God. Episode 26.

0:00 - Intro

2:10 - How Tech Is Designed

6:15 - How We Get Addicted

10:35 - Social Media Companies Aren't Evil (necessarily)

14:30 - Joel gets called out for not changing routines

22:15 - Getting out of the digital addiction spiral

Notes:

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

How To Start a Startup - Tarun Agarwal

Haggai 1 in NET

You Are Not Your Own - Alan Noble

You're Only Human - Kelly Kapic

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech or to support the future of WWJT, please visit https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/

There is "tool tech" such as shovels, violins, and 3D Printers, and then there is "drool tech," which pervades digital space. How do we raise our children well in the midst of these devices fueling distraction and depression? How do we promote creativity over consumption? How do we help our kids live from the hope they have in the gospel rather than for the hope offered in screens?

Nathan Sutherland is the founder of Gospel Tech, an organization that helps parents who are feeling outpaced and overwhelmed as they raise children in a tech world. He joins us today to help us understand the difference between tool tech and drool tech, how to set hudges (not walls) with our kids, and how the gospel changes the way we parent.

Check out Nathan's website, and download free resources today at: https://www.gospeltech.net/

0:00 Intro

1:10 - The Story of Gospel Tech

3:35 - Tool Tech vs Drool Tech

7:00 - Operant Conditioning

12:30 - How to audit tech use with RESET

17:03 - Gospel Tech Parenting

20:00 - Lack of tool tech, AI, and the next generation

34:02 - Building a Hedge

46:32 - Best websites to learn about the appropriateness of certain movies

47:20 - Best websites to learn about the appropriateness of certain video games

48:55 - Bible verses to talk about tech

50:08 - What do you do if you've made a parenting tech mistake?

Notes:

• The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
• The Mind and the Brain by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley (not "Schwab")
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
• Andy Crouch's The Life We're Looking For
• Tony Reinke's God, Technology, and the Christian Life
• Andrew Noble's article on parent settings and apps for phone monitoring.
• Apps to monitor a child's screen: Bark, Net Nanny, Qustodio, OurPact, FamilyTime, and MMGuardian
• Common Sense Media
• Plugged In Media
• Entertainment Software Ratings Board
• Haidt, J., & Twenge, J. (ongoing). Social media and mental health: A collaborative review. Unpublished manuscript, New York University. Accessed at tinyurl.com/SocialMediaMentalHealthReview

Thanks for listening to What Would Jesus Tech, co-hosted by Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob. Episode 26. To learn more about the podcast or to support us financially, check out https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/

Joel Jacob is a Tech Futurist, an early adopter, and an eternal optimist when it comes to new tech. Andrew Noble is a ministry leader, a late adopter, and a tech skeptic. Andrew told Joel it's time to work through our differences and find common ground as two Christians trying to use technology as Jesus would if he lived today. We spend a lot of time thinking about ChatGPT as an example but the question applies more broadly: should Christians have a positive disposition towards embracing new technology?

0:00 - Intro and our default stance toward tech

3:15 - Why technologists feel churches don't support their work

8:05 - In the technology world but not of it

10:04 - AI, the ChatGPT letter, and the future

22:05 - Practically, should we adopt new tech like AI?

28:40 - Technology is an idol

33:10 - The Unpredictability of AI Technology

39:09 - Would Jesus "lean in" to technology?

Links:

• Gary Marcus on A.I. hitting a wall.
• Jay Kim's Digital Church
• The Gospel Coalition Good Faith Debate on Embracing New Technology.

Episode 24. You can join Team WWJT through our website: https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/

Social media consultant and author Chris Martin joins us on this episode of What Would Jesus Tech to discuss his latest book, The Wolf Their Pockets: 13 Ways the Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead. We dive into the ever-present anxiety that comes with social media, the impact it makes on friendship, and what churches, parents, and leaders should do about it. 

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:17 - The Funnies
• 3:17 - Bird Watching
• 5:36 - Why "Wolf In Their Pockets"?
• 14:40 - Friendship and Social Media
• 20:20 - The Metaverse and Friendship
• 23:35 - Anxiety And How Social Media Erases The Backstage
• 28:25 - How Can The Church Provide Backstage Presence?
• 35:30 - Should A Youth Pastor Post on Social Media?
• 42:45 - Should you give your teenager a phone?
• 46:02 - Thoughts on podcasts?
• 52:50 - The Future of Social Media

Show notes:

Subscribe to Chris Martin's weekly newsletter called, Terms of Service, here: termsofservice.social

Chris Martin's two books:

https://www.moodypublishers.com/the-wolf-in-their-pockets/

https://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/products/terms-of-service-2/

Support WWJT

We've launched a Patreon to give our listeners the opportunity to help us cover the costs of the show. If you sign up, you'll immediately receive access to two bonus mini-episodes on ChatGPT-4 (released March 20, 2023) and Silicon Valley Bank (released March 17, 2023). Episode 23 of WWJT.

Visit https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/ to join us. And as always, thanks for listening!

How do we imitate Jesus in 2023? There is a growing interest in a particular theological tradition and it helps us answer this question in our modern age. This is not the Calvinism of memes, but the Calvinism of Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper. Our regular hosts, Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob, spoke with Dr. Joustra about this history, the story behind WWJD bracelets, the different ways of answering, "What Would Jesus Do?" and how everything (including technology) is religious.

Dr. Jessica Joustra is one of the leading scholars in this area. She is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University, an Associate Researcher at the Neo-Calvinist Research Institute, and is currently in the midst of translating Herman Bavinck's final volume of Reformed Ethics.

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:00 - Why study church history?
• 7:15 - Part of the "catholic" church?
• 9:50 - Neo-Calvinism For An Age Like Ours?
• 21:10 - The Story Behind WWJD
• 23:30 - Should we really ask WWJD?
• 33:58 - How Do We Really Imitate Christ?
• 43:25 - How To Imitate Christ In Tech?
• 49:09 - Recommended Resources & Tech In Heaven

To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech or to support the show, please visit www.whatwouldjesustech.com. This is episode 22 of WWJT.

Recommended books referenced:

Calvinism For A Secular Age - edited by Dr. Jess Joustra and Dr. Robert Joustra

Reformed Ethics - by Herman Bavinck

The Catholicity of Christianity and the Church - by Herman Bavinck (pdf link)

Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport by Richard J. Mouw

A Secular Age by Charles Taylor

Bavinck: A Critical Biography by James Eglington

Mere Morality by Lewis B. Smedes

Creation Regained by Albert Walters

Christian Field Guide To Technology by Derek C. Schuurman

Modernism and Orthodoxy in On Theology: Herman Bavinck's Academic Orations, Editor / Translator: Bruce R. Pass

When The Kings Come Marching In by Richard J. Mouw

Common Grace by Herman Bavinck (pdf link)

Neo-Calvinism: An Introduction by Cory Brock and N. Gray Sutanto

Grace In Common - A Neo-Calvinist Podcast

Digital technology is changing the way we access the Word of God. But this isn't the first time Bible technology has changed. Special guest John Dyer unpacks some of the key findings of his latest book, People of the Screen, including how evangelicals are shaping Bible apps with Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmaticism and how Bible apps are shaping us. Episode 21.

Link to all things John Dyer: https://j.hn/

Link to People of the Screen.

Link to From the Garden to the City. (You can hear a great podcast interview with John on this book over at the TheoTech podcast.)

In this episode of WWJT:

• 0:00 - Intro to John Dyer
• 3:05 - Y'all Version (https://www.yallversion.com/)
• 4:40 - The ethics of http://bestcommentaries.com/
• 7:37 - "Tech is neither good or bad, nor is it neutral"?
• 11:00 - A history of the technology of Scripture
• 17:45 - The NAB Version
• 19:28 - How John Studied Digital Bible Use
• 21:53 - What was learned of the differences between book and screen?
• 24:40 - Why do print readers say God is more judgmental?
• 30:40 - The positives of using digital Bibles?
• 32:15 - Why are evangelicals "People Of The Screen"?
• 43:00 - "Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmaticism" and evangelicals
• 49:52 - What is the future of Bible engagement? VR? AR?
• 53:27 - What Bible Tech Would Jesus Use?
• 54:15 - Recommended reading
• 58:19 - How to enter for a chance to win People of the Screen

Should Christians be scared of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How might we use ChatGPT as a co-pilot to aid us in giving glory to God? How might ChatGPT limit us from discovering truth? Co-hosts Joel Jacob and Andrew Noble hash it all out in this shortened - but deep - episode of What Would Jesus Tech. Episode 20.

In this episode:

00:00 - Intro (Andrew Noble)

00:21 - Does Joel Jacob build AI?

01:30 - What is ChatGPT? Should we be scared?

04:30 - Is AI getting "smarter"?

08:20 - Revolutionary but limited; co-pilot not command centre

10:49 - ChatGPT is made in our image

13:04 - Responsibility and moral agency

15:55 - Spirit, soul, and mind

19:00 - New website! whatwouldjesustech.com

Links:

• Logic Of The Body by Matthew A. LaPine
• Compatibilism - Don Carson
• Following Jesus in a Digital Age - Jason Thacker
• The Singularity is Nearer - Ray Kurzweil
• John Calvin and Free Will - Matthew Barrett
• ChatGPT Is A Blurry JPEG Of The Web - Ted Chiang

Please rate our podcast to help support the show! Learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and contact us at https://www.whatwouldjesustech.com/

In the world today, there are more people that play video games than there are who say they're Christians. Is gaming causing a "boy crisis? Is there any good in playing video games? Would Jesus play video games?

To help us on this episode, we spoke with Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, senior writer and faith-and-work editor for The Gospel Coalition. She is also the coauthor of Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age and editor of Social Sanity in an Insta World. She believes that social media should come with a warning label and she recently wrote something that caught our attention, saying, "Let’s play video games under the lordship of Christ and before the face of God." Episode 19 of WWJT.

Check out her original piece on "Gaming Alone" here.

• 0:00 - Intro to Sarah Zystra
• 4:30 - The similarities between social media and gaming
• 6:46 - The Gaming Gender Gap
• 10:18 - How Gaming Is Getting Worse And Better
• 14:50 - Shouldn't We Panic?
• 17:49 - How To Know If You're Addicted?
• 20:03 - A Theology of Play
• 24:21 - Parenting & Video Games
• 29:00 - Parenting, Getting Immersed, and Learning
• 32:14 - A Christian Kind of Video Game?
• 38:42 - Would Jesus Play Video Games?
• 41:05 - Why did Sarah leave Social Media?

Notes & links:

• Listen to TGC's Recorded podcast episode on Gaming Alone. You can find the statistics that Sarah referenced here.
• TGC's Recorded podcast episode on Social Media.
• Statistica Gaming Gender Gap.
• The Rise of Chess.
• FaithTech's "Missional Tech Trends" brief on Video Games.
• John Dyer's People of the Screen.