According to NBC, Jesus has returned in an online incarnation. Yes, you too can log on and talk to a cyber savior, a disembodied vision of a white man who offers counsel on things ranging from the serious to the silly. Setting aside how this likely violates the Second Commandment, this stunt typifies a central problem with contemporary religious thinking: recreating Jesus in our image.

A programmed Christ built of nothing but the disparate thoughts of what we'd like him to be is literally an idol. If "god" is just our understanding of Him, there is not really a "Him" at all, but only our own projections. It's kind of like the old SNL skit of Stuart Smalley affirming himself in the mirror.

Seeking salvation from an AI chatbot is only a more technologically advanced version of picking and choosing the parts of the Bible we want to believe.

But salvation can never be found within.

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