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Tens of millions turning to chatbots for guidance from God · The Daily Article

• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, and welcome to Denison Forms Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Connor Jones, co-host of the Culture Brief Podcast here at Denison Forum, filling in for Chris Elkins, and narrating today's daily article authored by our co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: This New York Times headline caught my eye.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Finding God in the App Store, millions are turning to chat
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lauren Jackson, the writer for a new religion and spirituality times newsletter titled believing, reports, on religious apps, tens of millions of people are confessing to spiritual chat bots their secrets, their petty vanities and deepest worries, gluttonous, urges and darkest impulses.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Trained on religious texts, the bots are like on-call priest, e-moms, or rabbis, offering comfort and direction at any time.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: On some platforms, they even report to channel God.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jackson notes that a Christian app called Bible Chat has more than 30 million downloads.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, a Catholic app, beaten Netflix, Instagram, and TikTok for the number one spot in the app store at one point last year.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some see these apps as ways into faith, but others warn that they tell us what we want to hear, rather than providing the accountability only a person and community can foster.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: At the very least, the popularity of spiritual chatbots reveals the underlying and undying popularity of spirituality itself.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a sense, this should be unsurprising, even in our highly secularized culture.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: The secularization thesis, popular in academic circles, claims that as societies progress, religion loses its authority in social life and governance.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: America has certainly seen such a religious decline in recent decades, doing large part
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Religious engagement and partisan politics and divisive cultural issues.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But religion and spirituality are not the same thing.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible teaches in Genesis 127 that we are made in God's image, and it says that God is spirit in John 424.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: At therefore stands to reason that humans are spirit as well, and that our quest for spiritual connection beyond ourselves is both intrinsic and vital to our flourishing.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: The key, of course, is to connect with the best source of such flourishing.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Robert Redford died yesterday at the age of 89.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: As the New York Times notes, the famed actor and director uses platform to advance independent filmmaking and environmental causes.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: His movies were an end to larger purposes in his life.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: at the other end of the political spectrum, Charlie Kirk had a larger purpose than most understood as well.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: A revealing profile by Atlantic journalist Isaac Stanley Becker reports that the conservative influencer saw politics as a necessary means.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: The cultural transformation he sought to catalyze.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: He founded Turning Point USA to engage young people in conservative politics, but he also found a turning point USA faith to advance ideas about the Christian foundations of the US.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: In recent months, he launched Turning Point Academy to form Christian schools where all areas of study are rooted in God's truth.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: He told Stanley Becker that he intended to be in the education space for the rest of his life.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Kirk's foundational belief was that our freedoms come not from man or man made law, but from God.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he was convinced that once people start to drink from the stream of liberty, they will want to know its source.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: St.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: tilled a guard of Binging, was born on this day in Germany.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 1141, she began experiencing a series of visions she described as a flow of light that kindled her whole heart, not burning, but warming.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Over time, she became convinced that she was called by God to share these visions with the world.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: She wrote three volumes on theology, and two on natural medicine, composed music that is still performed today, and preached many sermons denouncing clerical corruption and calling for reform.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Her humility, intellect, and holiness attracted many to her.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I especially appreciate this prayer by saying he'll regard.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, the life that gives life, you are the cause of all movement, you are the breath of all creatures, you are the SAV that purifies our souls, you are the ointment that heals our wounds, you are the fire that warms our hearts, you are the light that guides our feet, let all the world praise you.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we make it our purpose to know Christ in the power of His Spirit, we are then empowered by the Spirit to make Christ known.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: and this purpose gives purpose to everything we do.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: The places we live, work, and go to school become our mission fields.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our vocations become platforms for ministry, our gifts, abilities, education, experiences, and even our challenges become tools for the spirit's use.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we ask of every moment, how can I know Christ in this moment and then make him known?
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every moment becomes a fuse with meaning.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Times of suffering become opportunities to no Christ more deeply as we trust him more deeply and experience his deeper answers to our prayers and needs, and they become opportunities for making him known more powerfully as others see the relevance and power of our faith.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who watched Erica Kirk speak to the nation two days after her husband was assassinated saw both facts on display.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Her faith was tangibly real and her courage glorified her Lord.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I had not been a Christian before seeing her message, I would have wanted what she has.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: May I ask what purpose gives meaning to your life today?
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: In his New York Times bestseller, the purpose driven life, Rick Warren asserts, the greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: The key to knowing your purpose is knowing that God, who made you, since, as Rick notes,
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Conversely, as Rick reminds us, you can not fulfill God's purposes in your life while focusing on your own plans.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The good news is that when we make God's purpose our purpose, he will direct our plans to this end as we read in Proverbs 3 5 and 6.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Evangelist Ryan Hardbunka was right.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Go for the purposes of God, and the means to fulfill them will follow.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So will you go for the purposes of God today?
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will you seek to know Christ and make Him known?
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or will you settle for our lesser purpose for your life?
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: All of eternity is in your choice.