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Formed by the Feed — Discipleship, Discernment, and the Age of AI

Formed by the Feed — Discipleship, Discernment, and the Age of AI

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 What happens to your soul when you let an algorithm do your thinking? Spoiler alert: it’s not great. In this episode, Dr. Jeffery Skinner dives into the sneaky ways AI and digital platforms are reshaping our conscience and dulling our discernment. You might think you’re just scrolling through memes or getting your daily news fix, but you’re actually sidelining the part of you that wrestles with deeper questions about faith and morality. It’s like outsourcing your soul's workout to a couch potato. We’ll explore how this digital age affects our spiritual growth and discernment, and why it’s crucial for us to reclaim our ability to think critically and seek God authentically. So grab your headphones, and let’s get into why your soul might be missing out on some serious gym time while you’re busy clicking ‘like’ on everything.Scripture ReferencesRomans 12:2 — Transformation through the renewing of the mindHebrews 5:14 — Mature believers train themselves to discern good and evilMatthew 25:14–30 — The Parable of the TalentsLuke 6:40 — A disciple, when fully trained, will be like their teacherActs 15 — The Jerusalem Council as communal discernmentGalatians 5:13–25 — Life in the Spirit and formation of character1 Timothy 4:7–8 — Training in godlinessJAMES K.A. SMITH — Desiring the Kingdom & You Are What You Love Smith’s big idea is that we are formed by what we habitually do, not primarily by what we intellectually believe. He draws from Augustine — we are lovers before we are thinkers. Our desires are shaped by repeated practices, or what he calls cultural liturgies.The Wesleyan Arminian angle: Smith gives us the mechanism of formation that Wesley always assumed but didn’t systematize. Wesley’s class meetings, his means of grace, his disciplined rhythms — these were all essentially liturgical formation practices. Smith helps you articulate why they worked and why their absence hurts.Key ideas to track down:∙ Liturgy as desire formation — practices shape loves before the mind engages∙ The mall as cathedral — his famous illustration of secular liturgies forming us toward consumption∙ Counter-formation requires intentional, embodied, communal practiceALAN JACOBS — How to Think (2017)Jacobs is winsome, careful, and genuinely funny. His core argument is that thinking well is not primarily an intellectual skill — it’s a moral and social practice. We think badly not because we’re stupid but because we’re embedded in communities that reward certain conclusions and punish others.He introduces the idea of the “inner ring” — borrowed from C.S. Lewis — the social pressure to think like your tribe. Algorithms weaponize the inner ring. They identify your tribe, amplify its voice, and make departure feel socially costly.Key ideas to track down:∙ Thinking as a communal practice that can be corrupted by social incentives∙ The “repugnant cultural other” — his term for how we’re trained to caricature those who think differently∙ Charitable interpretation as a spiritual disciplineJOHN DYER — From the Garden to the City (2011)Dyer is the most theologically careful of the group and writes from an evangelical framework that translates well into Wesleyan categories. His central argument is that technology is never neutral — it always shapes the user, not just the world the user acts on.He traces this from Genesis forward. Every technology from agriculture to the printing press to the smartphone changes what humans pay attention to, what they value, and ultimately who they become.Dyer gives biblical and historical credibility. This isn’t a panic about modern machines — it’s a pattern as old as humanity. The question has always been whether we are using tools or being used by them.Key ideas to track down:∙ Technology as transformation — it changes us, not just our circumstances∙ The Babel narrative as a technology cautionary tale∙ The difference between tools that extend human capacity and tools that replace human judgmentTRISTAN HARRIS — Humane Technology WorkHarris is not a theologian but he is our most credible secular witness. As a former Google design ethicist he speaks from the inside. His core argument is that social media and AI are not neutral platforms — they are persuasion engines optimized for engagement, which means optimized for outrage, anxiety, and compulsion.His most useful concept for your episode is “the race to the bottom of the brain stem” — the competition among tech companies to capture attention by appealing to the most reactive, least reflective parts of us.For Wesleyan Arminian framework: Wesley was deeply concerned with what he called the “carnal mind” — the unregenerate, reactive, self-centered orientation of the human soul. Harris, without knowing it, has mapped the technology infrastructure that feeds the carnal mind and starves the renewed one.Key ideas to track down at ...
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