Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by Founder & President of Reasons for Hope, Carl Kerby.

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be His ambassador.
8. 0:23Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28and now the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:32In the book of Revelation, it talks about a time coming in the future when the world will
12. 0:37be under the control of one, the Bible calls the Antichrist.
13. 0:42And it's very enigmatic, cryptic really, how it talks about the beast and the false prophet,
14. 0:50and there will be this man-made thing that can almost do the miraculous.
15. 0:57And it says people will be deceived that the beast will speak great lying wonders.
16. 1:03And some are wondering if AI and computers are beginning to exhibit behavior, ungodly,
17. 1:11anti-god actually, behavior that looks like the beast of revelation.
18. 1:16Well we're going to talk about this and more.
19. 1:18My name is Alex McFarland.
20. 1:19I'm so honored that you're listening.
21. 1:21Very honored to be on the American Family Radio Network sitting in for attorney, pastor,
22. 1:26broadcaster Abe Hamilton III. Now if you recognize my voice it might be because of
23. 1:31a show called Exploring the Word. That's my regular program that I have the great
24. 1:37honor of being a part of. Exploring the Word has heard live five days a week on
25. 1:40the American Family Radio Network three to four central time. But I have the
26. 1:46privilege Abe Hamilton trusts me with the microphone and what we do whenever I
27. 1:52sit in on the Hamilton Corner as today. I try to go over some current events and
28. 1:58always, no matter what the topic from a biblical worldview. And if you know the
29. 2:04work that we've done for a number of years, it's especially biblical worldview as it
30. 2:08relates to teenagers. And with me to talk about this is a longtime friend and
31. 2:13colleague. We are truly partners in ministry Carl Kirby. Carl is the founder
32. 2:20of reasons for hope, which is a ministry that we're going to tell you about.
33. 2:25Hands down, and I said this just yesterday, it was funny, I was on the phone with some
34. 2:30people planning some events and they asked me, can you name a good speaker to address the
35. 2:36topic of creation versus evolution?
36. 2:38And I said, well, I know, I'm privileged to know a lot of people in that space, but hands
37. 2:43down the strongest, best voice and author speaker that I know of in critiquing Darwinian
38. 2:53evolution is Carl Kirby.
39. 2:56And I was telling about Carl Kirby and what a privilege to have him on today.
40. 3:00I want to talk about computers and AI, but first of all, Carl, welcome to the program.
41. 3:05And because of the time of year it is, I want to say Merry Christmas to you and yours.
42. 3:11But thanks for being with us today, Carl, on the American Family Radio Network.
43. 3:15Well, Mary Christopher, you blessed me by allowing me to be here.
44. 3:18I always count it a privilege because I love what you're doing.
45. 3:21I love what we get to do together when we do the camps in the summer months.
46. 3:25And I am just excited to the fact that we get the opportunity and privilege to pour into
47. 3:31a generation that is interested and does one answer for the reason for the hope that lies
48. 3:36within them.
49. 3:37And we get to do that.
50. 3:38And I thank you for letting me be with you.
51. 3:40Well, amen. And by the way, regarding the camps, and I was going to get to that, and I'll probably mention that several times throughout the course of the broadcast.
52. 3:47The website for the camps is equipretreat.org.
53. 3:51If, like ourselves, you care about the soul of young people and the future of the country, every summer, now,
54. 3:59Carl, I think, isn't it up to like seven camps now that reasons for hope and you, Dave Glander, myself,
55. 4:07What we've done, we've come together and we have hundreds of kids in the camps.
56. 4:11And yeah, we talk about the gospel.
57. 4:14How do you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?
58. 4:17But we also talk about biblical worldview.
59. 4:21And no matter where life takes you,
60. 4:24business, the classroom,
61. 4:26family, church, government,
62. 4:29even the sciences, we do our best,
63. 4:33and it is bearing fruit. But we try to equip these young people with a
64. 4:37biblical worldview and by the way I'll
65. 4:41vote you Carl but let me say Tim
66. 4:43Wildman the president of the American
67. 4:45Family Association Tim for five six
68. 4:49years now has given me the permission
69. 4:52to promote these camps and Tim has been
70. 4:55a champion Carl I don't know if you
71. 4:58know Tim Wildman personally but on shows
72. 5:01like today's issues which is a news
73. 5:03analysis show and all of the AFR microphones Tim has given me the green
74. 5:10light to promote because we want more and more young people to hear the gospel,
75. 5:16come to Christ. But then, really in the spirit of 1 Peter 3.15, be equipped to
76. 5:23confidently give an answer for the hope that they have its biblical worldview,
77. 5:29it's training a generation. And God has brought all of us to the table to do this. Hasne Carl?
78. 5:36Absolutely Tim. I've known Tim for a long time. He blessed me. My first book that I put out, he
79. 5:41actually wrote an endorsement for me on it. And it was very kind of him. But yeah, I think what you
80. 5:46mentioned, teaching application, and it ties exactly with this topic that you've got to sound
81. 5:51today. Because many times will address the whole AI issue with this younger generation,
82. 5:56because it is a reality, it is a tool that Satan is using for deception, and it's also a tool that
83. 6:03we can use to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ. But we need to talk about real world issues
84. 6:09and teach how to apply our faith in a world gone crazy. And that's sure what we see going on today.
85. 6:15Well, in Genesis chapter 3, Satan promised Adam and Eve that they could become gods. Now,
86. 6:23Now Carl, several years ago Bill Gates and others, there are these technology forums,
87. 6:31but one of the speakers regarding AI and just the growth of the internet, there was
88. 6:36this prediction that the internet would become self-aware, sentient, and that God is not a part
89. 6:44of our past, but part of our future.
90. 6:46In other words, it was this Bill Gates and others were theorizing that the internet would
91. 6:53somehow become deity.
92. 6:57That's not possible.
93. 6:59By definition, God is eternal.
94. 7:03Computers, servers, hard drives, and the internet, they are not eternal.
95. 7:08Could it be that all of this elevating of AI and technology to God-like status?
96. 7:15Is that just the same lie that we've heard since Genesis chapter 3?
97. 7:20I think it ties directly into it.
98. 7:23And the challenge to me is that so many people are being deceived by it.
99. 7:26I, when I get my talk on AI, I use a clip from this news broadcast in Germany.
100. 7:32There's a church that they were packed out.
101. 7:35The church is dead in Germany, but this church had a line waiting for people to get in and
102. 7:42they went in.
103. 7:43it and it was, I mean the church was packed, they had to turn people away and then the big
104. 7:47reason that they had come is because the whole service was being run by AI. It was just avatars
105. 7:56that had run the whole service, the music, the whole works. They had three different avatars
106. 8:00that ran this whole thing. So I think people came in for the novelty of it and the gentleman
107. 8:04who came up with it was a theology professor if I'm not mistaken and he said the goal was
108. 8:11to assist you get rid of people and let the AI take this whole thing over. Look, even in
109. 8:17the church we have to deal with this. AI is a tool. It is something that we made. It is
110. 8:23not a God. It will never be a, well, it can be a God, a little gee God because a lot of
111. 8:28people have turned it into that, but it is not going to be anything that could replace the
112. 8:32Lord Jesus Christ. I tell people like this, you want to see how smart it is? Type in your
113. 8:36question and you can get whatever answer you want from AI. I want it from a
114. 8:44biblical perspective. I want it from a conservative Christian perspective. I want
115. 8:48it from an atheist perspective. AI does nothing more than regurgitate
116. 8:51information and package it into whatever format that you want it. Now we can
117. 8:57apply to it what it's like my dog. My dog is looking at me, oh my dog has this, you
118. 9:03And I could apply these human characteristics and feelings, but it is not.
119. 9:08It is a machine that is accumulating information and then can package it and distribute it in
120. 9:14a way that we want it.
121. 9:16Yeah, and the way that you do the query or the question very much informs the outcome.
122. 9:23Carl, listen to this.
123. 9:25I was working on, I'm going to be next summer in July, albeit the Cove, the Billy Graham
124. 9:30training center in western North Carolina and actually I'm going to be there twice. Once teaching
125. 9:35the book of Job July 18-20 and then in early August I'll be there with J. Warner Wallace doing
126. 9:42this session on apologetics. And by the way the website for that folks is thecove.org. Th-e-c-o-v-e
127. 9:50thecove.org I'd love to see you when I'm there. But you know the book of Job deals a lot with the
128. 9:55the problem of evil. If God is good, all powerful wise they're evil and pain and suffering in
129. 10:02the world. So just for laughs, I went on an AI search engine kind of thing and I said a
130. 10:11Christian apologetics response to the problem of pain and suffering. Well, surprisingly,
131. 10:19It wasn't bad.
132. 10:20It created an outline and it even had a recommended reading list of like C.S. Lewis and that was
133. 10:27good and Norm Geisler.
134. 10:29But as I was reading through it, the sentences, they were very clunky.
135. 10:34I mean, clearly it was not really written by a human.
136. 10:38It needed to be heavily edited.
137. 10:42But it wasn't too bad.
138. 10:44I mean, it basically said there's pain and suffering because of sin in the world and
139. 10:49sin as human disobedience to the directives of God.
140. 10:55Now here's the thing though, and I want you to speak to this about our young people.
141. 11:01Even when a computer or an AI engine gives me something moderately good or even false,
142. 11:11I know how to spot error because I've got this knowledge base.
143. 11:17I've got a biblical literacy.
144. 11:20For young people, Carl, here's my concern that whether it's scriptural content or whether
145. 11:27it's just morality or right and wrong or even American history, I'm concerned that a lot
146. 11:34of young people don't have the requisite knowledge base that when falsehood comes along, they're
147. 11:42not going to spot it.
148. 11:44Do you see what I'm saying?
149. 11:45Amen.
150. 11:46Absolutely.
151. 11:47And I think that is one of the major fears that we all should have when you have a biblically
152. 11:51illiterate culture and then you have a media system that comes along that teaches them that
153. 11:57this is what the Bible teaches, but it's not accurate.
154. 12:01I'll give you a perfect example in China. They have rewritten the Bible and
155. 12:06Taking dt out taking God out and replace that with the state and there's a perfect example of
156. 12:12the stoning right
157. 12:15Jesus coming along and like you know who's gonna sow the first stone, you know, I'm not gonna judge and that whole thing
158. 12:20Well in the Chinese version
159. 12:23Jesus comes along and he's the first one to throw the stone and my word
160. 12:28Yeah, it is unbelievable, but to your point, and this is what I've been warning people
161. 12:35of, if you are biblically illiterate, and this is now the Bible that the Chinese government
162. 12:41will allow their people to read, and they don't know what the original is, you will be
163. 12:46deceived.
164. 12:47I do a talk on truth, and what is truth, and unless you know what truth is, you can never
165. 12:52know if you got it or not.
166. 12:53a simple illustration definition is this is truth is that which has fidelity to an original
167. 13:00and what is the original and I'll put it to Christians like this, Christian, what is your
168. 13:04original? What is your standard reference? What is that standard by which you are judging
169. 13:10everything else by? And if it is not the accurate word of God, then you really have nothing because
170. 13:17now it's nothing more than man's opinion and AI has the greatest amount of man's opinion
171. 13:22all accumulated in one place and will give you whatever opinion you want by just adjusting
172. 13:28the way that you ask the question.
173. 13:30We need something that doesn't change, will never leave, will never forsake, that's Jesus
174. 13:35and it's his Word, the Holy Word, God, the Scripture.
175. 13:39And so I think, yeah, it's a big deal.
176. 13:41We need to be aware that deception is going on and know how to overcome it.
177. 13:45And you can only do that through truth.
178. 13:47Amen.
179. 13:48Amen.
180. 13:49I love when we have our camps we talk about the definition of truth.
181. 13:54Oftentimes, Dr. Geisler, and he was my mentor in grad school and folks, a brilliant guy,
182. 14:02he would define truth this way.
183. 14:04Truth is that which corresponds to reality.
184. 14:07In other words, it's the way things really are.
185. 14:09Well, we're going to talk about this and timeless truth in an AI world, Alex McFarland
186. 14:15here. My website by the way, Alex McFarlane.com, a very special guest, longtime friend and colleague
187. 14:20Carl Kirby. Carl, before we take this first break, give us the website if you would for reasons for hope.
188. 14:27Thank you. It's R-F-O-R-H dot com and stands for reason for hope. So R-4-H.
189. 14:37Yes, and our summer youth camps, equipretreat.org. Stay tuned, folks. More about AI and a biblical
190. 14:44response to an AI technology driven culture when we are called to stand for the timeless
191. 14:50truth of God's word.
192. 14:51Don't go away.
193. 14:52We've got a brief break.
194. 14:53We're back after this.
195. 15:00One million moms wishes to thank you for letting us know about the Wayfair commercial
196. 15:05in which Kelly Clarkson unnecessarily insinuates profanity.
197. 15:09It's inappropriate that Wayfair produced a controversial advertisement instead of a
198. 15:13wholesome one.
199. 15:15We care about what our children hear and since children repeat things, let Wayfair know that
200. 15:20this ad was irresponsible.
201. 15:22Sign our petition to urge we fair to cancel it at 1 million moms dot com.
202. 15:27That's 1 million moms dot com.
203. 15:29Liven to the darkness.
204. 15:37This is the Hamilton Quarter, an American family radio.
205. 15:42You know, several years ago I wrote about the IPK, the International Prototype
206. 15:47Kilogram.
207. 15:48This is in my book on Psalm 119, Diving Into God's Words.
208. 15:53I wrote a whole book on Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible, one of my
209. 15:57favorite chapters, because the standard referent that Carl Kirby mentioned in that first segment
210. 16:04is the word of God. Carl, have you ever heard the story of the IPK, the International Prototype
211. 16:09Kilogram?
212. 16:10No, I don't think so.
213. 16:13Well, here's the thing, it's fascinating story. In the 19th century, in France, scientists
214. 16:20had this bit of, I don't know if it was,
215. 16:24I think it was brass actually,
216. 16:26and the weight of this was a kilogram.
217. 16:30And what they would do periodically,
218. 16:32like once every like 20, 25 years,
219. 16:35they would create other replicas of the IPK,
220. 16:41the International Prototype Kilogram,
221. 16:44that they were very meticulous to make sure
222. 16:48that the kilogram replicas were exactly a kilogram.
223. 16:55So what they would do around the world, Europe, America,
224. 16:59throughout the world, they would calibrate scales.
225. 17:03So that if your scale said some of the ways a kilogram,
226. 17:07that to the best of human ability,
227. 17:09it was actually attuned to exactly a kilogram.
228. 17:13Well, what was amazing was that I don't know if it was in like the early 20th century, but
229. 17:21they had this, you know, biannual or every decade consortium, and they found that the
230. 17:28IPK, the international prototype by which all other kilograms were based, was they had
231. 17:36measured incorrectly and it was off.
232. 17:40And they wondered, well, had it been changed, had it lost some mass, did somebody drop it
233. 17:48or something?
234. 17:50Here's my point, the scientific world was kind of having a panic because the standard they
235. 17:55had trusted, they suddenly weren't sure what a kilogram was.
236. 18:00Now here's my point, folks.
237. 18:03There's man's opinion and then there's God's revelation.
238. 18:06the Bible, the Word of God is our standard
239. 18:11referent. It is the tried and true standard
240. 18:16that we know cannot fail.
241. 18:17Carl, let me ask you this. You're a scholar.
242. 18:19You're an author. You're a speaker.
243. 18:21I've got a lot of respect for you.
244. 18:23How assured are you?
245. 18:27How convinced are you that the Bible is indeed
246. 18:32the trustworthy, infallible Word of God?
247. 18:35sold out you know i'd for i'd love that story
248. 18:40uh... alexa the even the one that i use of the last the people how tall am i
249. 18:44and everybody got a lot of six weeks with two six or three and i'm like now
250. 18:48you guys are way off
251. 18:50i'm actually twelve-foot tall
252. 18:51and i pull out my
253. 18:53that i make myself
254. 18:55i pull out it's a ruler i made myself i've got wooden ones i've got laminated
255. 18:58paper wands
256. 18:59i've got a variety
257. 19:00and they are
258. 19:02i use them and guess what i'm twelve-foot tall
259. 19:04and i get the whole audience especially the young people that china on a you're
260. 19:08wrong around
261. 19:09and i'm like what do you mean i'm wrong that's not a foot yesterday's i made
262. 19:11myself
263. 19:12now it's no good that's perfect what you talk about and then i pull out the
264. 19:17quote quote real ruler
265. 19:18so you want to use this ruler why
266. 19:20and they're like well because that's right now is because you're close-minded
267. 19:23intolerant big opinion and it can you turn to jam your ruler down my throat
268. 19:27what make your ruler right my rule wrong
269. 19:29and so the same point that i make is what you just said
270. 19:32I say, let's get on a plane, let's fly to Paris,
271. 19:34and outside of Paris, there's the official weights
272. 19:37and measures, and they have the official
273. 19:39leader, meter, foot, and we can compare
274. 19:43our two structures against that original.
275. 19:46And guess what?
276. 19:48Your measure's up, not because you were taught it,
277. 19:50not because you believed it, not because you wanted
278. 19:52to be that way, because of truth as a democracy,
279. 19:54and we can all vote on it, then I'll go to all the people
280. 19:57that get paid by the foot, and I guarantee you
281. 20:00that I vote for my foot and that will become the standard.
282. 20:03The Word of God is absolutely trustworthy.
283. 20:06I've been a Christian since May 15, 1987 is when I got saved.
284. 20:11My faith the first few years was, yeah, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, but I'm going
285. 20:15to tell you what, the more that I got into the Word and more that I saw that you can take
286. 20:20what you read in the Word and apply it to the world that I live in, it has exploded.
287. 20:24There's no doubt in my mind that God's Word is true and it is trustworthy and it is applicable
288. 20:29to even the tough issues that we're dealing with today.
289. 20:33You know what I do, and by the way, folks,
290. 20:34if you teach Sunday school or you work with youth,
291. 20:37maybe do something like that.
292. 20:38I love what you did, Carl, that you said,
293. 20:40hey, I have a ruler, I made it myself.
294. 20:43Let me tell you what I've done.
295. 20:45I've done this in, I don't know, hundreds of youth groups.
296. 20:49I would get a big thing of ribbon.
297. 20:52If you go to the hardware store, folks,
298. 20:54you can get this plastic.
299. 20:56It's either bright, bright yellow or bright, bright green
300. 20:59to mark off a building site.
301. 21:01It's about an inch wide.
302. 21:03But I would get three youth on stage, Carl.
303. 21:06Now, on the table where nobody could see it,
304. 21:09I would have a yardstick, okay?
305. 21:11And I would say, listen, I've got a prize.
306. 21:14Can you tear off a piece of this ribbon three feet long?
307. 21:18Come on now, 36 inches.
308. 21:20And kids, usually teenage boys are like, yep, I can do it.
309. 21:24Now invariably, I'll have three kids on stage,
310. 21:27and they'll all have three different lengths of the ribbon.
311. 21:31And I'll say, do you think yours is right?
312. 21:33Oh yeah, yeah, mine is right.
313. 21:34Do you think yours is right?
314. 21:35Yes.
315. 21:36And I'll say, okay, let's hold them up,
316. 21:38but all three will be different lengths.
317. 21:40And I'm like, well, wait a minute.
318. 21:41Everybody says that their piece of ribbon
319. 21:44is three feet long.
320. 21:46How could I tell?
321. 21:47And what I'll do, I'll get the yardstick
322. 21:49and I'll be walking around,
323. 21:50and the kids are shouting at me,
324. 21:53The yardstick, measure it, you've got a yardstick.
325. 21:55And I'll say quiet, quiet, I'm thinking, wait,
326. 21:57how can I figure out?
327. 21:58And so they'll say the yardstick will tell
328. 22:02who's is right and who's is wrong.
329. 22:04And I'll say, but I don't believe in yardsticks.
330. 22:08And they'll say, yeah, but measure.
331. 22:12And in 30 years of doing this little stunt,
332. 22:15I've never had a kid guess it right.
333. 22:18And I'll ask the audience and I'll say,
334. 22:20Why is it that the yardstick tells who's close and who's not close?
335. 22:27And they'll say because the yardstick doesn't change.
336. 22:30The yardstick is measuring stick.
337. 22:33And of course the application is that the Bible is the yardstick.
338. 22:37Folks, in fact the word canon, the canon of scripture is really the Latin word for measuring stick.
339. 22:44Now, as another, if you're going to push this illustration all the way home,
340. 22:49Some child's guess at the length of ribbon,
341. 22:54maybe they're off by an inch.
342. 22:56I've had kids be off by a foot, but if you're off,
343. 22:59you're off.
344. 23:00And that's like salvation, isn't it, Carl?
345. 23:02Hey, look, maybe you're a good person,
346. 23:05or maybe you're on death row in prison,
347. 23:09but if you're not in a relationship with Jesus,
348. 23:13you're off the mark.
349. 23:15And so don't you love though.
350. 23:19we've found and all last summer yourself and Frank Figueroa and Dave Glander and all of
351. 23:27the great Arthur H. Staff and our people, kids are hungry for truth, aren't they, Carl? Don't
352. 23:34you feel like kids really respond to all this?
353. 23:38You know they do because we see it on a regular basis. We see young people making first time
354. 23:43commitments to the Lord Jesus Christ because the issues that they've struggled with have
355. 23:47been addressed and so it's not an emotional manipulation and I'm not trying to talk bad
356. 23:53about anybody but that's not what we're doing. When it comes to what we're trying to accomplish
357. 23:58when we are working together we want folks to know it, to live it and to share it because
358. 24:04when it comes to our faith you need to know why you believe, not just what you believe
359. 24:07but why you believe what you say you believe because just having information is great
360. 24:12But I've been around a long time and I've worked with all kind of people in apologetics.
361. 24:18And to be blunt with the Alex, I've worked with guys that are like crazy smart, but they're
362. 24:22pretty much worthless when it comes to reaching people with a gospel because there's like this
363. 24:27air of I'm going to beat everybody up with my IQ.
364. 24:30Look, you can know it and be worthless in ministry.
365. 24:34So you need to not only know it, you need to live it, your life and your lips.
366. 24:37If they're not in sync, then it's worthless.
367. 24:40And so we want our life to reflect the knowledge that we have, but guess what?
368. 24:44That's a wonderful thing.
369. 24:45You can live a perfect life.
370. 24:46You can have all the knowledge, but if you never talk about Jesus, then it's still worthless.
371. 24:51And that's why to share a component.
372. 24:53And that's what we're trying to accomplish at every one of the events with this younger
373. 24:56generation.
374. 24:57We want them to know why they believe what they say they believe, how they apply it in the
375. 25:01life that they're living it, that they're living and where they're living it.
376. 25:03But then they also need to talk about Jesus.
377. 25:07And the only way I think you can get somebody to truly do that is if they can, as you have
378. 25:12been saying, trust the Word of God as that authority, that standard reference that is going
379. 25:17to be there, and I put it like this, Alex.
380. 25:21You will never dig, I don't, maybe we need to offer some encouragement to some listeners
381. 25:24right now.
382. 25:25I don't care how deep a hole you've dug, there is no hole so deep that Jesus Christ himself
383. 25:31won't reach down with his mighty right hand.
384. 25:33Isaiah 41 10 to 13 with his mighty right hand and hold on to you.
385. 25:38I'll tell people this, you see me now, this will shock you, but I used to be an athlete.
386. 25:43I know look at me now, it doesn't look like it, but I used to be an athlete.
387. 25:46I could see that.
388. 25:50If I was trying to hold on to a branch, Alex, and I mean my life to append it on how long
389. 25:54I could hold on to that branch, I would be dead in about three seconds.
390. 25:59I could not hold myself up.
391. 26:00I'm old.
392. 26:01My shoulders are bad.
393. 26:02The whole works.
394. 26:03He reaches down his mighty right hand. He holds on to me
395. 26:08And he also tells us that nobody can take us out of his hands when you have that kind of a faith
396. 26:13With that kind of a Savior it changes the world around you in the world that we live in
397. 26:19You know, I want to talk about AI for a second
398. 26:22But you mentioned, you know sharing the gospel the great CS Lewis and by the way he lived 1898 to 1963
399. 26:28hands down one of the most literate, most brilliant voices of the 20th century.
400. 26:36C.S. Lewis, and there are a lot of interviews online where he was interviewed in the 50s,
401. 26:42and really even by the time of his death in 1963, C.S. Lewis was kind of a legend because
402. 26:49he was friends with Winston Churchill, he was on the BBC. But brilliant thinker,
403. 26:54Okay, apologist, philosopher.
404. 26:56They asked C.S. Lewis, how do you want to be remembered?
405. 27:00And he said, as an evangelist, Carl, isn't that cool?
406. 27:06It wasn't just knowledge and the Ivy League academia for the sake of data.
407. 27:13C.S. Lewis, he said apologetics, he wanted to be known as an evangelist.
408. 27:19Great, he's good.
409. 27:20I mean, what would be better than that is someone who really loves the Lord with all their heart,
410. 27:26all their soul, all their mind, all their strength, and is willing to go out into a world that
411. 27:31is not receptive.
412. 27:32Let's be very frank about that, not receptive to hearing about this type of a God who loves
413. 27:38us but will also judge us and hold us accountable for the decisions that we made.
414. 27:43That's not a popular message.
415. 27:45I would love to be known as somebody that just spoke the truth in love regardless of the
416. 27:50circumstance and situation but also lived it and exuded it.
417. 27:54I think all of us as Christians should really want to strive for that type of relationship,
418. 28:00one that is really impacting our lives and impacting the way that the world sees us.
419. 28:04Yeah, exactly.
420. 28:06One of the beautiful things about the biblical worldview, C.S. Lewis, and this will be the
421. 28:12last Lewis quote of the day, I promise, but he said Christianity is like the sun.
422. 28:18not only I see it, but by it I see everything else.
423. 28:23Now here's my point.
424. 28:25Here comes AI and some people make great sweeping claims, okay, computers will become our God.
425. 28:34No, by definition God is eternal.
426. 28:37Well computers are not eternal, there was a time when computers didn't exist.
427. 28:42By definition God is immutable, that's Malachi 3 and Hebrews 13 that God doesn't change.
428. 28:48Well, computers and hardware and data are changing all the time.
429. 28:54Carl, speak to us if you would for a moment and then I do want to drill in on the impact
430. 29:00of technology on the lives of young people.
431. 29:03But the biblical worldview, whether it's morals or marriage, sexuality, our origins, where
432. 29:14where we came from or technology, materialism, all that.
433. 29:19A Biblical worldview really does help us process
434. 29:25anything life throws at us, would you agree?
435. 29:27Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
436. 29:29And I wanna tie into what you were just talking about as well.
437. 29:32We also know that God is what?
438. 29:34God doesn't lie.
439. 29:36We know that God is perfect, all right?
440. 29:38Well, let's make that direct comparison with AI.
441. 29:41There's something that is called hallucinations.
442. 29:43Every AI, I don't care which one you use,
443. 29:46have what are called hallucinations.
444. 29:49I do this to illustrate this point.
445. 29:51I'll stand up in front of the audience,
446. 29:52I'll pull up, I've got on my phone,
447. 29:54I've got one of the, I'm not gonna mark it then,
448. 29:56but I've got one of the AI apps on my phone,
449. 29:59I say write a biography, write a bio for Carl Kirby,
450. 30:05and then I turn the phone to the audience
451. 30:06and they see it, boom, boom, boom, boom.
452. 30:08And within five seconds, I've got this massive bio,
453. 30:11and then I'll start reading it.
454. 30:12and alex i mean i'm reading
455. 30:14alex i gotta tell you you should feel pretty lucky that you got me on your
456. 30:17show today because when you read that by one really good brother indeed i got
457. 30:21one for you
458. 30:22uh... but go ahead that i've got one that's gonna blow your mind
459. 30:25but go ahead and it's a man it's amazing but i keep reading and then what
460. 30:29happens
461. 30:30inevitably
462. 30:32it gives false information that false information is called hallucinations
463. 30:37i'm talking as far as
464. 30:39books that are being cited that don't even exist quotes that are made
465. 30:43of never have been spoken
466. 30:46there is no way that this can become god because it is not perfect it is not
467. 30:50all knowing regardless of how much information man has we can never know
468. 30:56everything if you took every person on this planet
469. 30:58every look at knowledge that everyone of us had and you combine it and put it into
470. 31:02one entity
471. 31:03and a i it still doesn't even come close
472. 31:07to the Lord Jesus Christ and his wisdom.
473. 31:09Exactly.
474. 31:10Hey, you wanna hear something wild?
475. 31:12I did that very same thing.
476. 31:13After I saw you did it,
477. 31:15this is, I don't know, maybe a summer of 22.
478. 31:19We were down in Georgia,
479. 31:20because one of our camps is in Temple, Georgia.
480. 31:24But I did one of these AI bio things,
481. 31:27and some of it was right.
482. 31:28It said, you know, Alex McFarland
483. 31:30is a North Carolina based apologist and evangelist.
484. 31:34Okay, fair enough, right?
485. 31:37It said, he has an estimated net worth of $14 million.
486. 31:42And by the way, folks, that's not true.
487. 31:46That's over by roughly $14 million.
488. 31:50But anyway, why in the world that said that?
489. 31:53I have no idea.
490. 31:55Carl Kirby is our guest, Alex McFarland
491. 31:58sitting in for Abrahamilton.
492. 31:59Folks, stay tuned, we're gonna talk and wrap up about AI
493. 32:03and a Biblical worldview analysis of the world of technology that has immersed us.
494. 32:10Stay tuned to the website, afr.net.
495. 32:13You can listen again.
496. 32:14We've got one more big segment so don't go away.
497. 32:16We're back after this brief break.
498. 32:30So let's just stop here and say the most important thing that you can do to protect your child
499. 32:37online.
500. 32:38The first thing that you should do is to pray for them.
501. 32:42for them every day, multiple times a day,
502. 32:47and pray that God would protect them.
503. 32:49The Dr. Nurse Mama Show.
504. 32:51For more from Dr. Jessica Peck,
505. 32:53tune in at 2PM Central on American Family Radio,
506. 32:56or on the podcast page at AFR.net.
507. 33:05The Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Minute Common Terrets
508. 33:08are available at AFR.net.
509. 33:10Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
510. 33:16Welcome back to the program.
511. 33:18folks in talking about youth, whether it be the subject of technology or any subject.
512. 33:23You know, I think about a couple of scriptures that are very important to me, one of which
513. 33:28is Exodus 13.
514. 33:30Now think about this, folks.
515. 33:32It says when it comes to pass that your son will ask you, why do we do these things?
516. 33:37Then you will say when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, God with a strong hand delivered
517. 33:42us.
518. 33:43Now, you read Exodus 13 and Deuteronomy 6 as well about keeping the Word of God before
519. 33:50your eyes and on the walls of your house.
520. 33:53See, the implication, Mom and Dad, the implication is that you are living in such a way that your
521. 33:59children ultimately say, hey, Mom and Dad, how do I have what you've got?
522. 34:05Dad, I see it.
523. 34:07God is very real to you.
524. 34:09The Lord is the priority in all of your life.
525. 34:13How do I have that as well?
526. 34:16Biblical worldview.
527. 34:17And we say this on the show a lot of times, lose at anything else but win with your children.
528. 34:24Well somebody who is committed to that as well.
529. 34:26Carl Kirby, long time friend and colleague.
530. 34:29We've got a big summer of 2025 coming up.
531. 34:33The website for our Biblical worldview camps is equipretreat.org.
532. 34:39going to be this year we're going to be outside of Richmond, Virginia. We've not done a camp
533. 34:45up there and I'm very excited about the Richmond camp, Montana and Georgia and Carl, you know,
534. 34:55you and I each we keep a pretty full dance chord. We go pretty hard. But to see these
535. 35:01kids giving their life to Christ, getting into the Word of God and they begin to get
536. 35:07vision for their future with and for the Lord makes it all worthwhile doesn't it brother.
537. 35:15Oh you know that man I tell you one of the things that encouraged me hugely this year
538. 35:22and by the way I cannot wait to be at that Virginia camp I graduated high school from
539. 35:26Lexington Virginia so to get back in my state that I graduated from to start reaching the
540. 35:31youth there oh I can't wait but the Illinois one is a big one too we need to get some folks
541. 35:35to that Elgin, Illinois, Judson University. They're allowing us to use their facility
542. 35:41to reach out. And that's where we live. My son actually graduated from Judson. That's a long
543. 35:46story. But we need to get the young people to these things because when you have the opportunity
544. 35:53to see this young person and Alex and I both observed this at our Montana camp this year,
545. 35:58for three days, kids who did not want to be there, made it very apparent they didn't want
546. 36:02to be there to transform to the stage of a month later.
547. 36:07I'm watching a video of one of these young ladies who had been yelling at her counselors
548. 36:11for three days, didn't want to be there.
549. 36:14A young man who said, look, I'm here because my grandmother made me.
550. 36:19If I set my camp on fire, can I go home?
551. 36:21To then see a month later, these young men and women standing up in front of their church
552. 36:25testifying to the Lord Jesus Christ with joy exuding from them.
553. 36:30That's what the Holy Spirit does.
554. 36:32We don't do that.
555. 36:33We show up.
556. 36:34He shows up and amazing things happen.
557. 36:36So yes, there is no better place to be.
558. 36:39And that's why my summer months are totally committed.
559. 36:43I do not focus on going to churches or any of that type of thing.
560. 36:46It's like, guys, my summer months are committed to this younger generation.
561. 36:51So fill it.
562. 36:52And we did with our group of loan addicts, we did 24 camps in 10 weeks last year with just
563. 36:59the R4H speakers.
564. 37:00Yeah, yeah, and again folks listen I
565. 37:05Know look I was a youth pastor full-time
566. 37:08For a number of years and I know there's the amusement park and there's all the activities take them to you know
567. 37:14The water parks and and I've done it still do that kind of thing
568. 37:18But the the equip camps
569. 37:22That we feel we do all the fun stuff
570. 37:25I mean we do the zip lines and horseback riding in Montana and all that kind of stuff
571. 37:30but we get into the Word of God.
572. 37:32And very often it does take a day or two.
573. 37:35We've seen it many times,
574. 37:36because there's some kids that wanna be there
575. 37:39and some kids maybe mom and dad made them come.
576. 37:41But by the second or third day,
577. 37:43the Spirit of God is moving.
578. 37:45We've seen hundreds of kids open their heart to Christ
579. 37:49and be saved.
580. 37:50Then they get into the Word of God.
581. 37:52Carl, one of the things that I just praise God,
582. 37:54we were in South Carolina at a camp,
583. 37:59a Wannata Valley. I used to play guitar there before I was even saved. That's another story.
584. 38:05But young life, I would go to be the guitar player for the praise team and I wasn't even
585. 38:13saved yet. But anyway, so to minister, there's very special to me. But there was a young man
586. 38:19and he got saved. And so excited, he said to me, Mr. McFarland, I read my Bible 45 minutes
587. 38:27yesterday. He said, I've never really read a book. I read 45 minutes in the Bible and I wasn't even on my
588. 38:34meds. His ADHD. Well, we have got the glory. And Carl, do you remember last summer we were in South
589. 38:43Carolina and it was raining. So we were all indoors. It was kind of a gloomy dark day. And some kids were
590. 38:49playing ping pong and just hanging out. But I was looking around this big, the meeting room. And
591. 38:55And there were kids were in a corner reading the Bible because I had challenged them to
592. 39:01read Proverbs which is God's wisdom.
593. 39:04And I'm like praise the Lord, 15 year olds that it's a rainy indoor day and they're reading
594. 39:10the Bible.
595. 39:12That changes lives.
596. 39:14And absolutely does.
597. 39:16And I'll never forget the endless conversations of young people coming up and wanting more
598. 39:25information. I was at the Georgia camp and we've got this on video. I didn't realize they
599. 39:29had video tape this, but you know when we're talking now, it's we're not just doing dry
600. 39:33lectures. We're interacting and we have 17 teaching sessions over the five days. So we're
601. 39:38interacting with the kids and I looked down at my watch and I was like, oh boy, I've got
602. 39:4110 minutes left, but I still had 20 minutes plus of material in my talk on my computer,
603. 39:47right? So I'm making off the cuff comment. Guys, let me skip ahead here so that we can get
604. 39:51out on time because when I finished they were going out on the boats they were going to do
605. 39:55the zip lines and the work walls and all that stuff and Alex I've got it on video the kids
606. 40:02literally called out no we want to keep going we don't have anywhere to go and I teared up
607. 40:08I mean if on camera like I teared up I choked up I was like I can't believe this and adults
608. 40:14are telling me kids don't care they care they want this information these topics that
609. 40:19you're talking about on a a far in all the programs all the great work program
610. 40:24programs and a far they are equipping people to deal with real issues and
611. 40:30parents and grandparents let me encourage you you can have a vital role in the
612. 40:36changing of a generation engage with them teach them the application of their
613. 40:41faith and model it as alexa alexa been talking about model it don't just look
614. 40:46live it. Yeah, exactly. And folks, let me say this, in business, there's the concept of what they call
615. 40:54this, a unique selling proposition. Okay, what can you do that the competitor can't give, right?
616. 41:03So let's say a restaurant, you know, we make the best pizza in town, right, or whatever, or, well,
617. 41:09Let me say in the church, we have a unique selling proposition. Look, I've been around the youth
618. 41:16group world for a long time and I know youth groups, they do, you know, bounce houses and fun
619. 41:23stuff and all that and that. That's okay. But I would submit churches across the western world
620. 41:30don't try to just be the barrel of fun, wild, and crazy. Look, there's plenty of
621. 41:38wild and crazy out in the world. You as the Christian leader, you as the church, what
622. 41:44do you have that they can't get somewhere else? Well, for one thing, you've got the
623. 41:49scripture, the Word of God. And maybe your youth group is three
624. 41:54disinterested teenagers or middle schoolers, or maybe you've got 25 or 30. I
625. 42:00I know there's the fellowship and there's the pizza and there's the, you know, paintball and all that,
626. 42:06but what you as the church can give that they can't really get somewhere else is the scripture
627. 42:15and good solid teaching. And Carl, I want to queue this up for you and maybe if you would give a
628. 42:21challenge that we, in all the doing, let's not forget the purpose. It is Jesus, it is his Word,
629. 42:29It is calling people to a decision and
630. 42:33Commitment and then let's tell this young generation
631. 42:37You have a place in the body of Christ
632. 42:41You're hopefully you're gonna get married and have a family
633. 42:44Hopefully you're going to be employed and have a career, but let's remember every believer is
634. 42:50to play a role in the church and the body of Christ and
635. 42:55And these are some of our unique things that we should not neglect.
636. 42:59Amen.
637. 43:01I would encourage other families right now, if they download our app, all you have to do
638. 43:06is search for RFOR H, same as website.
639. 43:11And you'll see a blue asterisk on a black background downloaded at the bottom.
640. 43:14It says speakers hit that.
641. 43:16You'll see my picture is great for keeping mice out of the pantry as well.
642. 43:20You hit that.
643. 43:21And if you scroll down, you'll see this thing called within our reach.
644. 43:24It's a documentary that we produced.
645. 43:27We always give the stats that we're losing 50% to 88% of the kids.
646. 43:30Well, one day it just hit me.
647. 43:32That means that 12% to 50% of the young people from Christian
648. 43:36homes are staying.
649. 43:37What are they doing in those homes?
650. 43:39And so we went through and did the research.
651. 43:41And we put out these very common sense things that
652. 43:46are being done in the homes where the young people are staying
653. 43:49so that parents incorporate these into your house.
654. 43:52You can do these things.
655. 43:53And so it is vitally important that our young people
656. 43:59have their own ministry.
657. 44:01They can't go to your church parent,
658. 44:03they have to go to their church.
659. 44:05And what I mean by that is I'm not telling you
660. 44:06to separate the family.
661. 44:08I'm saying have them take ownership
662. 44:11in the church that they're in.
663. 44:13If that youth leader is trying to build his own kingdom
664. 44:16and is not begging from a total leadership
665. 44:18to come alongside him and help train this generation up,
666. 44:21you better get rid of that, Joker.
667. 44:22you need to be this teaching and training a generation and they're going to need
668. 44:26people around them
669. 44:28so bring them and give them their own ministry within that church that you
670. 44:32attend because it's got to become theirs
671. 44:34and it's very easy stuff to do like that
672. 44:38and that's going to make a major difference so yes
673. 44:40this generation i do believe is looking for real
674. 44:44application
675. 44:45to their faith
676. 44:47korl as i was prepping for the program i was reading an article uh... this
677. 44:51morning
678. 44:52about how there are AI friends.
679. 44:57And this is not really new because,
680. 44:59do you remember even like maybe 20 years ago,
681. 45:01these computer pets that you had to digitally feed
682. 45:07and things like that?
683. 45:07And there were kids that would go into depression
684. 45:11and just a kind of a dark spiral
685. 45:13if their little electronic Pikachu pet would die or something.
686. 45:18Well, nowadays there are apps with AI friends and, look, I love technology.
687. 45:25I'm what they call an early adopter.
688. 45:28But here's the thing.
689. 45:32Technology cannot replace human interaction.
690. 45:36And to your point, Carl, challenging young people.
691. 45:39Like I always, when I'm at our camps, wherever, I'll go and I'll say to kids, they'll say,
692. 45:45hey, are you a strong reader?
693. 45:47And they might go, well, yeah, sure.
694. 45:48I'll say, would you read my scripture? Here it is. Now I look it up. I help them. I say, see, you know,
695. 45:54Philippians 1 verse 6, would you practice? I want you to feel comfortable, but I'm going to call you
696. 46:00up and read. Now oftentimes kids are like, oh, I'm not sure. I'm like, come on, you can do it. You
697. 46:07be my reader. Now, you want to give kids, you want to set them up to succeed, but you want to gently
698. 46:17and maybe stretch them a little bit, give them more and more leadership.
699. 46:21And Carl, I'm getting off topic, hang with me folks, you'll see where I'm going with this.
700. 46:27But Angie and I, we used to, we would say, okay, we're going to do a big thing, our big
701. 46:32monthly get together, now you're in charge of the food.
702. 46:35I'm going to give you some budget, and we're going to have 25 people, but you're in charge
703. 46:40of the food.
704. 46:41And let the kids, they'll probably surpass your expectations.
705. 46:47Yes, I'm here.
706. 46:48Can you hear me?
707. 46:50Carl, can you hear me?
708. 46:51Okay.
709. 46:53They'll probably surpass your expectations, but let them fail.
710. 47:00They're not going to fail, but you want to delegate more and more leadership so they will
711. 47:06grow.
712. 47:07And Carl, part of the reason I'm talking about this is because I think we have to sort of preemptively
713. 47:15ward off the way that technology has de-socialized us.
714. 47:23I mean, so many young people, they are just like, they can't really have a conversation.
715. 47:29They can't look you in the eye.
716. 47:32I've had kids who say, hey, how's it going?
717. 47:36And they're like, they can't even respond.
718. 47:39They freak out, oh, a human is talking to me.
719. 47:42I mean, so you want to give opportunity for socialization.
720. 47:45I hear that music.
721. 47:47Carl, are you still there?
722. 47:50I think we lost our guests.
723. 47:51Carl Kirby.
724. 47:53Such is radio and cell phones.
725. 47:56But this is Alex McFarland.
726. 47:58And I want to just encourage you look, AI computers, it's a fine servant, it's a terrible
727. 48:04master.
728. 48:06We can use technology, but let's not let technology use us.
729. 48:12And as always, the Word of God is that timeless truth, not the opinion of man, but the eternal
730. 48:19revelation of God.
731. 48:21Build your life and the lives of your kids on that.
732. 48:24Well thanks for listening, Alex McFarlane here.
733. 48:26Thanks to Jeff McIntosh for engineering my guest Carl Kirby.
734. 48:30Hey tell somebody about AFR, but tell everybody about Jesus.
735. 48:39The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
736. 48:44Family Association or American Family Radio.