INTRODUCTION
This, the third in the series¹, is about AI agents’ response to the question
“The Book of Revelation warns the Church of Laodicea (sp?) about being “lukewarm.” What does “lukewarm” mean for the individual Catholic and how can he/she be ardent and not lukewarm? Please summarize your answer in about 200 words.”
You’ll see that the answers follow a similar pattern, with four or five different traits that should be cultivated. There are differences in tone, but if you had come across any of the responses as a blog post or podcast, you could readily believe that the piece had been written by a Catholic faithful (human, that is) and the AI agent has passed the Turing Test².
Let’s see first, what Claude, the “Ethical AI,” has to say.
CLAUDE’S ANSWER (SONNET 3, ANTHROPIC)
“Lukewarm Faith and How to Overcome It
In Revelation 3:15-16, Christ warns the Laodicean church against being “lukewarm”—neither hot nor cold. For Catholics, this represents spiritual mediocrity: going through religious motions without genuine devotion, practicing faith from habit rather than love, and avoiding both serious sin and serious commitment.
Lukewarm believers compartmentalize faith as just one part of life rather than letting it transform everything. They’re satisfied with minimal spiritual effort, neither rejecting God outright nor embracing passionate discipleship.
To cultivate ardent faith:
Deepen prayer and sacraments: Attend Mass attentively, receive Communion with proper preparation, pray consistently beyond mere routine, and use Confession regularly.
Engage Scripture seriously: Let God’s word and spiritual writings challenge and inspire, not just inform.
Love actively: Move beyond comfortable charity to genuine sacrifice, especially for the poor, seeing Christ in others.
Pursue ongoing conversion: Regularly examine conscience, identify growth areas, and actively work to overcome sins while developing virtues.
Surrender completely: Allow God to be truly Lord of your life, remaining open to His will even when difficult.
The antidote to lukewarmness is a living relationship with Christ that permeates every aspect of life, marked by both genuine love and holy reverence.”
Copilot’s answer also would pass the Turing Test².
COPILOT’S ANSWER (MICROSOFT)
“In Revelation 3:15–16, the Church of Laodicea is rebuked for being “lukewarm”—neither hot nor cold—symbolizing spiritual indifference or complacency. For a Catholic individual, being lukewarm means practicing the faith without genuine love, zeal, or commitment. It’s going through the motions—attending Mass, praying occasionally, or following moral teachings—without allowing these actions to transform the heart or deepen one’s relationship with Christ.
To avoid lukewarmness and become ardent, a Catholic can:
- Cultivate a personal prayer life that goes beyond routine, seeking intimacy with God.
- Receive the sacraments regularly, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, with sincere devotion.
- Study Scripture and Church teachings to grow in understanding and conviction.
- Serve others actively, living out the Gospel through charity and justice.
- Embrace spiritual challenges, such as fasting or spiritual reading, to deepen commitment.
Ardent faith is marked by love, joy, and a desire to grow closer to God. It’s not about perfection, but about striving with sincerity and passion. Christ’s warning to Laodicea is a call to awaken the heart and live the faith fully.
Would you like a reflection or prayer to accompany this summary?”
I almost responded “yes, please,” to the last question, but caught myself. And now to my workhorse AI agent, Perplexity Pro.
PERPLEXITY PRO’S ANSWER
“In the Book of Revelation, being “lukewarm” refers to spiritual indifference or complacency—neither hot (passionate for God) nor cold (opposed to God). For an individual Catholic, this can mean practicing the faith out of habit, without genuine love, conviction, or effort toward spiritual growth. Lukewarmness is marked by going through the motions: attending Mass but not praying with heart, ignoring opportunities for charity, or neglecting personal prayer and confession.
To be ardent instead of lukewarm, a Catholic should strive for an active, passionate commitment to Christ. This includes regular, heartfelt prayer, frequent confession, faithful attendance at Mass, and daily reading of Scripture or spiritual texts. Engaging with the sacraments, actively loving and serving others, and finding joy in living the faith help ignite true zeal. Authenticity, joy, and a real relationship with Christ—especially spending time before the Blessed Sacrament—can transform routine into ardor, leading to a vibrant and compelling Catholic witness.”
Perplexity Pro gave the four sources from which it had derived its answer: SK Drexel-Amador “10 Ways to grow your Catholic faith,” reddit “How can I get deeper in the Catholic faith,” Integrated Catholic Life “Four Practical Ways to Ignite Our Catholic Faith,” Catholic Telegraph “Here are 5 Catholic practices to help strengthen your faith life in 2024.”
And finally, let’s see what Grok3, the quirky AI agent, the one with occasional off-beat opinions, has to say.
GROK 3’S ANSWER
“In the Book of Revelation (3:15-16), the Church of Laodicea is warned for being “lukewarm”—neither hot nor cold—spiritually complacent and indifferent. For an individual Catholic, being “lukewarm” means lacking fervor in faith, living a superficial spiritual life without deep commitment to God. This manifests as prioritizing worldly concerns over spiritual growth, neglecting prayer, sacraments, or charity, and failing to fully embrace the Gospel’s call to holiness.
To avoid being lukewarm, a Catholic can cultivate ardency by deepening their relationship with God through regular prayer, such as the Rosary or contemplative prayer, and frequent participation in the Eucharist and Confession, which strengthen spiritual vitality. Engaging in acts of charity, studying Scripture, and living out the virtues—especially faith, hope, and love—ignite passion for Christ. Joining a faith community or spiritual group fosters accountability and encouragement. Additionally, embracing personal sacrifice, such as fasting or almsgiving, aligns one’s life with Christ’s teachings. By actively pursuing holiness, rejecting complacency, and seeking God’s grace, a Catholic can live with fervor, becoming “hot” in faith, fully committed to God’s will, and a witness to the Gospel’s transformative power. (Word count: 184)”
COMMENTARY
The answers are similar, but with different flavors, so to speak. They all speak of prayer, devotion to the sacraments, studying scripture, service. Perplexity Pro’s answer, with its list of sources, reveals a major function of an AI agent: as a sophisticated internet search device.
Again, I ask the reader in the Comments section below to suggest questions for future posts.
NOTES
¹For the first two articles in this series see here and here.
²The “Turing Test” is a blind encounter: a computer and a real person answers questions. If the answers can not be distinguished, Turing says one is forced to conclude the computer has human intelligence.
As Dr. Johnson observed about reviews of Classical literature: after so many centuries of commentary, how can one expect anything new? The same is true of Scripture. Pretty much every orthodox writer has said (and written) the same or similar things, so that some computer program “discovers” that sameness is no surprise, and little credit to the system.
It is an ongoing mistake to speak of machines and computers having artificial “intelligence,” no matter how sophisticated they are.
They have been programmed by intelligent programmers. And they can respond to questions in ways that the programmers have designed. The machine has no intelligence of its own.
It is not much different from a video or a book, which contains the wisdom of its author. The pages and ink are not wise, but the author may be.
People imagine that machines can develop consciousness and free will, like the HAL 9000 in A Space Odyssey.
If the Koran were loaded into a large language format what would AI say?
In a previous article I’ve suggested a better name than AI would be machine learning. I myself do not believe these agents are intelligent, in the larger sense of the term. They are super-powerful search agents and correlators of what has been produced previously by human intelligence (i.e. billions/trillion of data pieces).
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AI=GIGO; Artificial Intelligence = Garbage in. Garage out.
Garbage in Garbage out