Ideas

When I was in high school my nickname was Padre. I was always preaching. During football season, my teammates would mock me, until they needed someone to block the middle linebacker. I wood-burned the name Padre into my lacrosse stick.

But it wasn’t until I was introduced to Francis Schaeffer that my preaching was wedded with reasoning, something I now call “apologetic-evangelism.” Don’t get me wrong. Preaching is important. But if we read Scripture carefully, preaching is for Christians in The Church.

Did my schoolmates need to hear my daily sermonettes? Possibly. But I learned over the years that sharing the gospel with others means listening to the questions they ask, then, giving answers to questions asked, based on The Hope I have in the Biblical Story.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

Can A.I. become ‘god’?

Give me a minute to explain.

Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, meets an evil Entity in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. The hero calls it, “An anti-god that thinks it’s God.” “The Entity” – notice the capitalization – of the sinister agent known as “AI” (artificial intelligence) is given a second movie appearance (a follow-up to the movie Dead Reckoning).

Robert Nicholson in Providence magazine brings together the inevitable Hollywood connection to The Bible – since stories can’t exist without The Story. If I wasn’t so put off by the ethical quandaries I have about AI, I might be more hopeful, as is Ross Douthat in National Review, who says,

“No matter what the nerds in their silicon labyrinths create, a strenuous and indomitable form of physical exertion will always defeat the merely virtual.”

For me, said simply, what is artificial will never replace what is personal.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

AFTERWORD Over the last few years I have written with growing ethical concerns about artificial intelligence. Something I wrote in my 25 October 2024 email went this way:

One of the presentations I put together this week was for a colleague who has to create a course on “artificial intelligence.” I have written about AI in several past Friday emails. What concerns me most about AI is what I wrote about some weeks ago:

Ethics at the university is something I teach in my courses (I’ve commented on these ideas in other Friday emails) but may not be found in the most important social construction of our day: artificial intelligence (AI). According to Inside Higher Ed boundaries of right and wrong are not being addressed. An excerpt tells the tale:

Colleges are slow to change, and many students say ethics in technology offerings are optional, separate from the “real” work of computing or simply nonexistent. As society reckons with the sometimes-dark side of technology, many in academe are asking how ethics is—or isn’t—integrated into college and university technology curricula. “In most computer science departments, there’s zero mandatory classes in anything having to do with society—whether ethics or social impact.”

Check out what these profs said who study AI. Professors are on the front line of education – they are in the classroom. [BTW, actors don’t like AI and are filing suit; students who are falsely accused of using AI are not happy; and middle school principals do not like AI as it was used to defame them in social media.]

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

Why do I own so many books?

Give me a minute to explain.

5,000 books. That is the approximate number of volumes I own.

Stating this fact is not a matter of arrogance but one of humility. Every time I open a book I discover again how much I do not know. Often as I read, I shake my head not only at the amount of knowledge contained in the books I hold, but also my own knowledge deficit.

Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird explains:

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfold world after world. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

I am an honest, transparent unicorn.

Give me a minute to explain.

Being honest sometimes gets me in trouble. I see the raised eyebrows or the eyes that go wide when I make certain statements or question what is culturally accepted. I don’t always think the way others do. I tend to come at things at a 45-degree angle.

Emily Dickinson wrote a poem to make the point titled “Tell the Truth but Tell It Slant.”

My daughter Chelsea just refers to me as a “unicorn.”

Maybe you’re like me. To be straightforward about age, about losses and gains isn’t the norm but it’s a healthy way to consider life. Whatever your age, consider what you have and what you don’t have, what you’ve gained and what you’ve lost. I’m fine knowing that whatever else is in store for me, I live under the Providences of God. As Ecclesiastes eight says,

“Eat, drink and be joyful through the days of life God has given.”

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

Everyone should have a mission statement.

Give me a minute to explain.

Recently, I was able to help someone online with their personal mission statement.

As I said in my Personal Faith Statement, I have been given the responsibility to “guard the good deposit given to me with the help of the Holy Spirit” according to 2 Timothy 1.14. Such a perspective will impact our whole person—our mind, emotions, will, choices, conduct, and affections. The Hebraic-Christian view of the world will be a God-centered window through which we see the world. “The fact is inescapable,” said the famed Frank Gaebelein in The Pattern of God’s Truth,

“The world view of the teacher, insofar as she is effective, gradually conditions the world view of the pupil. No person teaches out of a philosophical vacuum. In one way or another, every teacher expresses the mission she lives by.”

Christians would benefit by creating a personal mission statement.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

Whenever I hear these words, I am wary.

Give me a minute to explain.

Henri Nouwen, in his book Out of Solitude says,

“When we honestly ask ourselves which people in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.”

Pondering that quote I think of the commands we hear in our culture,

“Be kind.” “Be nice.” “Be loving.”

But to these I would say,

“Be wary.”

Keeping these commands should first be practiced by the one giving them. According to Zechariah 7:9 truth, justice, kindness, and mercy are intended to go together. If Christians are to practice these ideals perhaps we could begin with the line from Titus 3.2,

“be ready for every good work, speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, and show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

Are you a YouTube commercial,

advertising your beliefs?

Give me a minute to explain.

Sports teams and race car drivers wear the names of advertisers on their uniforms. And I wonder what kind of advertisements are seen on us?

How have we been influenced by groups, organizations, institutions, or communities?

How do our views of life intersect with how we have been trained, mentored, educated, or directed?

How do movies, music, art, or reading mold our minds?

How does the time, place, culture, or context of our person subtly transform us?

How do our emotions, will, or the threads of our interior person impact our motivations and decisions?

We must not kid ourselves. The race car drivers’ uniform has nothing on us. We wear the advertisements of one hundred influencers. Do not think that we stand unsullied by the marketing from the latest logo.

If we want to be our own person, we must first answer “Who owns our person?”

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

What would you do? How far would you go?

Give me a minute to explain.

The word “commitment” reminds me of a scene in Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars:

“To protect her Jewish friend, a Christian girl tears from her neck a gold chain bearing a Star of David and clenches it in her fist moments before Nazi soldiers arrive. She clenches it so tightly that, by the time the soldiers have left, an impression of the Star of David is imprinted in her palm.”

A fourth-grade teacher read the book to her class telling Lowry this story. On the day the teacher read that chapter, she had brought into the class a chain and Star of David like the one described in the book. As she read the chapter, she had the students pass the chain around the class. While she was reading, she noticed that each student pressed the star into his or her palm, making an imprint.

That class learned commitment.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

[From 20 June 2015, 17 July 2018 https://warpandwoof.org/character/ and https://warpandwoof.org/reading-images-imagination-2-min-vid-text/ ]

Decision making can be difficult.

Give me a minute to suggest three questions that could help.

How to respond and when to act are hard to know for certain. Here are three questions to ask yourself

(1) CAN I? What is your time and place in the world. What vocational gifts have you been given? Are you able and capable of action based on who you are?

(2) SHOULD I? The question is about ethics, about right and wrong. If I see that someone has a financial need – and I am able to contribute – how can I help? If I see a matter of right and wrong, how do I speak to the issue?

(3) MUST I? When is it imperative that I invest my abilities, time, energy, or finances? When someone asks what I believe, I MUST answer. When I have opportunity to defend women, children, and minorities, I MUST act. When prompted by God’s Spirit, I MUST act.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

What does it mean to be a success?

Give Me a Minute to explain.

Do millions of followers on social media make one successful? What of the business people, actors, entrepreneurs, or athletes who seem to have it all? Can we judge celebrities by the front covers of Vogue or Forbes?

We often think of an accomplished person as one who has achieved based on their talent or skill. We esteem “winners” who see a good “bottom line” at the “end of the day.” We honor the physical, visible accomplishments of “stars.”

But there is another kind of “accomplished.” The Bible focuses not on developing business but developing a person.

In Hebrew, a person is defined by their integrity. The accomplishment of this person is measured against a straight edge, one who is “upright.” Integrity in the Bible is seen in a person totally committed, walking one path.

We expect consistent behavior based on a person wholly devoted to their Lord.

Thanks for spending this minute with me, Dr. Mark Eckel.

Mark Eckel (MA English, ThM Old Testament, PhD Social Science Research) is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration, Liberty University.

“Give Me a Minute” is an ongoing effort to simply, clearly, and quickly explain aspects of true Truth.

Gratitude, as always, to my longtime friend, videographer, and tech guru Josh for his continued service.

[From Proverbs 2:7; 10:9, 29; 13:6; 19:1; 28:6, 10, 18]