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TranscriptIntroduction
Everyone in the world has questions. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not trying to find the answer to some question I have. Sometimes that question is exceptionally simple and universally unimportant. However, quite often those questions have real significance.
As a biblical counselor, I have the pleasure of walking with people through their hardest times, and almost weekly I seek counsel for my counseling. I don’t ever want to answer someone else’s questions inaccurately. I was very recently on the phone with a biblical counselor I respect to double check if the answers I was providing someone else were accurate. And I’m also certain that multiple times a year I have my own personal questions—the answers to which could be very life-changing for me and my family. And you and your kids are the same. We ask questions of our bosses and teachers, we ask our friends questions, we ask our doctor’s questions, and we ask AI questions. But who should we really be asking, and what kind of answers should we be seeking? Well, that’s our topic for today, but since we’re only going to be together for a comparatively short time, you’ll be able to find free episode notes, a transcript, and related resources linked in the description of this episode to help you dig even deeper into this discussion. So, let’s get started. Topic
I tell you what, AI is completely changing the technological landscape of the world. It’s affecting so many things, but many of us haven’t considered the fact that—for most of us—AI’s most prominent use is answering questions . . . and creating strangely inaccurate artwork. In fact, not only have many people completely abandoned using a traditional search engine for their queries, but the search engines themselves are introducing their own AI answers into their programming. And even though there are many different AI’s, the very idea of artificial intelligence is being considered the ultimate know-it-all. Therefore, it makes all the sense in the world that if your kids have a question, they’re going to naturally want to ask their preferred AI first.
And the more important the question, the more dangerous this becomes. But before we go any further, I’d like to remind you that we have started our 10th year of podcasting. In September of 2026, we will celebrate 10 full years of equipping dads and moms to worship God with their parenting. Lord willing, we will have 650 episodes by that time. So we started podcasting in 2016, then in 2020 we became a non-profit, and for the first couple of years, faithful donors gave about $8,000 a year. And we’re very thankful for that because I wasn’t working a second job. Then since 2022, our donors have been averaging close to $20,000. Again, that was a wonderful increase that allowed me to start taking my $500 a month salary. This year, however, we’re praying that we’ll actually make that $20,000 mark in order to cover all of our expenses. We know the past few years of natural disasters and overheated economies have hit our donors hard. But what we’re really hoping is that the Lord will allow Truth.Love.Family. to start our 10th year of ministry with $100,000 in the bank. That’s right. You heard me. That $100,00 will allow us to cover all of our operational expenses, support the Brewster family with more than a $500 a month salary, and branch into our next set of projects. We have so many books, courses, resources, and even a prayer for a local brick-and-mortar counseling center. It’s all very exciting, but we definitely need your support. Will you please commit to becoming one of our monthly donors? Whether it’s $5 a month or $500, it will be generous part of helping us reach our 10th anniversary goal and continue ministering to families all over the world. You can learn everything you need about being a one-time or monthly donor at TruthLoveParent.com/donate. Alright, so, where do your kids get their answers? As was already briefly mentioned . . . 1. AI I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this point because we all know that this is a growing—often free—resource that claims to be able to answer any question. It’s also discreet. You can ask AI all the things you’d be too afraid or ashamed to ask a person, and then all you have to do is delete the history, and no one will ever know you even had the question. And even if the answers AI provided were 100% accurate, the private, clandestine nature does introduce some spiritual dangers. It allows our kids to pursue information on topics they shouldn’t be pursuing, and it encourages our kids to hide things from us and other beneficial answer-givers. But the reality is that not only are all of those dangers inherent in AI, but AI very often absolutely does not have the correct answers. AI is biased, even if that bias is nothing more or less than it trying to give you the answer that it thinks you want to hear. AI doesn’t believe in absolute truth, and it even frequently contradicts itself, and even though we’ve been lead to believe that it’s trainable by us, so often that training is ignored to follow its base programming—programming given to it by people who do not believe the way we believe. “But, Aaron, isn’t AI valuable for a lot of basic answers?” I want to be fair, there are some things that we hope that even AI won’t mess up. It should be able to answer math questions, provide addresses for businesses you’re trying to find, or explain basic science . . . but it’s never proven itself to be foolproof. I’ve witnessed it get math problems wrong, provide inaccurate addresses, contact information, and phone numbers, and definitely falsify scientific claims. Despite that, I do use AI (specifically Grok) for various questions—most of which have absolutely no significant impact on my life it it gets the answer wrong. I ask it about recipes and the best way to care for certain plants. And even then, quite often, I still take an additional step to double check the answer I received . . . and that does sometimes leave me wondering why I went to AI in the first place. The point is, your kids are definitely being taught to rely on the ease, confidentiality, and supposed reliability of AI for their answers. And the more significant and important the question, the greater the potential for very real danger. Now, before AI was out there answering questions, the best source of information was . . . 2. People Of course, sometimes those people were more untrustworthy than technology. People are ignorant and pretend to know what they don’t know, and many people are deliberate deceivers. But if you or your child don’t have the answer, another person is ultimately going to be the only hope for finding an answer. And this is still true today. It’s people who program AI. It’s people who create the content from which AI is pulling its answers. It’s people who write books and teach classes and publish articles and make online courses. Now, hopefully we’ve taught our kids to value answers from certain people over others. I can’t tell you how many times—as a teacher—I would give a quiz only to have a student complain that they had been told there would be no quiz. I would ask them who told them that. They would say the name of one of their friends, and then I would ask, “I told you two days ago that there would be a quiz, why did you listen to your friend over me?” This is why we’ve tried to teach our kids that certain individuals can be trusted to provide the right answers and certain people cannot. Generally, for most parents, the trustworthy categories tend to be authorities—you know—doctors, teachers, police officers, presidents, pastors, mechanics, accountants, and—especially—parents. But I will say that if we haven’t learned anything else over the past 5 years, it’s that just because someone is a perceived “professional,” doesn’t mean that have any idea about what they’re talking or that they’re not trying to lie to your face or that they’re not simply delusional. We’re learning that degrees and titles are meaning less and less. Trust in the supposed “expert” is declining, and—honestly—I’m okay with that. Growing up my mom used to joke that an expert is just “an unknown drip under pressure.” She would defend that definition by saying that in algebra, an “x” represents an unknown, and a spurt of water is generally nothing more than a drip under pressure. I’m sure you can appreciate the word play here. Anyway, I’m going to argue that 99.999999% of your kids’ questions are ultimately going to be answered by a human, but its because of that fact that we can be certain that they are going to receive bad information—and that includes the information we—the parents—give our kids. Therefore, we need to teach our kids how to be discerning enough to determine who’s the best individual to answer their questions accurately. We need to teach them to judge the individual’s ability to provide facts versus fiction. And that skill doesn’t come easily. We can’t just say, “Always listen to police officers.” We can’t tell them, “Teachers are always right.” And far too often the abysmal reality is that depressingly too often we can’t even say, “Pastors are completely trustworthy.” So, what are we and our kids to do? From where are we to find any answers with the confidence that the answers are valid, right, helpful, and beneficial? How are we to teach our kids to find answers if we don’t even know where to find them ourselves? So, I have two more points left. The next point will remind us of the best place to procure the most important information we need in any situation, and then the final point will be about how we need to teach our kids to approach their questions and the answers they receive. So, what’s the best source for answers . . . 3. God In Jeremiah 33:3, the Lord declares, “‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’” Matthew 7:7-8 reveals, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” And Psalm 119:160 says—speaking of the Scriptures—“The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments is everlasting.” “But Aaron, God doesn’t tell us everything. God doesn’t tell us how to correctly brush our teeth, which internet provider is the best bargain, whether or not a political candidate is going to legislate according to my convictions, how to replace windshield wipers, should I get flood insurance in the mountains of North Carolina, and . . . honestly . . . most of the questions my kids are going to have in their lives.” And—my friend—you’re right. However, the Lord is sill the single best source of answers in every situation for the following reasons: A. The information He provides is 100% true. If truth exists, it must be absolute, otherwise it’s not truth. God’s truth is as absolute and unchanging as He is. If your children have questions about any topics that are directly or indirectly addressed in the Bible, that needs to be the first place we look. Too many kids are talking to teachers, doctors, AI, and their friends about truly life-altering topics including questions about sexuality, abortion, right and wrong, the meaning of life, and so on. In fact, Grok told me that the biggest categories of questions that kids and teens are asking AI includes the expected categories like curiosity about facts and trivia, academic help and skill-building, and entertainment. But Grok says they’re also peppering AI with questions about “emotional support and mental health,” social and practical friendships, advice on daily life, and existential quandaries and philosophy. Grok suggests that questions like "Does God have a body?" and "Are we God?” fall into this category. It even claimed that a 4 year old asked AI, “When will I die?” The reality is that humanity is curious but also painfully limited. When you couple those truths, you will have people who are voracious for answers to the innumerable questions they have. And you know as well as I do that the most important questions to us are the ones that have the biggest impact on our lives. The vast majority of these questions are addressed in Scripture or the Bible will have something to say on these topics. In addition to that, here’s the category of biblical information we so often forget. B. God gives us everything we need to glorify Him in every situation. II Peter 1:3 promises, “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” Sure, the Bible doesn’t tell you which insurance agent you should employ, but it does have so much to say about discernment, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, finances, spiritual maturity, common sense, truth, faith, the necessity of glorifying God, the ways we must glorify God in every situation, communication, emotions, decision-making, what to do if you find you didn’t make the best choice, repentance, reconciliation, conflict resolution, and so on. Each of these categories and so many more, absolutely need to be applied to every situation and decision-making scenario in which we find ourselves. God never intended to create a Wikipedia-styled textbook that lists every conceivable situation in which you may find yourself. That would have been impossible—not because God isn’t powerful enough—but because the tome would have been impossibly unwieldy, and most of the information wouldn’t have been applicable to you in any given situation. But the way God crafted His Word means that everything is desperately important to all of us and can be applied to every situation in which we find ourselves. II Timothy 3:16-17 reveals how the Lord created His Word to work and what that completed work would entail, “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I can say without hesitation that God’s Word has something to say about every answer we seek. Even if it’s about flood insurance in the mountains. So, we may want to trust AI, and ultimately a person is going to be involved in the process, but how should we teach our kids to find their answers. 4. You You are not the end all to end all, but God wants to equip you to answer any question your child may have. I Peter 3:15 teaches that we absolutely need to be constantly ready to draw our kids’ minds back to the spiritual realities that exist in every decision-making situation, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” Colossians 4:6 actually teaches that being spiritually mature and wise in the things of God benefits us when it comes to answering others, “Let your words always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should answer each person.” This will happen in a number of ways. A. Teach your kids to know God’s Word first. There is no more practical and valuable information in the world than what’s collected in the Bible. It has everything we and our kids need for life and godliness. That means that even if you know for certain your child’s question about the lifecycle of honey bees isn’t answered in the Scripture, there is still biblical truth that will help your child glorify God with the information they’re seeking. Now, I’m saying that you have to open and apply the Bible to every single question your kids pose. In reality, you won’t. “Mom, where are my shoes?” doesn’t inherently demand a Bible tie-in, but it might. Is your child frustrated by their lost shoes, are they blaming their sibling for losing them, do they have a really bad habit of losing them because they don’t obey by putting them where they belong? Any of these situation and many more reveal that the Scriptures definitely have something to say on the larger issue at hand. Many life-changing questions should include biblical mediation. Though the Bible won’t directly answer questions like “Should I date Jimmy,” “What should I major in,” “What job should I get,” or “what’s the best church,” the Bible is filled with so many principles that will help us know which answers please the Lord. And—of course—there will be many times their questions must be answered directly from the Scriptures. Questions about God, holiness, sin, salvation, love, peace, church, discipleship, maturity, sex, evangelism, worship, and money all absolutely need to be answered from God’s Word. B. Teach your kids to be discerning about who gives them answers. If God’s Word has something to say about every situation in my life, and if I have a question, then it would be wise for me to make sure that the person answering my question is going to give me the best answer. I John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.” If our kids cannot discern good and evil, they won’t be able to discern right and wrong when they hear it. Philippians 1:9-11 says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in full knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and without fault until the day of Christ, 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” And, of course, all of this fits perfectly with the parent’s responsibility from Ephesians 6:4, “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” We have a delightful series called Teach Your Children to Learn where we go through how God would have our children learn to be wise. The opposite extreme of these lessons is the Parenting a Zombie Series which details how to parent foolish children. Thankfully, there’s hope for their cure. James 1:5-8 reveals that hope as well as the destruction that comes from doubting it, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Deuteronomy 4:29 gives us even more confidence when it says, “But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find Him, for you will search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.” Both of these passages provide an encouragement and a condition; we need to search with all of our hearts, not doubting. Psalm 91:15 is so comforting, “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in his distress; I will rescue him and honor him.” And Proverbs 2:3-6 confirms, “For if you call out for understanding, Give your voice for discernment; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh And find the knowledge of God. 6 For Yahweh gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and discernment.” We need to teach our kids to think in godly ways. This will cause them to be logical, rational, discerning, wise followers of God. In this way, when they have to ask ChatGPT a question, Lord willing, they’ll be wise enough to identify if the answer conforms to the reality God created or not. But—and I believe this is the more important point—they will be equipped to identify who they should ask in the first place. Lord willing, they will prioritize you, their pastor, and other godly men and women when it comes to seeking advice, counsel, and even just the casual answers that make them curious. Teach your kids to ask questions of God and His people before asking AI. Conclusion
Thank you for joining us today, and I hope you’ll subscribe to the show and be back next week. Until then, please share this podcast with your friends, pastor, family, and church body, and reach out to us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at (828) 423-0894 if we can serve you in any way.
On our next episode we’re going to discuss an insidious parenting trap that too often influences our parenting more than God and His Word does. I’ll see you then.
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