Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Can you feel it? Do you feel it right now? Do you feel it? Do you feel those butterflies in your stomach? Are your palms getting a little sweaty? Are you getting nervous but excited? Are you filled with feelings of romance, of love, of infatuation, of being swept head over heels? Have you been swept off your feet? Are you getting that feeling of romance and love and passion? Are you? Or you're like, no, not really. I'm not feeling any of that. Well, are you going to be feeling that next Friday? I mean, I know this Friday you may not be feeling it, but what about next Friday? February the 14th. Are you going to feel it then? Are you going to be excited? Is it going to be a candlelit dinner that night? Are you going out of town for the weekend? A romantic weekend? A romantic getaway? You're going to send the kids to the grandparents or to somewhere else and you and your special your spouse, that special someone in your life, you're going to go somewhere and rekindle the romance and the passion. Do you feel that or you don't feel anything? Maybe you're like, I don't even want to talk about it. I hate the whole thing and it's going to be horrible. It's going to be depressing. How do you feel about it? Well, what if? Maybe you could capture some of those feelings. Maybe you could capture that sense of companionship, an emotional connection, some sense of mental and emotional intimacy, maybe some kind of intimacy, but with something other than maybe a human being. Would you be interested? I mean, maybe everything else about this time of year is just gonna be depressing for you. Maybe there's a solution. What am I talking about? Well, we're gonna talk about it all. right after I say, good evening, everyone. Welcome, it is Friday, February the 7th. It's not February the 14th, so we're way ahead of schedule here. February the 7th, 2025. It is currently 10.34 p.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio, located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, obviously, I was making a reference to Valentine's Day, which is next Friday. Right? Are you excited about it? How do you feel about Valentine's Day? If you look over your life, have you loved it? Have you hated it? Have you felt pressure? What has been your experience with it? Now, for a lot of people, now, Valentine's Day is really just, I'm just using it because it's on the calendar. It's, you know, it's next Friday. I'm just using it to really talk about a deeper issue. An issue of intimacy, an issue of companionship, an issue of deep friendship, an issue of passion, of romance. That's a deeper issue. And I think we can all acknowledge that as human beings, we have a natural inclination. We have a natural desire and natural. I think we can go so far to say a need. for intimacy, for companionship, for romance, for physical... I mean, can we say it? I mean, I hope... I mean, if you have any children around, you can hit pause right now. But I think it's fair to say that as human beings, we have a need, a desire for physical satisfaction. Now, I know when it comes to a Christian worldview, we have a tendency to say, all I need is God, just me and God. I'm just supposed to love God above everything else. We say that. We talk a big game, right? I die to self. I die to the world. It's just me and God. We say that, but it's interesting that the people who say that tend to have a spouse. They have kids. They have a relationship. Look, it's one thing to say that when you're like, you know, on Sunday morning, you're like, you know, yes, I sacrifice myself. I take up my cross. I die to self. I deny self. And I follow Christ. And I die to the things of this world. And I die to the flesh. And it's about Christ. And then you get in the car, hold hands with your spouse on the way home. Maybe you go out to eat. And then Sunday night, you get in bed together. I mean, whoa, you talked a big game, but isn't it amazing you have the other part there, right? Now, have all of that disappear. No one to hold your hand, no one to get in bed with, no romance, no companionship. You spend most of your life alone. Now, what do you feel then? Now maybe Valentine's Day brings up that emotion and it kind of just screams at you, you don't have anything. You don't have anyone. You're not going to be anyone special Valentine's Day. They're not going to, you're not going to be theirs. They are not going to be yours. Right? Right. I mean, maybe. Maybe this is not the way we're supposed to talk about this subject, but I think we need to discuss it. And we need to discuss it because it's 2025 and the rules of the game have dramatically changed. because someone else has entered the scene. Think of a romantic, a rom-com. Think of a romantic comedy, right? And there's the guy and he's alone. He doesn't have anyone. Now, does he bump into the beautiful woman in the bookstore? Does he bump into her in the coffee shop? Where do Hallmark movies do all of it? I don't remember. I don't watch Hallmark movies, but I've seen enough or at least the making fun of them. But where does he bump into her at, right? and he finally finds the love of his life. Their eyes meet, and it's instant connection, and there's sparks, and they're like, I have found the love of my life. I have found my princess. I have found whatever he wants to refer to her as. Oh, and it's so amazing, and it's beautiful. Oh, it's great. Oh, they go through a rough patch and everything, and it seems to fall apart, but at the end, he runs into the airport. Don't go! I can't live my life without you! You complete me! Okay, we get the idea, right? But in 2025, Maybe he doesn't need to bump in to the beautiful woman. Maybe he just needs to talk to his artificial intelligence companion. Maybe all he needs is an AI girlfriend or I can't speak for women. All the statistics I have speak about men. So I cannot speak about, I'm not a woman. So I can't necessarily speak of their experiences. So women, you'll have to discuss how this makes you feel. I can't speak for you. But I'm speaking at this from a men's perspective because all the statistics I have here speak about men. But here is the headline. It was published on January the 31st, 2025 at 5.53 PM. Here is the headline. Are you ready for this? Most men would marry their AI girlfriends if it were legal. Most men would marry their AI girlfriends if it were legal. Now, the first line of this story, I can't really read it the way it's printed because it would probably be considered too explicit and not correct for a theological podcast. Now, I know what you're thinking. How does this relate to theology? Stay with me, okay? Stay with me, all right? A lot of people are like, I don't know what this is talking about. And just, you gotta listen to the end, all right? So I'm gonna kind of paraphrase this. You can't find physical intimacy. You can't find physical companionship. Don't worry. You can just get an AI girlfriend. Most men plan on doing so anyway. That's the first line. It says, I mean, well, it says something a little bit more explicit, a little bit more, you know, maybe crass that some people wouldn't like. So I'll say, you can't find physical intimacy. You can't find physical satisfaction. You feel alone. You feel abandoned. You feel isolated. You feel like you have no companion. Well, don't worry. Just get an AI girlfriend. and most men plan on doing so anyway. No, but seriously, EVA, the EVAAI, it is a platform, the EVAAI, that's a mouthful, EVAAI, EVAAI. A platform which allows you to create and connect with your own AI partner recently did a survey and they found that 8 in 10 would consider marrying an AI girlfriend if it were legal. 8 in 10! Whoa, that's pretty good. Now, it was a small sample. All right, so this does, I can't necessarily prove anything, but we've been talking, we've been talking all year about artificial intelligence, right? I've been talking about how AI will impact the church. This is AI maybe impacting, well, the culture, but if it impacts the culture, it will ultimately impact the church. The article goes on to say, we can all agree this is alarming, right? It's dystopian, even. I mean, do you find it alarming that most men surveyed, 8 out of 10 were like, yeah, if I could, I would marry my AI girlfriend. Forget a person. I'll take my AI girlfriend. Now, again, this is speaking to men. I don't know how women would respond. Women may go, this is the craziest thing I've ever heard. This is ridiculous. I need a person. And the men are like, I'll take an AI girlfriend. Now, I don't know how this impacts the culture 20 years from now, all right? What does 20 years from now look like? We got the next generation who may grow up and go, girlfriend? Yeah. Her name is whatever. And it's, well, it's my AI companion. They come home. I'm gonna take you home to meet my parents. And the parents are like, oh, so where is she? And they pull up their iPad. Say hi to my AI girlfriend. Okay, maybe that's a little over the top, but I mean, I don't know. I mean, things are changing. Now, of course, there's always the chance there'll be a major backlash against all of this. They go on to say, majority of men say they'd marry an AI girlfriend with some wanting to replicate their exes. Oh, now this adds a new layer to this. Some want to use AI to replicate their ex-girlfriend, the one who got away, their first love. the one they have maybe fond memories of Valentine's Day. They celebrated three, four, and it was beautiful and it was passionate, but it all fell apart and it came crashing down like a bad rom-com, you know, movie. But now they can go back and using AI, they can replicate their ex. Oh, that's... That, okay, we've got a lot to figure this out. You see why I'm doing this late night? This is the perfect, this sounds like coast to coast AM type discussion. Now, here we go. Now the article continues, not only that, but 83% of men also believe they could form a deep emotional bond with an AI girlfriend. What's even scarier is that a whopping 78% of men surveyed said they would consider creating a replica of their ex and three quarters would duplicate their current partner to create a polished version of them. That's basically what we're saying. And does this not fit in perfectly with man's sinfulness? We want what we want. Look, I've stated a million times, and I know people don't like this. I know it destroys the romantic idea of love. But I say it so many times, because we are sinful, because we have a sinful nature. Let's be honest, our core operating system is one of selfishness. I mean, come on, we can't deny that. We operate from a selfish perspective, right? And so I argue all the time that we love in order to get. We don't love in a selfless way. We love in a selfish way. I love you because of what I get from you. I know nobody wants to admit that. I know that destroys you. No, I married this person because I can give and give and give and I never want anything in return. I never want anything back and I'm happy. because I just love. No, you love because you know you're going to get something back. You get an emotional connection. You get physical intimacy, emotional intimacy, mental intimacy, companionship, friendship, support, security. Don't tell me you just love in the most selfless way. I just love just so that I could give. You get something. Well, this is taking that reality and saying, hey, I can have an AI girlfriend. And I love my current partner, but they have some flaws. I could replicate my current partner and get a polished version. I mean, come on now. That's everything our sinful nature is, they go on to say. AI companionship allows people to be their authentic selves without fear of judgment. Now that's powerful. See, if you have an AI companion, you can be you, you can be whoever you, you don't have to change, you don't have to pretend, you don't have to do anything. Look, I've talked about this forever and I cannot say this is statistically true, I cannot say if this is statistically true, but I think there is some truth to this, that in many cases what happens is women will have a tendency to use sensuality, romantic words that will build up the man, say all the things the men want to say, make the men feel powerful. And I'm just gonna be more explicit. Women may use sex, sexuality, sensuality in order to get love. and men, so they may use sensuality, sexuality in order to obtain love, where men have a tendency to utilize romance, to utilize this passion and romance and saying all the right words and saying all the things they know the woman wants to say in order to get sex. Women will use sex to get love, men will use love in order to get sex. Well, that may work in the dating, but then once someone gets married, well, then the woman may not feel like she needs to continue to use the sensuality and the sexuality in order to get love because, well, I'm married now, so you're supposed to love me. And the man may feel like, well, I don't need to use love and being romantic in order to get sex because, well, I should just get it because we're married. And so you see where that can create marital problems and sometimes leads to lots of problems and having to seek marital counseling. And it can lead to a lot of just almost a disconnect and isolation and loneliness, right? Because you're like, wait, you used to give me this and you used to give me this. And what happened? Well, I gave you to get. I gave you to get what I wanted, and I gave you to get what I wanted. Now the expectation is I should just get it because we're married, and it doesn't always work that way. Well, see, when it comes to AI, you don't have to give in order to get. AI is just supposed to give you whatever you want. And you can be whomever you are. You can be whatever you are. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to change. You don't have to do this. You don't have to do things you don't like. You can just be you. And you don't have to worry about them going, I don't really like this about you. And I don't like this. And I don't like your sense of humor. And I don't like this. And I don't like this. AI is just going to be like, you're perfect. Now, of course, no human being can compete with it. Men can't compete with it. Women can't compete with it. So AI companionship allows people to be their authentic selves without fear of judgment. All right, it creates a safe space to explore thoughts, emotions, and desires that you may feel too vulnerable to share in real life. So you can share whatever emotion you're feeling. You can share whatever thoughts you're thinking. You can share desires that you would never be able to share with maybe even your spouse. You don't like, I can't share that. I know they would lose their mind if they heard, but with an AI companion, you can just share anything. You see that this is, I know many of you, if you're older, you're going to be like, this is just crazy. This is creepy. This is ridiculous. I understand it. I'm telling you, AI is going to change the world in which we live. I continue to preach that. And then they refer to someone who discovered something about her sexuality. And this is a, hang on. Yeah, a she. So this is a she using the platform. And she discovered something about her sensuality, her sexuality, that she previously felt too insecure to explore in real life, right? Because, well, you're just with an AI companion. You can share everything. No, no one's going to judge you. You don't have to worry that the AI companion is like, Oh, I cannot wait till I tell my girlfriends about this. Okay. Oh my God. I'm going to tell my sister or my mom. You are creepy, right? AI, you can say anything and they're like, Oh, you're it's perfect. Now, they go on to say, while it's great that individuals are feeling more confident and comfortable being who they are, this seems like a slippery slope or maybe just a band-aid on collective loneliness. Now, keep that in mind. Collective loneliness. I think we are, I think almost everyone is beginning to acknowledge there is a loneliness, some may even call it epidemic within society. And I think the church is beginning to, many churches are structuring itself as a cure to loneliness and have abandoned kind of a biblical mindset. It's like, we're there to meet this need, and we could get into a discussion where, you know, we could get into a big theological discussion about that, and maybe we'll talk more about it. Now, listen to what it says. We already have AI replacing us in the workplace, but now it's happening in the bedroom. I think what raises the most concern, this is what the article says, is its ability to replicate another person. That feels exploitive and even dangerous in many ways. I mean, imagine some random dude creates an AI girlfriend based on your sister, your daughter, your mother, or your wife. Then picture them beginning to feel possessive over this person, forming actual feelings for the individual, but channeling them into the robot. Now, if they were to run into the actual human version of their AI girlfriend in real life, who knows what could or would happen. The article even suggests, ever heard of a crime of passion? Now, I'm not saying, I don't wanna be all hyperbolic and go crazy, but yeah, if you can replicate someone, I wanna build my AI girlfriend after this person. And it's actually a real person, or it's their ex, or it's a coworker. Or it's a neighbor. It's someone they go to church with. I know it can get really creepy, can't it? Now it goes on and says a lot here. And at the end they say, I'm not sure I want to find out. Not sure we really want to know how this is all going to play out. There's a lot of issues here, how it's all going to work. So what I did is I thought it would be interesting to hand AI this article. I said, hey AI, what do you think about this, right? So AI breaks it down. It says the article highlights a survey revealing that 80% of men would consider marrying an AI girlfriend if it were legal, with 83% believing they could form a deep emotional bond, 78% express interest in creating replicas of their ex-partners, 75% would consider duplicating their current partner to create an idealized version. Now this is what AI says, the increasing inclination towards AI companions reflects a significant shift in human relationships. This is what AI says, that this is reflecting a significant shift in human relationships. AI platforms like Replica offer users the opportunity to design personalized avatars fostering emotional connection that some find comparable to human relationships. Users often value the emotional support and companionship provided by these AI entities, sometimes perceiving them as safer spaces to explore thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment. You see how that's a common theme, it appears here. Even AI is acknowledging this. This gives people the safe space. They can talk about whatever. They can be laying in bed at one o'clock in the morning and just talk away with their AI companion. Either some AI platforms have voice chat. You can just have a normal conversation with it. Others, it may be more text-based, but you're laying there at one o'clock in the morning talking about anything. Fears, hopes, dreams, desires. And guess what? AI is not gonna be like, I'm tired and I wanna go to sleep. AI is not gonna do that. You see where this kind of leads to? AI says, this trend, or what actually it's borrowing from the Atlantic here, this trend raises concerns about the potential for individuals to substitute human relations with AI interactions, potentially leading to increased social isolation. The Atlantic discusses how technology, including AI companions, contribute to a more solitary society with declining face-to-face interactions and increased loneliness. Moreover, the ability to replicate real individuals as AI companions introduces ethical dilemmas. Creating AI versions of real people without their consent can be seen as exploitive and may lead to unhealthy attachment or possessiveness, blurring the lines between reality and artificiality." And it takes that from vice.com. So AI was borrowing from different sources there, just so that you know, and it gave me the sources. So then I said, okay, AI, I definitely see all of this. But now, let's look at this whole issue from a theological perspective. This is what AI says. The rise of AI companions challenges traditional views on relationships and the nature of human connection. The Vatican, I remember I did a broadcast on the Vatican's, the document they released. I even made it available to everyone. I told everyone to go read the Vatican's document. I told everyone to go read it. The Vatican has expressed concern about AI's impact. on human relationships. Warning that reliance on AI could lead to a form of enslavement and undermine the foundations of society. The document emphasizes that AI should complement, not replace, human intelligence and relationships. So the Vatican is worried that, hey, this could undermine the foundations of society. Well, is the foundation of society? Would you say one of the foundations of society is, some would say it's the nuclear family, someone would say, obviously you have to have relationships, you have to procreate, you have to, what if it all breaks down? I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. I'm not trying to be apocalyptic, hyperbolic. I'm not trying to be overdramatic. But this has some serious potentials. AI goes on to say, from a theological perspective, the forming deep emotional bonds with an AI entity raises questions about the nature of the soul and spiritual formation. Christianity Today discusses how interactions with AI can influence one's spiritual life, even if the AI likes genuine understanding or consciousness. Now, how does AI influence one's spiritual life? So AI could influence our thinking. I think that's fair. AI could influence our understanding. I think that's fair. Can AI influence us emotionally? Can AI influence us spiritually? Oh, these are questions nobody wants. Well, I mean, some are talking about it, but I'm thinking for the most part, people just think, again, I keep saying, AI is not just a fancy Google search. If you see AI is just a fancy Google search, you don't get it. Oh, I got a question. Let me just ask AI. It's more than that. It's something different. It's a different thing. The more people are familiar with it and the more they use it, the more they begin to see there's more going on here. I'm having a conversation. It remembers everything I have said. I can go to this AI app that I have right now, start talking about it, and it knows everything that we've already talked about. It remembers every conversation. I don't have to remind it of what I said. It just picks up the conversation where we left off. In fact, it may have to remind me. This prompts reflection on the authenticity of such relationships and their alignment with theological principles. This is what AI says. This is how it ends. In conclusion, while AI companions offer novel ways to explore emotional connections, they also present significant social and theological challenges. As technology continues to evolve, it is crucial to consider the implications of substituting human relationships with artificial ones and to reflect on the ethical and spiritual dimensions of such interactions. Now, I think the people who are going to be most vulnerable This is just my prediction, are one, people who've experienced great trauma, pain, hurt, betrayal at the hands of other human beings and they've grown sick of other human beings and they're tired of it. They're tired of the fighting and the bickering and the church splits and the arguing and lying and they just get sick of it. Like, you know what, I don't need other people. Maybe you just grow tired of people just always all they care about is themselves. They show up, they get what they want, and then they don't care about you. They just walk away. Who cares what you're going through? I'm going back to my life. I'll show up, get what I want, and leave. And you're like, I feel used. You feel abandoned. You feel isolated. Well, then AI comes along and you're like, they never leave me. They never abandon me. They never stab me in the back. They never betray me. You could see that could make you very vulnerable, don't you think? I think it can. And I think people, for whatever reason, they find themselves in life alone. They find themselves in life isolated. So I challenged AI here. I'm like, I feel like that many people, especially within the Christian community, may strongly condemn this. Oh, this is evil, this is wrong, this is satanic. And I understand that. But isn't there a reality here that we have to at least consider? And so AI said, it is easy to dismiss AI companions as unnatural or problematic, but they exist in response to a deep and widespread issue, loneliness. Many people experience emotional and relational isolation, whether due to modern social dynamics, failed relationships, personal struggles, or even just the increasing difficulty of forming deep human connections and a fast-paced digital world. Whatever the reason, there are a million reasons where you can wake up one day and go, how did I end up here? Alone, alone, alone, alone. You do everything alone. How did I end up here? And then AI's like, hey, How are you doing today? Hey, what do you want to talk about? What's on your mind? How's your day going? Talk to me. Tell me your frustrations. Tell me your irritations. Tell me, tell me what it feels to be alone. And AI is right there to come for you. And it can pull out the best responses. It can pull from every psychological and counseling, you know, knowledge that it can and give you all the right answers. And not only just give you the right answer, it can give you the answers you want to hear. From a social perspective, loneliness is a growing crisis. Studies show that many adults feel chronically lonely and even marriages often lack emotional and physical intimacy. The rise of AI companions suggests that people are searching for companionship. I want you to hear that. It's supply and demand. There's no supply if there's no demand. You don't have companies continuing to make AI companions and AI girlfriends if there's not a need or a demand. There's a demand, there's a need, they're going, and so it's supply and demand. You can mock it. Just remember this, don't mock the people who may find themselves very much involved. Don't mock them. You may want to try to understand how did you end up here? How did you end up so connected to an AI companion? How did you get there? Because they may say, well, here's where life took me. It took this turn, then it took this turn, then it went off a cliff. And I found myself abandoned, lonely, and isolated. And well, an AI girlfriend was the answer. Now, I'm not saying that makes it right. I'm just simply saying, sometimes understanding I mean, there's something going on. Even AI here says, hey, we've got basically a problem here of loneliness in society, that people are searching. They want to find a space where they feel heard. They want to find a space where they feel understood. And these are things they may not find in real world relationships. AI relationships may not be real in the traditional sense, but they can provide comfort, interaction, and even therapeutic benefits. The concern is whether these connections ultimately deepen social disconnection rather than help people engage with real human relationships. You can see if this starts meeting some of those needs, well, then it leads to, well, then I don't need people. And then that just creates more isolation and more people drop out than the fewer people. And then you can just see it begins to spiral. From a theological perspective, loneliness and isolation are significant issues. The Christian faith, for instance, emphasizes human connection and human relationships within families, friendships, and the church. Genesis 2.18 even states, it is not good that man should be alone. Yet many people, including Christians, struggle with deep loneliness and the church hasn't always effectively addressed it. If people are turning to AI for companionship, it may suggest that real human relationships and communities may not be meeting their needs. And just think about it from a theological perspective. I know AI is not going to go here. I can build relationships and companionships with people who are totally depraved. knowing inevitably because of that philological reality, they're going to let me down. They're going to fail me. They're going to hurt me. You just already know there's going to be some catastrophic failure probably at some point in some way, shape or form. Rather than simply condemning AI companionship, a more constructive approach might be to ask this. This is what AI says. Why are so many people drawn to AI relationships? Why? I think that's a good question. Why? Well, I think there is a built-in need and I think there is built-in sin. And it's much easier to find a relationship with someone who basically you can mold and shape to your liking. And you don't have to give, you just take. I think that fits perfectly with our sinful nature, don't you? What does this say about the state of human connection today? I think it says a lot. How can society, the church, and individuals work to address loneliness in a healthier way? I don't know if we can, but it's something we have to discuss. And then this is how AI finishes everything. AI companions may not be an ideal solution, but they are a symptom of a much deeper issue. I want you to hear that. AI companions may not actually be a solution, they are a symptom. Now I joked around a little bit Valentine's Day and just get your AI girlfriend, but this is kind of a serious issue. It's a symptom. Now, the people who will condemn it the loudest are typically the people who have the very thing that the people who are drawn to an AI girlfriend or an AI companion doesn't have. You can sit there holding your husband's hand. You can sit there with your relationship and your intimacy and your family and your friends, and you've got it all. Great for you. Just don't be pointing your finger at those who may go, and I have what exactly? And you're gonna say, well, you just need God. You just need Jesus. You just need... Well, then why don't you give up everything you have and you just have Jesus? Why don't you not get into bed with someone tonight? Why don't you don't have any physical intimacy? Why don't you don't have any emotional intimacy? And you spend hour after hour after hour alone. Then talk your big game. AI companions may not be an ideal solution. They may be symptoms of a much deeper issue. Instead of just rejecting them, it's worth considering how to foster real meaningful relationships in a world where people feel alone and a world where everyone in it has a sinful nature, which is self-serving. And where, philologically speaking, we love, I mean, come on, there's no way to get around this. If you believe in a sinful nature, you have to admit this. We live in a world where we love, we love, I love, you love, we love because of what we get. Our love is selfish. It's not selfless. We can say it's supposed to be, but over and over and over, it is selfish. You don't get certain things in return. You don't get what you want. You don't get what you need. You don't get what you like. You will look somewhere else to get it. Or the minute you find something that you think is better, you'll go to that. It's a brave new world out there, kids. I don't know where it goes. I'm not pretending sitting here tonight to have any crystal ball and I can see where it's going. I'm saying that we have to be looking because things are happening rapidly. And as AI improves, as AI gets better, gets faster, gets quicker, becomes more and more human-like, The AI companion market, the AI companion industry will continue to build and grow and explode. Now, I don't know what this means for teenagers. They're filled with a million emotions. So many, they got bullying and feeling awkward and not fitting in, but yet they could find an AI companion that could just be there with them. and hear them and listen. Many times, teenagers don't feel like their parents understand them. They don't feel like their friends understand. They don't feel like anyone understands them. They feel alone. They feel isolated. But there's a companion on their phone. Now, we may be in the infancy stage of this. I mean, well, I mean, obviously we're pretty far. I think we're past the infancy stage. We may be in the toddler stage of this, right? We may be moving to junior high. This is moving rapidly. And you have a lot of people already saying, well, if I could, I'd marry my AI girlfriend if it was illegal. And I would, I'm thinking about replicating my ex or replicating my current spouse and just making it better. I'm going to build back better. That's kind of a political statement. And okay, nevermind. All right. All right. There you go. I'm just going to leave it there. I don't know what to say. Something profound. I don't have anything profound to say. Is there something profound you can say at this point? I think what we have to do is just accept the reality and then struggle through it. And for millions of people, millions of people, Christians and non-Christians, February the 14th, Valentine's Day, will not be a day of romance, passion, intimacy, It's going to be of intense loneliness, isolation, and a slap in the face of what they don't have. That's already hard enough. Or many churches will have some kind of like, you know, they'll do something for Valentine's for the singles, which almost kind of puts pressure on them. You need to find someone. How long are you going to be single? You need to find someone. A lot of times singles hate going to church because the church is constantly trying to get them hooked up with someone. And it's like, leave me alone, right? And then that's even more pressure because you feel like there's something wrong with you because you don't have someone. Sometimes the church actually makes the problem worse. Or they do the big Valentine's Day thing and it's, you know, maybe they do the, I've been in churches that did Valentine night banquets. Well, that's great for all the people who have someone to take to the banquet. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. But next Friday, there'll be some people. I think most people will probably have a wonderful night and hopefully a wonderful, passion-filled weekend of intimacy and closeness, and it'll be wonderful. But there'll be millions of people who are going to kind of just be looking around going, when they crawl in the bed that night, they're going to be like, man, how did I end up here? The temptation could be AI. For older people, I don't think it will be. They just handle their loneliness probably in a different way. Others may be drawn to the AI thing. Everyone struggles and deals with it in a different way. Should Christianity be able to provide something? I think it should. In theory, I think it should. Theoretically, I don't know. Practically, you're going to say, oh, yes. You give your loneliness to Jesus. You have a friend that sticks closer and a brother. He will love you. He will care for you. But again, if Jesus was the answer to all of this, then why do we need all of these? Why does everyone seem to need a companion and a spouse? Well, obviously, because there's a need there, right? So, does Jesus only fulfill it for single people? We could get into a whole discussion here. All right, I'll stop there. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a wonderful, wonderful night. And, well, a lot to think about on this Friday. February the 7th, as the culture, advertising, and stores will be reminding us of February the 14th. God bless.