Truth Cannot Be Automated

We live in an age where nearly everything is filtered, ranked, nudged, and quietly shaped before it ever reaches human eyes, and most people have grown so accustomed to this manipulation that they mistake it for convenience rather than control. Technology was never meant to replace judgment, yet it has steadily trained people to outsource discernment to systems that do not know truth, cannot value wisdom, and feel no responsibility for the consequences they produce.

Scripture warns us that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, not with efficiency, scale, or optimization. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10, ESV). When technology is built without reverence for truth, it inevitably becomes a tool that rewards conformity while punishing conviction, because truth disrupts systems that rely on predictability and control.

What we are witnessing today is not simply bad technology or poorly designed platforms. It is a moral failure that begins with the belief that humans exist to serve systems rather than systems existing to serve humans. Once that inversion takes hold, censorship becomes safety, surveillance becomes protection, and manipulation becomes guidance. None of this requires malice to function. It only requires silence from those who know better.

Jesus made it clear that light exposes what darkness depends on to survive. “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:20, ESV). Algorithms thrive in darkness because they are never asked to justify their values. They operate behind claims of neutrality while quietly enforcing the worldview of those who designed them. When truth is filtered instead of confronted, freedom erodes without resistance.

This is why human centered technology matters, not as a branding slogan but as a moral necessity. People were created with agency, conscience, and responsibility before God. Any system that interferes with those realities, even subtly, trains people to disengage from truth and accept whatever is placed in front of them. Over time, that passivity becomes dependence, and dependence always invites control.

The answer is not withdrawal from technology, nor is it blind optimism about innovation. The answer is courage, clarity, and the willingness to build differently. Technology must once again become a servant rather than a master, a tool that amplifies human voice instead of replacing it, and a platform that rewards honesty instead of obedience. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17, ESV), and freedom cannot survive in environments where truth is throttled and conscience is penalized.

Every generation is tested on whether it will trade truth for comfort or stand firm when deception offers an easier path. Our test happens to be digital, but the spiritual stakes remain the same. Light still exposes. Truth still divides. Freedom still requires courage. The only question is whether we will build systems that reflect those realities or surrender our voice to machines that never will.