Mania and Idolatry
I am sure you have noticed that AI is becoming ever more present in our lives with what seems to be every passing month. I’m typing this using MS Word, and its AI assistant, CoPilot, is eager to help me write this; its help I declined. Chatbots are being given names and developing “personalities,” though they are machines and not persons. They are now being promoted as substitutes for human friends, therapists, and even romantic relationships.
Mania is defined as “excessive or unreasonable enthusiasm.” There has always been a lot of mania in our culture. Remember Cabbage Patch dolls? Or Pet Rocks? How about Taylor Swift or Bitcoin? Or iPhones with people lining up in front of Apple Stores to get the latest version on its first day of availability?
It is no coincidence that the things mentioned above revolve around money—lots of it. Mania creates consumers, which in turn produces great profits for the creators. AI is just the latest version, and businesses are jumping on the bandwagon in hopes of cashing in. And their dream is to turn the mania into idolatry, though they would not likely frame it that way. Mania for something or someone, by definition, has a short shelf life. To extend its life, it must become an idol, something people think they can’t live without (Acts 19:27). Notice how smart phone manufacturers create a new version every year or two. If they can turn this device into an idol, something you attribute great value to (i.e. worship) and believe you can’t live without, then they have you hooked. Same way with cars and sports, among many others.
The AI developers are hoping for the same result. By inundating us with AI in all aspects of our lives, they are hoping to create a dependency on it, something which guarantees profits for years, if not decades to come. They’re just getting started.
The Scriptures warn against the temptations to embrace idols. The Israelites were warned before entering the Promised Land not to worship the idols of the nations of Caanan. In fact, their weakness was so great that the Lord commanded them not to make any covenants with these nations who were guilty of idolatry .
The Lord commanded this because idols lead us away from him. Jesus was clear that we cannot have idols in our lives and still worship him. Yet, in our fallenness, we are susceptible to idolatry and need to guard our hearts against it. Idols bring harm to our lives by posing as ones who can give us purpose, validity, and meaning to our lives. Yet, they have no such power; only God can provide these things. We would do well to be on our guard for any mania attempting to gain a foothold in our lives and thus become an idol.
© Jim Musser 2025 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.
