Unmasking Faith in the Era of Deepfakes

The full video of this teaching is available at the bottom of this post and this link.

THE RISE OF DEEPFAKES

Plastic surgery has been around longer than your grandparents have called remote controls ‘clickers.' In 1930, Hollywood actress Mary Pickford got one of the earliest facelift procedures, which left her unable to smile. In 1949, Marilyn Monroe postponed a screen test to get a cartilage chin implant. In the 1970’s Betty White got her eyelids done. In the early 90’s, Pam Anderson’s plastic surgery stole the brains of my friends. Also, not that any of you ladies care, but Ryan Gosling, Ashton Kutcher, and Zac Efron have had nose jobs.

Then, in 2010, Instagram burst onto the scene with face and body-improving filters! Once upon a time, if you wanted to smooth out a wrinkle or zap a zit, it took a concoction of creams and a prayer. But now? With a swipe and a tap, you've got the skin of a newborn. Most selfies now hold more fiction than a J. R. R. Tolkien book!

What’s next in the world of creating false realities? Watch this message from Morgan Freeman.

Nothing in this video is real. It is 100% computer generated. It was made In 2021 and served to show how computing power could convincingly replicate the voice, appearance, and mannerisms of a well-known public figure. It also demonstrated that distinguishing real from fake would become more difficult than finding a quiet spot at a toddler's birthday party. This type of content is referred to as deepfakes.

Deepfakes can craft wonders or concoct chaos. Imagine the future with me;

• Shoppers try on outfits with their deepfake avatars, ensuring online purchases fit perfectly.

• A grandmother who's lost her voice sends audio messages with her own AI-created voiceprint to her grandkids so they can hear grandma tell stories like she used to.

• Sophia Loren could co-star in a modern rom-com with Brad Pitt.

• An awkward teenager turns to a deepfake avatar for companionship, leading him into a comforting yet profound isolation from the real world.

• A deepfake showing a diplomat insulting a foreign leader might go viral, damaging international relations and possibly inciting violent protests or even military action.

Let's be real for a second—deepfakes are terrific and scary. A lot of good and evil will come from deepfake technology. But when it comes to our walk with Jesus - deepfakes are always destructive!

CONFRONTING SPIRITUAL DEEPFAKES

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” — Jesus, Matthew 23:27-28

The Pharisees, for all their public displays of devotion, were often motivated by a desire for social prestige rather than genuine love for God or neighbor. They were actors putting on their best performance when people were watching, hoping for applause.

The Pharisees' hypocrisy had a corrosive effect, erecting barriers where there should have been bridges. They flaunted their public righteousness as a badge of honor, valuing appearances over the substance of compassion. Their actions sowed division and obscured the pathway to genuine faith in God because they took advantage of people when no one was watching.

Some of the most disheartening times I've had in pastoral ministry have been when the mask slips off someone we all thought was a rock-solid believer. In church, they're always front and center, volunteering for everything, hands up in worship before anyone else, and always ready with a scripture-laden word of advice. But step outside the church building, and it's like you're dealing with a different person. Shady business moves, harsh towards their family, and excuses for their vices—it's like night and day. They are spiritual deepfakes.

Jesus, in His teachings, offered a corrective path for such hypocrisy. Let your inside match your outside. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed His followers to practice righteousness not to be seen by others but to please God, who sees in secret (Matthew 6:1). He called for a purity of heart, a unity between outward actions and inward motives. For Jesus, the path to rectifying hypocrisy was through a relentless pursuit of genuine self-examination, confession to God and others, and aligning one’s entire being with the heart of God's teachings.

For the hypocrite, this is not a call for a public display of repentance that seeks applause but for a private reckoning with God that seeks transformation. It's about choosing to live with integrity when no one is watching. It's a journey from the tomb of pretense to the garden of authenticity. Let this be the moment of turning when you decide that deepfaked faith will no longer suffice and pursuing a genuine, flawed, growing relationship with God is worth everything.

When it comes to our walk with Jesus - deepfakes are always destructive!

EMMA’s Struggle with FAITH AND ACTIONS

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. —James 2:14-17

At 24 years old, Emma is the epitome of the up-and-coming young professional: striking in her business attire, with a warm, confident handshake and a smile that lights up the room. Her resume speaks of excellence and points to a career trajectory that is as promising as it is steep. Sundays find her equally composed, serving on the hospitality team, bowing her head to pray, and engaging with people after the service. She is often one of the last to leave.

But at work, Emma inhabits a different world—one of cutthroat competition and relentless pursuit of personal advancement. She's a master of adaptation in staff meetings, morphing her stance to match the room's mood. This skill comes at a cost when it silences her from defending her supervisor's unfair critiques of a struggling, overworked single mother who is interning for her. At the same time, a Bible rests conspicuously in her cubicle, yet it’s rarely opened; its spine is not as creased as the business self-help books stacked alongside.

Her Instagram feed portrays a highlight reel of networking events, Bible verses, and charity runs. Yet, the day-to-day reality strikes a more transactional tone. She regularly walks past the same homeless woman on her way to work, always finding some excuse that drowns out the nagging thought to stop and extend a hand. She gives her interns pep talks and advice but again hesitates to advocate for them in substantial ways that might jeopardize her ascent up the corporate ladder.

She sticks around the office way past closing time, not just because she's swamped but also because there's this unspoken rule that clocking out on time means you're not all in. So, she often bails on the community events she was so pumped about joining, leaving a gap between what she says she stands for and how she spends her time.

Emma—and those who can identify with her—face a daily battlefield where choices define character. Anything less is a self-created deepfake. James spells it out plain and simple – faith that doesn't show up in action is no faith at all.

She's gotta figure out how to bring her Sunday game to daily life. It might mean setting boundaries at work to preserve time for serving in her community. Carving out time for outreach isn't just about good works; it's about making her faith visible where it's not expected.

That homeless woman on her way to work is an opportunity for Emma. Stopping for a chat, sharing a sandwich, or simply acknowledging her humanity is being Jesus to those with the least power.

As a mentor, she can aim beyond just ladder-climbing. Advocating for her interns could demonstrate a leadership style that prizes people over position, echoing the servant heart of Jesus.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, Emma must let her faith infuse every decision, conversation, and email. Let her Bible be as dog-eared as her business manuals, its wisdom guiding her interactions, holding her accountable, and reminding her that true advancement comes from lifting others up.

James is nudging Emma towards faith that sees people as more valuable than profit. It’s about picking what's right over what's rewarded, bringing the quiet power of a lived-out faith into the everyday hustle – that's what turns belief into a way of life that speaks volumes without saying a word.

3D FAITH

Deepfaked faith is always destructive because it dilutes the credibility of believers and the ministry of the church. If our Christian walk is a curated reel, lacking the genuine grit of our walk with Christ, then our faith runs the risk of being as empty as the code behind a deepfake—an impressive facade and just as soulless.

A faith lived in 3D – dynamic, demonstrable, and deeply rooted – is the kind that can’t be deepfaked. Our world is aching for the authenticity of living out what we believe, with the messiness and the mistakes that make our stories relatable, not just shareable. This is our challenge: to weave our faith into the fabric of our daily lives so it’s not just visible on Sundays but every day in between. Let’s be the kind of believers who roll up our sleeves and get involved, whose actions are as loud as our amens, who live in a way that makes people stop and think, "There's something different here." It's time to be the real deal, imperfect but genuine, and in doing so, become living proof of the transformative power of a life lived with Jesus.

©2023 Greg McNichols, All rights reserved.

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REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. How can the advancements in deepfake technology benefit and harm society, and what ethical considerations should be considered to mitigate potential negative impacts?

2. Reflect on a time when you have encountered 'spiritual deepfakes' within your church community. How did it affect your perception of faith and authenticity in others?

3. James 2:14-17 discusses faith and actions. What are practical steps individuals can take to ensure their faith is lived out authentically through their actions?

4. Consider the story of Emma in the article. In what ways might the pressures of professional environments contribute to the creation of 'spiritual deepfakes,' and how can individuals like Emma find balance?

5. What does living a '3D faith' (dynamic, demonstrable, and deeply rooted) look like in everyday life? How can believers work towards weaving their faith into the fabric of their daily routines?