The buzz lately in the technology world is the artificial intelligence chat bots. I like to play around with new technologies (hence the abundance of A.I. art that graces my blog), thus I decided to give OpenAI’s chat GPT a shot. This program is quite interesting. If you have never used it, it’s sort of set up like a typical chat program between you and the A.I (in the current incarnation). You ask a question, it responds. Now some topics it tries to ignore, usually dealing with ethics / human thought process but it’s not perfect. It is still in the development phase. I like to go after spiritual related content and see how it responds. Some of the responses are a generic answer but after you work with it for a while, you start to realize how you can phrase the question a certain way to get a better response. I also like to test its intelligence regarding various esoteric texts. I have used it to summarize a text, explain what a section means and even fill in the blanks of fragmented texts. Now I don’t automatically assume what it says is gospel, but it’s food for thought and at times, it gives me a new perspective on things.
With this post I wanted to try an experiment. I asked the chatbot to list the similarities between the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Thomas. At first, the response was a bit limited and very vague. It even went off course and included something from Mark and John. So, I rephrased the question and kind of scolded the AI a bit (LOL) to give me a better answer. This time it did, and it presented the following similar phrases. I am by no means an expert on these Gospels, so it was something I had to look up to verify. I will be using the ESV translations of Matthew and Luke, and Stephen Patterson & Marvin Meyer’s translation of Thomas for these comparisons.
“Whoever has, to him more shall be given” (Matthew 13:12, Thomas 41, Luke 8:18)
Matthew 13:12: For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Thomas 41: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.”
Luke 8:18: Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”
“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” (Matthew 25:29, Thomas 41)
Matthew: 25:29: For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Thomas 41: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.”
“He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.” (Thomas 82, Luke 17:21)
Thomas 82: Jesus said, “Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the (Father’s) kingdom.”
Luke 17:21: nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30, Thomas 23, Luke 11:23)
Matthew 12:30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Thomas 23: Jesus said, “I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they will stand as a single one.”
Luke 11:23: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21, Thomas 3)
Luke 17:21: nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Thomas 3(:1): Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father’s) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17, Thomas 5)
Luke 8:17: For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Thomas 5: Jesus said, “Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried that will not be raised.]”
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24, Thomas 26, Luke 18:25)
Matthew 19:24: Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Thomas 26: Jesus said, “You see the sliver in your friend’s eye, but you don’t see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend’s eye.”
Luke 18:25: For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
“The lamp of the body is the ey; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22-23, Thomas 24, Luke 11:34-35)
Matthew 6:22 – 23: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Thomas 24: His disciples said, “Show us the place where you are, for we must seek it.” He said to them, “Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark.”
Luke 11:34 – 35: Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.
“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” (Matthew 6:25, Thomas 36)
Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Thomas 36: Jesus said, “Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, [about your food–what you’re going to eat, or about your clothing–] what you are going to wear. [You’re much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.
“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20, Thomas 54)
Luke 6:20: And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Thomas 54: Jesus said, “Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven’s kingdom.”
And there it is, the 10 comparisons that ChatGPT put out. You know what, that was pretty damn impressive! While A.I. technology does worry me (I am a fan of the Terminator film series after all), there are a lot of positives as well. If you are into research, this is a great tool. With the rapid updates to these chat A.I.s, it is going to be quite interesting to see where we are in the world in just a few years, if not even sooner.
Read the Patterson / Meyer translation of Thomas here: http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html
Artwork made using Midjourney AI.
-bP
Culmination of Wisdom 