What Would Jesus Tech

Joel Jacob is a Tech Futurist, an early adopter, and an eternal optimist when it comes to new tech. Andrew Noble is a ministry leader, a late adopter, and a tech skeptic. Andrew told Joel it's time to work through our differences and find common ground as two Christians trying to use technology as Jesus would if he lived today. We spend a lot of time thinking about ChatGPT as an example but th...

Social media consultant and author Chris Martin joins us on this episode of What Would Jesus Tech to discuss his latest book, The Wolf Their Pockets: 13 Ways the Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead . We dive into the ever-present anxiety that comes with social media, the impact it makes on friendship, and what churches, parents, and leaders should do about it.  0:00 - Intro 1:17 - The Fu...

How do we imitate Jesus in 2023? There is a growing interest in a particular theological tradition and it helps us answer this question in our modern age. This is not the Calvinism of memes, but the Calvinism of Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper. Our regular hosts, Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob, spoke with Dr. Joustra about this history, the story behind WWJD bracelets, the different ways of answeri...

Digital technology is changing the way we access the Word of God. But this isn't the first time Bible technology has changed. Special guest John Dyer unpacks some of the key findings of his latest book, People of the Screen, including how evangelicals are shaping Bible apps with Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmaticism and how Bible apps are shaping us. Episode 21. Link to all things John Dyer: ht...

Should Christians be scared of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How might we use ChatGPT as a co-pilot to aid us in giving glory to God? How might ChatGPT limit us from discovering truth? Co-hosts Joel Jacob and Andrew Noble hash it all out in this shortened - but deep - episode of What Would Jesus Tech. Episode 20. In this episode: 00:00 - Intro (Andrew Noble) 00:21 - Does Joel Jacob buil...

In the world today, there are more people that play video games than there are who say they're Christians. Is gaming causing a "boy crisis? Is there any good in playing video games? Would Jesus play video games? To help us on this episode, we spoke with Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, senior writer and faith-and-work editor for The Gospel Coalition. She is also the coauthor of Gospelbound: Living w...

Joel Jacob joins the podcast today right from CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. He and Andrew Noble show off fifteen innovations and reflect on whether Jesus would ever go to such a consumeristic event. This one has some visuals, so watching on YouTube may be preferable for you. Audio-only will work too! Episode 18 of WWJT. 0:00 - Intro to CES 2:01 - Is CES a religious experience? 4:51 - Smart B...

What made headlines this year? What technology news should Christians be aware of? Joel is back! He and Andrew Noble each made a list of their top tech stories. They unpack each story for the uninitiated and discuss the implications from a Christian perspective. What Would Jesus Tech is a Canadian-made, reformed podcast helping Christians use technology as Jesus would. Send us your ideas and feedb...

Which is more commended by Scripture? A) A daily 15-minute quiet time with Bible reading. B) A throughout-the-day reflection on Scripture. In this post, Andrew Noble answers that question and describes how to meditate on Scripture, the ways of reminding ourselves of Scripture (according to Deut. 6), and how technology can be leveraged to better take-in Scripture. The Israelites used doorposts to r...

Why does it feel like the Christian world and the tech world speak two different languages? If there's a senior software developer at your church, is the best use of their giftings to click *next* on the PowerPoint slides? FaithTech exists to bridge the gap between faith and technology. This week Andrew Noble speaks with James Kelly about the story behind FaithTech, how Christians should appro...

Would Jesus use Artificial Intelligence (AI)? How should Christians approach AI with neither fear nor naivety; neither pessimism nor blind futurism? How might we be both innovative with AI and wise to its risks? What does the future hold? In this episode, Joel Jacob goes deep into one of his personal passions, discussing with Andrew Noble the allure of AI and the essence of this AI technology that...

Twitter affects us all, even if you never use it. It is shaping what we think of as "public opinion" as traditional news networks increasingly rely on it. It serves as a forum for discussion, and Andrew & Joel discuss the pros and cons of Twitter's approach. On the user side, the Bible never talks about Twitter but it does talk about how we ought to speak to one another. What is yo...

Working in tech is hard. Our last episode focused on using dating apps and this episode focuses on building them. Burdens can be a good thing, but they weigh us down; we need to encourage one another to work well in this stressful world. We need to work out of our rest that we can find in Christ. Guests: Hayden Mills is a Lead Product Manager at a Dating App company. Dr. David Deepwell is a Softwa...

Let's get over our dating app stigma and start swiping right to the glory of God. Single Christians should do this, if they so desire and if their conscience allows it, as long as they do so with Biblical principles in mind. We're joined by Ruth Cuthbert, who shares her wisdom on navigating the world of Christian & non-Christian dating apps. 0:00 - Intro 1:30 - Dating Apps Are... 4:10...

Social media is constantly changing. BeReal has entered the scene as an alternative to unmanageable Facebook, algorithm-heavy TikTok, and over-polished Instagram. So would Jesus add his disciples on BeReal if he had lived today? 0:00 - Intro 1:35 - Did Joel get fired? 2:24 - What is BeReal? 6:40 - How TikTok is different from BeReal 11:20 - Positives of BeReal 14:30 - Authenticity is good but over...

August 30th, 2022, marks the official release of Jason Thacker's latest book, Following Jesus In a Digital Age . We spoke with him about the so-called neutrality of technology, sharing truth in a post-truth world, and navigating everything digital from TikTok to conspiracy theories. If we're honest, too many of us are digitally addicted. We think we use social media but social media uses u...

A podcast is not a sermon. It's not a lecture. And it's certainly not a book. But it is something like a friendship. The very medium of a podcast is personable and intimate - you literally hear a podcast inside your own head thanks to the earplugs most of us use. But we should never settle for consuming friendships, we need to cultivate our own. In this episode, Joel and Andrew reflect on...

Two years ago, the proliferation of a certain technology threw the world into a heated debate. Some wore masks. Others didn't. Many called the other side ignorant . And in the church, some even went so far as to call the other side sinful and apostate due to their masking (or lack of masking). Rather than focusing on the technology of masks themselves, in this episode, we work through a Biblic...

What we attend to is what we value. We cannot live a life of merely avoiding distraction because we will always be giving attention to something . By definition, a distraction is something that takes our attention away from something else. So what do we value? Do we value scrolling social media newsfeeds? Do we value the *ding* notifications in the midst of trying to do work? Why are we on our pho...

Andrew pokes holes in the very product that Joel helped build: a smart thermostat. The smart devices that we increasingly place in our homes have ecological impacts that are hard to assess and harder to predict. First, Joel recaps smart thermostats (1:05), and we discuss whether a so-called "smart home" makes your life easier or worse, including security vulnerabilities (15:00), the allure...

To understand a Christian view of tech we must unpack a Biblical view of money. In this episode, Joel (the Tech Futurist) brings Andrew up to speed on the history of money (2:30) and Bitcoin (8:50). Then we dive into: what Jesus says about money (17:55), not letting money dictate the mission (24:40), giving to your local church (28:30), and the parable of the talents (32:22). Sorry for the slight...

God created us with limits and they are good. As creatures, we do not function in predictable, meaningless motion as a machine would - nor do we exist in every place at once with knowledge of all things as God does. No, we are only human. In this episode Andrew Noble and special guest Scott MacLellan discuss Kelly Kapic's book, "You Are Not Your Own" as well as Scott's job as Direc...

There are many promises of the Metaverse - promises of connection, engagement, and experience - but will the Metaverse make us more or less like the humanity God created us to be? It comes down to tradeoffs. The Metaverse offers significant improvements compared to current technologies (that most Christians already use!) but will their ease of use be one of their downfalls? Will they perpetuate th...

The CEO of Meta (Facebook) was recently asked, "what is the meaning of life." In this episode of WWJT, we explore his answer. The Bible teaches us that God created us to create, that every person has a purpose, and that even the activity of doing good work can give God great glory. Links to things referenced: - Lex Fridman interview with Mark Zuckerberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zO...

A brief introduction to Andrew Noble - Bible student - and Joel Jacob - tech futurist - and what to expect from What Would Jesus Tech, a podcast that explores how the Bible helps Christians navigate a technology-filled world. Welcome to WWJT!