“In our exploration of complex concepts, such as mental models and rational thought, this blog leverages the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to enhance our understanding and articulation of ideas. While AI plays a pivotal role in synthesizing vast amounts of information, it’s important to recognize that the insights generated are a product of human experience intertwined with machine precision.”
don’t take my word for it, especially me. if i can’t say a thing clean in one line and defend it without arm waving, it doesn’t belong on paper yet. i keep telling readers to “double check my flows,” so i’m saying it to myself first: alex, double check your flows. name the claim, say why it follows, bring receipts, then try to break it. if it survives, keep it. if it cracks, thank God and cut it. Jesus doesn’t need my fog; He deserves my honesty.
i know my tendency: i fall in love with the sound of a clean framework (orientation, prioritization, macro↔micro), and i start polishing the model instead of the mirror. models are scaffolding; Christ is the building. He’s the Logos underneath reality and the Telos everything is leaning toward. if a paragraph ends with “wow, nice structure,” i missed the point. the win is when the model clears the fog and the reader sees Jesus more clearly on the other side. that’s the telos. i would do this 101 more times for one person to get one notch closer to Him. if that one person is me today, fine, start with me.
so, don’t hide behind churchy greek. “logos, telos,” okay, but can i say it in plain detroit monday? try: Jesus is the ground truth and the end goal. if everything was made through Him and for Him, then truth starts in Him and lands in Him. that’s the claim. am i overeager with the language? maybe. go read john 1, colossians 1, hebrews 1 again, slowly, like worship, not ammo. if the text softens my wording, i’ll soften it. truth doesn’t need me to overstate. the Lord’s lordship isn’t fragile.
steelman the pushback before someone else has to: “alex, people can aim their lives pretty well with secular virtues (family, craft, honesty) without invoking Jesus.” fair. common grace is real. i’ve seen wise atheists love their kids and keep their word. i’m not denying that. i’m saying long corridors of coherence need a cornerstone. without Christ, the axis keeps drifting back to me, and i eventually worship my own reflection: my comfort, my cause, my cleverness. short term order, long term orbit. hold the claim at that scope. remove the swagger.
also, stop pretending memory is evidence. if i write “scripture says,” i need to have actually opened it today, not last month. if i reach for history, prefer primary sources. if i say “this is how people change,” i should have receipts in my calendar and texts and a confession about when i didn’t. i’m allowed to be wrong in public; i’m not allowed to be lazy in public. there’s a difference.
and ego, name it while it’s small. i like how precise i sound when i’m building a flow. precision is good; performance is not. if a sentence is there because it flatters me, it goes. if a hedge is there because i’m afraid to be corrected, it goes. i don’t need to win; i need to point. paul in athens started with their poets, not because he was impressed with himself, but because bridges are merciful. i want that posture. begin where people are, but don’t camp there. cross the bridge; present Christ.
monday test: if today’s claim doesn’t change what i do before lunch, it was just noise. so pick one choice and let the telos decide it. two tasks on the desk: the impressive one that pads my image, and the quiet one that points someone to Jesus. do the quiet one. text one person a plain speech paragraph of what i’m trying to say, no jargon, no flex, then ask them what didn’t land. let their confusion be my editor. humility is cheaper than a reprint.
i keep telling myself “don’t take my word,” but i also need to hear the other half: don’t distrust the gospel by acting like it needs your volume. i can whisper and still be faithful. i can correct myself in public and still be faithful. if i shave a sentence down because scripture didn’t carry my emphasis, that’s not retreat, that’s reverence. if i draw a boundary around a claim and say “this is as far as i can responsibly go,” that’s not weakness, that’s worship.
so, again, to me: double check your flows. name the claim. show the path. welcome the strongest counter. fix the places you smuggled in assumptions. keep the paragraphs that cash out in obedience and cut the ones that only impress your friends. write like a person who believes the Lord can hold His own and just wants to clear the sightline.
and pray while you edit, because i’m not the logos and i’m not the telos. Jesus is. if even one person sees Him a little sharper because i told the truth about my limits, that’s enough. and if none but Him sees the honesty, that’s still worship.
Lord, keep me small and my sentences clean. make my corrections quicker than my defenses. let the people hear Your signal through my static. and if this only straightens me today, thank You, that’s one person closer. amen.
this isn’t my opinion dressed up as certainty. i’m making claims i’m willing to test in public. that’s why i keep saying “double check the flows.” epistemology asks how we know; apologetics names why Christ makes that knowing cohere. i’m not trying to impress you with frameworks—I’m trying to show the thing happening in real life. call it actualization: the claim holds in Scripture, it holds in reason, it holds in history, and it holds on monday. when a pattern keeps showing up across those planes and keeps landing in Jesus, i’m not crowning my logic; i’m recognizing the Actualizer. so don’t take my word for it. trace the flow, press the warrants, watch what reality does. if it stands, then the point wasn’t my take at all—it was His truth breaking through.
