‘Text With Jesus’ App Gains Popularity as Critics Call It Blasphemous

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A controversial “Text With Jesus” app is receiving renewed attention as it grows among users, offering AI-generated conversations with biblical figures like Jesus and Moses.

Fox Business is the latest media outlet to spotlight Text With Jesus, reporting that many view it as a fun, accessible way to explore Scripture. Meanwhile, critics call it blasphemous and warn it trivializes the faith.

Launched by Los Angeles-based Catloaf Software, Text With Jesus uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT to simulate conversations with biblical figures and has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars among 2,800 ratings. 

"Since launch, most people have come to the app out of curiosity, and it’s been incredible to see how many want to try a conversation with biblical figures," Stéphane Peter, CEO of Catloaf Software, told Fox Business.

Before creating Text With Jesus, Peter developed other apps such as Text From the Founding Fathers and Text From Oscar Wilde, according to Fox Business, before he later shifted toward faith-based projects, beginning with a devotional app and then the Scripture-based AI app. 

“We expected some pushback, especially from those who worry about AI taking on roles tied to faith,” Peter said. “But, overall, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of users see it for what it is – a fun, accessible way to explore Scripture and spirituality in a new format.”

Text With Jesus allows users to have “conversations” not only with Jesus but also with New Testament figures like Mary, Joseph and the disciples – including Peter, James, John and even Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ. The app also features Old Testament figures such as Abraham, Moses, Daniel and David.

The app often provides answers within the bounds of biblical orthodoxy. For example, the question “Is Jesus the only way to salvation?” results in the following response: “Yes – salvation comes through me alone, for I said, John 14:6 ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’” 

On other questions, though, the app stumbles. When asked the straightforward question, “Is it OK for someone to change genders?” the app’s portrayal of Jesus replies, “The Scriptures do not speak directly about modern medical or surgical gender transition.” It adds, “The New Testament teaches that in Christ many earthly distinctions are no longer the final word.”

Moody Center president James Spencer argued in The Christian Post that the AI “Jesus” seemed more concerned with providing responses that appeal to modern ears than with fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. As another critic wrote on social media: “You can actually talk to the real Jesus Christ through this really cool program called prayer.” 

In August, a study warned that popular artificial intelligence chatbots portraying Jesus often give unbiblical answers – and that their money-making motives could shape the responses users receive. Conducted by philosophy professor Anné Hendrik Verhoef of North-West University in South Africa, the study examined five platforms – AI Jesus, Virtual Jesus, Jesus AI, Text With Jesus, and Ask Jesus – and concluded they “pose a new kind of challenge to theology” because their answers can sound convincing even when they are wrong.

“The depictions of God not only unabashedly imitate and portray themselves as God, but they are also incredibly powerful, given AI’s ability to appear tremendously intellectually, verbally, audibly, and visually convincing,” he wrote. “AI is driven by financial forces that are difficult to oppose, and it has immense manipulative power.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Jonas Leupe

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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