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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: I am a high school graduate going into the field of robotics. It is the most awesome subject to study because robotics may one day make it possible to control the world around us. It’s even possible that the leader of the whole world will emerge as a robotic god. My parents and I have had a very bad argument over this and they told me I was testing God. Why? — R.S.

Dear R.S.: Mankind has always wanted to create gods like themselves. This, indeed, is dangerous territory.
Drones and robotic technologies, like artificial arms, can do more and more things that only humans used to do. But there’s one thing that robots will never be able to do — make their own choices.
When God created us, He gave us the ability to choose. If God made us so we could only do good things and never do anything wrong, we would be like robots. We wouldn’t be able to choose to do good, instead of evil.
And if we couldn’t make choices, we also couldn’t love. Robots do not love! God created us with the capacity to love others. True love is a choice. We cannot force anyone to love us or be our friend. And God won’t force us to choose loving actions toward others either. He wants us to be free to choose.
Nothing will ever overrule God’s purpose for mankind. The Bible tells us that before Almighty God “no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me” (Isaiah 43:10, ESV).
We might think that robots are the solution for the world — being able to program them to do what we want — but that is not God’s design and we should thank Him for creating us with the freedom to choose. And the most important decision to make in this life is to love Jesus — God’s Son — and obey His Word that is designed to give us a full and contented life.
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)