Subscribe to Christian Futurism
<100 subscribers
Share Dialog
Your phone buzzes with another business headline: “Amazon to replace 600,000 workers with robots by 2033, saving $12.6 billion.”[1] The article celebrates “efficiency gains” and “technological progress.” Your timeline fills with think pieces debating economics and innovation.
Something feels deeply wrong.
Not just economically troubling. Not merely politically concerning. Spiritually wrong. Like watching systematic dehumanization dressed up as progress while everyone applauds the quarterly earnings report.
You’re sensing what the Hebrew prophets screamed about for centuries. The reduction of image-bearers to expendable resources. The grinding of human dignity under profit’s machinery. Amazon’s automation strategy isn’t merely a business decision. It’s humanity’s oldest sin in new packaging. The treatment of people as obstacles rather than souls bearing God’s image.
The prophets had words for this. Several of them. And they didn’t mince their language.
Christian Futurism offers Frameworks grounded in Biblical Scripture to address AI, Technology, and Digital Discipleship to build a Christian Future.Find me on Substack at: rockefellerkennedy.substack.
Amos stood in Bethel’s marketplace around 760 BC delivering God’s verdict on Israel’s economy:
“Hear this, you who trample the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, ‘When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?’”
Amos 8:4-6 (ESV)
Notice what provokes God’s judgment. Not poverty itself. The systematic treatment of human beings as expendable inputs in economic calculations. The merchants couldn’t wait for holy days to end. They wanted to resume profit optimization through exploitation.
The Hebrew ‘āšaq (עָשַׁק) means “to oppress, extort, exploit.” The word describes treating people as resources to extract value from rather than neighbors to serve. Amos identifies covenant violation. Israel was called to reflect God’s character by protecting the vulnerable. Instead, they engineered systems maximizing profit by minimizing human labor’s value.
Amazon’s strategy represents ‘āšaq on industrial scale. Leaked documents reveal a worldview where 600,000 human workers represent inefficiency problems requiring technological solutions. The careful avoidance of “automation” language in favor of “cobots” shows moral awareness. But the strategy remains unchanged. Human labor gets treated as an obstacle to overcome rather than dignity to honor.
Meet The Efficiency Optimizer. The modern embodiment of ancient oppression. This villain doesn’t hate workers. That would require seeing them as human. Instead, The Efficiency Optimizer views labor through purely computational terms. Inputs. Outputs. Cost per unit. Savings projections.
Their creed sounds reasonable enough: “We’re not eliminating jobs; we’re reallocating human potential to higher-value work.”
But watch what actually happens. When Amazon replaces 600,000 warehouse positions with robots, those workers don’t magically transition to “higher-value” roles. They face unemployment. Retraining barriers. Family disruption. Community devastation.
Micah saw through similar rhetoric:
“Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.”
Micah 2:1-2 (ESV)
The Hebrew ḥāmas (חָמָס) means “violence, wrong, cruelty.” Micah uses the word for economic systems legally destroying families’ ability to provide. Amazon’s automation represents structural violence against families and communities. Even when executed through earnings reports rather than physical force.
The Efficiency Optimizer sees no moral problem. Human dignity never factored into the equation. The algorithm optimized for profit. Humans couldn’t compete on cost-per-item metrics.
This is covenant violation dressed as innovation.
What OpenAI's Atlas and Microsoft's Copilot reveal about trading security for convenience
Isaiah confronted the same profit optimization at humanity’s expense:
“Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right.”
Isaiah 10:1-2 (ESV)
Economic systems aren’t morally neutral. When systems treat workers as optimization problems, they decree that profit matters more than people. This represents functional worship of efficiency over the God who declares every person bears His image.
Amazon’s documents discuss “avoiding 160,000 hires” as cost-saving.[1] They’re admitting 160,000 humans seeking work represent obstacles to profit maximization.
The Hebrew mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) means “justice, judgment, God’s restorative order.” Not merely legal proceedings. Comprehensive restoration of right relationships between people and God. Biblical justice demands systemic change addressing root causes rather than individual charity treating symptoms.
The prophets demanded mishpat for vulnerable populations. Widows. Orphans. Foreigners. The poor. Surveillance capitalism, algorithmic manipulation, and labor strategies eliminating working-class livelihoods violate mishpat. They treat image-bearers as resources to exploit rather than persons to honor.
The WISE Framework provides biblical criteria for evaluating technology’s spiritual impact.[2] Amazon’s automation strategy fails all four tests:
Worship: Technology treating labor as expendable inefficiency undermines work as divine calling. The biblical vision sees work as ‘ăḇōḏâ (עֲבֹדָה), service that reflects God’s character. Automation prioritizing efficiency over human participation represents functional worship of productivity metrics. Not the God who designed work as participation in His creative purposes.
Image: Biblical anthropology recognizes that every person carries ṣelem (צֶלֶם), the image of God. Treat image-bearers as expendable inputs, and you attack God Himself. Proverbs states clearly: “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker” (14:31, ESV). Amazon’s automation strategy insults God. It treats His image-bearers as efficiency problems requiring technological elimination.
Stewardship: The $12.6 billion in projected savings flows to shareholders.[1] Meanwhile, 600,000 workers face uncertain futures. Nearly 4 in 10 companies expect to replace workers with AI by 2026.[3] Creating systematic patterns where corporate gains come at working-class expense. This isn’t stewardship. It’s extraction.
Eternity: God’s kingdom features justice, mercy, and recognition of human worth. Amazon’s strategy builds something different. Concentrated wealth. Eliminated livelihoods. Algorithmic sovereignty over human dignity. Serving temporal profit at eternal values’ expense.
Scripture celebrates innovation. Solomon’s temple employed advanced engineering. Bezalel received divine gifting for craftsmanship. But biblical innovation serves human flourishing rather than human elimination.
After creating Adam, God “took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, ESV). The Hebrew verbs ‘āḇaḏ (עָבַד, to work) and šāmar (שָׁמַר, to keep) describe purposeful activity enabling human flourishing. Activity reflecting divine creativity.
Work isn’t curse. Work is calling. Automation eliminating meaningful work without providing alternatives attacks fundamental human dignity.
The biblical economic vision balances efficiency with justice. Yes, landowners could maximize short-term profit by harvesting every corner of their fields. But Levitical law commanded leaving corners unharvested for gleaners:
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner.”
Leviticus 19:9-10 (ESV)
This law sacrificed maximum efficiency. It ensured community members could access dignified work. Gleaning wasn’t charity. It was opportunity to provide through labor. The system preserved both productivity and human dignity.
Amazon maximizes efficiency by eliminating human participation entirely. This isn’t progress. It’s regression to exploitation patterns the prophets condemned.
How Mordecai's intelligence methodology reveals surveillance systems built for "legitimate purposes" inevitably weaponize against God's people.
The systematic devaluation of human dignity reflects principalities and powers. Corporations engineer systems treating image-bearers as optimization problems. They attack God’s design. Paul reminds us clearly:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
The Efficiency Optimizer isn’t merely business strategy. It’s spiritual posture denying human dignity in service to algorithmic sovereignty.
Your purchasing decisions matter. Do they support companies treating workers with dignity? Or do you prioritize cheapest prices regardless of human cost?
Amos’s condemnation applies to consumers benefiting from exploitation. Just as much as merchants orchestrating it. Choose convenience over ethics, and you participate in the system the prophets condemned.
Look, we’re not anti-technology. Automation should enhance human flourishing rather than eliminate human participation.
Companies can implement new technology while actually caring about people. What does that look like? Protect workers during transitions with guaranteed retraining programs. Invest real money in helping displaced workers develop new skills. Ensure the people you’re replacing actually have meaningful paths forward instead of just unemployment lines.
Here’s a radical idea: share the productivity gains with the workforce that enabled them. You know, the humans who built your company before the robots showed up.
And maybe, just maybe, build automation timelines that account for human adaptation instead of optimizing purely for shareholder returns. People aren’t code you can patch and redeploy overnight.
Vote with your wallet. Support companies seeing workers as partners rather than optimization problems. Systematic wealth concentration accelerates when consumers prioritize convenience over ethics.
Small businesses, cooperatives, and transparent supply chains often treat workers better than algorithmic corporations. Your purchasing power shapes which economic models survive.
Churches should develop practical support systems. Job training programs teaching new skills. Mutual aid networks providing immediate assistance. Career counseling for workers facing industry collapse. Financial literacy education for navigating unemployment. Community business development creating local employment.
James makes this practical:
“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
James 2:15-16 (ESV)
Automation eliminates livelihoods. Prayer without practical support becomes insufficient.
Amazon’s automation strategy represents more than job losses. It’s humanity’s test case for our technological future. Will we engineer systems serving human flourishing? Or will we optimize humans out of existence in service to efficiency?
Here’s what comfortable people need hearing: Amazon isn’t alone.
Microsoft. Google. Apple. Meta. Goldman Sachs. JPMorgan. Every major tech and finance corporation implements similar strategies. Nearly 4 in 10 companies expect to replace workers with AI by 2026.[3] This isn’t isolated to warehouse workers.
Software engineers. Financial analysts. Customer service representatives. Graphic designers. Paralegals. Radiologists. Accountants. Your job sits on the chopping block too.
That smug certainty you feel about warehouse workers being “replaceable”? The algorithm sees you the same way. Your college degree doesn’t make you irreplaceable. Your white collar doesn’t protect you from The Efficiency Optimizer’s spreadsheet.
The prophets reserved harshest condemnation for those feeling secure while others suffered. Amos didn’t just critique merchants. He condemned those comfortable on their couches:
“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches... but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.”
Amos 6:4-6 (ESV)
You looked down on “those people” losing warehouse jobs. What happens when you become “those people”?
Where will you work when AI takes your job? What happens to your mortgage when your position gets eliminated? Your children’s college fund when your industry automates? Your retirement plan when your skills become obsolete?
Brutal reality the prophets understood: Safety nets you opposed for others won’t magically appear for you. Universal Basic Income might not pass. Social programs you voted against because “people should just get better jobs” won’t rescue you. Not when there are no jobs left.
Housing insecurity. Food insecurity. Inability to provide for your family. These aren’t problems happening to lazy people who made bad choices. They’re what happens when systems prioritize profit over people. And you’re next in line.
The “automation divide” doesn’t care about your resume. It concentrates wealth among those controlling technology while displacing everyone else. Blue collar and white collar alike.[4] Without strategic intervention, automation accelerates inequality. Precisely when families need stability most.
Studies show automation typically increases competition and pushes wages down. Rather than creating “higher-value” opportunities.[5] The myth that displaced workers will smoothly transition to better jobs is exactly that. A myth. Designed to make you comfortable with others’ suffering until your turn arrives.
The $12.6 billion Amazon saves comes directly from 600,000 families losing livelihoods.[1] Amazon’s careful PR strategy reveals industrywide awareness. Leaked documents show deliberate language choices minimizing backlash while proceeding with massive worker replacement.[1]
Microsoft eliminates QA testers. Google replaces content moderators. Meta automates customer service. Goldman Sachs reduces junior analysts. The pattern repeats across every sector. Companies double profits while cutting the workforce that enabled those profits.
This is ‘āšaq. This is ḥāmas. This is systematic oppression the prophets condemned, updated for the algorithmic age.
Think you’re exempt because you work in “knowledge economy”? The prophets have news. God’s judgment falls on nations grinding the faces of the poor and prioritizing wealth over dignity. When you’re finally ground under that same machinery, discovering you’re not special after all, where will your security be?
You have a choice. Accept the corporate narrative of inevitable progress while feeling superior to “those people” losing their jobs. Or recognize that you’re next. Stand with the prophetic tradition declaring that human dignity matters more than quarterly earnings. Fight for economic justice before it’s too late. For everyone. Including you.
The prophets didn’t accept exploitation dressed as progress. They also didn’t accept comfortable people pretending they were safe.
Neither should you.
How do your purchasing decisions and investment choices either support or challenge companies treating workers as expendable efficiency problems?
What practical steps can your local church take to support workers displaced by automation while advocating for economic justice?
Where do you see The Efficiency Optimizer villain archetype operating beyond Amazon in your industry or community?
Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to stay updated on how biblical wisdom illuminates our technology and economic justice challenges. And if this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to discover what authentic prophetic witness looks like in the age of automation.
Find Christian Futurism here: Substack, Medium, Paragraph
Buy the books on Amazon: Rockefeller Kennedy on Amazon
Available also as a Podcast: on Spotify, as well as PocketCasts!
Support this research and receive priority access to digital discipleship insights through BuyMeACoffee or Ko-fi. Your partnership funds continued investigation into biblical frameworks that multiply both kingdom impact and digital freedom for the global church.
Beyond AI Anxiety: A Biblical Framework for Navigating Artificial Intelligence - Complete WISE Framework methodology for assessing technology through biblical criteria
Sacred Boundaries: Biblical Wisdom for Digital Privacy - Theological foundation for ṣelem and corporate responsibility to honor human dignity
What Amos Reveals About Selective Outrage in America’s First Amendment Wars - Prophetic framework for consistent justice advocacy across political tribalism
1. “Amazon aims to replace over half a million US jobs with robots,” New York Post, October 22, 2025. See also “Amazon wants robots to replace 600k future hires,” Morning Brew, October 22, 2025, and “Amazon’s master plan to replace 600000 workers with robots by 2033,” Windows Central, reporting on internal Amazon forecasts showing systematic workforce reduction through automation, with projected savings of $12.6 billion between 2025-2027 through avoiding 160,000 hires.
2. “Beyond AI Anxiety: A Biblical Framework for Navigating Artificial Intelligence,” Rockefeller Kennedy Substack, May 25, 2025. Complete WISE Framework (Worship, Image, Stewardship, Eternity) methodology for biblical technology evaluation.
3. “Nearly 4 in 10 companies will replace workers with AI by 2026,” HR Dive, reporting on global corporate automation surveys showing systematic displacement of human labor across industries. See also “Companies That Have Replaced Workers with AI in 2025,” Tech.co.
4. “The Automation Divide: Bridging the Gap Between Technological Advancement and Workforce Adaptation,” analyzing how automation creates socioeconomic divides where skilled workers benefit while entry-level positions face systematic elimination. See also “AI could widen U.S. wealth gap, wipe out entry-level jobs,” NPR, August 5, 2025.
5. “A new look at how automation changes the value of labor,” MIT Sloan, examining how automation either erodes jobs entirely or transforms them, often increasing competition and reducing wages for displaced workers without advanced technical skills.
Rockefeller Kennedy
No comments yet