So God created mankind in his own image,
 in the image of God he created them;
 male and female he created them.
 — Genesis 1:27 

Digital Twinness and the Distortion of Identity: 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about something called ‘digital twins’ — and honestly, it unsettles me. The concept itself, along with the phrase ‘digital twin,’ was first introduced by Dr. Michael Grieves in the early 2000s, and later expanded in partnership with NASA. What began as a tool for improving machines has now evolved into something far more personal, and far more intrusive.

You might’ve heard the term. It’s not science fiction anymore. These virtual versions of ourselves are now showing up in healthcare, education, business, and even personality profiling. Originally built to mimic machines and systems, digital twins have crept into mirroring humans. Yes, humans. Our bodies. Our thoughts. Our behaviors.

It’s one thing to track a heartbeat. It’s another to model a soul.

And that’s where I pause.

I’m Not a Replica. I’m a Reflection.
Scripture makes it clear — we are not random. We are not projections. We are crafted in the image of God, and that truth matters more than anything a machine could generate (Genesis 1:27).

We are more than blood pressure readings and personality maps. I know I am. I’ve lived it. And I’d guess, so have you. The times we’ve prayed through pain, or danced in joy, or sat in silence with nothing but the Spirit — those can’t be coded. They can’t be replicated. That’s Imago Dei. That’s what makes us different.

Dr. John Lennox, a mathematician and Christian apologist from Oxford University, speaks directly to this danger in his book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (Zondervan, 2020). He writes:

“The danger is that we start to believe we are no more than what the machines can simulate… that we are nothing more than a bag of biochemistry.”

If we accept that, we’re surrendering something sacred: our soul, our identity, and the divine fingerprint placed upon each of us.

Who’s Behind the Mirror?
Let’s be real: the people who built this tech, like Michael Grieves, who laid the foundation, and Dr. Fei-Fei Li, are brilliant. Grieves first proposed that digital twins help NASA. Fei-Fei Li, co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, has carried the concept further. In her recent memoir The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI (Flatiron Books, 2023), she reflects on how her work at Stanford has helped train AI to read human expressions, even detect illness. I admire their skill.

But brilliance without boundaries becomes dangerous. When the tool starts to define the person, when the simulation tries to supplant the soul, we’ve crossed into something else.

Let’s Talk About Substitutes
You’ve seen it. The world tries hard to affirm worth in other ways. Enter the DEI movement: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These aren’t bad ideas — they want justice, representation, fairness. But something nags at me when I hear those three words standing alone.

Where’s the anchor?

Because without the ‘Imago Dei,’ DEI becomes a shaky scaffold. When we build value on categories or cultural trends, we risk reducing people again — this time not to data, but to labels.

I say this carefully, but I say it clearly: divine worth can’t be simulated or substituted.

Soul ≠ System
Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Maybe in today’s world, it sounds like this:

What does it profit us to simulate the world and forget the soul?

Some days I look at the pace of tech and feel like we’re racing to replace ourselves. But I know better. You know better. The human heart isn’t a formula. The soul doesn’t run on code. The person reading this — you — aren’t a pattern waiting to be predicted. You’re a miracle breathing.

Psalm 139 tells me I’m “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And even with dyslexia, even when I jumble letters or get turned around, I feel that truth. I know it’s more real than any virtual version of me ever could be.

From Reflection to Revelation
Paul wrote,

 “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ”(1 Corinthians 13:12)

And that mirror? It isn’t a screen. It isn’t a model. It’s a shadow of what’s to come — a hint of heaven, not a program on earth.

So no, I don’t fear innovation. But I do question it. I test it. I hold it up to the light of Scripture. Because in the end, I’m not seeking a better model of myself. I’m seeking Christ, who alone is the exact imprint of God’s nature (Hebrews 1:3).

And you know what? That’s enough for me.

Let the world keep building its reflections.
I’ll keep living my reality — fearfully, wonderfully, divinely made.