In a recent movie, The Accountant 2, Ben Affleck plays the star, a socially awkward number-cruncher named Christian Wolff. I haven’t seen the whole movie, but I heard about the speed dating scene and wanted to check it out.
In this scene, our hero uses his hyper-analytical brain and his partner guiding him in his ear to try and hack the system. At first, it seems like he’s successful. His data analysis leaves him with all of the women initially lined up in his line first to meet him, leaving the other men’s lines empty.
In Christian’s mind, dating is a puzzle to solve and he mistakenly believes that by doing a deep dive into the data he will be able to manipulate the system and find a “love connection.” The problem is, he can take what he knows about the women and give anecdotes from information he’s determined they should find appealing, but fails to make a human connection.
He’s all about control, precision, and data. But as the women at the speed-dating event glaze over, we see the flaw: love isn’t a spreadsheet. His approach misses the messy, beautiful, human side of connection. It’s like trying to solve a sunset with a calculator. Ultimately, his goal is more about manipulating to get the desired outcome, and nobody likes to be manipulated.
Contrast that to what we know about humanity and relationships from God’s Word. We are created in God’s Image (Genesis 1:27). We have a soul and are not just biological machines, but thinking, breathing, feeling people, who are wired for connection. Relationships in God’s Word are covenantal, reflecting God’s love for his people (Hosea 2:19-20).
The Bible calls us to love sacrificially, like Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25) and to approach one another with humility, patience and kindness (Colossians 3:12). These aren’t things you can plug into an algorithm, but they are things you can come to understand as you get to know someone personally.
Wolff’s method is about optimizing results, but biblical love is about giving without a guarantee of return. It’s Ruth pledging loyalty to Naomi, or Jonathan’s selfless friendship with David. It’s not about rigging the system but trusting God’s design, where love grows through mutual respect, shared faith, and commitment to His glory. Wolff’s approach, while clever, leaves no room for the mystery of God’s timing or the Spirit’s work in knitting hearts together.
This isn’t to bash science—God gave us minds to think and tools to use! But when we reduce human problems like love to mere data points, we miss the soul of what makes us human. The Bible shows us that relationships thrive on grace, forgiveness, and a shared pursuit of God, not just strategic moves. If you’re tempted to use AI or other technology to figure out relationships, I would encourage you to follow a Biblical model instead. Pray, seek God’s wisdom, and love others the way He loves you—messy, selfless, and all-in. It may be difficult, but it is much more likely to lead to lasting results.
Seeing God 