June 20, 2026
…
always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth
(1 Timothy 3:7).
Interesting
books one comes across these days. Just yesterday, in conversation with a good
friend beside his hospital bed, he points to his latest acquisition, a book
written by “someone he knows.” He says he could not help but think of me as
he was reading. Humanity’s Departure from the Creator and the Return to
Truth is the ponderous title which takes up full space on front cover.[i]
Now I’m reading, not only because of the title but because of my dated memories
of this my long-time friend. We met as long-distance truckers once upon a time,
each of us intrigued by the circumstances that had brought us in among the
trucker buddies; he was a registered nurse and I was an ordained preacher.
During those years we talked very little about faith and religion; mostly participants
in tall tales and lies, the regular fare of drivers’ lounges and truck stops. It
was he, however, who provided the CB Handle which became my calling card for those
20 years, “Preacher Man.” This my friend is now hospitalized, fighting for his
life, and wanting to talk mostly about religion, Christian commitment, baptism,
etc. – and yes, still the occasional tall tale!
The title of
this book is indeed strange, kind of an old-new multi-disciplinary assertion.
Knowing this latest chapter of our longtime friendship, it is a must read. My
thinker and I already hard at it, wondering whether this may be a
fundamentalist document or maybe another treatise from someone of the absolute
opposite point of view (from the liberal left, as they say in the US of A).
Published 2026, anything is possible!
Humanity
very ancient, is the immediate opener, definitely older than the 4000 years
still alleged by a considerable portion of my relatives and other friends!
Humans came along about a billion years after the big bang about 4.54 billion
years ago.[ii]
I need only look West from my home in Calgary, or listen to a few indigenous
elders, and I know millions and billions are tenable. Something about those
snowcapped mountains and our neighbors at Stoney Nakoda or Tsuu T‘ina suggests a
long long time before us colonialists entered these foothills. So, I have no
argument with the opening assertion, even while wondering about the espoused theology.
The
authority of this book seems to reside in AI (ChatGPT). The opening Acknowledgements
and Preface present a conceptual pyramid which places a certain Mr. James Stephens
as a rarity at the top, one in 10,000 persons who operate with a level of
clarity beyond distortions.[iii]
That is an interesting way to prove credibility, but I reread several times,
and then it’s almost obvious. AI is the actual author! Gulp! Maybe that
explains why no story line, only assertions and motherhood and apple pie
questions like, “Who Are We? Where did we come from? Our purpose, and what
after we leave this world?” These questions have shaped entire civilizations,
obviously inspired art, religion(s) from cave paintings to great pyramids and
temples, and always a seeking an originator, one who gives order, namely our Creator. These
bite-sized info bits are what bring on my opinion this is AI logic. Why the
focus on James Stephens is a mystery.
Alongside my sort-of agreement with the large topic at hand, there is also a skepticism, and of course this in context of my friend, now my Christian brother’s thinking of me as he had been reading!
Does this AI author know what s/he is writing about? Creator is a term which
may well serve an intelligent thinker, an agnostic or even a reluctant
atheist. But then he sleuths in to what seems to be personally uncharted
territory. Truth is of a very different ilk, possibly old hat to many but brand
new here? Recently I heard it used jokingly by a Christian singer songwriter
talking about challenges he often encounters especially in different variations
of Christian audiences looking for Truth. He confesses to a deep search which
includes both old time religion and a whole lot of new things to learn. My
friend and I both humbled to agree we too have found it so. [He lost his wife 6
months ago, and my daughter’s funeral at beginning of this month].[iv]
So it is that ultimate questions do not go away, and even truck drivers and fundamentalists and psychologists and humanists may be willing to tap into what might be before, during, or after! After first reading of this all-inclusive book, I have found myself agreeing with almost all he says; brief quote in the last chapter, Throughout all history, the Creator’s invitation has remained the same: “Return to Me. Live in harmony with My design. Love one another as extension of My essence.” This almost sounds biblical, and then a further revelation (??). This call transcends religion, culture, and language. It is heard not with the ears but with the heart. When we align ourselves with this truth, fear dissolves and becomes the foundation of our lives. When we resist it, distortion grows and suffering multiplies…”
So good, so
ideal, but what is to grab hold of? My scrappy notebook with this old man’s
handwriting has it this way, “Good book, but kind of scary, boring actually.
Only statements. No plot. No story. Where is the personal?” Given all the
complexity and the vastness of Creator’s creation, I am relieved to have had
Creator’s Son among us, became flesh and made his dwelling among us
(John 1:14) and available still.
How can one
speak Creator and Truth with historical scientific and geographic AI confirmed accuracy
without attention to the personal? Seems to me these ideals of life were, and
still are, more than our good resolve to be good and loving, even as encouraged
by AI authors. John 14:6 is relevant and essential for all thinkers especially on this big topic, Jesus
answered, “I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And it even comes
with a personal invitation, “Come to
me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).
These last gospel passages: to me they still point to the very Truth alluded in the epigraph
above. Now about this Mr. Stephens …
[i] James Stephens, Humanity’s
Departure from the Creator and the Return to Truth: Restoring the Truth That
Was Lost (Los Angeles, CA: James Stephens, 2026).
[ii] As per Google, James Stephens fact
checked by AI.
[iii] Op.cit., p. 9.
[iv] “After a While”, https://www.jcfroomthoughts.blogspot.com, June 13, 2026.
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