I’ve recently considered the very common Christianese phrase “I feel at peace about it.” It’s been a buzzword as long as I can remember, and I have been fluent in Christianese for about the last 23 years. It’s a great way to insinuate that God has confirmed your thoughts.

The problem with the term is I’m not sure it’s entirely Biblical. While it is true that the Holy Spirit does bring us a sense of confidence and peacefulness when we do follow him, it is not always, if ever, that it comes before we follow Him. Was Jesus “at peace” with the cross while he was sweating blood at Gethsemane? I don’t think so.

I got to thinking about it and realized I feel all kinds of feelings when I do what I believe God wants me to do, but peace is seldom one of them. In fact, I doubt “feeling at peace” goes real well with faith at all. Faith is about ignoring feelings… at least those at the level of comfort, at the level where most aspects of “feeling at peace” lives. Making decisions despite those feelings, not because of them. That is faith.

So where does that leave us? Well, I kinda like doing things because they are the right thing to do, regardless of how I feel about it, regardless of how much peace I feel or lack thereof. It makes for an interesting ride. I certainly don’t think that we should randomly do whatever doesn’t “feel” peaceful, but peace is a terrible gauge for a person who wants to live a life of faith. Turmoil proceeds all kinds of God ordained leaps of faith, Gethsemane being a great example.

When you need to make a decision consider the things that do NOT come from God. Fear is not of God, so while you may feel fear, which is quite the opposite of peace, it doesn’t mean that you should not proceed. That is not God. Manipulation and deception is not of God. Laziness is not an attribute often associated with God. Boredom, vain ambition, pride, malice, oh there are so many things that are not of God. However, feeling these things is part of the process of making decisions. Just cause they aren’t God doesn’t mean you won’t experience them. In fact, they are fantastic guides. The minions of hell make their will known loud and clear. It’s the Holy Spirit that is quiet, calm, and gentle.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. However, when it comes from the Spirit it comes despite all of the above. All of the above are still there, and I would go so far to say that when it comes FROM the Holy Spirit it’s not merely something that we feel. Instead it’s something that we accept, and choose to be. Sounds superficial, but it has to be. Our flesh is terribly flawed, and the Bible is clear that the flesh goes contrary to the Spirit. So that Peace that is the fruit of the Spirit is not a feeling, it is a decision. Like so many other fruits, it is a decision to allow The Spirit to lead us.

So next time you feel “at peace” about something, I suggest you look carefully for fear, for laziness, for pride & arrogance, be honest and rebuke deception. A Buddhist monk can light themselves on fire, experience great pain, and be “at peace” throughout the entire ordeal. That doesn’t make it God’s will. God’s will is wonderfully mysterious. We only discover it through relationship with Him. Exercising the flesh, or the mind, even conquering them, does not equate to being God. It doesn’t even equate to knowing God. Discipline can be very important to the process but priority one needs to be precisely what God says: “if you seek me, you will find me, when you seek with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Ever since the Garden of Eden there have been no shortage of accounts of human deceit. Cain told God that he didn’t know where his brother is. Abraham keeps lying about his wife. Even some of our most famous heroes of history have some white lies up their sleeves. Today, it seems, to be a president or a congressman, or even a lowly mayor, one must carefully manipulate the flow of information in ones own favor. In other words, deceive.

I was thinking about this as I was reading about one of my casual indulgences. You see, I enjoy reading physics articles. The official stuff sometimes, but I especially enjoy the crank physics. I’ll refer to it as crank-science, pseudo-science, non-science, or even faux-science… but however realistic my expectations are from it I also enjoy reading about it. It’s like a comic book, and there are lots of very entertaining stories. I would share a few, but I realize that my taste is an acquired one, and I’m sure the humor may be a bit lost on pretty much anyone else.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. – Albert Einstein

That quote is the basis of much of the humor. The absurdly gigantic puzzles that cranks create to confuse themselves are hilarious, and it seems the more ingenious a crank is the more complex his puzzle. Then unraveling the puzzle brings even more entertainment. I must admit I’m not great at unraveling so many of them. They are fun to look at nonetheless.

In the world of crank-science there are a handful of folks that are what I would call “dead honest”. They say what they think, think what they say, and harbor little to no guile whatsoever. They are quite fun to discuss ideas with and in most cases they seem somewhat immune to the delusion that makes the more deceitful cranks so humorous.

I would call them Truth Seekers. Where the deceivers avoid debate & shade nearly every statement in secrecy. As they maintain a pompous I-know-something-you-don’t-know attitude. While they proclaim much too often a lie that they have discovered something new…. The Truth Seekers are quite the opposite in every way. They welcome & crave debate, being wrong only leads to being right. Convincing people of a lie will only lead to folly multiplied. They pour more information out on the table than anyone even asked for. Underneath their anxious excitement they really are humble & quite willing to confess that anyone @ any moment could say something profound. Finally, they very often will downplay their own ideas rather than hype them… You see the Truth Seeker sees the world differently than the deceiver. They know that the entire population can believe a lie, and that even for eternity, but a lie is still a lie no matter how many believe it. The truth doesn’t require secrets, defense, or clever debate. It stands on its own and remains true no matter what the majority believes. Truth is just plain truth & lies are just plain lies and the former is superior in ALL ways. So the Truth Seeker chooses the superior quest.

Truth Seekers will necessarily appear foolish sometimes, as their inability to keep secrets is also an inability to sculptor their reputation. They will have more stamina than most folks because they know their prey is illusive and requires more commitment than the alternative. The Truth Seeker doesn’t mind appearing foolish so long as they are not deceived. The ability to avoid deception is a trait of a Truth Seeker as well as the ability to tell the truth. However, to their fault, they often may naively expect others to share their values. When they do, they can be rather naive. It’s their trust that will be their downfall, when any theory is stated as theory they are most likely to succeed at finding the truth of it. When a theory is presented as fact they may, for some finite period of time, take your word for it. Assuming you would have done your due diligence before proclaiming something to be true. Fool them once, and you should be ashamed… They won’t likely make that mistake twice.

And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. -Matthew 5:36-37