Hello nofluff . Thank you for writing on the theme of this month's contest. Unfortunately, your entry did not qualify according to the rules. But I am happy, as agreed, to provide a review of your work.

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Grill a Christian  (13+) Will God fly with us to the stars? #2327636 by LightinMind

As the official Judge of this contest, I have the following comments to offer for "A Path to Inner Peace" 

Did you answer the question?

Yes, this was an emotionally rich, personally authentic, deeply reflective, and human answer that found an anchor in God through Christ. Christ embodied the peace you were looking for but despaired of finding in a continually, changing and chaotic world.

Use of quotes, proof-texting or AI - could I hear your voice?

You have read widely and while you refer to a great many people I have the feeling that you have absorbed many of their ideas into your stream of conscious reflection. Your view of AI as a flawed mirror of a broken humanity was interesting. On questions like this, I would tend to agree - what kind of answer you get back from the AI depends on how you ask the question and it might change tomorrow.

How consistent was your argument?

Your basic argument seemed to be that peace was like a ship that sails through troubles rather than an escape from them. That an Eternal, immutable God was a more trustworthy anchor in the storm of life than a continually changing and chaotic trust in mankind. That Jesus was a light in the darkness that modeled perfect obedience, peace, and trust and someone worth emulating.

My thoughts on the substance of what you said

It seems like you had a difficult month and you mentioned an experience in the ER. Your answers come from a well-read soul with a richness of reflection. You understand, in a way that some of the other contestants this month did not articulate, the human struggle.

Looking a little deeper through the broken fragments of a world falling apart flying at us from every angle, as we dodge and dive along our journey, we can see the love of God. An anchor that holds through any storm, earthquake, famine, war, sickness, or natural disaster.

You give the impression of having walked through a great deal of dirty, stormy water, deceptions, and delusions on your way to more palatable fresh lakes and clean skies. Yours is a voice that heard many of the whispered suggestions from unreliable teachers, deluded atheists, pseudo-scientific counselors and digital deceivers on the way to truth, learning why each of them should be disregarded before leaving them behind. Has that made your journey slower or enriched the voice that you now speak so marvelously with? Your comments reminded me of that famous Churchill quote, spoken in the darkest hours of the war, "if you find yourself in hell keep going!" You seem to understand the doctrine of common grace quite instinctually but also that these fragments of light we can find in other places are fragments not fullness. Only Jesus offers the fullness of truth and peace. Our hearts are restless until they rest in God - to paraphrase Augustine.

It is a deeply Christian insight that peace is not the absence of suffering but rather the presence of God in the midst of it. It is also how the bible psalmists dealt with crises of suffering and faith. They reflected honestly on these and found the Lord in the worst of struggles. Your initial vulnerability to the various counterfeit spiritualities like self-deification, the law of attraction, and self-worship ultimately resulted in a trail of broken idolatries cast overboard and now in the ship's wake as rejected flotsam and jetsam.

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

My favorite line was this one which refers to Christ:

“He never promised calm seas, only presence in the storm.”

More critically your deeply personal journey and rich experience of academic texts and ideas do tend toward a sort of moral relativism. In part that is a reflection of the world you have walked through and indeed a feature of our times. You say things like: Life is contrast and so are anchors. They’re deeply personal. But sometimes the truth is the truth is the TRUTH. Jesus is an anchor that holds through any storm, for anyone that chooses to trust God through Him.

Also, your style, while entertaining and intellectually stimulating is quite introspective and there is a danger you believe that truth is the result of your struggle and journey rather than something you have received by grace, and by faith in Christ.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

Peace begins in reconciliation with God not in the achievement of emotional equilibrium. We are seeking an undistorted view of God, not a simple cleaning of the glasses through which we view Him. It is about revelation not human perception in the end.

Thank you for another stimulating read. It is a shame you did not enter properly as you could have won this month's contest with this entry.

Mechanical issues

Focused on the substance of what you wrote.


Thanks again for entering.
LightinMind

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My Philosophy of Rating and Reviewing  (E) How do I assess people's work when reviewing? #2259390 by LightinMind

My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .