"Peace is not the absence of war, it is..."

I googled the above statement and found lots of endings to that sentence.
Many feel peace IS the absence of war, that if we just all be "nice" to each other, that would equal peace. What do you think? There is definitely a lot of value to being nice. Just holding the tongue, not to mention the fist or the gunfire, could prevent a lot of problems! But should we stuff things? Should we not deal? How far should we take "nice"?

My life experience begs to differ; in fact, the sweeping of issues under the rug, or the unwillingness to stand for truth in the name of "being nice" is not a Christlike policy. This mentality, in my experience, eventually breeds rage. It could be argued this version of "peace" actually leads to war.


4 Nephi 1:15
...There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

Matthew 10:34

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

I also do not believe killing evil people results in peace. OBL has just been killed; he was an icon for terrorism so that is a huge moral boost. However, I have noticed that in the "war on terrorism", when we kill one, another pops up.

To me, it is all about dealing from the basis of a love of God. The God I know is a God of action; He does not look the other way when His precious children are being stopped in their progress, but is a fierce defender of agency, of whatever promotes life, which is not the same as the deadness that is the result of ignoring truth.

What is peace to you?

By the way...
Apparently I had set my comments to "moderate" and never knew. I just found a bunch of comments from over a year ago. If anyone stumbles across this who took the brunt of my ignorance, I am sorry!

intolerance, hate, or politics?

The blurring of the lines of demeaning behavior is killing us... What is demeaning behavior? It is behavior that demeans us. It is bullying, but also it is immorality. It needs to be okay to be against an action; it needs to not be forced onto us that because we are against an action (any action), we are therefore intolerant of that person. We should be intolerant of immorality, especially that immorality that encourages us to view each other as less than. The more we "get" how precious we each are, the happier we will be as individuals and as a society.