Where Courage Lives

Since Webster defines Courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty” I can’t help but question what was meant by the word “moral”. Was the intent that the strength of courage be measured against “good” morals or did the meaning include “bad” morals as well? If the meaning was for both “good” and “bad” then why use the word “moral” at all? But then when Noah Webster lived, morals actually meant something. When and how have we changed our view, and even our definition of morals?

The original definition of morals was “the understanding of what is right and wrong behavior among humans”, but then later to the definition was added “based on what most humans consider right and wrong”. Ahhh, so there is the disconnect between what defines Bruce/Kaitlyn Jenner’s courage today verses what would have been considered courage at some point in the past. Right and wrong; our moral compasses and the standard of human behavior are now determined by popular vote. Truth no longer has effect on morality, truth has become a distant image which has been replace by a relativity that changes with popular opinion as fast as the tides change the sands of Earth’s shores. Humanity’s moral compass, once defined by the Bible and a belief in God has been replaced by the notion that the individual proclivity of mankind determines morality and even the very essence of truth itself.

I won’t be pulled into the debate (at least today) over the morality of the LGBT movement or many other social behaviors which once thought as “bad” behaviors are now considered “good” behaviors. I will say at this point that I have multiple acquaintances in the LGBT movement, and a few that I have shared many social events with and a couple that our family would adopt as our own family if the need was required. I have had actual involvement with 5 trans genders; and while a couple of them were really strange, I have to admit that one of them was a tremendous help and support to us during our fight with my son’s mental illness. I personally believe that everyone in the LGBT movement deserves respect, they deserve love and under no circumstance should they be discriminated (as humans) or be withheld the rights due to the rest of us outside the LGBT family. However, offering my respect and even admiration in some cases, does not equate to approval of lifestyle or an acquiescence to a change in what I believe is right and wrong. My argument is about courage and morality and I don’t condemn any specific behavior mentioned here as “better” or “worse” than the other behaviors mentioned herein.

I have to raise the question of whether courage is defined as those who would follow their own leanings and tendencies instead of fighting those personal feelings to adhere to a code of conduct once viewed as truth and “goodness”. What would be more courageous in a battle; the soldier who at all cost would follow orders to protect his country and his fellow soldiers, or the one who when under fire says “I am scared, actually I have been scared a lot in my life. My earliest memories as a child involved a lot of fear. I must have been born scared….God must have made me scared for a reason, so I think I will just desert my troops and my country and live the rest of my life in fear since after all….fear makes me happy.” It is ridiculous to think that we would honor this person as a hero, somehow courageous for being brave enough to “be what he really is”. Would we decorate him with medals and throw a parade in his honor? Of course not! We honor those who fight their fears and wage war against their natural tendencies to do what is right. But therein lies the problem; right is now determined by popular opinion rather than truth as defined in the Bible which has been the most powerful book in history and has declared for generations and millennia that it is the very Word of God.

We as a society have attempted to pervert the Bible with hundreds of arguments about what was meant by good and evil and what constitutes sinful behavior. The LGBT movement and their liberal fan club make declarations of misinterpretations and claim that the Apostle Paul was a frustrated gay man and some even go as far as to say that Jesus was also gay. The Christian community, along with some other religions, then quickly declare that gays will burn in hell based on passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that states: 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The Bible in fact mentions homosexuality and related behavior 7 times and while I won’t list all of the passages here it is fair that the “lifestyle” as we call it is never mentioned in a positive manner. But again, my argument is about courage and not about the LGBT community. Let’s look back at the passage in Corinthians that condemns homosexuality; that passage also condemns many other things such as adultery, theft, drunkenness and swindling to name a few. Even “reviling” is condemned which defined means using harsh language to hurt someone. You recognize that right? We call it bullying today which is highly condemned. So here we have a list of “poor behavior” as defined by God himself and yet we as a society will pull one behavior out of the list and call it courageous instead of egregious. We honor those who follow their own temptations in one area but not in others. We call them heroes. We call them courageous.

By the standard that we have set, then wouldn’t it make sense that if I was tempted by adultery and cheated on my wife, that I should be honored? I mean if I have the temptation then God must have made me that way and he would want me to be happy, right? After all it takes guts and bravery to cheat on your wife and to risk getting caught right? If I became a drunk, then I should get a special day at Disney World called “Drunk Pride Day” where all of my brothers and sisters of the bottle can live in freedom for a day. That takes courage to risk your family, your job and your health to pursue your inner desire to be a drunk right? I mean the thousands of people who have fought the temptation of alcohol and who have been through treatment and the torture of rehab must just not be honest people. They must not be courageous for fighting their inclinations….the ones who give into drinking are the ones we should applaud, right CNN? Right Diane Sawyer? Right politicians? Right Hollywood? Doesn’t this make perfect sense? That’s what you have taught us.

Where does courage really live? Does it live in the hearts of those who give into their own sense of morality as long as approval is achieved by popular opinion? Should we celebrate behavior (any behavior) condemned by God as long as enough people agree with it or practice it? I believe that true courage lives in the hearts of those who do what is right no matter the cost, regardless of the pain, despite the ridicule…….those are my heroes.