This week at Church, I heard an interesting comment. The woman who spoke mentioned how in chaperoning our teenagers she didn't have to worry about drugs and alcohol, only a bit of excessive roughhousing. It struck a stark contrast between what I see and hear happen with students at work, who are obsessed with recreation and procreation. Our society is far too focused on aberrations of morality.
Over the weekend, I was reading Herodotus. Yes, I read things like that. Unlike the popular versions of historically related films such as those depicting Thermophylae, I learned a few interesting things from Herodotus. See, he knew that for the Greeks the Persian army represented an unprecedented threat against the infant ideas of democracy, freedom and justice, which had only after centuries of mysticism and tyranny begun to take root in tiny Greece. For the Greeks, who fought amongst themselves as often as they fought their non-Greek neighbors, the landing force near Thermophylae would have looked as if the entire world had marched to war against them.
As then, a beast approaches. The Xerxes of modernity brings a mighty army hoping by force of weight and mass to impose upon us his morality. His army has many slaves but few soldiers, the people enslaved to the lusts of the flesh rather than inspired by a greater cause. Like Leonidas, the small force that stands against him stands on good ground, has good training, and holds a narrow pass. For all his strength, the weak ideals of the mentality that preaches "whatsoever a man does is no crime" must funnel against people who have been taught and trained to resist this notion to the death. Now as then Xerxes army is a great spectacle, poorly armored, poorly trained, dependent on their reputation and special tactics rather than on the men who are tasked with forwarding the notions.
Our army was trained differently. We were trained by our mothers to love what was good and brave and true. They taught us to trust in our God, to trust in what we know, to trust our hearts rather than in the lusts of our eyes. Many armies are inspired by land or money, because a king leads them, because they like killing, or because they fear the whips that force them forwards. Even Sauron had to force the minions of Mordor to march forth. We are inspired by a better cause. We are fighting for our loved ones, for our freedom, and for our right to worship and live in peace.
Our army is armored differently. Just like Xerxes hoard came with wicker shields, slight armor, and irregular weaponry, most of the weapons deployed against us in the war on morality are used inexpertly by amateurs in desperation. They rely on strength of numbers. We rely on each other. We have the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith which helps quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (Yes, one of Leonidas' men did say "We will fight in the shade"), a leather girdle of truth, and the sword of the Spirit of God. We have on the armor of God, and it makes the enemy quake and tremble for fear of our preparations.
Our army holds a straight and narrow path. Free men, who have chosen the way of truth and light, stand against many who are driven by things that cannot and do not last. We have, as Thomas Jefferson, "sworn on the altar of freedom eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man". We have a safe position, a firm position, one grounded in truth.
Our army fights differently than theirs. Our strength comes from the phalanx. We are not individuals. We rely on the strength of the men who fight alongside us, knowing that as long as we fight together they cannot penetrate our defenses. When the battle grows dire, few of the enemy will be able or inclined to hold the line.
Making a thing popular or legal does not make it right. The correctness in a principle comes from its ability to not only bless the life of the man who lives it but also from its ability to encourage and empower him to range forth using that principle to bless the lives of others. The new morality today is a reflection of our society. Like our gas stations, our lives have become self-service. New Morality teaches "You only live once, so live it up" instead of "You only live once, so live well".
Like Leonidas, we know we can hold this ground indefinitely unless we are betrayed. Somehow, Herodotus is not sure exactly how, the Persians found a way to flank Leonidas. If not for that, Leonidas could have held the pass indefinitely, because he had managed after two days to kill tens of thousands with few casualties of his own. This is a fight that can be won, that must be won, because we know that good will triumph in the end. The barbarians quake and tremble in their distant camp, knowing that at least since Leonidas made his last stand that the ideas by which we live have not only survived but also thrived. Our God is with us; our friends are with us. We will be victorious if we trust in right and hold the line at the Thermophylae of Morality.
No comments:
Post a Comment