A CALL TO HONOR BY
GARY RAY BRANSCOME
While the concept of "honor"
predates the Christian era by many centuries and was even alluded to by
Solomon, the idea behind it is relevant to our day and age because it has to do
with conduct that will not bring shame upon one's family ("Honor thy
father and thy mother," Exodus 20:12, Proverbs 29:23).
However, the idea of having a personal code of honor
came later, and has to do with conducting ourselves in such a way that we have
nothing to be ashamed of. In other words, if we do what we know to be wrong, we
will have to live with it even if no one else ever finds out. And, if we cheat
or use foul means to get ahead, we will never be able to take any real pride in
our accomplishments.
Nevertheless, because so many in our society have
been given over to a reprobate mind, the idea of honor seems out of fashion
(Romans
A true, "man of honor" will stand strong
against temptation, as Joseph did, saying, "How then can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9, 1 Corinthians 10:13). In
the movie, "Gone With the Wind," Ashley Wilkes stood against
temptation in that way. Yet Scarlett had no idea of
what he meant when he said, "We have our honor." In fact, the concept
of honor was alien to her way of thinking. However, what he was telling her was
that even if they got away with doing evil, they would know about it and,
therefore, they would have to live a life of shame, for their own heart would
condemn them.
In contrast to honor, the ideal of Chivalry is clearly
Christian and western in its origin. It seems to have originally developed as a
way of reconciling an honorable defense of one's life, family, or country with
the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." To
that end, a distinction was made between killing the helpless, and killing in
self-defense. While killing the helpless was clearly an act of murder, killing
in self defense was seen, not only as preventing murder, but also as the just
end of all would-be murderers. When applied to the military, this way of
thinking saw the willingness of a soldier to risk his life in defense of
others, as an act of love (John 15:13). Therefore, soldiers who risked their
lives to protect women and children, and by physical prowess overcame and
defeated those who would harm their countrymen, were seen as worthy of honor.
At the same time, there was no honor for the soldier who would kill from
ambush, or kill helpless prisoners. Such a man was assumed to be too cowardly
to engage his foe in a fair fight. The same held true for those who mistreated
women, noncombatants, or prisoners. As a result, even though individuals often
fell short of that ideal, warfare in the middle ages was more civilized than
warfare today, in that there was no mass slaughter of noncombatants or
organized gang raping of women.
While certain aspects of the legend of King Arthur
are theologically incorrect, and the moral standards of that age were more lax
than those of post-Reformation
During the Renaissance, the concept of chivalry
developed into the concept of the Christian gentleman. A man
of great inner strength who is gentle, virtuous, and kind on one hand, and
capable of meeting and overcoming any problem that may arise, on the other.
In addition, he is also a man who does not flaunt and abuse his strength, or
boast and brag to cover up his inner feelings of inadequacy (Barney Fife).
The author of "Gone With
the Wind" brought out that idea when she had Rhett Butler ignore a
challenge by a young man eager to prove his "manhood". While Rhett
would hardly qualify as a true gentleman, the writer understood that a man, who
is confident in his manhood, does not need to act tough in order to
"prove" that he is a man. On the contrary, such a man is able to be
tender and gentle, kind and considerate. He does not need to hold a woman down
and mistreat her in order to affirm his own manliness, but instead affirms his
manhood by protecting and caring for the weaker sex. That is why men have
traditionally shouldered the harder and dirtier jobs, why they have opened
doors for women, and why they have allowed their wives to remain at home
instead of putting them to work.
At present, those who see women only as sex objects
ridicule this idea of manhood, and would replace it with the "Macho
A man of honor will not cheat to win, because he
knows that there is no honor in cheating. Instead he will strive to win
honestly, because he knows that the only real accomplishment lies in playing
the game fairly and still winning. Furthermore, if he does not win, he will not
pout and accuse others of cheating, instead he will
show good sportsmanship. In
During the nineteenth century,
The concepts of Chivalry and Honor, Gentlemanly
conduct, and Honesty and Fair play stand out in stark contrast to the amoral
self-seeking behavior of many in our society. Take, for instance, the slanted
and one-sided claims that dominate labor relations. One side yells
"unfair, unfair" no matter how hard the other side tries to be fair.
The same holds true of environmental groups. Instead of trying to be honest
about the situation, they try to create alarm so that they can use manufactured
crises to ram through the legislation that they want. In fact, I can
remember when they were swearing up and down that the world would run out of
fossil fuels by 1990. What does that say about their honesty? False statistics
were, and still are, used to promote the political agenda of those who favor
abortion, homosexuality, or other left wing causes. Which
only goes to prove that our atheist dominated society has forgotten the
civilized concepts of chivalry and honor, and is reverting to barbarism.