The most overused and misrepresented word in the history of the English language is “hero.” We attach the word to athletes, entertainers and everyday Joes, regardless of who they really are, what they’re really about, and why they do what they do.
A man is not a hero because he can crush baseballs over 450 feet. He is not a hero because he can rhyme to a hot beat. He is not a hero because he can throw down a 360, two-handed slam off of one foot in a dunk contest. He’s not even a hero because he can accurately portray a true-to-life hero on the silver screen.
But the notion to continue to anoint such characters as heroes is ridiculous.
John Amaechi, the former NBA center who had a five-year career in the league, recently announced that he is gay. And for the last week, Amaechi has been ordained a hero for his courage in coming out of the closet. Courage isn’t exactly the word I would use. Here’s the deal: He waited until years after he was out the league. Plus, he came out the same week he announced a book deal to explicate his life as a gay man in the NBA. So, if the definition of a hero is a money-grubbing man who waits until its most convenient for him, then yes, he is a hero.
Otherwise, I say he’s just a man. And call me a right-wing zealot, a religious nutcase, whatever, but I say he’s just a man with his own problems, just like any other man. But the fact of the matter is homosexuality – no matter how you view it – is immoral. Before you start writing me letters and saying how judgmental I am, hear me out.
Some people contest that homosexuality is a trait passed genetically just like hair color or sex. I’m no scientist, but that may be true. Does that mean that God created homosexuality? No.
As Adam and Eve fell, it caused the entire Earth to be shrouded in sin (read: iniquity). Iniquity simply means twisted. Thus, as each new baby was and is born into the Earth, they are twisted versions of who they were intended to be. In Jeremiah 29:11, God said that He knew us before we entered our mother’s womb. In which God knew us as the perfect being He created us to be. But as we were born into sin, the disfigurement, if you will, turns us into an alternate form. In saying that, do I believe that homosexuality is a genetic trait? Sure. But it is no different a genetic trait than anger, rage, malice, depression or lust. They’re all things that have to be untwisted and restored to what they were actually created to be.
Otherwise, we’ll live incomplete, unfulfilled lives with only ourselves to blame.
1 comment:
yeah i heard about this because it was on tv in the background at the pizza place i was at, and i had alot of the same feelings about the whole "Hero" statement.
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