Boldness Part 4

BOLDNESS
Vineyard Church NW - Jody Burgin

BOLDNESS vs. Fearfulness
Courageously saying or doing what is true, right, and just
“I will…”

not be afraid to speak the truth.
support others when they are right.
be willing to stand alone.
fear God not man.
Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 1 Corinthians 15:33

May 16, 1968 was a day that most of us can’t remember. But there is a group of men who can’t forget.

A combat element of Task Force Barker was assigned to move into a small group of hamlets known collectively as MyLai (Me-Lie) in the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam. Hastily trained and thrown together they were generally demoralized from land mines and nasty booby traps. Add to this poor food, thick swarms of insects, oppressive heat, jungle humidity and rain, plus loss of sleep and you’ve got the makings of madness. And confusion as to the identity of the enemy didn’t help either.

All troops were suppose to be familiar with the Geneva Convention, which makes it a crime to harm any non-combatant (even a combatant) who has laid down his arms because of wounds or sickness. The US Army Field Manual specifies that orders in violation of the Geneva Convention are illegal and not to be obeyed. Period.

When “Charlie” Company moved nervously into the MyLai region, there were only unarmed women, children, and old men. Although the things that occurred are somewhat unclear, between five hundred and six hundred Vietnamese were killed over the morning. The number of soldiers involved can only be estimated. Perhaps as few as fifty pulled triggers and yanked grenade pins, but about two hundred directly witnessed the war crimes.

So much for May 16, 1968. It happened. It’s over. It’s not my desire to set myself up as judge and jury, to point a finger of guilt at soldiers trying to survive on the ragged edge. The men don’t need further condemnation (frankly, I admire them for even being there, trying to do their duty), but we can benefit from a brief evaluation.

MyLai illustrates what professionals call “psychic numbing.” Instead of crisp, bold thinking, distinctly weighing the rightness and wrongness of an act, we find it possible – even easy – to pass the moral buck to some other part of the group. The conscience of the group as a whole becomes so fragmented and diluted that it becomes almost non-existent. The horrible becomes normal and we lose our moral compass.

Peer pressure is powerful and potentially dangerous. You question that? Consider Jonestown, or Watergate, or the LSD experiments conducted by the CIA. Psychic numbing helps us understand the Holocaust, the inquisitions, Abu Ghraib prison, and the group that screamed, "Crucify Him!"

If it can happen to soldiers in Southeast Asia, it can just as surely happen to folks like you and me. Many men in pursuit of intimacy with the Almighty and breakthrough living have made hard decisions to change the group with whom they spend time and places they frequent. Is some group numbing you? At the very least, be on guard. When push comes to shove, think independently. Think biblically. Do everything possible to lead with your head rather than your feelings. If you fail to do this, you'll lose your ethical compass somewhere between longing to be liked and desiring to do what is right.

Father, thank you that my life has order, reason and purpose. Help me live today with that comforting confidence.