"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - Richard Grenier, 1993 Washington Times, paraphrasing George Orwell.
In Genesis Chapter 14, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were overrun by enemies. Everyone who lived through the attack, men and women, were taken prisoner and led away. One of those individuals was a man named Lot.
Lot, as it so happened, had an uncle who had become a very famous man, Abraham. Someone who knew of Lot's connection to Abraham went and told him what had happened. When he did, Abraham responded.
Genesis 14:14-16 says, "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people."
Abraham and 318 dangerous men risked their lives, beat down the bad guys and saved the day.
And if that last sentence sounds a bit like I am waxing nostalgic for the childhood days of good guys in white hats punching the lights out of villains in black, you are entirely correct. I am.
I guess what I am really longing for is a return to what used to be a basic truth understood by most everyone: Dangerous men can be a very good thing.
There has never been in all of human history a time when there were not "bad guys" running wild, and until Jesus returns there never will be. The sin nature of humanity can never be fully educated away, philosophized away or medicated away. And, as Neville Chamberlain inadvertently demonstrated, it can also never be bargained away.
The Neville Chamberlains of the world will not keep people safe; that task will be left to the Winston Churchills of the world. Chamberlain was the British prime minister who favored appeasement toward Adolf Hitler's Germany leading up to World War II. Churchill, his successor, took the lead in warning about Nazi Germany and in campaigning for rearmament.
Traditional manhood is very much a favorite target of the political and societal left these days. Their view seems to be that boys should not play with toy soldiers or have paintball guns or become hunters, and they certainly should not wrestle or box or do martial arts. The concept is one of softening men and making them either fearful of or actually disdainful of conflict.
But, prepared or not, conflict will come.
When a woman screams in the street because a rapist is trying to pull her into a vehicle, a dangerous man, a good guy, would be a handy person to have nearby.
When the door is kicked open in the night and intruders storm the house ready to tie up and assault whomever they find, a dangerous man, a good guy, would be a handy person to have getting out of bed to meet them.
When a child is assaulted by someone three times his size and four times his age, a dangerous man, a good guy, would be a handy person to have nearby to intervene on that child's behalf.
When enemy armies march across your borders as they did in France in World War II, dangerous men sailing across the sea and dropping from the sky to repel them are the most glorious sight you will ever see.
I understand that dangerous men sometimes themselves become the bad guys. But since there are always going to be bad guys anyway, there must of necessity always be good guys capable of handling them.
Go play in the dirt, boys. Slay imaginary dragons and vanquish every foe. Dream of being Captain America, or Thor, or Aragorn, or the Lone Ranger. Be strong. Hold soldiers and police officers up as your role models. Practice chivalry. Study the lives of those who have fought evil and won.
I am all in favor of women being armed and dangerous if they choose. But men especially ought to step to the plate and be willing to be dangerous for others, and those who are should be celebrated, not castigated.
Let's hear it for dangerous men.
Bo Wagner is pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, N.C., a widely traveled evangelist and the author of several books. He can be contacted by email at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.