Glenn Beck's "Twelve Values": #10 Courage
Paul Derengowski, ThM
Courage. You don't have courage if you don't stand up,
you'll look the hand that feeds you, said Patrick Henry. The opposite is cowering, panic, fear. It eventually leads to slavery. If you don't stand up, you'll lick the hand that feeds you. But where does courage come from? I think it's from living the principles and the values, honesty, hope, humility, belief in God, knowing who you are, knowing what you believe, knowing how it ends, knowing how it began. I know that people will think that I'm crazy and that's fine, but I think we're living in difficult times, and I have pondered, how does this end. I have only truly prayed for guidance and courage to do the things that he would want me to do, to say the things that he would want me to say and in the end to have the courage not to falter, to have the courage to know what the truth is because I can face anything, you can face anything if you know who you are and what's important.—Glenn Beck
This value of Glenn Beck's is filled with so much irony it's almost impossible to know where to begin the critique. Beck speaks of courage, but then lacks courage in relaying just where his allegiances lie to the audience he hopes will buy into what he has to say. In fact, not only does he cower, he completely contradicts everything he's said up to this point about values and principles, simply because he doesn't have the courage to stand by them.
One cannot be truly honest and lack in courage to tell the truth. One cannot have hope and lack the courage to trust in whatever the object of hope is. One cannot be humble and lack the courage of admitting one is wrong. One cannot believe in God and lack the courage to testify of him amid adversity. One cannot know who one is who also lacks the courage to see oneself as one truly is. One cannot know what one believes who also lacks the courage to express those beliefs unabashedly. One cannot know how things end if one lacks the courage to acknowledge how things truly began. One cannot know how things began and lack the courage to distinguish the creation from the Creator.
Yet, in each instance, and over the course of detailing Beck's values and principles, he has lacked the courage to be open and upfront about what it is that he's referring to. Worse yet, he is seizing upon a society who frequently fails to contemplate not only its place before God in the world, but frequently fails to stand for much of anything, let alone the truth, because it is afraid that it might offend someone's feelings. So, hucksters like Beck come along and regularly spread their propaganda and that with impunity. In other words, he takes advantage of people in the midst of their fears, their worries, and their ignorance, and serves them up a nice cold glass of cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Sound familiar? Now, doesn't that sound courageous?
What is interesting is that Beck seeks divine intervention in his quest. He prays to the Mormon god, who is fixed somewhere in the universe nigh unto a star called Kolob. What Beck does not elaborate, though, is that his "god" cannot hear him. "Heavenly Father" has to have someone bring him the message. When HF actually receives the message and who delivers it is anyone's best guess. It certainly cannot be the Holy Spirit, since the Spirit is nothing more than a bodiless phantom of a man who is also fixed in time and space as well. And how HF answers the petition, and how one knows that it is indeed him doing the answering, is based on pure subjective conjecture; a "burning in the bosom" if you will. We know that it isn't HF communing with the petitioner, since that would require him to leave star base Kolob and deliver the message personally. And once again, it cannot be the HS, since that would mean he would have to leave the only Christian on the face of the earth (Rom. 8:9), and if that happened, we would have to have a "restoration" all over again, and thereby invalidate Joseph Smith's claims (as if they haven't been invalidated numerous times already). So, just who Beck is talking to and how he knows his reply is from HF are two questions he'll never be able to answer with any amount of clarity. But, he prays nevertheless.
Courage from a biblical perspective is seen as having both a lack of fear, as well as displaying a cheerful disposition. In both instances, though, absolute trust in the Lord is the key. For example, in Deuteronomy 31:6 Joshua is told by Moses to "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them [those in the Land of Canaan], for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." The Hebrew word in that instance (amets), and it carries with it the connotations of being "strong," "bold," and "secure." Is Glenn Beck being absolutely any of those things by hiding behind the facade of patriotism, conservatism, and Americanism, when his Mormon worldview would actually undermine all three if played out to their logical ends?
When one turns to the New Testament one sees a similar understanding of courage. Jesus told the paralytic, "Take courage, My son, your sins have been forgiven" (Mt. 9:2). When Jesus' disciples see him walking on the water amid a turbulent sea he tells them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid" (Mt. 14:27). In those two instances the Greek word is tharseō, which means not only to be courageous, but to be "confident," "unafraid," and "of good cheer." Another word that is frequently used in the NT for courage is tolmaō. It, though, implies the concept of being daring, as when those interrogating Jesus did not dare to ask him any more questions in Matthew 22:46 or when his disciples did not dare ask him any questions during a breakfast gathering after the resurrection (Jn. 21:12). A more positive usage see Paul being as daring in his ministry and role as an apostle as those "super apostles" would were intent on demeaning him (2 Cor. 11:21), as well as Paul's commendation to those at Philippi who had become "far more daring to speak the word of God without fear" because of what they knew of Paul's imprisonment (Phil. 1:14). Conversely, once again, is Glenn Beck really confident or daring to share with everyone the impetus behind his principles or values? Would you, if you knew you would lose people's confidence after telling them you believed in a exalted spaceman ruling the universe from some planet nigh unto a star called Kolob, or that you believed in Reformed Egyptian Jewish American Indians?
Glenn Beck is not only not courageous; he's a coward when it comes to not fully divulging his Mormon worldview, which drives everything he believes. He's only like so many used-car salesmen and shyster-like lawyers in that respect, who tell people one thing, and then when he has them hooked, he either changes the offer, or the real deal starts spilling forth. As noted before this is known in Mormon circles as the "milk before meat," and it has no association with the biblical allusion (Heb. 5:12), which is speaking about those who should have matured as Christians, and yet are still sucking on the pabulum of elementary teachings. Beck wants to hook people on his "conservatism," and then if people become really curious, then he'll spring something totally different on them, just like the Mormon missionaries do when they come knocking. And that is hardly descriptive of what it means to be courageous. It is deceptive; it is dishonorable; and it will be the death-knell of anyone who is naïve enough to believe it.
