When Good Men Do Nothing

Joe Paterno is the winningest coach in division one college football.   He has won more bowl games than any other coach and is the only coach to have won all four of the major BCS bowls.  He has been coach of the year over 20 times and is considered to be a living legend.

But because of one decision he made about 10 years ago his good reputation has now forever been altered.  For all of the wonderful decisions he has made in his life and all of the good he has done he will be remembered forever for one fateful choice.  It was the choice of what not to do.  It was a decision of indecision.

Joe Paterno was fired by the Board of Directors at Penn State University this week because of a choice he didn't make.  When he learned that the sexual abuse of a child was happening under his watch he chose not to call the police and report it.  Instead, he passed it off to someone else.

The horrifying stories of apparent systemic child abuse in the Penn State University football program invoke some strong reminders about what is most important to us.

First and foremost on all of our minds is that a good, just and moral society protects the most vulnerable and powerless.  In a society influenced by the laws of God children are protected and nurtured.  Scripture demands it (Matthew 18:1-6) and human nature understands it instinctively.

A second and profoundly important truth that should be taken away from this is that this tragedy became even worse because good men were not assertive and aggressive in dealing with it.

This is a reminder to us that one of the biggest problems in our society is passivity.

The original sin in the garden was not just that Eve gave in to temptation but also that Adam was passive.   And that pattern of passivity causes profound dysfunction in our culture.  People are asking this week, "how could this happen?"  The answer is that it happens because people choose passivity.

The abuse itself is bad enough, but the culture of passivity that enables the abuse is just as bad.   It was the English philosopher Edmond Burke who once wrote,

"All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."  

So as we unpack our emotions of anger and disgust in hearing these terrible stories coming out of Happy Valley Pennsylvania, let us be reminded of the nature of our sin.   Our sin is not just that we give in to temptation.  Our sin is that we bring idols into our heart.  We idolize our desires, our hopes and dreams and careers and football coaches and football programs.  We idolize ourselves. But one of our biggest problems is that like Adam, in our sin we choose passivity.

May we all be reminded that every single day we are constantly making the choice between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of me.  The kingdom of me is all about protecting self, protecting jobs, careers, programs paychecks and reputations.  The kingdom of God on the other hand rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously and longs for the applause of heaven more than the applause of man.