If you have ever wondered whether your sins will find you out, just ask recently-relieved Navy captain Owen Honors who now finds himself a landlubber after the surfacing of “inappropriate” videos from his service several years ago on board the USS Enterprise.
In an apparent attempt to relieve tension, boost morale, and provide entertainment, Honors produced videos for his crew which featured lewd scenes, sexually suggestive material, foul language, and “anti-gay slurs.” Intended for deep sea viewing only among the USS Enterprise, a Norfolk, VA newspaper got their hands on the videos and went public with them. What started out as fun and games only among the crew has now resulted in the reprimand and removal of a commanding officer.
As clips from Honors’ video went viral on television stations across America, Adm. John Harvey Jr., commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command stepped forward and said, “While Capt. Honors’ performance as commanding officer of USS Enterprise has been without incident, his profound lack of good judgment and professionalism while previously serving as executive officer on Enterprise calls into question his character and completely undermines his credibility to continue to serve effectively in command.
The USS Enterprise will soon head out under the command of Capt. Dee Mewbourne while Honors stays behind for a paper-pushing administrative desk job.
We live in a less and less private world. With camera phones, Texting, Twittering, the internet and more, what happens in private can become public in a matter of only seconds. The situation is quite different, but just look to the once homeless and currently famous Ted Williams whose golden radio voice is now wafting through the nation’s airwaves.
Wrong is wrong—whether it be private or public. “Anti-gay slurs” are always inappropriate—regardless of one’s opinion concerning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Honors’ actions are not dishonorable simply because they surfaced for the world to see. Harvey’s assessment of Honors’ “extremely poor judgment” would stand correct had the videos never even been seen by the world.
But the videos were seen by the world.
Lessons on leadership and integrity abound here. One could talk for days about the standards of leadership and the lines that must never be crossed—much less approached by leaders.
Christians can learn a valuable lesson from these most unfortunate affairs. While we think that our actions might never be seen by others, they probably will. More than that, our actions certainly will be seen by God. On earth, we are accountable to others and answer to our superiors. There are earthly consequences for earthly actions.
However, we realize that there is more to life than the things of this earth. In fact, there is coming a day when “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” (Philippians 2:10-11) and we will “give an account of every idle word that has slipped through our lips. (Matthew 12:36)
Until that time, let us realize that our actions are never secret. With God, nothing ever stays in the closet.
Pastor Todd
