Have you ever had a moment of truth?
Have you ever faced a situation where your response could either cost you your worldly dreams or dishonor your fundamental core beliefs?
Have you ever had to choose between honoring God or conforming to the world?
I haven’t had much to say about Carrie Prejean’s “moment of truth” at the Miss USA pageant.
But recently I heard her explain her experience in that contest – and it made an impression on me.
The first time I saw her respond to the question that caused so much controversy, I was, shall we say, less than impressed. I thought she waffled. She started out on one track, attempting, it seemed to me, to split the difference on the issue of same-sex marriage.
Perez Hilton: “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”
Prejean: Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country and in my family I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised, and that’s how I think it should be – between a man and a woman.”
Within minutes of that show being aired, I was literally inundated with e-mails from people who saw it and were proclaiming Miss California a hero.
I watched it a few times and couldn’t see what they were seeing. To me it sounded like she was trying to have it both ways.
However, the reaction to her statement was strong – on both sides of the issue. In fact, that is a gross understatement. Carrie Prejean was virtually crucified for her expressing a preference for traditional marriage. She was insulted, vilified, and her politically incorrect answer cost her the crown. She was later stripped of her Miss California crown, too, by people who have no business running a beauty pageant – just as the homosexual activist blogger who asked the question had no business being a judge.
I was also deeply impressed with Carrie Prejean’s poise in follow-up interviews. She showed courage and intelligence not evident in her original answer to that question. And, I believe we can all learn from what she faced in that “moment of truth.”
“First and foremost, I was extremely nervous,” she said in a recent interview with Matt Barber and Mat Staver of Liberty University. “If you can imagine being called into the top five of the Miss USA, having worked so hard for this, this had been on my mind every single day nonstop for the past six months. I was ready to win. I was prepared mentally, physically, spiritually. I knew that when I was called into the top five I could take this, I could win. So when he did ask me that question, for a second, I thought, ‘Should I be politically correct?’ And, if you watch the video, you can see that I started off and a lot of people were making fun of me, saying I stumbled and what not, saying ‘opposite marriage, when I should have said ‘traditional marriage.’ But, it is what it is. But, if you notice, I finished strong.”
Carrie Prejean changed gears in the middle of that answer. She says it was like a “switch” went off in her head.
“At first it was a hard decision to make,” she continued. “I felt as though Satan was tempting me into being politically correct and that’s when I started off, you know, answering the question stumbling a little bit. But I finished strong and I finished to the best of my ability and staying true to my beliefs.”
God bless Carrie Prejean for finishing strong, for choosing the right path, for making the right choice. She not only finished strong in that competition, she has continued to be an example for all believers torn between conformity to the world’s standards and honoring God’s standards.
For that she will forever be the big winner in that contest.
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WND Staff