That makes sense. When presented with an out (even one with as much potential to go wrong as the dark ritual), most people would take it instead of facing certain death. The willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice is what separates the Daveths from the Ser Jorys.
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause;
while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."
Just because Ser Jory didn't want to have to risk death to become a Gray Warden doesn't mean he wasn't an honorable or good man.
You have to consider the decision he made in light of the situation presented to him at that point in time. None of the candidates were told that an Archdemon was leading the darkspawn, none of the candidates were told that the only way to kill an Archdemon was if a Gray Warden landed the killing blow. The only thing they were told is that they would have to risk death to drink some poison that would turn them into a Gray Warden. But there was no clear reason to justify making one more person risk death in order to become a Gray Warden as there were already numerous Gray Wardens in the world and no Blight as far as Jory was told. So they were asking him to leave his wife and new baby without father and husband for no reason at all. The world would have been better served by allowing him to return to his baby and live out his life by raising his family as well as he could.
I mean that is the entire purpose behind stopping the Blight isn't it? Some people risk their lives so that other people can live in peace and safety. Otherwise we'd all be cutting off our hair to give a watch chain to the husband who pawned off his watch to buy us a ribbon for the hair we cut off to sell for enough money to buy the watch chain.