What happens when an evil man is interviewed by a know-nothing interviewer from a corrupt and decadent faux news agency?
You need someone like me to sort out the sublime (not much of that) to the ridiculous.
So that’s what we’re going to do. Decipher and decode the Huffington Post’s Q&A with the insufferable Jimmy Carter.
Asked by HuffPost senior religion editor Paul Brandeis about Creation, Carter said: “I happen to have an advantage there because I am a nuclear physicist by training and a deeply committed Christian. I don’t have any doubt in my own mind about God who created the entire universe. But I don’t adhere to passages that so and so was created 4,000 years before Christ, and things of that kind. Today we have shown that the earth and the stars were created millions, even billions, of years before. We are exploring space and sub-atomic particles and learning new facts every day, facts that the Creator has known since the beginning of time.”
Well, wait a minute! Was it millions of years ago or billions? There’s a big difference between the two. Why so imprecise? That doesn’t sound like a nuclear physicist talking. Just how old is the Earth? And if the Creator has known all this from the beginning of time, why would He inspire the authors of the Bible to get it wrong?
Asked about homosexuality and the Bible, Carter had this to say: “Homosexuality was well-known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born, and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things – he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.”
Wait a minute! Isn’t Jesus God? And didn’t God inspire the Bible? Just because Jesus isn’t quoted in red letters in the Bible discussing homosexuality, does that mean He never addressed it? Doesn’t it suggest, on the contrary, that Jesus didn’t dispute the law of the Bible? In fact, wouldn’t His atoning sacrifice on the cross be rendered ineffective if He didn’t uphold the law in its entirety? Does Jimmy Carter believe there is disagreement within the Trinity on homosexuality?
Here’s what the Bible says about homosexuality with no ambiguity:
- Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”
- Romans 1:24-28: “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”
Of course Jesus never said “gay people should be condemned.” In fact, I don’t know anyone who says that. What most Bible-believers say is that homosexuals should turn away from their sin – just like adulterers, fornicators and liars should. Further, Jesus does talk very specifically about marriage – and he affirms what it is supposed to be in God’s economy: an institution between one man and one woman for life (Mark 10:7-9).
Carter continues: “I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to.”
Arbitrarily? Has Carter ever read the First Amendment? And what about the Bible-believing civil judge? Should he or she be forced to violate his or her own moral principles by being forced to participate in sin?
Question: “Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life (John 14:6). How can you remain true to an exclusivist faith claim while respecting other faith traditions?”
Carter: “Jesus also taught that we should not judge other people (Matthew 7:1), and that it is God who judges people, so I am willing to let God make those judgments, in the ultimate time whenever it might come. I think ‘judge not that you be not judged’ is the best advice that I will follow. Maybe it is a rationalization, but it creates a lack of tension in my mind about that potential conflict. There are many verses in the Bible that you could interpret very rigidly and that makes you ultimately into a fundamentalist. When you think you are better than anybody else – that you are closer to God than other people, and therefore they are inferior to you and subhuman – that leads to conflict and hatred and dissonance among people when we should be working for peace.”
But that’s not what Christians are commanded to do by Jesus. We are commanded to spread the gospel for the salvation of many. I know this hasn’t been a big part of Jimmy Carter’s life. But it remains the unequivocal, central role of the Christian in the world. We’re not supposed to just live and let live – because to do that actually means death for those we don’t confront with their sin and the salvation message.
Question: “There is a scripture passage attributed to Jesus, ‘Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword’ (Matthew: 10:34). How do you interpret that, in light of your basic belief in Jesus as the Prince of Peace?”
Carter: “For the last 35 or more years, my wife and I have read the Bible last thing every night and just last week we read that passage and discussed it a little bit. What Christ was saying was that when we have conflict in our mind or hearts, between our secular duties and teachings of Christ, we should put the teachings of Christ first.
“He was predicting what would happen, that his teachings might cause divisions among people as they decided to follow God’s ordained duties such as peace, humility, service to others, alleviation of suffering, forgiveness – when we face those conflicts, we should adhere to the principles that never change, to the moral values that are taught through religion.”
This man was permitted to teach Bible classes in a Southern Baptist church? He has admitted he doesn’t even believe in marriage as it is defined in the Bible, yet suggests “we should adhere to the principles that never change, to the moral values that are taught through religion.” Very confusing reasoning here. By the way, the “sword of the Lord” is truth – the Word of God. Though Jesus will return someday soon wielding a different kind of sword.
Question: “Should we approach the Bible literally, or metaphorically?”
Carter: “When we go to the Bible we should keep in mind that the basic principles of the Bible are taught by God, but written down by human beings deprived of modern-day knowledge. So there is some fallibility in the writings of the Bible. But the basic principles are applicable to my life, and I don’t find any conflict among them.
“The example that I set in my private life is to emulate what Christ did as he faced people who were despised like the lepers or the Samaritans. He reached out to them, he reached out to poor people, he reached out to people that were not Jews and treated them equally. The more despised and the more in need they were, the more he emphasized that we should go to and share with them our talent our ability, our wealth, our influence. Those are the things that guide my life, and when I find a verse in the Bible that contradicts those things that I just described to you, I put into practice the things that I derive from my faith in Christ.”
I love this answer because there’s actually some truth in what he says about himself. Carter, too, reaches out to people who are not Jews and treats them equally. However, he is one of the most repugnant anti-Semites on the face of the earth – so he’s not quite so accommodating to Jews.
This is why I call Jimmy Carter a truly evil person. He still tries to masquerade as a Christian, though his views are increasingly heretical if not those of an apostate.
Jesus says when judgment day comes, there will be some He turns away, even though they claim to have prophesied in His name.
“Depart from me, I never knew you,” Jesus says (Matthew 7:23).
I wonder what goes through Carter’s mind when he reads that verse with Rosalyn?
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