Peeking Inside the Mind of Jimmy Carter
And a look at whether the Bible should be treated as a source of morals
The following quote is attributed to President Jimmy Carter:
“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.”
Now, while I commend the work this man still does, such as helping build houses for people, even though he’s in his 90s, his quote (assuming he did actually say it) does give me cause for concern, and here’s why.
He’s known for being a devout Christian, maybe even what you would call a true Christian, but the way he worded what he said carries a very clear implication: if Jesus Christ had said something against homosexuality, then Jimmy Carter would have agreed with Christ.
Of course, I may well be wrong — I have no insight into the mind of this man.
But it certainly comes over to me as though the only reason he’s not against homosexuality is because Jesus said nothing about it, even though the Old Testament does.
Now, there are those Christians who believe that the Old Testament no longer applies because Jesus created a new covenant.
Speaking against that point, I should mention that:
There are lots of things in the Old Testament that Christians still hold as gospel, if you’ll pardon the expression. These include the Ten Commandments, for example.
Jesus said that he was here to uphold the law, which sounds to me as though he considered the Old Testament laws (all 600+ of them!) to still be valid.
On the other hand, there are those who say that the Old Testament still carries weight — probably for the reasons just given.
Naturally, they cannot have it both ways. That’s one reason why there are tens of thousands of variations on Christianity — because there are so many ways to interpret the so-called word of God. (A truly all-powerful God would not write, or allow to be written, a book that is so seriously mistaken about so many things or that would be open to wildly different interpretations.)
Back to my original point, though.
It would be practically impossible to live by all of the Old Testament laws, and if you tried to do that, you’d probably end up in prison, since a lot of what was commanded or condoned in those older books is deemed illegal or immoral now.
On the other hand, if you try to live only by what Jesus said, well, then you either have to accept he said he was not here to dismiss the old laws, and thus you’d still be bound by them, or you have to ignore what he said and forget all about those pesky Ten Commandments, as well as all the rest.
And that gets to the heart of why the Bible is no use as a moral standard.
The Old Testament clearly states that owning other people as property is OK, and that women are second-class citizens. And depending on how you translate the original books, that homosexuality or pederasty is a sin too.
But we know that those are morally wrong, that men and women should have equal rights under the law, and that homosexuality is natural (since there are many other species of animals that display homosexual behaviours).
It forbids all sorts of bizarre practices, such as eating shellfish, and wearing clothes made from different fabrics, but fails in matters that could have made a real difference in the world — such as, again, banning slavery and specifying that women and men are of equal worth.
There are many other reasons to dismiss the Bible, and while it does have some positive messages, not all of which are unique to the Bible (e.g., the Golden Rule), and some beautifully worded verses (particularly in the King James version), it has been used as a vehicle to sow hate and division, and for those reasons alone, it cannot be taken, overall, as the good book it is said to be.
And in case you think I’m picking on Christians, that is the religion that has been prevalent in the two countries I’ve spent my entire life. I’m not saying other religions are any better — I just don’t know enough about them to comment.
So, I know this will probably upset a good few Christians, including those who support what Jimmy Carter does (and I do think he epitomizes the sort of person that is a “good” Christian). And as I said, I may be wrong about what he’d do if Jesus Christ had reportedly said something against homosexuality — but I can only go by the words use he apparently used.
birthday child
wants to have his cake and eat it
flips a coin