Saturday, January 25, 2025

Jimmy Carter: An Example of Christianity?

This past January 10th, 2025, former President Jimmy Carter was laid to rest in Georgia. Carter was 100 years old and was the longest living president in our nation’s history. Since Carter often claimed to be a Christian, much is being said and written about his supposed faith. As it was when Billy Graham died, many have attempted to decipher whether Carter was a true Christian or not, at least at the end of his life (Graham said many things in his later years that led many to question whether his faith was biblically based). It is not my intent to speak ill of the dead but to examine what Carter believed in order to determine what a true Christian is. In that spirit then, let us look at some important aspects of Carter’s “faith.”

On the need for Christ: Jimmy Carter was a Sunday School teacher in the church he attended in Plains, Georgia. Once, when asked concerning those who do not know Christ and whether they would be accepted by God and be saved, he had this to say: “In a quandary like that about people who don’t know about Christ, what would be their fate? I’m inclined to believe that they will not be condemned or punished by God.” We all know the passage in John 14:6 where Jesus clearly tells his disciples that He is the only way to the Father. In addition, if those who do not believe in Christ will be accepted by God anyway, then what Paul told the Galatians would be superfluous: “I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21). It is fine to be sincere, but we can be sincerely wrong about many things (and no doubt are). The point is not sincerity for sincerity’s sake, the point is to be sincere about the right things.

On homosexual marriage: Cater said that “I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere.” The Bible explicitly condemns homosexual practice (Leviticus 18, 20, 1 Corinthians 6, Romans 1). In fact, it does so in such clear and uncompromising terms that even those who insist on making allowance for “gay Christians” will admit that fact. Nowhere in sacred writ does is homosexuality spoken of in positive terms. For any Christian to insist that love affairs between people of the same sex are fine as long as they are “honest and sincere” is to again rebel against the clear teaching of Christ. We cannot say on the one hand that we believe in Christ and then on the other deny what He is telling us. Which is it, do we believe Him or not?

On abortion: Carter was of the mind that, although he supposedly was opposed to the practice personally, he was not in favor of overturning Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized the practice of abortion nationally. There are times for which we can say that we can be against something personally but would not want those things imposed on others. For example, we can have the conviction that we should do nothing on the Lord’s Day other than attend church services and engage in biblical study, nothing more period, no restaurants, no television, etc. To attempt to impose such a conviction on other believers, however, is to go beyond what is written. On the other hand, we cannot be against a sinful practice personally, but then say that it is okay for others to engage in it. Sinful practice is sinful regardless of the circumstance or conviction. To commit adultery is sinful, I cannot be against adultery personally but say that it should not be condemned when others commit it.

My intent in writing these words is not to condemn or exonerate Jimmy Carter. He has gone on to his reward (or punishment) and God alone knows his ultimate fate. I believe that all too often Christians go astray when they attempt to analyze someone’s life upon their death in order to determine whether they were saved or not. As I often say, the Lord does not ask my opinion when He is going to do something. It could be that Carter in the end saw the error of his beliefs and repented. I hope that was the case.

The point of my writing, however, is to give those of us who are alive and claim to know Christ to assured us that He knows us. To make sure that we are not among the professors with the lips who deny with the heart (Matthew 15:8-9). Our actions speak much louder than our words. Many profess to know Christ, but they deny Him by their actions. Paul told Titus that very thing when he said that such people “profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. They are abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16).

The bottom line is that we should look at Carter’s beliefs and let them be an example for us of what not to believe. It is well and good to profess to know the Lord, but it is only those who keep His commandments who truly love Him (John 15:10). Carter seemed to be little more than a liberal “Christian” during his lifetime. If we follow his example, we are placing our souls in mortal danger. Thus, his example should be a warning, not a cause for imitation or celebration.

 



No comments:

Post a Comment