President Jimmy Carter Authors New Bible Book, Answers Hard Biblical Questions

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States, founded the Carter Center and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. President Carter is also a Sunday School teacher and has followed that avocation since his earliest years. In this interview, HuffPost's Senior Religion Editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush spoke to President Carter by phone about the hardest questions presented in the Bible: from gays, science, the role of women, slavery passages and more. The former president offered answers to each of them with the insights and spiritual wisdom he has included in his latest book: "NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter."

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Thank you so much for talking with me President Carter. As I warned, I am going to be asking the tough questions. So ... Did God write the Bible?

President Jimmy Carter: God inspired the Bible but didn’t write every word in the Bible. We know, for instance that stars can’t fall on the earth, stars are much larger than the earth. That was a limitation of knowledge of the universe or physics, or astronomy at that time, but that doesn’t bother me at all.

How do you approach the passages in the Bible that talk about God’s creation (Genesis 1:1) while maintaining a positive attitude towards science?

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 4000 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.

What do you say to those who point to certain scriptures that women should not teach men or speak in church? (1 Corinthians 1:14)

I separated from the Southern Baptists when they adopted the discriminatory attitude towards women, because I believe what Paul taught in Galatians that there is no distinction in God’s eyes between men and women, slaves and masters, Jews and non-Jews -– everybody is created equally in the eyes of God.

There are some things that were said back in those days –- Paul also said that women should not be adorned, fix up their hair, put on cosmetics, and that every woman who goes in a place of worship should have her head covered. Paul also said that men should not cut their beards and advocated against people getting married, except if they couldn’t control their sexual urges. Those kinds of things applied to the customs of those days. Every worshipper has to decide if and when they want those particular passages to apply to them and their lives.

A lot of people point to the Bible for reasons why gay people should not be in the church, or accepted in any way.

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.

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.

What about passages saying slaves obey your masters? (Colossians 3:22) Do you think there is ever a time to say, ok, we know that we don’t agree with that passage, let's get rid of it?

Well, the principles of that are still applicable. It wasn’t a matter that the Bible endorses slavery, it was that throughout history, now and in the future there are going to be some who are in a subservient position like when I was commanding officer of a ship when I was in the submarine corps. It is meant to preserve the basic principles that don’t cause resentment or hatred or betrayal or false attitudes. But it also says that a master should respect your servant. So, it works both ways.

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?

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.

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?

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.

Should we approach the Bible literally, or metaphorically?

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.

PHOTOS of President Carter's Many Honors And Activities Around The World

Comments

[Bruce Cullom Sr]

04:07 PM on 01/08/2013

** Mr. Carter: "I separated from the Southern Baptists when they adopted the discriminatory attitude towards women, because I believe what Paul taught in Galatians that there is no distinction in God’s eyes between men and women, slaves and masters, Jews and non-Jews -– everybody is created equally in the eyes of God." **

("Discriminatory," is Mr. Carter's characterization of the Scriptural exemplification that God reserved the office of Pastor for men. The SBC has held this view since its inception -- almost 170 years ago.)

The **context** of the Galatians passage to which Mr. Carter refers (Gal. 3:28), is **Salvation,** and is not in any fashion addressing who may (or may not) hold particular church offices -- Paul addresses that issue in other places. Mr. Carter states he "believes what Paul taught in Galatians," (that is, what Mr. Carter has superimposed onto it), but completely ignores what Paul taught in 1st. Timothy 2:12 (which decisively negates Mr. Carter's "interpretation" of Galatians 3:28).

You cannot (legitimately) lift a Biblical author's writings completely out of the context in which he wrote them and arbitrarily assign your personal interpretation to them when the same author (in this case, the Apostle Paul) totally and utterly refutes/contradicts your "personal interpretation" elsewhere in his writings.

Mr. Carter may be a nice man, but he is not a Biblical scholar and holds a number of personal views that do not cohere with, and are at odds with, what Scripture explicitly teaches.

[Bruce Cullom Sr]

06:55 PM on 01/05/2013

I have posted several responses to Mr. Carter's assertions regarding Scripture. None should be taken as impugning his character. Mr. Carter presided over a failed presidency in the fiscal sense and in the Iran hostage case, but he had some notable successes -- such as the Camp David Accords.

He also worked diligently for Habit for Humanity and should be admired for these things.

Decades ago, however, Mr. Carter was part of a faction that was seeking to take the SBC down the path of Scriptural Liberalism that had already infected many of the mainstream American denominations. A Liberalism in which many deny, or refuse to affirm, or equivocate, on many of the explicit core Biblical doctrines.

One example: Jesus said, explicitly, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by/through Me," John 14:6 (also affirmed by Acts 4:12 and 1st. Timothy 2:5). Yet, in the interview, because Liberalism does not like that teaching, Mr. Carter dodged/equivocated on this clear declaration of Jesus and wandered off into other topics. He refused to affirm an explicit teaching of Jesus, Himself, regarding who He is -- the only Savior of Mankind -- and calls those who hold to this teaching of Jesus (pejoratively) "rigid" and "fundamentalists."

I don't doubt that Mr. Carter is a Christian, but he frequently practices eisegesis rather than exegesis.

With respect to Scriptural interpretation, this is a cardinal distinction that decisively separates orthodox Christianity from those who embrace Liberalism.

[Bruce Cullom Sr]

04:11 PM on 01/05/2013

** Mr. Carter (re: Revelation 6:13): "We know, for instance that stars can’t fall on the earth, stars are much larger than the earth. That was a limitation of knowledge of the universe or physics, or astronomy at that time." **

Respected Bible Scholar, Dr. John MacArthur points out: "The [Greek] word 'stars' [aster] can refer to ANY celestial body, large or small, and is not limited to normal English usage. The best explanation is a massive asteroid or meteor shower."

Some language scholars say the Greek word "aster" may also refer to molten boulders falling from the sky after being heaved out of erupting volcanoes, as this passage is associated with earthquakes and destruction -- God's judgement. But no Bible scholar takes this passage -- as does Mr. Carter -- as a reference to actual stars. It appears that Mr. Carter has not researched the meaning of the Greek word "aster."

[Bruce Cullom Sr]

11:19 PM on 01/04/2013

** Mr. Carter: "Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. ...I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies." **

Mr. Carter's statement highlights his frequently erroneous, and cavalier style, of Biblical "interpretation."

On the one hand, Mr. Carter asserts that "Jesus never said a word about homosexuality," and takes that as Jesus' tacit approval. But Jesus never spoke about pedophilia or incest, either. So by Mr. Carter's logic, are we supposed to conclude that Jesus had no issue with those activities? Someone's silence, is not the same as their explicit approval (it is a more valid argument that Jesus *agreed* with what Scripture already explicitly taught regarding homosexuality).

On the other hand, Jesus **explicitly** defined marriage as exclusively between "male and female" (Matthew 19:4-5 - referring back to His Father's foundational plan in Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) -- with no non-religious ceremony exception found in Scripture.

But Mr. Carter says he thinks it is "very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies."

So where Jesus is silent, Mr. Carter reads his personal view onto the silence, ignoring the rest of Scripture. But where Jesus makes an explicit statement, Mr. Carter ignores it and voices his own contradictory opinion.

This is why Mr. Carter left the SBC. They rejected Scriptural "interpretations" based on personal eisegesis and detached from sound hermeneutics.

[Paul Replogle]

11:12 PM on 10/30/2012

Jimmy Carer is the best ex Prez we have ever had! HE lives it.

[cayuse1]

10:37 PM on 07/16/2012

For those NAY SAYERS: Run away inflation from the Vietnam War by all these presidents

33. Harry S Truman (1884-1972) Democrat 1945-1953 Alben Barkley
34. Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) Republican 1953-1961 Richard Milhous Nixon
35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) Democrat 1961-1963 Lyndon Johnson
36. Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) Democrat 1963-1969 Hubert Humphrey
37. Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994) Republican 1969-1974 Spiro Agnew, Gerald R. Ford
38. Gerald R. Ford (1913- 2006) Republican 1974-1977 Nelson Rockefeller

Cause all CARTERS economic problems

So few acknowledge this FACT about his presidency.

He is a GREAT MAN and his presidency did much for America if you look for yourself.

And he would have been re-elected if not for REAGANS October surprise

[cayuse1]

10:23 PM on 07/16/2012

I love you Jimmy Carter what a Person and Great Spirit

[Bogym]

05:22 PM on 11/10/2012

Carter had to know that Sadat would be killed when he shook hands with his enemy.Vater is anti-Jewish,,,not semite..read his book. He blames everything on Hews....He knows that palestine is NOT a state,,it is a region...yet he perpetuates the myth.Carter denies the Jesus of the Bible. He has written own discourse, just like Jeffersom...Clin ton and Carter ar evolutionist and abortionist...both have started a new religion..the other Jesus...Carter is trying to make man with man equl to man with woman,,,,if that doesn't rimg the bell of warning...nothing will.

[cayuse1]

08:57 PM on 11/10/2012

Think you need a seeing eye dog

[Timothy Unrine]

10:19 PM on 05/21/2012

First - Jimmy Carter, while yes, he sucked as a President, he has done more than any other President since leaving office.

Supervising voting in Third World Countries.

Conducting Sunday School whenever he is in town - which is quite often.

Habitat for the Humanity - decades of support, not just in name, but in blood and sweat.

And we can go on; he didn't take the money/speech route like the other Presidents do after leaving office. He may give some speeches, but it is his humanitarian actions that define the man - not his failed Presidency.

[cayuse1]

10:29 PM on 07/16/2012

Me thinks you accept the YOKE of the 2 party system much too well.

If the TV Media new says somthing and you don't research the polical ramification for why it has been said? You are not apply you intelligence.

1960 the World New Corporations were burning the Jungles of South America for Land GRABs AND today Universities Endowments are buning the jungles of Africa for Land Grab and quick cash

And the new is talking that ROMNEY did not clean his plate for lunch?

Carter was a great president. His military preparedness was use in the first Iraq War. Unfortunately.

The list goes on. We had run away inflation Carter did not cause. But believe what you will.

People do not change, but people to not always tell the truth about other people. Make sure you are telling the truth. I am satisfied most the negative of Carter was propaganda

What did he specifically do wrong in YOUR MIND?

[keithistre]

08:07 AM on 05/11/2012

True man of reason. Thinks for himself. A true christian.

[Drg40]

02:10 AM on 05/22/2012

Wasn't he the thing that called the final pardoning of the Vietnam draft dodgers "The worst days work ever undertaken by a President".? If so, my response to this last minute adulation is one of contempt.

[brokerallen]

02:49 PM on 06/23/2012

I agree with you completely.

[fsinsf]

07:04 PM on 04/27/2012

I love this man!

[jackgotney]

02:32 PM on 04/18/2012

i look at the bible the same way i look at a book on alchemy from the middle ages. personally I think it is better to leave it in the dark and distant past. or if you read it, then at least do so in the context of the infinite ignorance and superstition that was so pervasive back then. don't try to pretend it somehow in some way is some kind of up to date manual on living, loving, and thinking. I am one of the few that actually read the Bible, and if you believe everything you read in there, then you can also believe 1 =2 and 2 =1, that it's OK to contradict yourself, and that by believing you can make anything so. I might also try to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Djay0252]

02:08 PM on 04/13/2012

I liked this article VERY much...Perhaps Jimmy Carter was not the best POTUS but he is a man I look up to. Looking forward to reading the book!

[Inis Magrath]

04:04 PM on 04/09/2012

--- "If a church decides not to [accept gay members on an equal basis], then government laws shouldn’t require them to."

And, they never will and never can. The 1st Amendment prevents it. No law has ever demanded that any church be required to accept any particular person, and any such law would be ruled unconstitutional.

[Timothy Unrine]

10:21 PM on 05/21/2012

No law has yet to be passed that demands that a church accept gays and lesbians.

No law has yet to be passed that demands that a church conduct same-sex marriages.

No law has yet to be passed that demands a church to accept gays and lesbians into their heavens.

and there never will be.

But churches want to legislate their religious morals on the rest of us.

So let's even the field, and eliminate tax exempt status for all churches - it isn't a guarantee in the Constitution. It is a "priviledge" granted by the IRS and can be removed.

[TaeGuy]

11:15 AM on 04/06/2012

"hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world."

[Utopian Sky]

11:53 AM on 05/05/2012

Nah, fools mistook the wisdom of this world and made God.

[timiboy]

10:11 AM on 08/03/2012

Proverbs 14:1

[Liz Norman]

12:17 AM on 04/06/2012

Not bad, Jimmy. Not bad at all.