I appreciated hearing this interview with Jimmy Carter and offer it simply as a resource for some of my friends who collect such things. You can use it to refute or embrace. It is your choice. I have a deep admiration for President Carter's integrity, faith, humility, and commitment to peace. No two people on earth will agree about everything … nor should they

President Carter addresses many of the issues with which church and society wrestle here. Whether or not you agree with him on each point, this is offered as a reference for those who want his views in his own words. One of the points of view he offers is one with which I was raised as a "traditional" Baptist from Virginia. It has to do with how we reconcile a cosmic world-view represented in scripture with the insights and evidences of modern science. Essentially, the point we learned in our Sunday Schools was that it was no big deal. The scriptures were not written to define or deny the scientific understanding of any people at any specific time in history, but to enlighten us to the larger and deeper issues of what God was up to in creating the heavens, the earth, and us and His purposes in history pointing to eternity.

"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

Jesus knew what we should learn … We can start an argument on any good point, but we can only be effective in a few areas of attention. If we let others set the agenda of our attention, we will soon be diverted from the key points we need to make. So, God does not always call His messengers, the prophets, or His Son, to clarify our misconceptions about cosmology. He calls us to follow Him and to keep our hearts and minds open to Him.

Jesus came "to seek and to save that which was lost."

In our lives, we have a lifetime to develop our understanding of whatever is in our capacity to understand, but we need to get the big things right first. And the development of understanding will extend far beyond our time and generation. It will continue.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth … my thoughts are not your thoughts."

For me, every unfolding of history and scientific understanding, is a confirmation of the goodness, grace, glory, and wisdom of God.

In this interview, Carter, whether or not you agree, connects the dots of his public, private, and spiritual views back to his basic commitments to Jesus. He is deeply rooted in Baptist tradition in his approach and he remains a Baptist, though not identified with Southern Baptists any longer. He expresses his personal and spiritual opposition to abortion, while explaining how he focused on trying to prevent the "need" for abortions as president.

He also draws a line of separation between civil marriage and policy and the church's role in marriage , affirming that his church does not participate in same sex marriages, and that he believes that all churches should be autonomous and none compelled by government or any other entity to perform any marriage ceremony that violates their convictions.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's"

He answers criticisms on the authority of scripture. I am not sure that what he allows others to characterize about his views is correct. He allows the use of the term "errors" to describe his understanding that "stars do not fall." I think it would be safe to refer to that as metaphor.

He handles the criticism that he is a "universalist" directly and makes it clear that universalism is not his theological position. Rather, he states that people come to God through faith in Jesus and that God knows and handles the fate of those who do not reject Him, but simply have never heard of Him. Baptists have never come to a common agreement or understanding of this point in hundreds of years of seminary and Sunday school discussions.

After listening to the interview, you can click the full text and save and a PDF file. It is well worth having on your hard drive.

This is a very simple presentation of some very complex issues. It should be helpful to many.

Go to the interview.