Jimmy Carter Says Jesus Would Approve Of Gay Marriage

..this is how those yet walking in spiritual blindness think and so speak…I hope and pray he sees the Light-soon!

“they exchanged the truth about God for a lie”. Very sad.

“I don’t have any verse in Scripture.” Yes, Jimmuh, we knew all too well—Proverbs 17:28, sir.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23

“I believe Jesus would. I don’t have any verse in scripture. … I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that’s just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else,” he said.

I have had several conversations with progressive Christians or those with Christian backgrounds that believe the same as Carter. I have found that I have to break down their 21st century overly tolerant view of Jesus that they are embracing……Here is how I explained it to a lady I know that is aspiring to become an Episcopal priest. I even threw in some NT Wright quotes because she tends to like everything that Wright says……..

Arguing from silence that Jesus never said anything against homosexuality can be quite the shaky foundation. Because then you have to go to the historical-cultural background of the Jewish region during the time of Christ. The Jewish nation was still living under the Mosaic covenant age, which explicitly condemned homosexuality. 2nd Temple Judaism (the period between 516 BCE-70 CE) literature and Rabbinical teaching continually makes the point that homosexual activity is contrary to nature. Also, if we argue from silence that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, we can also say that Jesus never said anything about rape or bestiality or pedophilia. I’m sure we could all agree that his silence on rape, bestiality or pedophilia would not equal approval for Jesus.

Indirectly Jesus does say many things that would not affirm homosexual activity. That is done by Jesus reaffirming the Jewish standards of sexual ethics throughout the gospels in his actions and words. When he answered the teachers of the law about divorce, he goes back to Creation that the two sexes are intimately unified into one leaving no room for same-sex intimate relationship. Moreover, those that were considered sinners that he hung out with and loved, he always called them to repentance or forgiveness of their sins (woman caught in adultery, Zaccheaus, the woman that poured the expensive perfume on Jesus. He didn’t love them in a “you’re ok just the way you are” state. Jesus also mentions the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah in Matt. 10. He would have understood its wickedness as including homosexuality because every Rabbinical literature during this time period interpreted Sodom and Gomorrah’s sins to include homosexual activity. Furthermore, he closes every loophole in the Sermon on the Mount when it came to adultery, divorce and one’s heart. In fact, he warns them that they could be thrown in the fires of hell for not repenting of these violations of the Torah, the same law that condemns homosexual activity. In fact, he repeatedly affirms the law and its intricate details throughout the gospels, saying that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Also, the GK word Porneia (sexual immorality) is used when Jesus talks about what defiles a person in Mark 7. That word is continually used throughout the New Testament as a catch-all for all forms of sexual impurity, including homosexual activity. As N.T. Wright says, Jesus was speaking to a Jewish-only audience and they would have understood his shorthand sayings as also including homosexual activity. That is why we need to not look at the Bible through 21st century eyes, but actually through the 1st century (another paraphrase from N.T. Wright). When we look at the life of Jesus through our politically-correct, overly tolerant culture, we could easily come up with the false notion that Jesus had no problem with homosexuality. When we dig a little deeper, we realize that just about every historical and cultural clue reaffirms the fact that Jesus reaffirmed the standards of sexuality that anything outside the confides of marriage between a man and a woman is considered sin.

Somehow, Jimmy Carter’s view does not surprise me at all.

A while back I wrote the following:

Jesus Christ on Same-Sex Marriage

http://gulfcoastpastor.blogspot.com/2012/05/jesus-christ-on-same-sex-ma…

David R. Brumbelow

I remember a lot of fundamentalists who voted for Jimmy Carter when he ran for president because he was a member of a Baptist church and taught Sunday school. To Carter’s credit, he left the SBC when the conservatives took over. He’s just another man who’s religious but lost.

I voted for John Anderson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Anderson) in 1980.

Carter should be more concerned about what Jesus thinks of him!

I wasn’t yet born in 1980 …

Does Jimmy Carter even know God? I know, I know, he’s a Sunday School teacher. Like I said, does he EVEN know God? I wonder if this article merits cluttering up the space on SI.

Ron hits the reason why Carter matters. Whether or not he is a believer (I’m sure Ron and I both hope, but doubt, he is), Carter is perceived as a Christian in the public, and thus he matters to “our” movement.

Aaron, I am so jealous of your office. :^) Just gorgeous……have tried many times to “fall in love” with those old Victorian homes when I move, but there is always something that makes me decide otherwise. Generally speaking it’s ill repair, or worse-yet ill-conceived “improvements”. One house I viewed had the floor joists cut on part of both floors…..it would have taken a genius to redeem that bad framing!