One would be hard-pressed to identify a former American President who has focused as much on humanitarian efforts in his days out of office than the 39th President, Jimmy Carter. There is certainly room to disagree with the former President in regards to some of the stances he has taken (such as on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), but there is no denying that he has often been very willing to serve quietly and humbly with organizations like Habitat for Humanity – no small feat for a former leader of the free world! Even today, at age 92, he continues to teach Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his birthplace of Plains, Georgia. Once a member of our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, Carter left when it was clear that the Conservative Resurgence had carried the day in the early 1990s (his church, on the other hand, holds dual affiliation with the SBC and the liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship).
Because of Carter’s humanitarian efforts and his very public faith, many who have questions about Christianity look to him for answers. After all, if you cannot go to a Sunday School teacher with your questions, that person probably ought not to be teaching! (This in no way is to suggest that a teacher must have all the answers – that would be an absurd proposition – but it does mean that person ought to be able to know how and where to find them, at the very least.) Recently, Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for the New York Times, interviewed the former President about matters of faith. During the course of that interview, Kristof asked some very direct questions about what we would consider the bedrock principles of the faith, such as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. While declaring that he himself believed completely in the Resurrection, President Carter declined to affirm that belief in that foundational, life-transforming truth was necessary for someone to be saved. What’s more, Carter further declined to affirm that faith in Christ alone was necessary for salvation, opening the door for anyone with what has often been described as a “sincere belief” in something (anything, really) to enter into the Kingdom without ever placing their faith in the Savior.
How could someone who is part of a Baptist church, teaching in that church’s Sunday School, come to such a conclusion? Not surprisingly, though surely disappointingly, Carter does not hold to the doctrine of inerrancy, which allows him to pick and choose the passages and doctrines that are acceptable to him while discarding anything that might make him uncomfortable or offend him. There is a very important reason why the doctrine of Scripture is usually the first to be found in any systematic theology and why the concept of sola Scriptura provides a foundation for the remainder of the solas of the Reformation. In the words of Scripture we find God’s special revelation to us, so it is imperative that we conform ourselves to the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Bible. Carter believes he is serving the faith by excising all those embarrassing parts, like a literal six day creation account. Carter’s hermeneutic is clear: “When there are apparent discrepancies [in the Bible], I make a decision on what to believe, respecting the equal status and rights of all people.” Notice who the authority is: the almighty “I.”
There is a reason we often refer to certain doctrines and beliefs as “foundational:” to remove them or alter them is to bring down the entire structure. I doubt there are many of us who would ignore cracks or missing segments in our homes’ foundations; likewise, we must take great care not to allow the foundations of our faith to be compromised. After all, if Jesus was not resurrected, then we of all people are the most to be pitied (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Just something to think about…
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