In the Name of Christ…

If you stand overtly as a Christian, then everything you do will be judged against Christianity, not just you. Former President Jimmy Carter made his public position overtly Christian, so now, whatever he says or does reflects back in the mind of many in the United States and in the world at large as overtly Christian.

In his recent trip to Darfur, he pronounced that there is no genocide going on there and that the U. S. designation of such action is false and unhelpful, despite the obvious evidence staring him in the face. While Mr. Carter has accomplished a good thing in Habitat for Humanity, very little else he has done has been “helpful”; instead he appears to have lost his way. A comment by Wretched on his article Jimmy Carter on Darfur on the Belmont Club seems to find its mark.

…there is something sad about Jimmy Carter’s pacific interventions. His certification of dictators. His advice to give up and accept the “inevitable”. It describes a poverty not only of mind, but of heart. If Jimmy hasn’t learned the difference between being a Peacemaker and the Dr. Kevorkian of democracies then I feel sorry for him. The words “blessed are the peacemakers” come from the same book which says “and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”. It is not about how far you have to fall, but how far you need to climb.

I imagine there are those who both claim the name of Christ and agree with Jimmy Carter on almost everything he does. I, however, cannot. As time goes on, it appears to me that he goes further off track, losing any balance a person claiming to speak as a Christian in the public sphere should at least attempt to maintain. He repeatedly seems to miss the specific human suffering that is right in front of him, to embrace the abstract (and often questionable) ideal instead. He will refuse to condemn Palestinian homicide bombers while claiming Israel is guilty of apartheid. He condemns what he sees as election fraud in the U. S. while embracing the patently corrupt “elections” and loss of democracy in Venezuela. These are only a few examples of his loss of balance and perspective.

I honestly do not understand the man any more and I voted for him the first time. Where have you gone Jimmy Carter, where have you gone? Dear Lord have mercy.

2 thoughts on “In the Name of Christ…

  1. Yes, too many people are guilty of that equivalence bromide.

    I would argue that power corrupts, and the presidency in today’s world is as close to absolute power anyone can get. I had not heard that Bush denied the Armenian genocide.

  2. Well…I’m sure you’ve heard that Bush said Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God.

    Whether that was before or after he denied the Armenian genocide, I don’t know, but it’s made me rather sick to my stomach. Speaking of “What happened?”….

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