Jimmy Carter, Jesus and homosexuality

OPINION:

A quote that has been making the rounds these past few days in the pro-LGBTQ social media is from recently deceased former President Jimmy Carter. “Homosexuality,” he said, “was well known in the ancient world well before Christ was born, and Jesus never said a word about [it]. In all his teaching about multiple things, he never said that gay people should be condemned.”

This statement is illogical nonsense and a complete misrepresentation (i.e., heresy) as to who Jesus is.

First, even if it were true that Jesus never spoke about this matter, so what? Claiming that someone endorses something simply because he never talks about it is called the “argument from silence.” It is a Socratic fallacy and is akin to suggesting that because you never write or speak about bestiality, pedophilia or child prostitution, your silence is akin to a thumbs-up on those things. Such logic is clearly flawed. It is nonsense because it literally makes no sense. I may not mention the evils of fentanyl use in this column, but that doesn’t mean I’m for it.

Second, by definition, Christians believe that Jesus is the eternal creator of the universe and is God. Here are just a few verses to that end:

• “Jesus is the image of the invisible God. … For by him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth. … All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things; in him, all things hold together. … For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Colossians 1:15-19

• “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Hebrews 1:3

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1,2

• “Believe in God; believe also in me. … Whoever has seen me has seen the Father and the Father is in me.” John 14:1,10

• “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. … To the one who conquers. … I will be his God, and he will be my son.” Revelation 21:6,7

Third, because there is only one God, the one described in the Old Testament is the same God we read about in the New. In other words, the God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments in Genesis is the same God who preached repentance and told us to stop sinning in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We don’t worship two different gods. Again, here’s what the Bible says:

“Now I want to remind you … that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay in their position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day — just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 5-7

“For if God [i.e., Jesus] did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [and] if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah [and] if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction … and rescued Lot, who was greatly distressed by the sexual conduct of the wicked. [That same] Lord knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passions.” 2 Peter 2:4-9

One could literally write a book on the eternal godhood of Jesus. (Oh, that’s right, one already has been written; it’s called the Bible!) The bottom line is that Carter’s quote is not only terrible logic but also awful hermeneutics. The former president and all who agree with him are guilty of ignoring the clear teaching of Scripture to the point that they have created a different Jesus — some secondary deity or, even worse, nothing but a moralizing teacher. This is not the Jesus described to us in the Old and New Testaments.

Oh, and by the way, Jesus did speak directly to the issue of homosexuality (the word is “porneia” in the original Greek), and he did so very clearly: “As for the … sexually immoral … and all liars, their portion is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. … Outside are the dogs … those who practice sexual immorality and deception.” Revelation 21:7, 22:15

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery). He can be reached at epiper@dreverettpiper.com.