Mohler and Carter Exchange

Al Mohler wrote "Jimmy Carter's Endangered Values" in response to President Carter's new book.  And Jimmy Carter has read and responded to Al Mohler's review.

Comments

[Marty Duren]

I would have to agree that Jimmy Carter probably means to do well in most everything he does, though his foreign policy intrusions following his term of office are most nauseating to me, his treatment of the scriptures leaves a lot to be desired, and I really don't care if he considers himself to be SBC or not. He has always had an inflated view of himself, IMO.

I haven't read any of his previous 19 books, nor will I be reading his twentieth. Being a lifelong resident of Georgia, I can remember too many instances in the late 70's when we had PB&J for Thanksgiving because we had sent our turkey to Washington.

[danutz]

I can't wait to get my copy of Carter's latest book. He is the most Christ-like and most intelligent of any US president in my life time. I doubt we will ever see a man of his great character in US politics again.

Carter has a wonderful insight to scripture and the Christian lifesyle. Although I don't agree with all of his political views I admire his ability to hold such a strong faith without undergoing the usual right-wing fudamentalist Lobotomy. He is one of the few people today helping to keep Christianity from becoming mutually exclusive with "intelligence" and "compassion".

[Scott M]

Simply based on what I know about the public face of both men, I would tend toward believing that Carter's column in response is the more accurate of the two. No real way to tell without reading the book, of course. Books by current or past political figures rarely make my reading list.

Hmmm. Though I was too young to vote in either, I do clearly remember the 1976 and 1980 elections, as well as the intervening years. And Carter's comments on why he lost the second time in his response seem pretty accurate to me.

But then, I'm also not particularly taken with any of the "culture warriors" with whom Mohler is associated.

[One Salient Oversight]

I've done a bit of study into Carter's term of office and he certainly made quite a number of mistakes. I think, deep down, he is a nice guy and a born-again Christian - although one who has been influenced by the liberalism of the SBC in times past.

Ever since Steve McCoy revealed that Mohler was anti-alcohol and exhibiting pharisaical behaviour, he has become a bit of a target of mine.

What is interesting about Mohler's blog is, firstly, that Carter's response makes it clear that Mohler's analysis of Carter's new book appears to be totally off-balance. Carter's statements are unambiguous - these things that Mohler complained about are not in the book.

Secondly, and going on from this, Mohler doesn't refute anything that Carter says. There are no details on Mohler's blog where Mohler explains himself (is there any somewhere else?)

It's my theory that Al Mohler just does not have the time each day to make 2-3 new blogs, so he delegates this to someone else. That person writes for Al, and then gets his official imprimateur every few days or so - and then they are published in blocks. This is quite a normal process in Hollywood (they're called celebrity blogs, where celebrities have their own blogs written by other people).

I think, in this case, the writer has made a major mistake in criticising Carter's book - and he probably never even read it. Now Al has to wear the embarrassment of someone else's mistake...

[Scott Lamb]

Two sincere questions for the above:
1. Have you actually read this Carter book, or any/many of his others?
2. Are you serious when you state the "Mohler doesn't write his own posts" question?

[Tim Sweatman]

I haven't read Carter's book, but I've watched a couple of his promotional appearances on TV news talk shows. On both occasions he made at least one statement that was completely inaccurate. He emphatically stated that anyone who does not agree with the 2000 BF&M cannot serve as a pastor in a Southern Baptist church. Having respected Carter immensely since I was a child (he's the first President I really remember), I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he is simply mistaken. However, the fact that he spent most of his life in SBC churches leads me to think that he should know better.

Concerning Mohler's review, it looks like he and Carter are talking about two different books. This goes to show that our own views determine how we understand what we hear and what we say.