The Freedom of Faith

After a series of short hospital stays it was announced a few weeks ago that former US President Jimmy Carter, with the full support of his family and medical team, decided to spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. Consequently much is being written about his life and legacy. I remember many of the crises he had to face as President and was aware that he was a man of faith but only recently learned more about his faith.

Carter is a progressive White evangelical Christian. Today White evangelical Christians are associated, rightly or wrongly, with a conservative set of theological and political stances which mainly emphasize opposition to abortion and support Christian nationalism which advocates turning the US into a White Christian nation.

Carter in both his politics and his faith demonstrated his support for women’s rights. He supports the biblical position of providing women pastors and deacons. Moreover he believes Christ treated women as equals in His earthly ministry and women played a central role in the early church’s formation. Carter is personally against abortion but politically he did not campaign to overturn Roe vs. Wade and opposes a proposed Constitutional amendment to invalidate the Roe decision. (Source “Jimmy Carter embodies the “road not taken” by many white Evangelical Christians” by John Blake, CNN)

President Obama was well known for leading several social reforms in our nation during his administration. First and foremost was his landmark Affordable Health Care Act (known as Obama care) that provided health insurance for many Americans that had no insurance previously. President Obama’s faith was scrutinized because of his membership in the United Church of Christ and his affiliation with its pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. His support for women’s rights never waivered, including the women’s “right to choose”.

At the Saddleback Church in August 2008 candidates’ forum, moderator and church pastor Rev. Rick Warren had asked the candidates “At what point does a baby get human rights? ” Sen. Obama replied by saying that determining when life begins is “above my pay grade.” Later speaking about Warren’s question on ABC’s This Week, Obama said: “What I intended to say is that, as a Christian, I have a lot of humility about understanding when does the soul enter into … It’s a pretty tough question. And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don’t presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions.” Obama commented, “What I do know is that abortion is a moral issue, that it’s one that families struggle with all the time. And that in wrestling with those issues, I don’t think that the government criminalizing the choices that families make is the best answer for reducing abortions.” (Source: Catholic News Agency, “Obama concedes “That above my pay grade” remarks were probably too flippant”; Washington D.C., Sep 9, 2008)

Within a few years of the above picture I was divorced from my daughter’s mother and she had died in a single car accident in the mountains of West Virginia. After my divorce, I had a one night romantic interlude with my former wife. A few weeks later she phoned me to say she was pregnant. I was not living a life of any faith at the time and offered to pay for her abortion. She ended up not being pregnant and we went our separate ways. A few months later she died.

Many years later, as an ordained licensed minister in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church I had to confront my own hypocrisy over the issue of abortion. At that point I had participated in many pro-life marches openly demonstrating my opposition to abortion. I had ministered to several couples dealing with the emotional effects of having experienced abortions earlier in their lives and now being part of an evangelical church were reminded of their pain frequently. It was then that God reminded me, that except for His grace, I would be dealing with those same issues as those families in my church. I was broken and humbled in an instant and suddenly had a new compassion towards abortion. I also realized that there were probably many men in the Evangelical church at large that are silent about their personal implication in an abortion just as I had been for many years. I suddenly had a new understanding that perhaps the best approach was not for us to demand that we all see this issue the same way. Maybe it is better to just respect what others believe and let each individual live in God’s measure of grace until God chooses to reveal something different in their lives in His timing. Trying to convince someone to live otherwise is futile for us and hurtful to them.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) In this verse the Apostle Paul is encouraging the believers at the church in Galatia to continue to live their life of faith in the freedom of Christ that was given to them. He was warning not to resubmit themselves to their former beliefs, in this case, that the act of being circumcised was an indication of their covenantal faith in God. Paul concludes “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) The equivalent to the Galatians dilemma would be for me to resubmit myself to all the criteria of receiving my first Holy Communion as I did as the Catholic child pictured above. That is an extreme exaggeration to imagine an old bald bearded man like me climbing into a cute white suit with bow tie and matching white shoes to receive communion when I now know I am free to receive communion anytime by faith through God’s grace. The point is our faith in Christ comes with great liberty. Trying to restrain that liberty in our own faith and the faith of others is to return to a faith of rigid conformity that many of us lived before our faith in Christ was understood.

Freedom applies to all aspects of our faith. Not all believe the same when it comes down to the beginning and ending of life. Some believe that life begins at conception. Some believe life begins when the fetus becomes viable in the womb. Some people believe it is ok to end a life when convicted under the death penalty. Some do not. Some people believe it is ok to terminate ones life if they are terminally ill. Some do not. These are the complexities of living during this time and age. We are all free in our faith and God’s grace to work through each of these aspects of life today in our world.

We are well past the times of the Apostle Paul and the Galatians. But the answer to living a life of faith today is the same as it was then. A life of faith can only be lived with love and grace towards one another. Without love and grace we are not living in faith. Instead we are striving to convince others we are right in our beliefs and they are wrong in theirs. Let’s instead determine to live a life that is thankful for God’s grace in our lives. If we do that, our world would be a better place.