"The Washington Post's Sally Quinn recently spoke with Ben Carson on the campaign trail about his faith — and how that faith has shaped his worldview, his campaign, and his life.
Ben Carson believes that we live in an evil world.
“So bad things will happen to some people,” he says. “Our job is to do everything we can to ameliorate the situation for them if we can.”
Of course, some situations can't be improved — one in particular: Carson believes in the apocalypse. “We believe that Christ is going to return to the earth again,” he said.
There are things Carson, a Seventh-day Adventist, does not believe. He dismisses the “Rapture” — the idea, embraced by many evangelicals, that at some point before the last days described in the book of Revelation, many Christians will literally be, as predicted in the New Testament, “caught up together … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
Carson doesn't share that view. “I don’t see any evidence for that in the Bible,” he says.
He also does not believe in hell: “I don't believe there is a physical place where people go and are tormented. No. I don't believe that,” he says.
But Carson does believe in God — though he can't quite describe the divine. “There’s no man who can explain God, or he would be God. ... He’s a force that doesn’t believe in dictating and gives you a choice: whether you want to be associated with Him or not. It can provide enormous strength and power if you do. And He has been an integral part of my life. There are many things I would have never taken on in the medical had I not felt that He was behind me.” WashingtonPost
Let your light so shine before men,
Matthew 5:16
Ben Carson believes that we live in an evil world.
“So bad things will happen to some people,” he says. “Our job is to do everything we can to ameliorate the situation for them if we can.”
Of course, some situations can't be improved — one in particular: Carson believes in the apocalypse. “We believe that Christ is going to return to the earth again,” he said.
There are things Carson, a Seventh-day Adventist, does not believe. He dismisses the “Rapture” — the idea, embraced by many evangelicals, that at some point before the last days described in the book of Revelation, many Christians will literally be, as predicted in the New Testament, “caught up together … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
Carson doesn't share that view. “I don’t see any evidence for that in the Bible,” he says.
He also does not believe in hell: “I don't believe there is a physical place where people go and are tormented. No. I don't believe that,” he says.
But Carson does believe in God — though he can't quite describe the divine. “There’s no man who can explain God, or he would be God. ... He’s a force that doesn’t believe in dictating and gives you a choice: whether you want to be associated with Him or not. It can provide enormous strength and power if you do. And He has been an integral part of my life. There are many things I would have never taken on in the medical had I not felt that He was behind me.” WashingtonPost
Let your light so shine before men,
Matthew 5:16