Inspiring

An interesting read that inspires and challenges me in my own faith and perpectives. One I will most likely read again at some point.

It would be so much easier to like organized religion if it were as Jimmy Carter envisions and practices it. I was lucky enough to read this book in time for a signing he did in St. Louis in January 1997. My copy is signed, and I got to meet him, which was immensely humbling.

Bought & read this the year of its release from my local Borders Bookseller store. I pulled it back out today (12/30/24) to read it again. RIP brother!

Rambling spiritual memoir. It might have been more interesting if I'd read it together with a more systematically focused source about Baptist religion or about Carter's life, which this book could have helped put in perspective. But by itself, I found it neither very informative nor very provocative.

Jimmy Carter is a good man. He was also a good President, in spite of what many will say. He did the best he could with the issues he was given, as all Presidents' do. Being the President of the US, is not a job I would want. The fate of too many good and honest people rest on that office holders' shoulder. Each of our President's are human, none of them are perfect, yet we judge them on their perfection, a scale by which none of us dare to measure ourselves by first.

Loved the way it explained his way of thinking about Faith.

tThe book Living Faith by 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter is a book based on Jimmy's life and how faith has gotten him through tough times. President Carter was a devout baptist that joined the U.S. Navy shortly after his marriage to Rosalynn Carter, and moved back to Georgia to live close to his parents after 2 years of his Navy career. He and Rosalynn were teachers of Sunday School classes at a Baptist Church in Georgia, and Jimmy was a Deacon. He was elected U.S. President in January 1977 and served a 4 year term. After losing his next Presidential election, Carter started "The Carter Center" in Atlanta Georgia and became involved in Habitat for Humanity, an organization founded by Millard and Linda Fuller.

tThe common theme in Living Faith was that Carter was loyal to his church and religion and that he could tell and confess anything to God, or ask him for help. President Carter's Dad was his sunday school teacher when he was a kid, and he was brought up as a Baptist. After his Naval career when his father passed away, Jimmy and Rosalynn became Sunday School teachers at the same church as Carter's father - and Jimmy taught the same class. Whenever President Carter had problems that he didn't want to share with other people, particularly problems with his eldest son, Jack, God was the person who he always turned to. He mentions in Living Faith that he will only go to God for help when he knows that he has done everything he could, and he uses prayer to put his problems in God's hands to let him do what he thinks is best fit. I can connect this to a story I've heard multiple times about a religious man who is in a flood. He prays to God for help three times, and after each time he refuses help from people, saying that God will help him. In the end, God tells him "who do you think sent you help?", meaning that when you ask for God's help, make sure you accept the help, and don't ask him for anything when you don't really need it.

tI would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a political figure's viewpoint of his religion. I enjoyed how Carter was constantly making connections between his personal life, religion, and politics and how his relationship with God helped anchor him in his faith. Carter was not only a religious famliy man, but also the President of the U.S. and a philanthropist; he had an interesting point of view on some aspects of his religion and lifestyle.

I am always impressed by President Carter's books and this one was no exception. The best point I took away from this book was the same one from the sermons Sunday Morning in Plains.

Followers of Jesus must remember that love is the greatest of all things and that is how we lead others to Christ, not exclusion or judgement.

I have had this book on my shelf for quite a while, but had never gotten around to opening it up. Sadly, Jimmy Carter in the news recently reminded me of it. In this book, President Carter gives a great overview of his Christian faith and how it has informed and affected him over the course of his many careers. Although his beliefs are a bit traditional and dated for me, i came away from this book with a great respect and reverence for how he translated his faith into action and good, instead of dogma and judgement. Despite mixed reviews of the Carter presidency, I'd be proud to have another person like him in the White House. His character and ethics are what once made this nation great, and are probably the best hope of saving it today. My heart goes out to Jimmy Carter for who he is and how he lives.

LIVING FAITH is an inspirational book with chapters that Jimmy Carter wrote to express/share his own journey of faith. I appreciated reading his chapter “Finding Peace at Home” because it resonated with me about communication between husbands and wives. Carter is a good and decent human being sharing from his faith journey. Hard to believe that our country voted for an indecent human being as our President in 2016. Politics!!!

Reading Pres. Carter’s thoughts on his faith, life, politics and religion, etc. offered insight to a humble path, so different from 45. I look forward to reading the new biography about him.