Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson revealed over the weekend that he's reading through the Bible and that it's opened his eyes about man's sinfulness, God's sovereignty, and humanity's role in the world.
The former Fox News commentator made the remarks at the 2023 Family Leadership Summit, a gathering of conservative leaders in Des Moines, Iowa.
Carlson said he began reading the Bible in February for Lent, acknowledging he has not been a "particularly faithful" Episcopalian. He has read through the New Testament and is now in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.
Tucker on spiritual warfare: "Leaving aside elections, it's clearly a pivot point in history. There are unseen forces acting on people. People, while they have freewill, are not really in charge of the arc of history at all. A lot of these issues are symbols of a larger battle." pic.twitter.com/8YK5Bc90LA
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 14, 2023
"Two things," he said, stick out.
First, "with the exception of Jesus, every figure is like really flawed – like, flawed in a way where you'd be like, 'I don't know if I can be friends with that person.'"
Carlson said he was shocked to read the story of Abraham giving his wife, Sarah, to Abimelech and falsely telling him that she was his sister (Genesis 20). Confused by the story, his wife suggested, "Maybe the point is that God takes people who are not perfect people … and uses them for these grander purposes."
The second thing that stuck out to Carlson, he said, is that God controls the history of humankind.
"While they have free will, of course, they can make decisions, and they live with the consequences of those decisions – they're not really in charge of the arc of history at all," he said. "They are being acted upon a lot. And I never really appreciated that because I'm American. And so I grew up with this feeling that we're the sum total of our choices. Well, that's not what I'm reading at all. Yes, people's choices matter. You need to do certain things and not do other things.
"But on the other hand, you're not in charge. You are being acted upon by a world you can't see. And that, by the way, is consistent with my life experience. Like, I've seen that, I've lived that. I'm 54. And so I feel like it's really important to approach politics with that in mind – like, a lot of these issues are symbols of this much larger battle."
Finally, Carlson said reading Scripture has taught him a lesson about being humble.
"I do think we should approach these questions with humility," he said. "... I've got very strong feelings about all kinds of issues, but it's so important to be open to the possibility that I'm completely wrong and that what I'm espousing is actually destructive, not constructive."
Reading the Bible, he said, has been "like the most interesting thing I think I've ever done."
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
