Ben Carson Wants Donald Trump to Take Proverbs 19:11 to Heart
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson thinks Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump could become more gracious if he starts reading the Bible more and taking its wisdom to heart.
Carson, a former Republican presidential candidate, is now backing Trump.
In a recent interview with WABC's Rita Cosby, Carson explained that the brash, counterpunching Trump now recognizes the need to tailor his tone to ensure he goes the distance in the Republican presidential race and believes the Bible and prayer could help him.
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"I would say read the Bible and pray and learn how to put yourself in other people's shoes. That's what did it for me. As many people know, I used to have a pretty horrible temper. I came to understand that the temper that it takes to stab another youngster, that to lash out at people, was not a sign of strength but rather a sign of weakness," said Carson.
"It meant other people could control you and that the environment could control you. And if you did it on a regular basis it also [indicated] that you were selfish. It meant that it was always about me, my and I. Somebody did this to me, I want this, you took my thing. If you just learn how to step out of the center of the circle let it be about others it's very difficult for anybody to make you angry," Carson explained.
Carson then quoted Proverbs 19:11 which says: "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression."
"Just because somebody does something to us, you don't have to jump up and down," he said.
Carson offered his biblical wisdom after noting that Trump recognizes that he needs to change his personality to win.
"For him, it's a matter of just switching over to his normal persona as opposed to 'The Apprentice' persona," Carson said in reference to Trump's reality TV show.
He noted that the billionaire had made some mistakes in his campaign and that Trump will be doing more policy addresses to help recast his image.
"I think he's going to start doing some policy speeches. Some major addresses about the economy about various aspects of foreign policy," said Carson.
When asked if Trump realized he made some mistakes, Carson replied with a chuckle: "Yeah. I think we heard some of that last week which was surprising to some people."
He continued: "There's no one who is perfect. A lot of people in the media, they expect perfection. You're supposed to be perfect. And if you're not 'oh my gosh. What are you doing here?' So it's not just one person. It's sort of a culture that we've developed and it's saying that to say that you're wrong is a sign of weakness which is crazy. Everybody can be wrong. There is no perfect person."
Carson said he thinks it will be difficult for Trump to get to the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination before the convention but he still thinks it's possible.
"I think everybody recognizes that it is going to be very, very difficult, but it's still possible," he said. "And I think a little bit of tacking more toward the compassionate side as opposed to the tough side would help quite a bit."
Carson added that Trump would be doing policy speeches to help with this.
The neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate said he would advise Trump to pray and read the Bible, saying he "certainly hopes" Trump will be more humble.
"I would say read the Bible and pray," Carson said. "And learn how to put yourself in other people's shoes, that's what did it for me."
