Czar, thanks for the ping. I know that you and I are in complete agreement on the implications of the illegal immigration crisis. I had also assumed agreement among others whom I know, but received a rude awakening a few weeks ago.
I teach the adult Sunday school class at our church on a rotating basis. In each lesson I always attempt to use scripture to provide immutable guidance for formulating a well-founded, Christ-centered opinion on political/social issues.
Several weeks ago I focused on what scriptural basis we must use in order to confront the illegal immigration crisis and I was astounded to discover that, at the beginning of the class, close to half of the members (which numbered just under fifty people) believed that the need to preserve the ‘human dignity’ of the illegals far outweighs the fact that they have broken the law.
The words hope, joy, charity, morality and brotherly love were bandied about, in an effort to prove that Christ would have overlooked law-breaking in deference to showing love and forgiveness to our fellow man … and the fact that there is a higher law than man’s laws that deal with immigration.
We eventually discussed many reasons why such piously nebulous arguments don’t mesh with Old Testament doctrine or the New Testament teachings of Christ – the most obvious of examples (but only two of countless) of which are:
(1) the eighth and tenth Commandments (you shall not steal … and you shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor), the breaking of both of which have become a way of life for the majority of the eleven million Mexican criminals who have crossed our southern border and are parasitically living off the American taxpayer, demanding rights without responsibilities, and staking out illegitimate claims to our homeland … and
(2) Christ’s admonition in the Sermon on the Mount in which he commands, ’Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
St. Augustine's (the fifth-century writer who greatly influenced the roots of western Christianity) ‘City of God’ (the ‘War and Peace’ of Christendom, as far as length and depth are concerned) actually proves extraordinarily prophetic, in that he makes a case against globalization and unfettered immigration.
He writes candidly of the advantages and disadvantages which often indiscriminately accrue to good and wicked men, and of the order which must be given a people and a republic.
‘City of God’ is a prophetic fifth-century warning on the necessity of maintaining national borders and sovereignty, and preserving the unique identity of a civilization. Augustine also warns that social chaos, rather than natural catastrophe, or major cataclysm, may herald the end of a civilization. Had he lived today, he most assuredly would have been a vocal anti-globalist and anti-illegal-immigration activist. And yet all too many of those who profess to follow his early Christian teachings have fallen prey to the New Age peace/love/brotherhood-at-all-costs mantra.
Many evangelical Christian denominations and organizations have voiced approval of an immigration bill that would include an amnesty provision. A few are even in favor of some form of open borders. And the virtual silence from much of the remainder of evangelical churches is deafening. Traditional evangelical respect for law and order appears to be giving way to a toxic, feel-good, unscriptural call for tolerance and forgiveness (of even those who, once forgiven, continue to break the law).
Going to church every Sunday, singing in the choir, or piously placing one's tithe in the collection plate does not a Christian make. The first and final aim of those who call themselves Christians is to live as Christ-like a life as possible. Jesus Christ would not have hidden himself away from the evil that surrounds us, anesthetizing himself from its pervasiveness by submerging himself in all manner of worldly pursuits, glibly offering superficial, feel-good platitudes, and convincing himself that all is well. He would have been speaking out to all who were willing to listen. He would have been placing himself between the evil-doers and their intended victims. Passivity, or tolerance of wickedness, would not have been an option.
One of the primary reasons our republic sits on this terrifying abyss is that those in decision-making positions in government and church no longer remain true to the foundations of those institutions whose purity and integrity they are charged to defend.
The dismantling of the Constitution, and the ignoring or interpretational editing of scriptural doctrine, amount to the corruption of words whose sources are pure and well-conceived, in order to justify self-absorbed, agenda-driven, or irresponsible human behavior. And if we continue to allow government and church leadership to chip away at those timeless (and, in the case of scripture, divinely-inspired) documents and doctrines, we will find ourselves sailing in dark waters … without anchor or compass. And then we had better hope (having forfeited our right to pray) for a storm-free future.
~ joanie ....