Thursday, June 08, 2006

Illegal "immigration": some thoughts

This is not a topic about which I'm wild-eyed and obsessive. Here are a few thoughts I can't seem to shake, whenever I hear the subject broached.

  1. The proper frame: anyone who illegally crosses the border has broken into my "house." The government is supposed to keep my "house" secure. Instead, it is proposing pronouncing them to be members of my family, and arguing how much I should be forced to pay to support them, tend to their medical wants, and generally reward their lawbreaking.
  2. The Bible has nothing good to say about home invasion (Exodus 22:2).
  3. The Bible urges voluntary mercy toward the needy (Mattthew 5:42), but never constrains enabling or rewarding of home invaders or lawbreakers. In fact...
  4. The Bible discourages the rewarding of lawlessness (Proverbs 28:4; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-14).
On this topic, frankly, I just do not have The Answer. I just know I don't think much of any of the solutions I've heard, and any solution that rewards past border invasion strikes me as immoral, insane, and ultimately nationally self-destructive.

And one last thought: what is this disconnect in President Bush's brain by which he (correctly, IMHO) pursues America's security issues on another continent, but doesn't see the need to secure our own porous border with equal or greater intensity?

14 comments:

Jeremy Weaver said...

For me the tension lies in the fact that I am supposed to love my enemies, turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile to help others as a Christian. At the same time I am supposed to love justice, encourage obedience, and defend my neighbors.
I know these are not mutually exclusive, but they sure make it hard to come down with a clearcut position on the issue, especially when our government has made it so hard for immigrants to come here legally.

candy said...

I don't know much about the issue but I have read that the ultimate goal is to create a North America conglomerate (within a form of democratic socialism), to match the European conglomerate in power. The reason why not much is being done with the immigration issue is because the powers to be are working towards that goal. So anyways, that is just something I read and it makes a bit of sense to me. The demographics in Reno has changed dramatically in the last few years due to an influx of immigrants. Sometimes I am less than Christian in my fleshly response to the problems it has created.

By the way, that was a great article over at Pyro. I think I responded in a weird roundabout way, but wanted you to know that I appreciate your articles when they appear.

Ray said...

I am somewhat where Jeremy is at...

Neil said...

Is a poor Mexican in Mexico, who knows that if he gets his family across the border they will eventually get amnesty, really breaking the law? Is a law that's not enforced but instead is set aside with the blessing of the lawmakers really a law?

Hard issue, I agree with you guys.

Candy, from the other side of your northern border, we don't detect that agenda, but our view is obscured by a very liberal newsmedia.

Dan B. said...

To bug--in my study of the law, it seems that the force of culture and the courts take laws and push, push, push until they are broken/overturned or forgotten/ignored...or worse, remarked as "old-fashioned." See the trend of the last 50 years on divorce (used to be very hard to get one, now it's quite easy to get one, for any reason).

The laws are still there, but certainly in name only--politicians seem to forget that it might be a better idea to enforce the laws on the books rather than creating new resolutions or even new laws to fix an old problem.

louis Berard said...

First, I agree that the many transgressions of the law that illegal aliens partake in are NOT something that people who abide in christ can support. It's funny, many people that use "Love thy neioghbor" as an excuse to support this lawlessness, such as large church denominations, rich socialists and other disconnected people never have to pay a direct price for their "Loving." It is the American public that pays the price. This is a total perversion of Jesus's teaching. And it is straight out of the communist manifesto. In addition, if we truly love these people, how can we encourage them to live a life that daily partakes in lying (about status,) Fraud, (documents,) and theft (documents and services?!) You cannot abide in Christ and have salvation if you have chosen to live outside of God's law. We show these people no mercy or love by supporting them in unlawful, and immoral behavior, when this only leads them to eternal damnation.

Doug Kennard said...

I agree with Jeremy. We cannot allow illegals to come into this country and blatantly break the law. That would seem to only invite the wrath of God. At the same time, I wince when I hear the shrill rhetoric from some who advocate mass deportations of illegal aliens. But my question is: What do we do with the 12 million that are already here?

I definitely think we should secure our borders, prosecute those who are caught entering illegally, and punish employers who hire illegals. We should also work to reform our immigration laws so that those who genuinely want to come for economic and other legitmate reasons can do so. For many Latinos, there are just too few employment opportunities in their own countries.

Also, what do churches do when they find illegal aliens in their congregations?

Thanks,
Doug Kennard

DJP said...

Fair enough, Doug.

Does this counter-question frame it? What should a church do if they found someone in their congregation who had stolen a pile of money... or anything else?

I think it's very analogous.

Doug Kennard said...

Good context. That reminds me of what Zacchaeus did when he converted. He gave back the money he stole plus four times as much to the owners (Luke 19:8). Maybe a church should say to an illegal alien in their midst: "You need to go back to your home-country and then try and enter legally. In fact, as part of our ministry, we will help you do that with finances and paperwork. In fact, we will even send someone to accompany you back home and help you and your family come back here legally. We will help you bear this burden." This could be a real ministry to illegals who attend out churches and have come to Christ.

Surely in God's wisdom, which He will grant if we ask in faith, there are ways we can help even illegals that show mercy but also obey the law.

Doug

Doug Kennard said...

How do I edit my bio-data information?

DJP said...

Go to www.blogger.com, log in if you aren't already, and click on "Edit profile."

Macrhino said...

This article is very very UNCHRISTIAN. There has never been a connection between illegal and Sinful. To make this connection is sinful in and of itself This article was inspired by Lucifer to mislead the faithful.

Jesus did not recognize borders nor believe that laws of man are higher than the laws of God. If a single person, needing help is cast out of the US, we have violated the word of God. This article is arguing for violating the word of God. It is blasphemous because it tries to use unrelated scripture (home invasion) to justify a Satanist ideology. If you want biblical standard then we are the invaders of which the Bible speaks. We were not invited nor did we have a visa when we appeared on the shores. When the people who were here wanted us to leave we killed them.

Jesus said, "that which you do, even unto the least of them, you do to me."

This article invites you and extols the government to treat Jesus really badly and just when he needs help and for selfish reasons.

Then the lies and misrepresentations that want you to believe you that Jesus wants this.

God forgives but Blasphemy is a big one. I hope this author is prepared.

DJP said...

A major difference between the article and your comment is the presence of specific Scripture.

The article has some.

Yours has none.

If you have a Bible, is Romans 13:1-7 in it? What does it say? Is it a sin to disbobey the law, or isn't it?

I didn't take anyone's land from anyone. The government today didn't take anyone's land from anyone. But if you want to make every generation responsible for every previous generation, then everyone gets driven out of everyone's homeland, until we all end up in the Middle East near where Eden was.

The article affirms Biblical teaching, so unless God is a blasphemer, I don't think the author (me) has much to worry about on that count.

But thanks for your concern.

Meanwhile, be sure to put the sign in front of your house: "Since my people stole this land, you're welcome to take everything I have."

I mean, you don't want to be a blasphemer (on your principles), right?

Anonymous said...

What a dumb a__.