As Christians, our hearts must grieve for those souls who have left their homes for a better life to come to our country, as immigrants have for over two centuries. Many of them ended up being trafficked by cartels and are now sex workers. Many sent their children with “mules” or “coyotes,” paying inordinate amounts of money to get their children to America from places like Venezuela or Mexico, which are failed states ruled by dictators or cartels. Some have left China and are flying to Latin America to be conducted across the southern border, along with Afghans, Turks, and others have come through Canada. Many have sought refuge from incompetent governments or other failed states in places like Haiti, Somalia, and other locations.
They have made their way to America from all kinds of places and situations. Naturally, when close to 20 million people enter the country in four years, there are going to be bad actors (i.e., gang members, criminals, or so-called ne'er–do–wells who wish to exploit the opportunity through social services and the like). That’s true of any situation involving large numbers of people doing anything, coming from anywhere.
Why do they come here? Why come to the United States? Notice no one is fleeing to China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc. No other country in the world has numbers like ours.
Why not stay in Canada or other Latin American countries besides the ones they are leaving? That’s a complex question—which we will address. But simply stated, the irony is that this is the freest, safest, most welcoming country on earth. Despite all our self-flagellation and bad press, the truth is that people come here from all over the world because this is the so-called land of opportunity (and it is).
People come here from all over the world. We live in Silicon Valley, and you find people from India, China, Korea, various Arab-speaking nations, and Europe. And then there is our Spanish-language congregation! You might say they are from “every tongue tribe, people, and nation.” Hillside Church has become multi-ethnic over the last nine years or so.
Ours is a welcoming nation, or people wouldn’t come here. We’ve demonstrated our embrace of diversity by electing a black president twice. We are unlike any other nation in the world.
And yet, we are a complex people. Divided. Confused at the moment by a number of issues, including illegal immigration, “refugees.” There’s even division over the definition of “refugee.”
Illegal immigration is a problem. How can we tell? 80% of the American public (including people on the so-called right and so-called left) want illegal immigration stopped and those with a criminal record deported, as well as those who have come over the last 4 years. 20 million people have crossed the border illegally, that’s a lot of people. Sometimes over 20,000 people in a single day have crossed the border over the previous four years. Now the number has dropped to 8,000 last month, a 25 year low. That’s a record.
How should Christians think through this issue? It’s fair to say that our voices are divided. Just listen.
Of course, popular opinion should not matter for Christians. Our approach to this matter should be guided by biblical principles. We look at the Bible or a text and ask and answer three simple questions: “What does the text say?” “What do the words mean?” and “How then shall we think?” The mind of God, the will of God, on this or any matter, is found in the Scriptures.
Sure, this is a political issue at some level in that the government is involved, and factions exist. Yet, at the same time, this is a biblical issue... an issue of morality... biblical morality. Regrettably, some people combine the two concepts in peculiar ways, subordinating what the text says, that is what God says, to matters of politics, popular culture, etc. There’s a word for that: sin.
Does God’s word address this matter in some way? Indeed, it does! God’s word has something to say about every inch of thread that makes up the fabric of our existence (2 Timothy 3:16). The problem we face as people attempt to rationalize a political belief using the Bible is that verses are ripped out of context, bent, misshaped, and applied to this issue through interpretive gymnastics as people try to get the Bible to say what they want it to say rather than the author’s intent.
A careful read of the landscape reveals that people who line up on opposing sides of this issue often have their array of isolated verses that they can read their agendas into rather than read from the Bible. The Bible must inform and reform our politics (and policy) on this issue.
How is it that our country and many churches are so divided on this issue? It seems that human creatures are people of extremes... we almost naturally polarize. Why is this?
Sin... for one. But you have to go back to the fall in the Garden of Eden, neatly summarized in Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...”
Our goal, as Christians, isn’t to win an argument. This isn’t debate class. We are not lawyers bending language for a client in some cases. We want to look at this matter with all its human casualties and costs—and losses—through the lens of Scripture as we refine our understanding and apply the Scriptures.
Our goal has to be clarity with charity. What this mean? Speak the truth in love.
Be full of grace and truth... truth without grace can be a bludgeon. Grace without truth is an excuse to sin.
So let’s engage in this matter and think biblically—which is to say critically. This isn’t a debate it is a quest. Will you join me on this journey over the coming weeks? This has been Part One. Until next time.