I don’t yet have a fully formed opinion on churches providing sanctuary for immigrants, but presently I can’t think of anything Jesus said or did that indicates we should break up families by deporting parents, etc.
I respect that this is a complex issue, though… any thoughts?
A Church Haven For Illegal Aliens
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1645169,00.html
I don’t think he would be an advocate for illegal immigration either…
Advocate perhaps not, but I am curious — does anyone out there know of a biblical perspective on this issue or is it just a personal opinion thing? Because, to be honest, I’m not even sure about the illegal immigrant thing, myself… Jesus seemed to always be radically inclusive, wanting everyone to be able to find him and find a better life. But I am totally open to hearing other thoughts — help me out here!
“Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice…” –Deuteronomy 24:17
“The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” -Leviticus 19:34
I guess I have no problem with illegal immigrants. I can’t blame someone for wanting to be able to provide for their family, for wanting access to a good home, clean water, education, and medical care… and most of all access to opportunity, especially for their children. I can’t blame illegal immigrants, because if I was desperate enough for my family, I would probably do it, too. I work with a lot of high school students who are “illegal”, who came over when they were very young, and I can’t imagine Jesus would choose to take their parents away from them.
What are we afraid of, as Christians, when it comes to issues of illegal immigration. That they are “illegal”- do we want to protect our laws in America? Are we afraid that they will hurt our economy and therefore hurt our own economic situation? Are we afraid they will change our American culture? That we may begin to see a more open/diverse America? I guess I am ok with having to “sacrifice” (for lack of a better word) for others to get opportunities here in America, even if they do do so illegally.
In the end, as Christians, we should be seeking justice and love for our neighbors to the south. I think we should be asking different questions all together. Are US’s relations with other nations just? Are we helping other nations grow as they wish? Are we doing the best thing for the average person in other nations? Are Christians in the US aware of justice issues between the US and other nations and within other nations themselves? Are we actively fighting for justice? Are our business and consumeristic practices promoting justice and the wellbeing of those in other nations? If God’s kingdom and justice were fully present, we wouldn’t have issues of immigration. Shouldn’t we, as Christians, be all about getting there?
Thank you, so much, Maria, for taking the time to come and post your thoughts! I absolutely love what you have to say, especially your questions in the last paragraph.
I think you hit the nail on the head concerning the issue it boils down to for me: how do we approach this issue as Jesus-followers, NOT as Americans. For me, I think the “Jesusy Kingdom” nature of mine takes priority over the “Worldly Kingdom” part of me when it comes to this issue.
I guess we have two ways to consider it, though — realistically/pragmatically or idealistically/futuristically. I think it’s often much easier, at least for me, to see the idealized version of what should be happening. How it plays out in the dust of our daily lives, though (especially here in Southern California) always seems to be a completely different reality.
How do we go about creating and promoting an atmosphere of justice and love that is not only Jesus-worthy but also sustainable and realistic?
I know this is very late, but I promised, or was it threatened, a comment about illegal immigration, so here goes.
You originally asked if anyone had tried to connect Jesus’ teachings to the subject of illegal immigration, but this brings up a totally different thought process with me. People are always connecting Jesus to political subjects, but in ways that are usually not valid or even well thought out. Conservatives are constantly being accused of justifying their political ideas by using out of context Bible passages, implying that God is on their side, not the side of you godless liberals. In other words, God is a Republican. While I recognize the validity of this accusation, it seems to me that liberal Christians do exactly the same thing. The predictable liberal analysis generally goes something like this: Jesus loves everybody, just like I do, so of course he would love (fill in the chosen victim group du jour) and would want them treated exactly like I think they should be treated. Jesus isn’t a mean, nasty old conservative; he’s actually a liberal, just like me!
I have a bizarre idea. Why don’t we first find out what Jesus actually said, then let his teachings inform our thinking, rather than our current practice of doing it the other way around?
Now back to illegal immigration. A thorough reading of Jesus’ words quickly reveals that Jesus did not say anything about this subject, at least not directly. But that brings up another question. Why are we confining our search for illumination to Jesus’ words only? If the Bible is truly God’s word, doesn’t that make all of it equally important? Aren’t all of the teachings in the Bible teachings of Jesus?
The Old Testament has much more to say on this subject than the New Testament does, and I appreciate Maria’s quotations from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Unfortunately, these have been taken out of their historical context. These passages do not refer to any random group of aliens, but a specific group. It refers to those people, and their descendants, who were not Israelites, but who nevertheless left Egypt with the Hebrews, wandered with them for 40 years in the desert, and the entered Canaan with them. These people had chosen to give up their lives in Egypt to face the hardships of the desert and the certainty of war with the Israelites. This did not mean that anyone could, in the future, simply walk into Israel uninvited and demand the same rights.
There are some other Old Testament passages that apply here as well. It is stated several times in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that the law applies equally to both the native and the alien. In other words, immigrants were expected to obey the same laws as citizens. Is this what illegal immigrants do when they enter our country in violation of our laws?
I have confined my thoughts to the Biblical aspects of the discussion since that is what you originally asked about. It seems clear to me that Christians can disagree on this subject. I hope we can at least agree on that much.
Larry, I’m glad you’ve finally made good on your threats!
And great points, by the way — it is incredibly easy to treat the bible like our personal spiritual Mad Libs game, inserting in our own beliefs into any “blanks” we see.
Although I will argue that people will invariably find differing blank spaces anyway, since we’re obviously unique human beings and read our unique lives into any words we’re reading; e.g. you’re “seeing” this comment differently than Maria would. (Not to miss an opportunity for a selfish plug, there’s a whole chapter about my thoughts on this topic in my book, blur.)
That said, I am very grateful for your insight; you’ve definitely illuminated much more about what the bible actually says about this subject, which is what I was after!
I think I’m finally grasping a stance on this issue for myself, which, if I can summarize, would be that a) we have processes for immigration, and people should probably do their best to follow them and, perhaps even more importantly, b) the fiery debate about illegal immigration is mostly a symptom of a much bigger issue, which includes both the declining state of our economy and the welfare state of our poorest citizens. As my man Dr. Paul would say, if our economy was rocketing skyward and our poor properly cared for, I’m not sure anyone would care much about immigration.