Followers of Jesus need to start taking Leviticus 19: 33-34 seriously:
When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
11 comments:
Agree.
"What do you have that God hasn't given to you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as thought you have accomplished something on your own?" 1 Cor 4:7
my wife has corrected me. with love.
"thought" should be "though"
Where would we be...
Interesting thought, Tony, I'm always keen on folks applying scripture to contemporary political issues.
I want to take this passage seriously, and I want to immigration reform seriously too. Your post implies followers of Jesus have not done so, so perhaps some questions might help us figure out how to take it seriously. I appreciate you challenging our thinking on this, and I'd like to press you a bit more on it.
Do you think the passage indicates a policy the US government should implement? Or do you think the passage is directed to the Church? Or perhaps directed to the Church and meant to inform how we should pressure the government to act?
Should we advocate open borders? Or very permissive immigration? How might this affect the poor and marginalized who are already here? Can our social services handle a large influx of people who qualify for entitlements?
Are we doing right by Mexico's citizens by allowing their government to continue avoiding reforms because they can ship off their least well-off north to us?
Are we being fair to those aliens who have waited in line for years legally? What should we expect of immigrants who want to live here?
The passage quoted says we should treat aliens as native born. The OT had many requirements for such aliens, including circumcision, not working on the Sabbath, etc.
Should we have any requirements today? If so, what should they be and what should we do with immigrants who don't want to meet them?
Or is the post meant not so much as to recommend specific policies, but as a reminder that when beginning such considerations we should keep the golden rule in mind and remember that the alien is our neighbor?
Amen, Tony. This needs to be the foundation from which we approach this issue. Our motive, and our heart toward the alien among us.
MJWatson, we could derive practical implications from this and other passages, but the passage best addresses our stance and motivation vis-a-vis the Alien.
Do we take Leviticus 19:27 seriously?
"You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard."
I know Cosby does.
Actually, I don't think we could derive practical implications very easily. That's more or less my point. It's not easy to actually do real politics from two verses of scripture.
I agree that this passage addresses how we should approach our neighbor, as ourselves. It's just complicated by the fact that actions we take will help some neighbors and not help, or even harm, other neighbors.
That's what I wanted to press on. If it's just an admonition that we've failed to approach the issue that way, then that's a judgment of a sort that we could weigh and take to heart.
If along with that judgment there is an implicit policy recomendation, then that should be thought about as well. If the latter, then the additional implication is that those who oppose the current bill and want stricter borders aren't coming to such a conclusion in good faith; it's that they aren't taking scripture seriously.
That, not to overuse the word, is a serious thing to say and begs for some justification, though I'm glad we can talk about such things, and perhaps disagree, in the context of faith.
It is more than a political issue. It is also a heart issue as it has been for the entire history of mankind. Do policies matter, YES, but from whence come policy? We, white folks don't like people coming into our neighborhoods let alone our country. I agree with Micah, a few well intentioned scriptures aren't going to deal with the entire scope of the issue. But the question I have what motivates policy? And if scripture doesn't have an influence on our heart what will? The democratic party? The republican party? They are as broken as the denominations of faith...
"There'll be blue lights flashin down the long dirt road when they ask me to step out. They say we're looking for illegal immigrants can we check your car I say you know it's funny I think we were on the same boat back in 1694 I said oo la la shame on you..." ~ Indigo Girls
Oh Lordy...it does make me anxious when policy and scripture collide. In policy school I was well-acquainted with those who argued for reforms based on their renditions of Scripture (that was supposed to be the difference between my school and the secular giants of policy schools) -- and to be honest, it was ugly and not too particularly sound.
Anyway- my anxiety aside, I don't think you have a policy recommendation in here Tony. I do think that you have a recommendation for how we are to be new in Christ-- how our minds are to be transformed not just on how we view ourselves (you are a new creation) but how we view others and the names we use for others (by being that new creation your vision of others is transformed).
I am more inclined to think that if believers truly embraced our own transformation and allowed our eyes for others to be transformed as well, we would start to more positively change the political culture defining policy decisions. And then when we read "alien" in Scripture the images that word conjures up wouldn't be so narrowly defined.
If it were new testament, this would be xenos for stranger, or as it was understood, anyone who's different than you. Viewing the two together could make it easier to think in terms of the guy selling roses on the corner instead of policy.
or even just the person across the street you've never talked to...
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