By: Don Boys, Ph.D.
http://donboys.cstnews.com/loosey-goosey-evangelicals-misuse-misinterpret-and-mangle-bible-to-defend-open-borders
Joe Biden said, “I respect no borders!” Well, neither do thieves, thugs, tyrants, and totalitarians. Nor do border-crossing drug lords, terrorists, pedophiles, disease carriers, and job seekers. Thinking Americans know that there must be order in everything. Without borders, there are no nations, but then, that’s what leftists want. Protestors chant, “No borders, no walls, no USA at all!” Their demand for amnesty, sanctuary cities, and open borders is a plan for anarchy.
I have been accused of being unreasonable, unkind, and even unchristian in my opposition of amnesty and sanctuary cities; however, the accusation is not based on solid reasoning or the Scripture. Leftist Evangelicals misrepresent the Bible to make it fit their pathetic, perverted, progressive, and political positions.
Bleating heart Evangelicals want us to believe that we should have open borders because the undocumented aliens are trying to escape tyranny, gangs, and poverty, so our nation should overlook their illegal entry into our nation. After all, we are a Christian nation. No, first of all, only people can become Christians; however, a nation can become Christianized or influenced by the Bible. Furthermore, most of the enthusiasts for open borders and amnesty purposefully confuse an individual’s responsibility with a nation’s obligation. Everyone who wants to understand ancient literature knows he or she must discern who wrote it, to whom it was written, and when it was written.
Trump’s religious critics are not asking those questions. Exodus 23:9 is often used by the Bible-twisters to support their cause; however, they use a defective hermeneutic to construct their false anti-Trump position. “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” That passage is dealing with a person’s obligation, not national obligations. Most of those Evangelicals who quote that passage know that but are being less than honest to establish a very shaky political principle.
It is easy to prove my contention about this being a personal obligation. Verse 3 of that chapter warns the ancient Jews (and us today), “Neither shalt thou countenance (give approval) a poor man in his cause.” Moses was warning us about showing favor to a person because of his condition, whether rich or poor. Believers must be ever vigilant not to be swayed by emotions but by justice. The time-honored truism is, “Let justice be done, though the heavens should be dissolved.”
I heard one of the great evangelists of the last generation say, “Do right though the stars fall from Heaven.” The illegal aliens have not done right. They resolutely broke our laws and crashed our gates, and forced themselves in front of others who have followed our laws and procedures. There are five million people who are waiting in line legally, but illegal aliens refuse to wait. Their arrogance and audaciousness are astounding, while their advocates are angry and appalling.
Is there a limit to how many immigrants we are expected to admit? Do we wait until the ship is sinking before we realize there are limits? If an overcrowded ship sinks, then everyone is lost. Do-gooders (as opposed to those who do good) are not the most logical thinkers.
Jim Wallis is another do-gooder who doesn’t think logically and is president of the leftist religious outfit Sojourners. Jim, no longer editor of their journal, declared, “Evangelicals finally realize that how we treat the stranger, these 11 million undocumented people, [No, it is now 22 million] is how we treat Christ himself.” Wallis was evidently napping during his seminary hermeneutics class because he did not get that from the Bible. Christians are to be thoughtful, gracious, kind, and helpful, but that does not translate into being softies, suckers, and sycophants. We could really show how gentle, gracious, and generous—as well as unwise, unreliable, and unhinged—we are by emptying all our prisons!
Well, some governors have tried that, and how has it worked?
Wallis went on to say the leadership of the Evangelical Immigration Table, which includes the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Convention of the Southern Baptist Convention and the evangelical community, have “never been more united on an issue.” Jim has one of two problems: he is either disingenuous or uninformed because the vast majority of evangelicals want illegal immigrants to go home.
A Pulse Opinion poll revealed that 78% of Evangelicals surveyed believed that the biblical command to “love the stranger” means “to treat the stranger humanely while applying the rule of law.” Additionally, a Pew Research Center poll showed only 25% of white Evangelicals believed the U.S. had a “responsibility” to accept refugees into the country.
Wallis is wrong again, but then, he should be used to that.
Christ commanded everyone to treat others the way they want to be treated, but that has nothing to do with how a nation deals with illegal aliens. Let’s return to Exodus 23:9: “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Incoherent preachers neglect to tell their parishioners that the Jews were in Egypt by invitation and were not gatecrashers as are modern fence-climbers. What is never mentioned is the Jews were special guests as long as Joseph was alive, and a friendly Pharaoh reigned.
The Jews were strangers in Egypt (but not illegal aliens) even though they eventually ended up as slaves. Exodus 23:9 does not apply to the immigration issue even slightly. Unlawful foreigners choose to break our laws, also arrogantly demanding entrance into our nation expecting to be cared for upon their arrival. These lawbreakers are not sojourners or strangers but scoundrels and are encouraged to do wrong in breaking our laws by many leftwing religious groups, even some Evangelicals.
Some of these leftists’ religious groups get paid $1850.00 for each immigrant they settle in an American city. Follow the money.
Other desperate defenders of open borders tell us Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were migrants fleeing into another land for safety, so American immigration laws should reflect that fact. However, it is not a fact. The family were not aliens since they were part of the Roman Empire, as was Egypt at that time. Moreover, it was perfectly legal to travel from one Roman province to another. Careless religious leaders should be ashamed of their misrepresentation of Scripture to support a very unsubstantiated position. These people seem to think they exhale divine revelations, but they expel a mish-mash of immature babbling and purposefully distorted theology.
While the Evangelicals are correct in that the Kingdom of God has no borders and welcomes all who qualify through faith in Christ, the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel, and all other nations, states, cities, and villages and the Evangelicals’ gated estates do have distinct borders.
Even walls! Gasp.
This is a good example of how far left many Evangelicals are. Evangelical churches are wallowing in diversity and choking on heresy. Evangelicals have proved to be what astute people knew they always were: a hodgepodge of theological lightweights (with a few heavyweights), philosophical cripples, and devotees of political correctness.
Alas, soft, left-leaning Evangelicals are part of the family of God if they have been born again, and I am required, as a member of that family, to warn them, even rebuke and shun them if they continue in their sinful behavior.
Many soft Evangelical leaders are sad, smug, and sanctimonious hypocrites, but it pays well.
(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D. ; and visit his blog. Send request to [email protected] for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)
http://donboys.cstnews.com/loosey-goosey-evangelicals-misuse-misinterpret-and-mangle-bible-to-defend-open-borders
Joe Biden said, “I respect no borders!” Well, neither do thieves, thugs, tyrants, and totalitarians. Nor do border-crossing drug lords, terrorists, pedophiles, disease carriers, and job seekers. Thinking Americans know that there must be order in everything. Without borders, there are no nations, but then, that’s what leftists want. Protestors chant, “No borders, no walls, no USA at all!” Their demand for amnesty, sanctuary cities, and open borders is a plan for anarchy.
I have been accused of being unreasonable, unkind, and even unchristian in my opposition of amnesty and sanctuary cities; however, the accusation is not based on solid reasoning or the Scripture. Leftist Evangelicals misrepresent the Bible to make it fit their pathetic, perverted, progressive, and political positions.
Bleating heart Evangelicals want us to believe that we should have open borders because the undocumented aliens are trying to escape tyranny, gangs, and poverty, so our nation should overlook their illegal entry into our nation. After all, we are a Christian nation. No, first of all, only people can become Christians; however, a nation can become Christianized or influenced by the Bible. Furthermore, most of the enthusiasts for open borders and amnesty purposefully confuse an individual’s responsibility with a nation’s obligation. Everyone who wants to understand ancient literature knows he or she must discern who wrote it, to whom it was written, and when it was written.
Trump’s religious critics are not asking those questions. Exodus 23:9 is often used by the Bible-twisters to support their cause; however, they use a defective hermeneutic to construct their false anti-Trump position. “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” That passage is dealing with a person’s obligation, not national obligations. Most of those Evangelicals who quote that passage know that but are being less than honest to establish a very shaky political principle.
It is easy to prove my contention about this being a personal obligation. Verse 3 of that chapter warns the ancient Jews (and us today), “Neither shalt thou countenance (give approval) a poor man in his cause.” Moses was warning us about showing favor to a person because of his condition, whether rich or poor. Believers must be ever vigilant not to be swayed by emotions but by justice. The time-honored truism is, “Let justice be done, though the heavens should be dissolved.”
I heard one of the great evangelists of the last generation say, “Do right though the stars fall from Heaven.” The illegal aliens have not done right. They resolutely broke our laws and crashed our gates, and forced themselves in front of others who have followed our laws and procedures. There are five million people who are waiting in line legally, but illegal aliens refuse to wait. Their arrogance and audaciousness are astounding, while their advocates are angry and appalling.
Is there a limit to how many immigrants we are expected to admit? Do we wait until the ship is sinking before we realize there are limits? If an overcrowded ship sinks, then everyone is lost. Do-gooders (as opposed to those who do good) are not the most logical thinkers.
Jim Wallis is another do-gooder who doesn’t think logically and is president of the leftist religious outfit Sojourners. Jim, no longer editor of their journal, declared, “Evangelicals finally realize that how we treat the stranger, these 11 million undocumented people, [No, it is now 22 million] is how we treat Christ himself.” Wallis was evidently napping during his seminary hermeneutics class because he did not get that from the Bible. Christians are to be thoughtful, gracious, kind, and helpful, but that does not translate into being softies, suckers, and sycophants. We could really show how gentle, gracious, and generous—as well as unwise, unreliable, and unhinged—we are by emptying all our prisons!
Well, some governors have tried that, and how has it worked?
Wallis went on to say the leadership of the Evangelical Immigration Table, which includes the National Association of Evangelicals and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Convention of the Southern Baptist Convention and the evangelical community, have “never been more united on an issue.” Jim has one of two problems: he is either disingenuous or uninformed because the vast majority of evangelicals want illegal immigrants to go home.
A Pulse Opinion poll revealed that 78% of Evangelicals surveyed believed that the biblical command to “love the stranger” means “to treat the stranger humanely while applying the rule of law.” Additionally, a Pew Research Center poll showed only 25% of white Evangelicals believed the U.S. had a “responsibility” to accept refugees into the country.
Wallis is wrong again, but then, he should be used to that.
Christ commanded everyone to treat others the way they want to be treated, but that has nothing to do with how a nation deals with illegal aliens. Let’s return to Exodus 23:9: “Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Incoherent preachers neglect to tell their parishioners that the Jews were in Egypt by invitation and were not gatecrashers as are modern fence-climbers. What is never mentioned is the Jews were special guests as long as Joseph was alive, and a friendly Pharaoh reigned.
The Jews were strangers in Egypt (but not illegal aliens) even though they eventually ended up as slaves. Exodus 23:9 does not apply to the immigration issue even slightly. Unlawful foreigners choose to break our laws, also arrogantly demanding entrance into our nation expecting to be cared for upon their arrival. These lawbreakers are not sojourners or strangers but scoundrels and are encouraged to do wrong in breaking our laws by many leftwing religious groups, even some Evangelicals.
Some of these leftists’ religious groups get paid $1850.00 for each immigrant they settle in an American city. Follow the money.
Other desperate defenders of open borders tell us Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were migrants fleeing into another land for safety, so American immigration laws should reflect that fact. However, it is not a fact. The family were not aliens since they were part of the Roman Empire, as was Egypt at that time. Moreover, it was perfectly legal to travel from one Roman province to another. Careless religious leaders should be ashamed of their misrepresentation of Scripture to support a very unsubstantiated position. These people seem to think they exhale divine revelations, but they expel a mish-mash of immature babbling and purposefully distorted theology.
While the Evangelicals are correct in that the Kingdom of God has no borders and welcomes all who qualify through faith in Christ, the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel, and all other nations, states, cities, and villages and the Evangelicals’ gated estates do have distinct borders.
Even walls! Gasp.
This is a good example of how far left many Evangelicals are. Evangelical churches are wallowing in diversity and choking on heresy. Evangelicals have proved to be what astute people knew they always were: a hodgepodge of theological lightweights (with a few heavyweights), philosophical cripples, and devotees of political correctness.
Alas, soft, left-leaning Evangelicals are part of the family of God if they have been born again, and I am required, as a member of that family, to warn them, even rebuke and shun them if they continue in their sinful behavior.
Many soft Evangelical leaders are sad, smug, and sanctimonious hypocrites, but it pays well.
(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D. ; and visit his blog. Send request to [email protected] for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)