Thoughts?
As Christians, shouldn’t we be receptive to our immigrant neighbors and their needs? What does it look like to live out Micah 6:8 in times like these? If Jesus loves the immigrant then why do I see so many Christians turn them away?
How can we TRULY love our immigrant neighbors? If Jesus came to save the lost, broken & oppressed how can we best advocate for our immigrant neighbors who face a close to impossible solution to permanent citizenship?
Absolutely, both can be done, and for sure, it has been mishandled.
As far as the US goes we need to reform the immigration system. There’s far too much red tape and bureaucracy bogging things down.
I think it’s Biblical to support national sovereignty and expect immigrants to come legally while also recognizing that the process could be greatly improved.
It boils down to two things:
1) The need to have others going inside safe, hence the need for immigration.
2) The need to keep those already inside safe, hence the need for vetting and processing.
Not all those who enter in are good characters and can in fact hurt the other immigrants coming in.
It’s not a mutually exclusive thing to do. People who say it’s racist to vet people without background checks don’t recognize that people of all races are capable of evil.
God is both righteous and merciful. We should never choose one to the exclusion of the other.
Illegal immigration is unrighteousness, we should oppose it. And we should show mercy in a way that does not exclude our opposition to the unrighteousness off illegal immigration nor makes us hypocrites.
Build that wall.
There are 50,000 homeless vets and nobody cares, as they tend to vote Republican. 21 commit suicide every day. Real compassion requires that we do all we can for those that have given all for us!
There are over 500,000 homeless children. If you want to talk about compassion, adopt an American Child.
The illegal immigration issue is not about the compassion of the Democratic Party. They support illegal immigration because that is how they steal elections. Democrats don’t care about about Vets or parentless children.
Based on all your comments, you have fallen right into the false narrative. They use your Christianity to manipulate you.
There are 5,000 Sex trafficked women and children in San Diego county. 5,000! That is a huge number. The Catholic charity – Children of the Immaculate heart was prevented from getting their charity permit because Christians are against abortions and sex changes. So you see, the Democratic apparatchiks don’t care about people. Policy is only about power, not compassion. The charity capitulated and said they will abide by the laws of the county. They were still not approved.
Please. Do not let yourself be manipulated. The illiberal left is using your ideals to take power. This was never about illegal aliens. All policy is about power, in every case, in every country.
Alejandra Reyes-Gaona
I would tread lightly on this, not letting your view be biased by bias media. It is my experience that Christians as a whole share my particular view.
And my view is exactly what you have posted. We (Christians) don’t see immigrants, we see people who Christ loves. With that being said, people, with different nationalities, in the Spirit of Romans 13 have to abide by the laws of the land.
This means if I, as an American, want to migrate to Mexico, I have to abide by, and respect their immigration process and follow it. It is not Biblical to find ways to manipulate and cheat their laws. We are obligated to follow the law of our land unless it causes us to sin, or causes us to neglect giving our God the worship He deserves.
Remember, we are only ambassadors to this world, our citizenship belongs to a different kingdom, and of a different King. To be good ambassadors in this world, we must be sure to obey as we are commanded to.
We can truly love our immigrant neighbors, not by making them government dependent and hating their own country, but by helping build their country into someplace they want to stay.
For the immigrants who want to truly become an American, we can help them by encouraging them to take the legal process and educate them towards assimilation into the United States.
my grandparents on both sides of the family came from italy—i am second generation italian….my grandparents got nothing from the govt except the opportunity to work and make their own way. my parents did not have it easy, working on the farm, quitting school in 7th and 9th grade to help the family. but mom and dad instilled in me the ethic of working for what i wanted. and that is what i have done, and have gone through many hard times to achieve what i wanted and needed in life. —
Do justly: Act in a just, fair way towards others. Treat them as you would want to be treated. Love mercy: Don’t just show mercy, but love to show it. Give others the same measure of mercy you want to receive from the Me. Walk humbly with your God: Remember who I am – your God. If you keep that in mind, you will walk humbly before Me. Walk humbly when you are spiritually strong. Walk humbly when you have much work to do. Walk humbly in all your motives. Walk humbly studying God’s word. Walk humbly when under trials. Walk humbly in your devotions. Walk humbly between you and your brothers in Christ. Walk humbly when dealing with sinners.
Walk has the idea of practice. We must make a habitual practice of these humble ways
LEGAL. that is the defining word. ILLEGAL immigration is not Biblical. If someone comes to this, or any country, LEGALLY, sure, that is acceptable. But illegally sneaking, or forcing their way, into a country is not, and should not be, acceptable or approved of. Biblically or not.
I think this is right on point. The problem is that it has been made virtually impossible for some to be able to enter legally (the length of time it takes to actually be approved can take up to 7 years at least a few years ago + the amount it costs to become a citizen is several thousands). If we can reform the process I think that would help some.
Romans 13 is highly understood erroneously.
As Christians, we must pray and participate in mission work. The countries where immigrants come from are broken, and only the Gospel can heal their land. Mission work of the Gospel is the answer. Also, for the immigrants here, we can work with them by spreading the Gospel and helping them navigate the legal channels properly. The Old Testament tells Israel to treat sojourners well because Israel sojourned themselves. As Christians, we were more than sojourners, we were rebels turned redeemed who are called to be a rescue beacon.
While the United States is not the ultimate kingdom, it is important we as a nation do what is right. I’ve thought about this for a while, and I think this may be an option on the side of the US.
Step 1: Secure the border. It is unloving to have a non secure border when refugees come here for asylum. They are trying to escape, but its not very helpful if our borders are not secure. Step 2: scrap the old code for visas and citizenship and make them simple and more efficient. We can make it simple and still secure. Step 3: 2 Part Amnesty. Any immigrants who were 18 and older when entering the US illegally are giving permanent residency, anyone who was a minor is given citizenship. It wasn’t the fault of the immigrants our system was broken. Step 4: remove whatever is allowing parents to send their kids across the desert alone, after the parents are in the US, and the family claims their kid. This is unloving because their children are left behind and then sent across an empty barren wasteland of dehydration and exposure. Whoever is telling parents to do this is insane and needs to be brought to justice.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
If you are putting legal and illegal immigrants in the same Scripture then shouldn’t you also put non-criminals and criminals in the same “boat”. Are you willing to invite a criminal (stranger) into your home?
When we put what is legal above what is moral, we become the definition of a pharisee.
As individuals we need to treat everyone with love and respect. That also means every immigrant that comes here not just the ones that look like us.
There is a difference between entering legally or illegal. The US government is going to deal with both the way they will. For the Christians, we are to treat them with love. This doesn’t mean that we break the laws of the US government because we get emotional.
So for any of these, if we see a need we can help them with, we help. But there are boundaries that should be kept.
Also, I see a lot of Christians take what scripture says about immigration and try to use the US government to do what scripture says. There’s a difference between what an individual should do and what the US government should do. The US government isn’t Israel. So, we shouldn’t try to undermine the government laws on immigration.
Lastly, if people really want to help neighboring countries, the model should be to educate people from those countries, from with in, then when their done with education, the people should go back and make their country better. Legal immigration always take the best people from other countries. I don’t think that’s the best help for those countries.
When someone is being lawful of course
This is a wonderful question and I do appreciate you posting it in such a gracious way ❤️ I love my immigrant neighbor by 1.) being in community with them 2.) learning about challenges that immigrants face that I do not, and trying to be aware of them in everyday life situations and 3.) advocating for immigration reform that creates a path to citizenship that is actually possible
Legally is the right and Godly way to immigrate
You have to be careful. Most often people treat immigration with mercy and let them into your country. I am seeing immigration all over the world mixing and giving it a distinct favor. When it comes to justice, no one even want to talk about it. How can you have mercy without justice?
Often immigration is being exploited by companies and politicians. For companies they can pay those illegal workers under the table which drive the wage down. At the same time local housing and rent go up like crazy. Politician loves to bring in more immigrants so they can get voted in next election. However they don’t even want to fix the current homeless, sick, the fatherless and the widow. It is funny when there are crisis, politician will force hotel operator to house these homeless so they look good to the public. So how can Christian not see that this system is being exploited? We need to look at the problem that helps everyone and not sweep it under the rug.
If immigrants want to come here, how do you ensure those country isn’t run by corrupt people? I am seeing Communist China came to western country. They are stealing information and influence local politician to side with foreign interest. It is the sad reality and there is no justice in all this.
Once Christian find this place as comfortable, they aren’t willing to go other under-privilege country and rather live in comfort. This is what lead so many immigrants wants to be here so they can have your lifestyle. We are blinded by material wealth and not seeing the true extent of our problems.
If you truly want to know what Christ wants you to do, he wants you go everywhere regardless of the condition to preach his Good news. We actually grow more spiritually if we go to under-privilege country than living in the country with material wealth.
According to today’s media, the “turning away” is “A story” they like to push.
Most of us Americans want – Legal Immigration. This is “The Story” that is not being pushed.
There are laws that we are subject to and some want to countermand or circumvent these laws. Immigrants who come to North America, whether the U.S. or Canada, need to do so legally. Then, they are welcomed with open arms. The left wants everybody and their dog to come into both countries, with no restrictions. That is unlawful.
Be wise as serpents, gentle as doves. There is a time for all things under the sun. We need to have boarders to protect the country from those who would do us harm. We need to have ports of entry for those who need our help.
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