Christians are required to love all. However, “Progressive
Christians” are now charging that Evangelicals are not loving as Jesus had
required. This charge is often illustrated by our differing views regarding the
treatment of illegal aliens.
Approximately three years ago, over 500 progressive Christian
leaders signed a letter addressed to President Trump expressing concern about
his policies to limit the refugees:
·
As Christian pastors and leaders, we are deeply
concerned by the recently announced moratorium on refugee resettlement. Our
care for the oppressed and suffering is rooted in the call of Jesus to “love
our neighbor as we love ourselves.” In the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:25-37), Jesus makes it clear that our “neighbor” includes the stranger and
anyone fleeing persecution and violence, regardless of their faith or country.
Of course, most of us want immigration reform in a way that
will align with the Bible’s teachings. Truly, there are numerous admonitions to
love the alien, stranger, or foreigner:
·
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land,
you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you
as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were
strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34;
Deuteronomy 1:16-17; 10:18-19)
·
If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would
keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may
come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no
uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and
for the stranger who sojourns among you.” (Exodus 12:48-49; Numbers 9:14)
What did it mean that “There shall be one law?” It didn’t
simply mean that the sojourner would enjoy the same protections under
the law. There was also the requirement that the sojourner would behave like
the Israelite:
·
“If there is found among you, within any of your
towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is
evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has
gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of
the host of heaven, which I have forbidden… then you shall bring out to your
gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that
man or woman to death with stones. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5)
Clearly, the Christian cannot appeal to the Mosaic Law to
make a case for Islamic immigration. This law did not allow for the practice of
a non-Israelite religion in Israel. If a case is to be made, it must be made
from the NT. Romans 12 is therefore invoked:
·
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in
harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight. Repay
no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of
all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is
written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if
your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;
for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:14-21)
This requires me to love the Muslim even if I know that he might
have ISIS sympathies. I therefore applaud churches that are reaching out to
Muslims with Christian love and the Gospel. However, Romans 12 only
pertains to individuals and our personal lives. We do not seek revenge,
because God has entrusted vengeance to His ordained systems of justice. The
government will exercise the “wrath of God,” (Romans 13:1-5) not us. They were
instituted to protect the innocent so that we can live lives of love. They are
to protect us against murderers, rapists, and those who want to dominate us
through the imposition of sharia law – the very thing that Islam requires. The
judge and the policeman are not to “turn the other cheek” and to forgive. They
are not to empty the prisons of dangerous people. This is not their calling.
Their calling is to protect and ensure the provision of justice. To do this,
they must keep out of the country those who want to kill and rape. To not
protect is to violate their calling – a calling we must uphold.
Instead, the Christian is to play the “Good Samaritan.”
However, this isn’t the role of the government. Besides, the Good Samaritan
didn’t attempt to unleash upon his neighbors people who wanted to kill them.
Ibn Khaldun, a 15th century Tunisian historian, has spoken
for most of the Islamic world by writing:
·
“In the Muslim community, the holy war is a
religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the
obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force...
The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war
was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense... Islam
is under obligation to gain power over other nations.”
This teaching is derived straight from the Holy Koran:
·
“Make war on them until idolatry is no more and
Allah’s religion (Islam) reigns supreme, (Quran Surah 8:37)
·
“When the Sacred Months are over, kill those who
ascribe partners [like Jesus] to God wheresoever ye find them; seize them,
encompass them, and ambush them; then if they repent and observe prayer and pay
the alms, let them go their way’.” (Quran 4:5)
·
“…kill the disbelievers wherever we find them”
(Koran 2:191) and “murder them and treat them harshly” (Quran 9:123), and
“Strike off the heads of the disbelievers” (Quran 8:12, cp. 8:60).
Do most Muslims believe this way? If they believe that the
Quran comes from Allah, they must. “Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our
leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is
our highest hope." So goes the motto of the worldwide Muslim
Brotherhood. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704132204576136590964621006
In view of the threat of Islam, diseases carried by those
who enter illegally, drug dealers, and sex traffickers, are Christians mandated
to be concerned? God is concerned. He cares deeply about justice and the
protection of the innocent, so much so that He instituted a criminal justice
system in the hearts of humanity:
·
Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist
have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists
what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers
are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one
who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he
does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who
carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection,
not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. (Romans
13:1-5)
What does it mean for us to “be in subjection?” For one
thing, we must uphold justice and the protection of the innocent. For this
reason, we do not empty the prisons because people argue that “God is love.”
This would not be an act of love towards the innocent, but an act of hatred.
Because we “love our neighbor as ourself,” we are required
to seek their protection and welfare. We, therefore, do not want to see
released criminals hunting them down or turning them into sex-slaves. This
would not serve their welfare.
A Christian must be concerned about all those in need,
but there are ways to fulfill this concern without unleashing horrors upon
non-Muslims. Even now, Jews in mass are fleeing Western Europe from Islamic
violence. Can we remain unconcerned about them?
What does it mean to love our enemies? It means to love them where it is possible:
What does it mean to love our enemies? It means to love them where it is possible:
·
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live
peaceably with all. (Romans 12:18)
Sometimes, it is not possible. If loving the illegal alien conflicts
with loving our innocent neighbors, we ae forced to make a choice. If the alien
is planning to harm the innocent, the Christian must intervene, if only to call
the police. When we refuse to do so, we are guilty:
·
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did
not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who
keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his
work? (Proverbs 24:11–12)
Love requires wisdom, a multifaceted Biblical wisdom, not a
one-sided progressive “wisdom!”
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