"They welcomed the message very eagerly
and examined the scriptures every day
to see whether these things were so"
--Acts 17:11
As we make our way toward the 2012 elections, many feel tossed to and fro by often contradicting claims about what the Bible says on this or that political issue. Most people just don't know the Bible well enough to say whether these claims are right, wrong, correct, incorrect or a matter of interpretation. How can we keep political Biblespeak honest? Inspired by PolitiFact.com, BibliFact roundups aim to do just that.
ROUNDUP #3: SB 1070, BIBLICAL ALIENS, AND A JERICHO MARCH
On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which, among other anti-immigration reform measures, requires all aliens over 14 to carry proof of registration at all times, calls on law enforcement officials to stop anyone whom they suspect might be an illegal alien, and cracks down on anyone who shelters illegal aliens. As the court deliberated whether to uphold the bill, a large group of religious leaders, laypersons, and other community leaders gathered for what they called a "Jericho March" around the courthouse in opposition to this and related initiatives.
Jericho marches, also known as "victory" or "glory" marches, have their roots in Pentecostal traditions of worship, in which someone, moved by the spirit, spontaneously arises and begins walking or running up and down and around the aisles while shouting or singing praises to God. Soon others catch on and join the train, which coils around the sanctuary like a charismatic Congo line. The biblical story that more or less inspires such marches is the battle of Jericho in the book of Joshua. There the Israelite army marches around the walled city of Jericho once per day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day. Then a ram's horn is sounded, all the soldiers shout out, and the walls come tumbling down. The biblical connection to Pentecostal Jericho marches seems pretty loose -- circling the worship space while giving voice to an experience of collective spiritual victory. A political-religious Jericho march around the high-walled SCOTUS, on the other hand, seems to bear a slightly more combative connotation.
As we might expect, moreover, these Jericho marchers, along with many other religious groups that you wouldn't normally dare put in a room together, proclaim biblical grounds for their faith-based denunciations of SB 1070 and similar laws. Among the most outspoken is Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, whose "Building Bridges" campaign seeks to educate the public "about Biblical and Evangelical teaching on migration and immigrants" and to "create political will" for humane immigration reform. As he told a packed audience in a voter mobilization and registration worship service in Cleveland on April 21, "We're saying let's look at what the Bible has to say about immigrants and poor people and education."
Reverends Gabriel and Jeanette Salguero
"'Hospitality is not at the margins of scripture. Jesus wasn't kidding around when he said, 'I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'" -- Gabriel Salguero, G92 South Immigration Conference, Samford University, Feb. 23, 2012; retweeted by Rev. Salguero from Washington, D.C., April 25, 2012.
This is the surprising punchline of Jesus' description of the final judgment of the nations in Matthew 25:31-46. Then, he says, the Son of Man "will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." To the former, he will say, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." But they will be surprised and ask when they ever did those things, to which he will respond, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." The latter group, by the way, will be equally surprised when they are cursed and told, "just as you did not do it to one of the least of these," including the stranger, "you did not do it to me." And Reverend Salguero is right: Jesus does not appear to be kidding around.
Indeed, hospitality is not at the margins of Scripture. It is a central theme. In fact, the name of the immigration conference where Salguero made this statement -- "G92" -- is also biblical: the G stands for the Hebrew word ger, usually translated "alien" or "stranger" and referring to someone dwelling in or passing through a land other than her or his own; and 92 is the number of times that Hebrew word appears in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. (We might note, by contrast, that there are zero words for "homosexuality" and only a few marginal references to male-male sexuality in the Bible.)
Below are a several of the 92 biblical passages concerning the ger, or alien, and how she or he should be treated. Of course, none of these or other biblical commandments about aliens prescribes a particular immigration policy for ancient Israel, let alone for the contemporary United States. Moreover, some of these passages also unapologetically acknowledge and essentially sanction slavery by dictating how slaves should be treated. When it comes to biblical ethics and justice, it's never so simple as separating baby from bathwater. As Mark Twain aptly put it, the Bible is like a drugstore; in it there is both poison and cure, depending on what you pull out when. Still, with regard to aliens, these and the other biblical texts consistently make three things very clear: (1) that aliens are to be treated justly, according to the same laws as native residents; (2) that the Israelite people are to remember their own past as aliens in a foreign land; and (3) that, especially in the Torah and the prophets, the God of Israel takes sides with aliens and other vulnerable groups over against those who would oppress them.
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
... On why there are so many errors in our reasoning - regardless of our views - that the alien gods must be very amused...
13-2412. Refusing to provide truthful name when lawfully detained; classification
A. It is unlawful for a person, after being advised that the person's refusal to answer is unlawful, to fail or refuse to state the person's true full name on request of a peace officer who has lawfully detained the person based on reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime. A person detained under this section shall state the person's true full name, but shall not be compelled to answer any other inquiry of a peace officer.
B. A person who violates this section is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. .
John 10:1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
Romans 13:1-2 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”
1 Peter 2:13-14 “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.”
Far too many people think that if it feels good it must be moral and right. But sometimes moral and right is not the feel good thing. The money changers in the Temple so many years ago found out that just because you do it in church does not necessarily make it the right. When did Jesus ever support such variable morality?
Leviticus 19:11 – “Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.”
Leviticus 19:15 – “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”
Leviticus 19:17 – “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.”
Once you get to know the person well enough to know they break the law the Bible is quite clear on what you should do. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus said: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Leviticus verses you quote were the standards expected of the Israelites. "Stranger" meant any non-Israelite, rather than, as you use the word, a person they didn't know very well. Applying Leviticus 19:11 to those who would come into one's country as committing "identity theft, fraud, and illegal entry" (even if some do) is a stretch that defies reason, as Christ's teachings elaborated on qualities of forgiveness, charity, love, service, and non-judgmental attitudes.
Rather than generalizing so broadly and judging so rigidly and narrowly, we as a nation need to seek ways to adapt fairly and compassionately to the intense need that drives people to seek the freedom and opportunity promised by that inscription on the Statue of Liberty.
You are just rationalizing away the law breaking behavior of Illegal Immigrants with the concept of “the end justifies the means”. But the road to Hades is paved with rationalizations and good intentions. And “the end justifies the means” is just selling your soul to the Devil for what you think is a Saintly outcome.
When Jesus was offered the opportunity to rule all of the cities of the earth did he say “if I run them I could do wonderful works” and accept the job? Or did he just decline?
If Illegal Immigrants were truly repentant for the acts of deception, the bearing of false witness, possible stealing of identities, covetousness of what their neighbors have, and other Biblical Laws that they have broken how come they have not turned themselves in and asked for forgiveness? Demanding amnesty for their crimes is not an act of repentance. It is instead an act of self justification. A claim that the ends justify the means.
Jesus was great for forgiveness and associating with the Poor and those rejected by society. But the Bible does not describe any situation where Jesus associated with law-breakers WHILE THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW.
Get a job? That requires testifying that you are legal to work in the USA and provide appropriate documentation. Lie about your status and provide fraudulent documentation so you can work and you have just broken Biblical law.
Get Government support? That too requires one to prove eligibility. Another opportunity to break Biblical Law by fraud and bearing false witness.
Get a Driver's License? Most States restrict that to Legal Residents. Another opportunity to break Biblical Law by fraud and bearing false witness by either getting the license or driving without it.
Refuse to tell a perspective spouse about your legal status. More falsehoods and more Law broken.
Come to America without legal permission because you like what we have? That tends to fall into the area of covetousness.
I could go on, but if you have do not see the connection now you never will. There are none so blind as those who choose not to see.
Please also note that if you actually read Christ's teachings and the subsequent teachings of Peter and Paul, forgiveness is a product of repentance. To forgive unrepentant sin is to condone that sin and thus to participate in it.
For people beating up on others for not understanding content and context they need to find a mirror quick. SB1070 does NOT say that law officers shall stop people to determine their legal residency status!
The world was a very different place 2000 years ago. Nations existed as did empires but their laws and their punishments were extremely barbaric compared to the modern world. The world had only a small fraction of the people here now and movement was restricted by slow land and sea travel. According to the Religious scholars of that day, the Americas were suspected but probably didn't exist. The Roman Catholic Church was still hundred of years in the future of that day.
One thing Jesus was very famous for was an incident hwere he was asked who should be most revered, Caesar or God? He showed a coin and told them "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's." It seems that among other things, he might have thought people should obey the laws of the countries they are in. Using religion to justify violating laws is a very poor argument. The world has nations that based their political system on religion. For the most part they are considered "backwards" and "barbaric". This is a secular nation. Were it not freedom of religion and freedom FROM religion would not exist.