Illegal Aliens

This morning I was listening to the radio just before the president's speech regarding the security of our nations borders. A pastor from a church in Chicago was giving a short message before introducing the president, and quoted Deuteronomy 10:18 out of context to justify our nation's behavior in not deporting illegal aliens.

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 - For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. (NIV)

Now as Christians we should not be mistreating the aliens among us, even if they are illegal residents...

Exodus 22:21 - Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. (NIV)

But addressing the crime of aliens trespassing on our land in accordance with current federal law is not mistreating them. If this pastor was looking for a correct Biblical analogy to the illegal alien situation he should have looked in the book of Judges.

Judges 6:3-5 - Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. (NIV)

This scripture seems to describe the problem of illegal aliens quite clearly; people from another country invading our land, camping out, taking our stuff (jobs, money, property), ravaging the land (disregard for the property of others)... Did God address this invasion by being kind to the invaders as this pastor implied in his misquoting of Deuteronomy? No. He drove them out (Judges 7:19-25).

The argument from the left is that not all illegal aliens are like this. Many of them have invaded our country only because the situation in their own land is terrible. They seek to work doing jobs that Americans don't want to do, in order to lessen the poverty of their own families. Shouldn't we as Christians be looking at this with sympathy? Shouldn't we be trying to help them instead of sending them away?

Jesus taught us "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1 NIV), and although the context of this scripture is regarding salvation, there is also a practical application of its words. The ends do not justify the means. Robbing a bank and then using that money to help someone does not turn that crime into an act of righteousness, nor should it excuse the robber from the penalty for that crime.

There is a correct and legal way for aliens to enter this country. To enter by illegal means is a sin and a crime. People who are sympathetic towards illegal entry into our country are condoning sin and lawlessness. People who illegally enter our country are sinning. People who hire or harbor, and do not report someone they know has illegally entered our country are also sinning.

Now all of these sins may be forgiven, but a Christian's responsibility is not to continue living in sin, but to make it right.


James :)