Defiance of “God”

   By Mauricio Rosas
  Tampa, FL - With a mere 8% of non-citizens of the total US population, it’s unconscionable and reprehensible for US politicians, particularly Republicans, to use immigration as an excuse to build a Soviet style Berlin Wall along the US, Mexican border as well as, separating families in mass deportations.  The reality is simple. Republicans are desperate to stay in power. They’re distorting the truth. They’re spreading seeds of hostility and prejudice against immigrants of Mexican and Latin American origin to unite their party. This political strategy is inflammatory, cruel and sickening.

   It’s not a new strategy. In 1994 California Republicans rallied the masses to deny public benefits to non-citizens through Proposition 187. The initiative was approved by voters, but was later struck down by the federal courts as unconstitutional.

   Even in the face of defeat, they continue this ill-fated tactic.

   When faced with the question “What would Jesus do” about immigrants. Many Republicans decry blasphemy. However, both Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are consistent and clear about the moral imperative to care for strangers and aliens. Anything less is a violation of the sacred covenant between God and His people.

   “Deuteronomy in which the climax of the oath of ratification occurs (26:8-19), the God of redemption invokes the law of charity upon His people so that they might continuously remember the magnitude of His redemptive grace toward them. In Deuteronomy 27:19 

   God’s Law is reinforced;

  “Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.”

The law is clear!  No interpretation needed!

   Yet many contemporary Christian’s refer to their God’s law arbitrarily and capriciously.  Prime example is their constant condemnation of homosexuals and using the laws of their God as justification.  Their can be no selective use of God’s law.  His’ are absolute.  So those who defy His law are “cursed”!

   Then there is the historical Biblical correlation between Immigrants entering into the United States and the Biblical exodus.  The first European settlers of the New World were in fact persecuted in their native countries. They sought refuge so they could practice their religion freely; work without being treated like rats; create a safe haven for their relatives to move to the New World.

   Their exodus from Europe correlates with the Biblical exodus:

   “Detail by detail the said and sordid tale unfolds. Parents were lightly esteemed and robbed of the honor due them, even though honor to father and mother was one of the most frequently stated commands of the law (cf. Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9; Deut. 27:16). This relationship ultimately underlies the proper submission of citizens to their rulers. If parents were slighted, the sojourner could not hope for consideration. Him they oppressed, forgetting that they were formerly sojourners in Egypt (Exodus 22:21, 23:9). Those without human protectors, the fatherless and the widow, were wronged, the wicked forgetting that God had made Himself their special and sufficient Defender.”

   In the aforementioned God’s law is clear. He never said build walls nor did He say deport the stranger, fatherless, widows, children or anyone. In fact, those who use the bible to justify mass deportations offend “God” by their defiance of His words and creating an illness that spans generations.

Sources:

   Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on the Census Bureau”s March 2006 and 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS: Annual Social and Economic Supplements).

   Immigrants Gain the Pulpit: By Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2006

   The Widow, Orphan, and the Poor in the Old Testament and the Extra-Biblical Literature. By Richard D. Patterson; Bibliotheca Sacra (July 1973) 223-34. Dallas Theological Seminary.