Should we build the wall? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Friday was about abortion. Today, it’s immigration. I told you it would be fiery topics from here on.
Longman brings up several examples of people being wanderers as he calls them, including Abraham and Moses. That part is not so controversial. He also talks about laws to care for the foreigners among other groups in Israel and to make sure that they get justice.
So let’s get to something more interesting. Foreigners were expected to observe the Sabbath. Keep in mind, the Sabbath was a law that breaking it was possibly a capital offense. Thus, when a foreigner came in, they were expected to also abide by those laws.
The unstated assumption of a foreigner seeking a refuge in Israel would be that he would, even if he didn’t embrace YHWH, heed the laws of the new country and adapt to their way of life. It would be unheard of to have a foreigner come to Israel and set up “Alexander’s Idol Shop” in the kingdom’s center. This is something we need to keep in mind in our American context today.
Unfortunately, when he gets there, Longman has nothing to say about our nation’s laws and how immigration should be done. For instance, can people come here seeking asylum? Yes, but when you are asylum seeking, you are to declare that in the first safe country you come to, which in many cases would be Mexico. You don’t just declare asylum when you get to where you want to go.
Second, those seeking asylum are to do so through valid ports of entry. Most major cities have one in or near them. These are called airports. There are other obvious ones like Ellis Island and there are checkpoints on our norther and southern borders for immigrants to come through.
If you come into a country illegally, you are already disrespecting the country you are wanting to come into. Not only that, there are several people who spend time seeking to get into the country the legal way. Rewards people who come in illegally encourages the wrong behavior and disincentivizes the right behavior. Most Americans have no problem with immigration. They just want it to be done legally.
Longman also comes out in favor of sanctuary cities, but in the Bible, those were set up for people who did not intentionally commit a crime. Sanctuary cities today are for people who DO intentionally commit crimes. Longman thinks the Christians should show compassion for those who come here illegally, but why? If they commit crimes to get here, why should I reward that?
What about the part about separating families? Happens every day in America even to citizens of our country. It’s called jail. (It’s also called divorce, sadly) Suppose a father goes to jail. We don’t lock his kid in there with him. If a drunk driver gets pulled over and the kid is in the backseat, the family is getting separated.
Longman needs to show me why it should be different in this case.
Unfortunately, it looks like Longman is supporting that we encourage behavior that is illegal and I argue immoral in the name of compassion. Such compassion is not compassion to all the people who work to come here legally. Longman says we can’t let everyone come into our country rightly, but why should we reward those who cheated to get in?
No answer from him. Again, Longman seems to make a mistake of not looking at the legal issues here in our own country and does not study the laws surrounding immigration.
Next time, we’ll cover what Longman calls “Same-sex marriage”, which I argue makes as much sense as a square circle.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)