Alien( N)ation
In my last post, I had talked about a next post concerning saved Christians as being self-actualized and needing to consider how to help the unsaved as well as baby Christians begin to move up the pyramid toward salvation and self-actualization.
However, the news is getting squirrelly and swirly. I feel the need to digress.
Much ado and to-do has been going on about the wall between the US and Mexico, the government shut down, and the possibility of an (unconstitutional) act by Trump to force his agenda.
I had to ask myself what would Jesus do.
Most of the Gospels do not directly address Jesus’ attitudes toward foreigners (or aliens or outsiders). Paul and other writers in most of the other New Testament writings also avoid the concept, except to tell Christians they have to consider themselves aliens, not of this world, travelers on their way to a better place, sojourners in a foreign land.
I would argue this is because the how-to and why of alien and foreigner relationships would have resulted from a tacit acceptance of what was taught in the Old Testament.
God was quite direct and clear. Foreigners were to be loved and for the most part included in daily life (admittedly, there were exceptions concerning those nations that performed detestable practices, but that’s outside the scope of this post). There was to be no oppression.
One of the first commands God gives is in Exodus 23:9. He bases it on the experiences of the Israeli people in Egypt and reminds them of how they felt (quoted from Complete Jewish Bible): You are not to oppress a foreigner, for you know how a foreigner feels, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Even farmers received not-so-subtle instructions for helping foreigners in Leviticus 19:9–10. The farmers were to be less thorough, so struggling foreigners could get a bit of food (quoted from New International Version):
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
Later, in Numbers 9:14 (quoted from Amplified Bible, Classic Edition), the Israelis are commanded to include outsiders and to have the same rules and standards for them: And if a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to [its] statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute both for the temporary resident and for him who was born in the land.
It is important to note that these foreigners had to be willing to live under Israeli laws. They had to accept the laws and statutes and try to apply them to their lives.
In Deuteronomy 10:17–19 (quoted from Complete Jewish Bible), God reminds His people of His character qualities, especially impartiality and lack of favoritism. He then tells His people what He does for certain groups that they tended to ignore. He closes by reminding them to love the foreigner because they themselves were foreigners:
For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
As if this wasn’t enough, later in the Old Testament, God reminds His people of His commands through the prophet Jeremiah in Chapter 22, verse 3 (quoted from the New International Version): This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
So what does this mean for a nation that claims to be built on Judeo-Christian values?
In building a wall to keep out foreigners, we are walling ourselves in. We are cutting off connection from the Father Who would rather help us creatively feed and clothe those who have left their homeland for hard times. We are keeping out those seeking justice, safety, and a better way of live.
Admittedly, those for the wall could argue that some cities had walls. Jerusalem is a prime example. I have covered Nehemiah in other posts; this book of minor prophecy details how Nehemiah left service to a foreign king and came home to Jerusalem to rebuild both the city and its wall.
I could then refute that by arguing that walls surrounded only the largest cities most involved in trade routes and politics. The entire nation never completely walled itself off from its neighbors (or enemies).
As a result of all these Scriptures and related thoughts. I have a no-vote for the wall. I have also a no-confidence vote for anyone who would argue that a wall is the best way to go. That lesson was learned in Berlin and Germany; many lives were lost over the years until Communism and the Berlin Wall both fell and reopened lost connection points.
In the US, where we are pluralistic, claim many faiths for our people, and accept many diverse nationalities, we need to look back to our Judeo-Christian roots. We are hypocritical if we forget that most of us are not completely, 100% indigenous; that is, we are almost all immigrants in this place.
As a result, we need to analyze our policies on foreigners and immigration, and we need to consider how to go back to the basic building blocks we once accepted as truth. We need processes and procedures that are provide just access for the open-hearted people living truth and seeking a better life. Additionally, these processes and procedures should work harder to eliminate those who have committed injustice and created hardship and unsafe conditions. Finally, we should be sure that those coming in have a solid work ethic and expect to live on what they earn, not on benefits designed for citizens. All the while, we need to not shortchange our own: veterans, elderly, children.
That is the biggest, tallest challenge of our day. No wall will ever lift us to the point where we can meet it. Only by connecting to all types will we get the perspective to design solutions that really work.
