\u00a0DACA<\/a>, deporting immigrants who came to America as children and have built lives, homes, families and careers here for decades.<\/p>\nOn the other hand, there is this bunch of Christians who claim that the Bible is the literal, inherent, infallible word of God\u2013unchanged from one generation to the other, unwavering in its authority.<\/p>\n
Strangely enough\u2013these are some of the same people.<\/p>\n
![\"people-2594785_640](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/333\/2017\/09\/people-2594785_640-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not usually one to go\u00a0around calling out hipocrisy. Because, for one thing, what\u2019s the point? And also because we are, none of us, perfect believers. Regardless of how we read and interpret scripture\u2013whether literally or otherwise\u2013we fall short every day; of even our own understanding of what faithfulness should be.<\/p>\n
But the tension between the worldview of\u00a0even the most basic understanding\u00a0<\/em>of Christianity and the repeal of DACA\u2026those two worlds cannot be reconciled. And with real people\u2019s lives on the line, real families that will be destroyed, real communities that will be thrown into turmoil as this unfolds, it cannot go unstated that no reading of scripture will uphold the mass deportation of law-abiding immigrants.<\/p>\nThe Bible mentions care and welcome of immigrants more than 90 times\u2013in the Old Testament alone. Add in New Testament references and other nuances of verbiage, like welcoming the \u2018stranger,\u2019 the refugee, caring for unknown guests, etc, and the references climb into the hundreds. In other words, it is a constant theme throughout scripture, and a clear directive for both the ancient Hebrew community and those who later followed the life and teachings of Jesus. There is no getting around it\u2013a border wall does not fly if you\u2019re trying to be God\u2019s people. Round\u00a0them up and run them out? Forget about it.<\/p>\n
If the Bible won\u2019t stand for this kind of treatment of our immigrant neighbors, then how are so many self-proclaimed Christians in favor of it? Well, the good news is that most are not. A recent poll showed that nearly 75% of Trump supporters were in favor of keeping Deferred Action for Chlidhood Arrivals. That is hopeful. Still, it leaves a chunk of Jesus-and-Trump following people (however that works) who think this is the \u2018right\u2019 and Christian thing to do. How does that add up?<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s got something to do with American Christianity\u2019s obsession with rules. \u201cLaw and order\u201d have become a false idol at the center of conversation about immigration, refugee resettlement, and escalating racial tensions. Adherence to rules and the letter of the law have made Christians, at times, cruel toward LGBT people; oppressive of women\u2019s voices; and now, willfully ignorant of what life is like for 800,000\u00a0of our friends, neighbors and co-workers who crossed the border as children.<\/p>\n
Now would be a good time to remember that a desire to uphold the law, at all costs\u2013even the cost of human life and worth and dignity\u2013is Pharisee territory.\u00a0And Jesus frequently called BS on that business.<\/p>\n
The Pharisees, who desperately wanted to prove Jesus to be a fraud, frequently fought him on matters of rule-following vs. human interest. The details vary, but at the heart of it, their conflicts were always the same: a question of authority.<\/p>\n
There was this one day, in particular, when they came right out and said so. \u201cOn whose authority,\u201d or \u201cby what authority are you doing these things??\u201d they asked him, as he taught in the temple. And as he so often did, he turned their question around on them to show them that they were asking the wrong stupid question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did John\u2019s authority to baptize come from? An earthly source, or a Heavenly frame?\u201d<\/p>\n
And they commenced fighting amongst themselves about the \u201cright\u201d answer. \u00a0And Jesus said unto them, \u201csince you can\u2019t even agree amongst your own damn selves on this one, then I\u2019m not going to dignify your proof-texting with a response.\u201d He further said (narrative liberties here), \u201cyou don\u2019t even know who the authority is in your own life<\/em>, for your own faith. If you can\u2019t answer that, you don\u2019t even know what we\u2019re all doing here in church. So why are you sweating me right now?\u201d<\/p>\nAnd he mic-drop\/walked away. Per usual.<\/p>\n
The question of authority is a big one. A complex\u00a0one. An important one for all people of faith, and all people just trying to be decent human beings. On whose authority to we make public policy decisions? On whose authority do we decide to destroy a life, or a family, or a community?\u00a0If you choose the \u201cletter of the law\u201d over the person in front of you, then like the Pharisees, you have lost sight of the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
Perhaps your \u2018authority\u2019 comes from the President\u2013from the lies, the scapegoating, the \u201cdrug dealer\/rapist\/Bad Hombre\u201d narrative of fear and other-ness that, there\u2019s no denying, won him the election. Maybe you\u2019ve bought into the idea that a wall will separate all the criminals (read: brown people) from all the law-abiding citizens (read: white people). Perhaps he won you over with the idea that making America great means abandoning our heritage as a great melting pot of diverse culture and race.<\/p>\n
Or maybe your authority is rooted in\u00a0the canon of a conservative news network? \u00a0Maybe someone has convinced you that all the rest are #FakeNews\u2013which, really, is a whole other crisis of authority we need to talk about soon. But maybe a series of\u00a0well-selected sound bites, played out over time to justify the systemic de-humanization of a whole race of people, has made its way into your mind and heart. If that be the case, then we can make this real simple:\u00a0When it comes to welcoming the stranger and the immigrant, no set of Fox News talking points should speak more loudly in your life than the gospel. In fact\u2013if you call yourself a follower of Christ, then no set of sound bites from anywhere should carry more weight than the call to love your neighbor.<\/p>\n
In either case, let\u2019s not pretend the gospel has any authority in your life.<\/p>\n
Jesus just rolled his eyes and bounced on out of this joint.<\/p>\n
Here are some talking points<\/a>\u00a0for calling your Representatives and asking them to defend DACA. Because you know \u2018on whose authority\u2019 they speak?<\/p>\nYours.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bible mentions care and welcome of immigrants more than 90 times in the Old Testament alone. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":5106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1595,965,1596,1597,9],"class_list":["post-5104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-being-a-person","tag-daca","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-justice","tag-letter-of-the-law","tag-progressive-christianity"],"yoast_head":"\n
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