Christians are called to be people of truth. But when we fail to ground our thinking in biblical principles, we can end up telling inadvertent lies — and mischaracterizing fellow believers in the process.
Exhibit A: this post from a Christian writer and speaker, sharing with her Christian followers, regarding current events centered in Minneapolis.
Empathy for the hurting extends to all those who hurt, and plenty have been hurt by the assault on our borders over the past few years.
She writes:
I’m reading through the gospels right now, and I’m struck by what the leaders of Israel enticed the crowds to demand — that an innocent man be put to death and a murderer (Barabbas) be freed from prison and the obvious consequences of his egregious actions. This is the hallmark of an unjust society, where we vilify those who have done nothing wrong (and treat them like criminals), or we applaud and set free those who harm others.
She never mentions Minnesota or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but her followers’ responses make it abundantly clear they got (and “loved”) the intended message.
‘Vilifying’ crime?
Apparently the writer perceives illegal immigrants as “those who have done nothing wrong” who we are “vilifying” and “treating like criminals.” (Pro tip: Breaking a law makes you a criminal.) ICE agents, apparently, are “those who harm others” that we are supposedly “applauding” or “setting free.”
She goes on:
I am heartbroken by the current state of things in my country. Deeply troubled. Praying. Worrying, if I’m honest. I keep watching documentaries about tyranny and cult leaders and history.
Tyranny and cult leaders? Since we hear this from the left constantly, we know exactly what she’s trying to say.
And that’s what “deeply troubles” ME.
That the current administration — which is carrying out the federal government’s long-neglected role in protecting our borders and thus our communities — is somehow tyrannical. That those of us who support this, many of us who voted for this, are akin to a “cult.”
Thinking it through
I’m troubled by Christians who knee-jerk react to the world without thinking issues through biblically, as she demonstrates here:
I do understand the nature of evil — to call evil good and good evil.
My friend, we are not the ones confusing evil and good here. Let’s break it down.
First, sin is evil. Period. So when we are talking about evil, we are talking about sin.Second, breaking the law is sin/evil. Unless the law directly contradicts the word of God.
Can we agree on those two principles?
If I break down your door to get into your home — even if I just walk in your unlocked door — that is a sin.
It’s a sin because it’s against the law (and that law in no way contradicts the word of God).It’s also a sin because I am taking — stealing — something that belongs to you. Your home, your privacy, your sense of safety, your peace. I have no right to invade your space. I have no right to breach your border.
Profoundly hypocritical
Doors and locks exist for a reason, just like borders and guarded crossing points do. Those who advocate for open borders (identified by their yelling, “No one is illegal!”) live in homes with doors and locks. They are profoundly hypocritical.
They are worse than hypocritical actually. Because while they still seek to protect themselves, they are happy for other people to be stripped of that right. And for other people to have to deal with the loss of safety and peace.
Consider these females, all attacked and murdered by men here illegally: Kayla Hamilton, Ruby Garcia, Lizbeth Medina, Rachel Morin, Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, Joselyn Toaquiza, Melody Waldecker, and Mollie Tibbetts.
And these women are hardly the only victims. In Texas alone, hundreds of people have died in recent years at the hands of people who entered illegally. I mention Texas because nobody else is tracking this particular statistic — Americans killed by illegal border-crossers.
Meantime thousands of illegal border-crossers who are also convicted murderers still roam free nationwide.
Of course, murder isn’t the only evil aided and abetted by illegal immigration. As we’ve seen in recent days from the same troubled state, fraud and taxpayer abuse is rampant as well, with wholly corrupt public officials turning a blind eye or benefiting from the scams.
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Law and sin
But even if an illegal border-crosser never committed another crime nor took a dime of taxpayer money — it would STILL not be wrong to send him/her home. There is a line to get in, there are people waiting in that line, and they cut in front. They broke the law. It’s a sin. It’s evil.
(By the way, speeding is against the law too, in case we’re feeling superior in any way. God’s standards are high!)
The left cannot and will not see border issues for what they are, but Christians should take no part in the ungodly confusion of thinking that wanting to curb this evil is itself evil.
No true Christian
One of the comments to the post came from a Canadian:
I don’t even live in the USA but I am deeply troubled also. I am praying for the so called “Christian” to wake up from their slumber and see what’s really going on. True followers of Christ would not support this evil.
This comment, actually, is a sin. Because it’s wrong to assume that fellow Christians whose viewpoints on deportation proceedings differ from yours are therefore not “true followers.”
Especially in an age when people tend to get their news from the same sources over and over, we should tread very lightly in making assumptions about someone’s salvation. That is in fact the judging we’re not supposed to do, because we don’t know people’s hearts — as opposed to the judging we can do, when people say or do specific sinful things.
Can we talk?
A reasonable discussion we might have here could center around specific ICE tactics. But we can’t have that discussion because one side refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of ICE in the first place (many also seem to be under the wholly ignorant impression it didn’t exist or take action before Trump). They also refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of a border, for the most part.
And they certainly refuse to acknowledge the fact that actively impeding lawful efforts to enforce law is in fact breaking the law and is therefore … yes, a sin/evil.
Peacefully holding a protest sign is not wrong in any way. But let’s not pretend that’s what’s happening here, when “playbooks” are being disseminated online for physically engaging with these federal officers and “anti-ICE” groups openly call for violence. These things, as we have already seen, put the protesters — whether they are paid or just easily misled — in danger too.
Empathy for all
A topic for another time, perhaps, is the over-the-top emotion and angst over this American situation, which at this point involves the sad death of exactly one person who arguably put herself squarely in harm’s way. This response to the writer’s post is a good example:
It’s really hard for me to enjoy life like nothing is happening when so many others are hurting.
This Christian American woman is struggling to enjoy life. Because ICE. Not because thousands of Iranians are being slaughtered by the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, or any other people hurting, but because America is deporting people who shouldn’t have illegally crossed in.
Empathy for the hurting extends to all those who hurt, and plenty have been hurt by the assault on our borders over the past few years. With that in mind, another quote from the original post:
The way of Jesus is not conquest, nor is it victory over our so-called enemies. … It means listening to the hurting, entering into the worlds of those who differ from us, and loving people we disagree with.
I could not agree more. We Christians, who believe any government’s God-ordained job is to protect its own citizens and therefore support deportation of people who “skipped the line” to get in (especially violent people), would appreciate having a civil conversation about this topic.
That — as opposed to indirectly or directly calling us nonbelievers — would be the loving thing to do.
This article was adapted from an essay originally published on Diane Schrader’s Substack, She Speaks Truth.
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