You were aliens

The words in the title of this article were a constant reminder to Israel of their slavery in Egypt. Later, Israel was reminded that they were still aliens in the land of Canaan in which they lived. There were various peoples who were displaced by Israel before Israel could settle in the land. Americans, too, were once aliens in the land in which they now live. They are still aliens. No, this is not a call for reparations or to leave the land. Those calls may sound good and play well, but they are hardly an authentic moral call to do the right thing and right the wrong. The starting point for such a supposedly high moral call would be to go back to the beginning of the immorality of sin. That is a point and a term which some who cry for reparations or for aliens are not about to give the time of day or expend their breath.

two-fold crisis

The recent ongoing flood of immigrants across America's borders has brought with it a two-fold crisis. What is for Americans a moral crisis is a survival crisis for immigrants. Americans are not alone in this crisis. Christians in America are just as much in crisis concerning their response to immigrants both in terms of a principle formed and shaped by the scriptures  and as much as a matter of law. Ostensibly, it would appear in the most superficial sense that one or both responses would solve the matter, namely, care for the immigrant or deport them. So, what's the problem, right? The problem is the unresolved moral bankruptcy crisis in the minds and hearts of Americans. This article attempts to identify at least two reasons for the moral bankruptcy crisis that plagues Americans. I suspect this moral tension with which Americans struggle may be just as true, with some minor word changes, of the struggles in Europe concerning immigrants, and, yes, nations of the world who are faced with aliens in their midst.

Preamble and Constitution

A person may or may not view or consider themselves as being a person of faith, that is, as one who thinks and acts in accordance with the tenets of their faith. However this is not the sole determining factor concerning a response to immigrants or aliens in America. The terms immigrant and alien are used interchangeably in this article to refer to the same group of people. Americans have the precedent and background of two dominant sources of influence and authority. These are the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bible. The scriptures, that is, the Bible is commonly referred to as the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the New Testament. The former of these, the Tanakh, (or as it is known by Christians, the Old Testament only) being the oldest source of authority among the Jewish people. The latter, the New Testament, being the authority for Christians with the Old Testament being for Christians, as the apostle Paul wrote, "for our learning." This raises the question how true Americans and Christians are being to those sources of authority. Does what we were given to saying and what we heard, at least in times past, reflect the convictions of our hearts as humans on this same earth with the those who may be less fortunate of lesser means?

Briefly, it is in the Preamble of our Constitution that these words were penned by our Founding Fathers:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

The scriptures speak to the Jews, but to Christians as well, directly and by way of example:

18 "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. 

19 "So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

There is the example of Jesus responding to plea for help from a Canaanite woman. Ironically, the Canaanites were one of the peoples who were displaced by Israel from the land which God promised Abraham that He would give to the Israel, the children of Abraham in Matthew 15:21-28.

25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 

26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 

The apostle Peter refers to Christians who were scattered throughout Asia as aliens, but he also quotes the same words of Moses to Israel and applies those words to Christians.

obligation and law

This is the point where the discussion usually runs like quicksilver to any one of different hot spots either to diffuse or dilute the obligation towards the alien. There is the cry concerning disease, economics, terrorism, and human trafficking to name just a few. Although this is the cry heard about aliens it is really not one which is pinned on the alien. The truth is that to pin these on aliens may be as awkward and discomforting as to have the words of the Preamble and the scriptures pinned on those who cry out against aliens. Instead, there is a the safe harbor of the law. (Safe harbor: a provision of a statute or a regulation that specifies that certain conduct will be deemed not to violate a given rule [wikipedia]). The implementation, at least at the personal conscious level is that _ it's the law. It brings the relief: Wish there was something I could do, but even if I wanted to, well, it's the law.

The single greatest difference concerning aliens between the Preamble and the scriptures and modern law is that the former two do not categorize or classify the alien as a criminal simply because he is an alien. Modern law makes the alien a criminal simply by entering the country.

conclusion

The point of this article is not to suggest that we dismiss or abolish the law. It is the law. If it is to be changed it is by Congress. Americans are certainly able to call for our elected officials to change or create any law. There is no argument about the law. This is not a call (like that preposterous favorite cry) to blindly allow or accept the criminal actions by aliens. The point is that law does not absolve the individual of being true to the words of, either the Preamble or the scriptures. Furthermore, to rail and rant against individuals or organizations, agencies or government does not equate with and is not synonymous with either the care for the alien or the work of the righteousness of God. Such behavior plays well for the media and selfies and a good-feeling sense of superior moral righteousness, but it's mostly a carnival spectacle.

The unexpected, and perhaps still unseen or unacknowledged effect of aliens, is that it has exposed even as we might not like to look at what some Americans and some Christians have forgotten about what they profess to believe and uphold.

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Suffer the Children: American & Christian response to the immigrant children crisis

(This article was originally posted in response to the reactions by Americans and Christians towards central American children entering America's southern border illegally in the summer of 2014. The present fears and reaction towards Syrian immigrants are the same as the oblivious forgetfulness of American towards the secular scriptures that is the Constitution of the United States and the holy scriptures that is the Bible.)

Suffer the children is a popular phrase attributed to Jesus. These words were spoken by Jesus. (see Matthew 19 & Luke 18) The phrase is the English translation according to the King James Version of the Bible. Jesus spoke these words to admonish and call his disciples to an awakening of their hearts. How could they possibly be indignant or bothered by the children who wanted to draw near to Jesus? The phrase, like many things taken from the scriptures, has had its share of various and wild interpretations. Suffice it to say, and to deflate at least one such interpretation, it has nothing to do with making children suffer or leaving them to agonize in their suffering. The meaning of these words of Jesus was that he wanted the disciples to, permit or allow, the children to come to him.

My use of the phrase in this article is to awaken Americans and Christians alike from the attitude of indignation and bother concerning certain children. This phrase can speak to those things which, either professed or practiced, are fundamental tenets of American democracy and  the faith that is in Christ Jesus, if we will listen. (The latter reference to the faith is what the world also has coined as Christianity.)

This is not an indictment or condemnation of my Americans compatriots and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Nonetheless, there are feelings of resentment, anger, frustration and fear which have stirred Americans and Christians. Specifically, these are related to the influx of immigrant children illegally crossing the southern border of the United States. They range in age from nine to seventeen years of age approximately.

This article is limited to certain tenets of doing good towards others such as through charity and compassion. These have been proclaimed and upheld in the history of America. While some have an open welcome for these children there is also a demand for the immediate return of these children from their countries of origin. I believe it is a travesty, perhaps disingenuous, for Americans and Christians to absolve and distance themselves from their tenets under the guise that these children are violating the law of the land. Yes, this is correct and undeniably true as concerns the law. But, for those who do reflect the tenets of our American democracy and their faith as followers of Jesus that guise does not and can not absolve them of the higher moral standard.

It should be noted that presently there are some concerted, organized, charitable and compassionate responses from the political and faith fronts to provide care with food, clothing and medicine for these children. In the interest of brevity and simplicity I will use the term fear as inclusive of several other feelings. It is not intended as overall stigma of fear against these immigrant children by Americans and Christians.

fear of the children

These children, whether at their parents’ prompting or the children’s own urging do not seek to draw near to Jesus like those in the first century. Their ambition is to come into the United States where, they have heard, is a better life for themselves. Adding to that pot of mixed feelings are indications that some of the older children bear the tattoo markings and other characteristics of gang life. Yes, this is represents a call for diligence on the part of law enforcement. There is resentment directed towards the government. The fear of disease-ridden children plays loudly in the hearts of the fearful. This fear is a dormant, latent bit of history. It is too far in the past for many to remember that it was European disease-ridden immigrants who unwittingly produced untold numbers of death among the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

American fear: a political reaction

One of the reactions to the children is a political one. Some Americans angrily resent the quick response involving billions of dollars by the government to address the problem involving these children. Some protest that there is a neglect for a much needed similar response to the needs of children and families in America. Of course,there are reactions with nothing more substantive than the unbridled mix of anger and contempt.

But what does the virtue of human kindness extolled, cherished and demonstrated by Americans remind us and call us to do concerning these children? Hear the voice of Lady Liberty's call to the world and a reminder to American and Christian alike.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

America’s compassion towards European countries and Germany

After the end of World War II Germany was devastated because of the extensive bombing by the Allied Forces. Germany, America’s war enemy,  would have had a much slower recovery had the U.S. not implemented the four-year Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan loan or gave aid towards the European countries’ reconstruction and recovery, initially, but was later amended to include Germany. The collective American mindset concerning the liberation of Europe was not separate and apart from that of charity and compassion. Government officials might not have called it economic aid and while the word descriptors might have been different the net result was that the people in those post-war ravaged countries were the recipients of much good from America. This post-war wasteland far from America’s shores had other mindsets prevailed Germany would have been left to suffer and rot. The world and Europe would have been very different.

The Preamble: an American pronouncement

This post-war participation in the recovery of Europe may have been one of America’s greatest fulfillment of these profound words in The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness may not be known or articulated by children, but that does not dissolve or nullify their human, inalienable rights. These rights are not the sole property or domain of American citizens or of those living in America. They are that with which all men have been endowed by their Creator, or do Americans believe what they profess?

Do we Christians believe these words? Do Americans believe these words?

Christian fear: a faith reaction

A brief clarification is in order. Christians, that is disciples or followers of Jesus, are not bound by the Jewish Tanakh. It is that body of scripture commonly known as the Old Testament. It is revered and accepted as the inspired word of God as much as the new covenant, that is, the New Testament. Its law and content are understood as having been expressly for the nation of Israel and no one else. The Tanakh is the heritage of those who are of the faith that is in Jesus.

One of the consistent, recurring admonitions which Israel learned and was reminded by God was that they were to not only not oppress the alien and the foreigner in their midst, but that they were to care for him. Provision for the stranger in the land was a solid tenet of the law of Moses for Israel.

Jesus and the poor

Jesus admonished his disciples when they feigned their indignation at what seemed to them a waste of what otherwise could have been sold for much and given to the poor.

However, knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good work for me. 11  For you always have the poor with you; but you don’t always have me.

Many years ago I remember hearing a politician’s very appropriate passing reference to this passage. He said it is not a prophecy about the poor as though it were something about which we can do nothing, but that it is an indictment on society.

Jesus related a judgment scene (see Matthew 25) to his disciples. The righteous were on the King’s right hand. There were those (who are not described) who were on his left hand. What was the criteria by which they were judged? It was what they had done when they saw the needy and how they responded to those needy ones. The righteous were surprised to learn that, unbeknownst to them, it was Jesus to whom they had fulfilled the need for charity and compassion towards the needy. The others on his left were surprised to hear this about the righteous because they were at a loss, as they acknowledged to the Lord, that they had never seen him. What they failed to discern was that those needy ones whom they overlooked and failed or refuse to fulfill their needs was Jesus in their presence.

(apolitical note: the references to right and left in this judgment is not the same as these is used to identify and align oneself with a particular political ideology. It is apolitical; void of politics.)

The King’s judgment of the righteous:

Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35  for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36  I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

the response of the righteous to the King’s judgment:

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 38  When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? 39  When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’

the King’s judgment of the those on his left:

Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42  for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43  I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

the reaction of those on the left to the King’s judgment on them:

“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

the response of the King to those on the left:

“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’

conclusion:

The current crisis of immigrant children illegally crossing the United States’ southern border has produced a kind of side effect crises of the heart and conscience among Americans and Christians. Here is the crisis question: Will we absolve ourselves of the high moral calling for charity and compassion for these children because they have broken the law and leave the children to suffer? Or will we allow our hearts and conscience to speak to us and respond to the need of those children?

Americans have a rich treasure of experiences responding to a high calling. Whether that was in response to The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States or providing sustained post WWII assistance to the victims of Germany’s aggression, but to our former enemy Germany America was true.

Jesus’ admonished and confronted his disciples for their attitude short on genuine compassion for the poor. The call of Jesus for his disciples is at least as ancient in biblical history as the consistent admonition for Israel to never forget the alien, the foreigner in their midst because they too were once foreigners. Americans were foreigners who fled their home for a better life, too.

The mainstream media does much to portray American reaction to the rejection of busloads of these immigrant children as well as urban dweller protests about being neglected by the government. Still, there are instances (despite some ugly administrative fumbling) of federal as well state responses by Americans in response to the children. There are churches joining together with other organizations along Texas border cities to respond with charity and compassion to these children.

This is praiseworthy. It is to be commended in Americans as well as Christians who are being true to profess and practice their respective tenets of politics and faith. If you are not able to support those efforts on the basis that the law has been broken that too is viable response. It may be the opportune moment for the obligations towards law and the heart come together, not to clash, but to acknowledge and uphold the high principle of nurturing and fostering life as in the case of these children. Yes, suffer the children; permit the children to come.

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