Christian Theology and Illegal Immigration, By Chris Knight (Florida)
Is Trump's project of deporting illegal immigrants unChristian and immoral? Should we not treat everyone as a brother, as most of the illegals, especially the tens of thousands of Chinese males of military age, the criminals emptied from South American jails, rapists, murderers, and terrorists in waiting? The Blaze.com has a piece arguing that it is justified to deport illegals and to build walls, quoting the Book of Nehemiah. I had not read this book, and so I did what most lazy people do, went to Wiki to get a neat summary. And yes, there were deportations aplenty, and a beautiful wall built too:
"In the 20th year of Artaxerxes I (445 or 444 BC),[7] Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king.[8] Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city,[9] around 13 years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem in ca. 458 BC.[10] Artaxerxes sent him to Judah as governor of the province with a mission to rebuild, letters explaining his support for the venture, and provision for timber from the king's forest.[11] Once there, Nehemiah defied the opposition of Judah's enemies on all sides—Samaritans, Ammonites, Arabs and Philistines—and rebuilt the walls within 52 days, from the Sheep Gate in the North, the Hananeel Tower at the North West corner, the Fish Gate in the West, the Furnaces Tower at the Temple Mount's South West corner, the Dung Gate in the South, the East Gate and the gate beneath the Golden Gate in the East.
Appearing in the Queen's presence[12] may indicate that he was a eunuch,[13] and in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, he is described as such: eunochos (eunuch), rather than oinochoos (wine-cup-bearer). If so, the attempt by his enemy Shemaiah to trick him into entering the Temple is aimed at making him break Jewish law, rather than simply hide from assassins.[14]
He then took measures to repopulate the city and purify the Jewish community, enforcing the cancellation of debt, assisting Ezra in publicizing the law of Moses, and enforcing the divorce of Jewish men from their non-Jewish wives."
In short, he would be regarded as a "racist" by the liberal/Left of today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehemiah
"Abortion and transgenderism are clearly theological issues but what about illegal immigration? Does the Bible have anything to say about illegal immigrants, border walls, or mass deportations?
Some Christians point to Jesus' words in Matthew 22:39 — "Love your neighbor as yourself" — as evidence that we should welcome what the Democrats euphemistically call "the undocumented" into our country with open arms.
"A lot of you, because you grew up in the era of Hawaiian shirts, pleated khakis, and sweater vests, have been taught that [rejecting illegal immigration] violates loving your neighbor as you love yourself," says Steve Deace.
These people, Deace explains, have likely been captured by liberation theology — a neo-Marxist, Catholic theological approach born in Latin America that focuses on political liberation of oppressed peoples, placing an emphasis on social activism over doctrine.
Deace points out that the current pope, who's of course "surrounded by his own private army" and lives "in a gated community," regularly champions the idea that "it's not Christian to have borders."
Now that Catholicism in Latin countries has fused with liberation theology, how then did Donald Trump, who heavily staked his campaign on mass deportations, win over more Hispanic voters than any Republican candidate in history?
"What happened was, we went from people who just came here to pick our berries and make our beds in our hotels" to "an entire generation born and bred in Latin American Catholicism by liberation theology," says Deace, adding that these people "believe they are entitled" to be here.
"The generation of people who came here in the '80s and '90s to pick the berries and make the beds and mow the lawns ... they've now worked their way up," and they're mortified by the people who are coming here to "collect a welfare check" because "they view themselves as entitled."
On top of that, the Bible does explicitly address illegal immigration.
"Are there mass deportations in the Bible? Are there walls built by God's people to secure their borders?" Steve asks rhetorically.
"Yes! In fact, there's an entire book called Nehemiah. That's literally all the book is about," he says. "They mass deport people who don't belong in the country, including women and children ... and they literally go to war with their neighbors to rebuild a wall to secure their borders."
"So the answer is yes."
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