Trouble
Embryo Parson Posted on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 02:59PM I won't be earning any points with many Anglican leaders with this post, but here goes anyway. To be read in conjunction with the post below:
Shock Poll: 59% Back Trump On Deportation of Illegals
Twenty percent of illegals caught at border have criminal records
No entry? Sweden’s far-right calls for vote on immigration, French want to shut borders
Hungary bars migrants from trains; smugglers wait in wings
Alien Invasion of Europe: Now a Deluge
EU faces crisis of "biblical proportions"
Czech President Calls for Army to Defend Border Against Migrants
Murder of elderly couple in Sicily fuels Italy's growing anti-immigrant sentiment
‘People in Europe are full of fear’ over refugee influx
The 'refugees welcome' fad will do more harm than good
More On The Alien Invasion of Europe
Islamic State Terrorists Caught Crossing Into Europe as "Refugees"
Without borders in Europe, there is no hope of ending this migrant crisis
What’s all the fuss about Germany?
Another Anglican Making Sense on Immigration
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
The Left's (and Right's) Dishonest Biblical Argument for Taking in Syrian Refugees
The Dangers of Refugee Humanitarianism
At some point, the Church - Roman, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant - will be forced to find her tongue on this issue. I think I can accurately predict that she will have to do much better than spouting the kind of platitudes we've heard thus far from Rome, liberal Protestants and many Evangelicals about dealing justly with the "stranger", because what we're talking about here is not the odd "stranger" or bona fide refugees who represent no existential threat to a nation and who will be repatriated at the proper time. Rather, we're talking about a tsunami of nomadic illegal aliens who intend to stay, and among whom are "sleepers" and criminals who intend to subvert, injure, kill and destroy. Not to mention the millions who will overtake the West simply by the act of reproduction. No nation or group of nations is capable of absorbing such a horde without comitting cultural and demographic suicide.
A nation without enforceable borders is not a viable nation.
All that seems to be lost on the folks dedicated to "welcoming the stranger". They are instead motivated - ostensibly anyway - by the desire to do justice and by the potential for evangelization they believe exists with respect to the influx of immigrants. I think there's another motivation, however, and that is the desire not to be associated with the perceived harshness of a position that thinks coolly and clearly about the implications of illegal immigration for demographics and culture. In other words, the position I am taking here, and one that is shared by multitudes of Christians. The other view, however, is that Christians must be "nice", doncha know, and therefore cannot espouse any position that appears not "nice" to the "strangers" in our midst. (I believe it is George Will who once wrote something to the effect that conservatives are supposed to have cool heads to compensate for not having warm hearts.)
Regrettably, ACNA is on apparently on board with the Evangelical immigrant assistance organization Immigration Alliance, in something called the Anglican Immigration Inititiative. See this report of its task force and the emphasis therein on "welcoming the stranger."
Well, orthodox Anglican bishops and other leaders need to "get real" on this thing. First of all, they need to start seriously reading the work of the prognosticators, asking themselves the question of whether or not their support of such initiatives might just be a derelict position to take if the prognosticators are right, and there is every reason to think that they are. Secondly, they need to "get real" about Holy Scripture. Nowhere does Holy Writ say or even imply that a nation must commit suicide in the interest of accommodating the "stranger". In fact, the Bible indicates the exact opposite of what the ACNA initiative and other Christian pro-immigrant organizations argue: God expects people to obey the law -- which includes laws regarding the existence of borders -- and the "stranger" mentioned in the pertinent texts is NOT the same thing as an illegal immigrant.
My suggestion to our bishops, for what it's worth - sigh!, is that you need to stop aping Rome, the liberals and the Evangelicals in this matter, because if you don't, you're going to find yourself on the receiving end of the growing populist ire written about in the articles linked above, and what's more, you will have done so without the Bible on your side. You will have also arguably given aid and assistence to the Enlightenment and its modern-day anti-Christian progeny, even though that wasn't your intent.
For further reading on the exegetical issue regarding the "stranger", see The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate, by James K. Hoffmeier. Also, A Biblical Perspective on Immigration Policy, by James R. Edwards, Jr. Last but not least, We won't save refugees by destroying our own country, by Peter Hitchens
Reader Comments (6)
Despite the best efforts of the 16th century reformers, protestants, for whatever reason, haven't been able to completely sever the papal chains. They will continue to ape Rome, some of the Orthodox hierarchs are guilty of the same. Jorge Bergoglio will continue to encourage us to open our arms to the "refugees", his liberation theology demands he do so. He may be of European decent but just below his white skin's surface he is brown through and through, a true denizen of the Third World.
There's an additional element here, I believe. As I observe the response of so many Christian leaders' response to the illegal immigration issue, including that of orthodox Anglican bishops and other clergy, it's almost as if the default position for them HAS to be this exegetically dubious reading of Scripture about dealing justly with the "stranger." They seem compelled to take the "nice" position, because the one I am defending here seems so harsh and unloving. Every Christian wants to help those in need, right? So let's not seriously consider the implications of letting hordes of migrants -- including the Umma -- settle in Europe, North America and Oceania. Lets stop our ears at what prognosticators are saying about demographic trends. Our job is to be "nice" and let the chips fall where they may.
It's all so much unthinking, sentimental, PC hooey, and what's more it has no basis whatsoever in Scripture. But the problem is that it's *dangerous* unthinking, sentimental, PC hooey. Dangerous to the West, and dangerous to the Church.
Those who espouse the "open door" policy concerning immigration remind me of the liberal parents of our generation who allowed their children to "express" themselves and run amok, no matter the consequences. We're now paying the price. Ferguson and Baltimore are fine example. Allow the savages to vent their frustrations and all will be well, we see how that turned out.
There's also this good article.
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc0503/article_453.shtml
Wow. I'm glad I'm not the only one disturbed that ACNA is taking the stance it is. I was starting to wonder if I was the only one, and crazy.
I need help. I need a church parish that isn't pushing "charity" to illegal immigrants. It's not just happening at the top in ACNA. It's happening at the bottom. Last month, I had to endure a guest speaker at our parish that pooh-poohed anyone who called someone an "illegal" (because that's considered mean now). He runs a "charity" organization that reaches out to illegal immigrant communities in our area. I have no problem with preaching the Gospel to these people and calling them to repentance. Sadly, the repentance seemed to be missing from his message. He gave us the heart-warming story of reaching out to an illegal immigrant gang member, where he repeatedly bailed the gang member out of jail. Eventually, said gang member ended up being deported, even though the guest speaker obviously was bummed about it. This was supposed to warm our hearts and teach us not to give up on people. All I got out of it was cheap grace. Not only that, but he told us another "heart-warming" story about his holding a Bible study for gang members at a diner. The gang members ended up getting into a violent altercation with another rival gang in the parking lot. The diner called the police. What does the guest speaker do? He helps his gang get into the car and becomes the get-away driver. Everyone in the audience was laughing but me. I don't understand how any of that was funny.
The worst part is, he admitted his organization lobbies for "immigration reform"--and we all know what that really means.
I ended up emailing my pastor a very long email about this stating my reasons why I feel it's cheap grace, as well as including my own sob story on how illegal immigration and cheap grace has adversely affected both me and members of my family. Because if I don't counter the endless stream of sob stories with my own, I'll be labeled as heartless and cruel. How can I possibly use cold, hard statistics against little Pablo sleeping on a kitchen tile in a tenement? Unfortunately, my tactic seems to have backfired on me. My pastor implied in his response that my past hurts are causing me to read into the guest speaker's sermon more than was there. He also said he had a bunch of his theologian buddies review the sermon audio, and he said none of them felt it conveyed cheap grace. He is either naive or a liar, because he doesn't seem to believe that this organization is lobbying for amnesty, thinking that "immigration reform" could mean anything. He wants to meet with me in person to discuss this further, but I don't think he wants to change his mind. He is out to change mine. Given that our church is now partnering with this organization for a Christmas toy drive to give toys to the children of these illegal immigrants in our area, I think he knows very well what this organization is about. I lean toward him being a liar, as much as it pains me to assume that. I don't want to believe that about my pastor. I feel like a horrible person for even thinking it, but surely nobody can be that naive?
Given that my Pastor is using a "greater numbers" tactic (gathering his theologian buddies to make me feel outnumbered--as if I don't already feel outnumbered knowing full well I'm the only one protesting that guest speaker's sermon), I decided to call up one of my own theologian/Greek-Hebrew scholar buddies to see if I was just delusional and hypersensitive. My friend didn't have time to listen to the guest speaker, but it turns out he knew well the organization the guest speaker represented. He told me they believe government should pay for our charity via our taxes. He advised me to shake the dust off my feet and get out of this church. Naturally, I asked him where else is there to go? He lives a bit far away, and he recommended a certain denomination of Presbyterians in the area, but it turns out the nearest one has women elders. (Obviously, his own church, farther away, doesn't, since he doesn't believe in that either.) I'm a woman, and I'm uncomfortable with women elders. I'd also like to stay Anglican. I was essentially Baptist/Calvary Chapel until I began to read Philip Schaff. I really like Anglicanism in theory. I'm desperate to find Anglicanism in practice. Finding a parish that cracks open the Book of Common Prayer would be nice, too. I'm very new to Anglicanism, and so far my ACNA church has never even cracked the BCP open.
I live in Orange County, CA. Can you please help me? There must be somewhere I can go, even if it isn't Anglican, that isn't involved with blatant Scripture twisting and corruption. And yet, I know all the supposedly conservative, Bible-believing denominations seem to be doing this same sort of thing at one level or another, and especially where I live. I am so frustrated. And I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am at ACNA. Yes, taking GOVERNMENT money for Syrian refugees via World Relief is corruption. There are strings attached, and I bet one of those strings is zero proselytizing. I am aghast that we would compromise the Church's mission set forth by Jesus.
Please help. I no longer feel welcome at my church, and I want a church where I am comfortable putting money into the collection plate, knowing that it won't be spent on enabling illegal immigrants to continue breaking laws.
Thank you for your blog. I learn a lot here that I'm not learning in my parish. You seem so sensible and Biblical. I wish I could have a pastor like you. And sorry for the long post. I just need a shoulder to cry on. I feel so alone facing this at my parish. I am so relieved that I am not alone in thinking something is seriously wrong.
Hello, and thank you! I gave your comment its own blog post today.