I am a layperson that was introduced (during Bible study) to an article in your first issue, dealing with Covid masking. I found merit in what the article had to say. I immediately thought to myself, what would Christian Culture have to say about “open borders” vs. national rights of sovereignty? The Christian faith has been attacked for not being receptive/receptive to the needs of immigrants (especially those who do not arrive via legal channels). Could this be considered as a topic for future comment? Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully, Jim Bretscher
Dear Mr. Bretscher,
Bleeding hearts want easy and impossible solutions to hard problems. I remember as a child asking my mother, after she had said prayers with me and my siblings, “Why can’t everyone just share what they have, so no one is poor.” And Mom said, “That’s just not the way it works.” My solution seemed simple to me. Obvious even. But worked out logically and in reality, my bleeding heart would only cause destruction and misery, as every communist regime of the twentieth century has proved.
So it goes with the illegal immigration debate. Bleeding hearts cry out for letting the poor and oppressed into our borders. And if God had deprived us of all logic, we couldn’t fault this yearning of the heart. It is born of love. But it is straight-up stupid. It will end in misery for all. It already has. President Biden’s call for immigrants to come into the United States, his appeal for them to make the hundreds of miles journey, has done what? Besides the countless rapes of women and children as they made the ill-advised journey, besides the depletion of decent citizens from struggling countries that need those citizens, besides the blatant illegality and encouragement toward unlawful entry into a sovereign country, we have our own cities overrun by immigrants they cannot house, our welfare system strained to the detriment of our own poor, our healthcare system overwhelmed beyond its capacity. In other words, the bleeding-heart impulse leads to misery on the right hand and the left, both for the immigrant and his country and for our citizens and our country.
This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. It is a theological issue, one the Bible decides. Illegal immigration is a moral evil. Christians may not support it any more than they may support abortion or euthanasia. Not only is it a clear breach of Romans 13, it is also an outright denial of God’s institution of government as a system of laws and rule for the good of a particular nation. The globalist push is antichristian in the extreme. We are not citizens of the world. We are citizens of the United States. God gave this government to us. And if we flout its Constitution we are flouting our God.
Meanwhile, the benefits this country gives are immeasurable. The Covid Crisis has seen this through. Yes, we have our tyrants. But look at Australia! Look at Canada! Tyrannies of barbaric proportions! Locking citizens up for getting a cold. Shutting down churches without any regard for the God-given right to worship the Lord Jesus. And to those who want to come to this country to enjoy the protection of these God-given rights, God bless you. We want you here. And we have lawful means for you to live here: means that have been set up for the good of our citizens and the good of immigrants who come in legally, as well as in respect for other countries that cannot afford mass emigration.
I understand a bleeding heart. We all should. We are called to have compassion as our Lord Jesus has had compassion on us. But I have little patience for a bleeding heart that, when faced with the facts, insists on bleeding for some and refuses to bleed for others. My heart bleeds first for my fellow Christians, then for my fellow Americans, and then for people around the world. And it turns out that illegal immigration hurts all of them. So I oppose it with all my heart.
C. Preus
