Skip to content Well Versed - Chapter 24 - Immigration and Border Security Jun 9 · 12 min ...more
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Dr. Jim Garlow is a lifelong pastor who most recently served in San Diego, California, and now leads Well Versed, a ministry dedicated to bringing biblical
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Borders Are Biblical 0:00 Hey. Back with you in chapter 24 of well versed on immigration and border security.0:07 Well, what's 1 of the hottest issues in the news these days? Immigration and border security. Wow. Wanna wanna take on a controversial topic that you can get0:19 people managing very quickly no matter what position you take? Let's talk about it just a little bit if we can. First of all, I suppose we're all immigrants. I'm not talking about just the fact that most of us came to0:31 America and Native Americans might have been here, but they came from somewhere. The fact is once we left the Garden of Eden, we've all been immigrating somewhere on the planet Earth. So there is a level of immigration0:43 status that we we all carry. There's nothing inherently wrong with a nation having borders. It was God who established nations. They exist. And if a nation doesn't have a0:54 border, it is no longer a nation. God established nations. They have seasons and time frames that they they exist. And so, the the the notion of having a border is not in and of itself1:07 a bad thing. And the second thing I wanna say, the the US history of accepting immigrants has been very admirable. It's been exceptional. We1:19 don't have to hang our head. As a nation, we have done remarkable at absorbing immigrants over the years. So that's not something that Americans need to be condemned about in any1:31 particular way. To to have a border, you don't have a nation if you don't have a border. And to have a border is not inherently anti scriptural. The fact that nations come and nations go doesn't mean1:42 the answer is to self destruct. Nations have a right to have borders. It's not xenophobic to have borders and to know who gets in and who gets out. No different than in your home if you have1:54 locked doors and you determine who gets in and who gets out. You you control the flow of people. You want to know who's in your home. It is no different for a nation.2:06 Now why is this such a hot issue? Well, we have a massive failures, I would contend, on the part of both Democrats and Republicans on this issue. I'm not an expert on the topic, and I2:18 don't wanna pretend that I'm an expert, but I do care about some overarching principles I think from scripture. I'm shaped by a a 3 day border school, a person graciously put together, brought quite a number2:30 of his hand. And on 2 2 occasions, I went to this border school. Once 1 at a time, it was right on the border down there. I learned a great deal. We listened to very many people who were on the2:42 border. We listened to sheriffs who were on the border. The, Southwest Border Organization made up of 31 counties across the Southwest who share a common border with with2:53 Mexico. We saw what the local law enforcement is having to go through that was staggering with no help in Washington DC. And it was painful to3:05 hear the counts, both when they appealed to the Bush administration, when they appealed to the Obama administration, the lack of support that they got in places where the Mexican cartel and the drug groups had had3:17 moved the border effectively 5 and 10 miles in the sovereign territory of the United States. And the, sheriff department were simply not equipped to try to hold the line of our existing3:29 border. And we saw the tremendous loss of even property, property values, what farmers and ranchers were going going through in that area. And so we we have an enormous out of control3:41 problem. Having a border is legitimate. But what about the issue of compassion? In in, my book, Well Versed Biblical Answers in Today's Tough Issues, I list3:53 about 8 different things that are examples of biblical themes that we care about when we talk about border. This comes4:05 from my own denomination, the Wesleyan denomination. But the first 1 is the creation principle. All people are created equal. The second 1 is the great commandment principle. That is God commands4:17 us to love all. The third 1 is the sovereignty principle. God is sovereign at work to establish his kingdom on earth. In other words, the the church opportunity when people are coming across the border, coming in,4:29 it's a tremendous opportunity for church evangelism. The submission principle, Christians possess dual citizenship. They're part of heaven and part of earth, but they should submit to the laws of the4:40 land. The hospitality principle that we're to care for the strangers, the widow, the orphans, the aliens, and the immigrants, we're gonna come back to that in a moment. The great commission principle that we wanna bring8 Biblical Principles 4:52 the good news to all. The grace principle, all have sinned and we have a merciful God. The justice principle, God's called us all to seek justice for all all persons5:05 and to have humane laws. Now Now these principles, I only mentioned them very briefly. They're the 8 principles or guidelines my own denomination uses, on the issue of of5:17 of the the border and immigration challenges. But here, I would contend, is the core of the problem. We use the term illegal, and and people coming across are, in fact, violating the the law. We5:28 understand that. Some prefer to use the word undocumented, but there is an illegality there. But I wanna call attention to a more serious illegality, and that's what I alluded to a moment ago. And to5:40 do that, I wanna use a use a a word a particular word, destitute. Dissitude is when a law is on the books, but it's not enforced. And if a law is5:52 on the books, but it's not enforced, it ceases to be a law. It is no longer a law at that point. When we have laws going to destitute, it means people will intentionallyDesuetude and Pathways 6:04 knowingly violate them because the government doesn't care about them anymore. So it's not just illegal people coming across, it's a government that has acted illegally. Our own6:15 government, by allowing a law to go into destitute, is not functioning. It's it's what's called self nullification, nullifying its own laws. The law is on the books, but it's not being6:27 enforced. You can't allow a law to go into destitute for 30, 40 years, and then suddenly, when there are millions of people who have violated that law because it's not being enforced. Suddenly,6:39 you have to you want to, crack down all those. There's culpabilities on both the Republicans and the Democrats. It's a case of a government either needs to remove the law or enforce the6:51 law, not not leave this ambiguity. What kind of healing steps can we take to get out of the current mess that we're in? I know the first 1 will not happen, but I'm gonna say it anyway. There needs to be the7:02 acknowledgment of wrongdoing on the part of our government. The admission there have been occasional times where the state department or whoever has come close to acknowledging wrongdoing in the past. Doesn't7:14 happen very often, and it's phrased very carefully. But our our nation has done wrong by either either remove the law or enforce the law. Do 1 or the other. But don't leave it in a7:26 situation where people the law is not being enforced. Consequently, they come across the border, and then you crack down on those who violate violated the law that the government refused to enforce. There needs to be an7:37 acknowledgment on our government of its own wrongdoing. And then given the fact that we're in a situation that was created in part by our own government, then there needs7:49 to be some kind of a pathway. Now I know some will get upset at this. A pathway to legality. Yes, I believe it needs to involve some fines. Yes, I involve believe it needs to be paid back taxes. Yes,8:01 appropriate papers need to be fine. Yes, English needs to be learned. Not because there's anything wrong with Spanish, for example. Spanish is a beautiful language. I wish I could speak it considerably better. But8:12 because my learning English, it puts them in a posture to be able to succeed in this land so much better and to economically prosper. US history needs to be learned. US civics needs to be learned.8:24 Citizen's ship needs to be learned. There needs to be an allegiance that needs to be announced and any, complete full assimilation to the values of this culture. This is a pathway. When8:36 a government has not enforced the law for this time, it's created an enormous problem. They need to create a pathway out of it. So I those are the 2 things that I would call for. Now I know I'm probably offending8:46 everyone by what I'm saying because people have such strong views, on this. I I I want to go a step further when our current president, when he when he speaks Barack Obama, when he speaks about8:58 Joseph and Mary at Christmas time in 20 14, he says Joseph and Mary, they were they were they were visitors in in Bethlehem and they were treated nice. So basically, we should, he misuses scripture. All he does9:10 is make people upset. Joseph and Mary weren't visitors. They were returning to their home turf. They were going there because the government forced them to go there for a census purpose. And so that wasn't9:22 that has no application yet Barack Obama used that as analogy. He quoted other times in scripture. He quoted from Exodus 22, and he talked about the strangers or aliens as we were once all strangers too,9:34 and he quotes the scripture. He he cherry picks on that 1 because he never quotes the scripture when it talks about the evil of homosexuality, the practice of it. He never quotes it when the definition of marriage. He9:46 never quotes the scripture when it talks about the protection of life in the womb in Psalm 1 39. Doesn't quote me close to here. And unfortunately, it sounds noble, but the Hebrew word there is ger, and it9:58 actually has to do with strangers or aliens who are outside your country who are coming in, but they're in compliance with existing laws in that land. So even his use of scripture was wrong. I see so many from so many10:10 angles, whether it's the right or the left, whomever, all up in arms over this. And I'd like to propose a simple given the fact that the illegal actions were done not only by people crossing the border, but the illegal10:20 action by our own government that allowed the law to go into destitute, that it seems to me the way out is the government admitting they're wrong. And you say it'll never happen. You're probably right. But it10:32 would be my appeal. The government said we did wrong by allowing a law to be on the books and not enforcing it. People say, well, there's many laws like that. Well, that's wrong that they're that way. Either have the law10:43 and enforce it or get rid of the law. Don't leave this ambiguity that puts people in this kind of a posture. And then create a pathway. It's not an easy pathway. This is not amnesty. Not amnesty at10:55 all. It's a pathway. It's consequences for having violated a law that at least is on the books. And I think if we did that, we could address very clearly this problem in our11:06 situation and bring the decibel level down and have have have peace and tranquility in our communities.11:17 We're talking about immigration. Here's the right and here's the left.11:22 They're illegals. Be reasonable. This is cut and dry.11:25 Be compassionate. They're hard workers. They're trying to provide for their family, and they're doing jobs, Alex, that you don't wanna do.11:32 Nah. Rest them all. Deport them.11:34 Bro, we don't need borders. We should have a nation that's borderless.11:38 Nah. On second thought, actually, you know, maybe maybe they would provide cheap labor and boost profits.11:44 Hey. They will help my party, so we wanna keep them here.11:47 Stop it, both of you. I'm the government, and I'm gonna resolve this. I'm gonna first repent from this law from being in destitute. No. We can't throw people out, but I'm gonna create pathways to legalization.12:00 Yes. People should pay their fines. Yes. Taxes should be paid. Yes. Paper should be filed. Yes. English needs to be taught. And yes. Allegiances need to be confirmed. But, no, they should not be deported to12:12 their native country given the fact our government openly negated its own law.In this video 0:00 Borders Are Biblical4:47 8 Biblical Principles6:00 Desuetude and Pathways12:16 Scripture Misused & Solutions
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