My thoughts on the March 25th Protest on bill HR 4437

This last Saturday, my team and many of my neighbors participated in a citywide march. The march sought to peacefully respond in opposition to HR 4437. I know that many of you out there might agree with the law being passed and you have your reasons...but I wanted to take a moment and share my feelings about it all.

"When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. Lev. 19:23

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Lev 23:22

The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God ---Lev. 19:34

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing" --Deut.10:18

"And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt." Deut.10:19

It is so easy for us, as humans, to selfishly think about our own needs first. So much so that we never even consider how our needs could hurt another living and breathing human being. We are worried about enough jobs, we are worried about our welfare system, and about our own opportunities....but for some reason we are not worried about the people God is bringing into our country to love or about the reasons why they so desperately long to leave the conditions they are came from. Jesus said "Freely as you received, freely give" Matt 10:8. If this is true: why are we so bent on hoarding the things that are given to us, why are we not trying to help others or willing to share the wealth with those who come here.

The verses I added up above are about how God feels about the Alien or the immigrant in our land. And they are verses that He asks us to live out. He commands us to love, treating people with dignity and respect regardless of where they come from. The immigrants in our land are human beings and deserve to be treated fairly. The bills we create and pass should reflect that. When we begin to create bills, and feel right about creating bills, that inhibit people and take away their options, we have to ask ourselves "What has happened to our hearts? When did we become like pharaoh? When did our hearts become hardened to the needs of those around us? What is the depth of poverty to our own soul that we would support laws like HR4437?"

It saddens me that we have gotten to a point as a nation where we feel the only way we can solve an issue is by being harsher and stricter. And I am amazed at how easy it is for us to objectify and vilify a group of people, enabling us to make overt judgments about them as a group and separate them as bad. We would not feel the same way about this law if it was directed towards those we loved and knew personally.

For those of us as Christians, I think, we need to re-evaluate our thoughts and opinions and ask ourselves if they are in line with what God asks....