THE BIBLE AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

KINH THÁNH VÀ SỰ DI DÂN

Kinh thánh: Ma-thi-ơ 2: 13-23

Câu gốc: MA-THI-Ơ 10: 23 – Khi nào người ta bắt bớ các ngươi trong thành nầy, thì hãy trốn qua thành kia; vì ta nói thật, các ngươi đi chưa khắp các thành dân Y-sơ-ra-ên thì Con người đã đến rồi.

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THE BIBLE AND HUMAN IMMIGRATION

Bible: Matthew 2: 13-23

Main verse: MATTHEW 10: 23 – When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

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– In recent years, some career politicians have been quoting the Bible to manipulate Christians to follow their agenda.

– For instance, to persuade the American public to support their agenda for illegal immigration, some of them said that Jesus was once an illegal immigrant as Joseph took Him and Mary to Egypt when Jesus was still a baby. They quoted this passage in the Scriptures:

MATTHEW 2: 14 – When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt.

MA-THI-Ơ 2: 14 – Giô-sép bèn chờ dậy, đem con trẻ và mẹ Ngài đang ban đêm lánh qua nước Ê-díp-tô.

– When they compared those illegal immigrants to Jesus, they committed the sin of manipulating the Bible for evil scheme of increasing their voting base. There are many differences between Jesus’ flight to Egypt and those who try to enter America illegally.

– We Christians are gentle, compassionate and meek, but nobody should try to deceive us, especially by quoting the Bible wrongly. God will certainly judge them for sinning like this.

– Today we will look into the Bible to see what God’s words teach us about immigration.

– As we have stated above, the career politicians cannot compare Jesus with illegal immigrants because their causes are quite different from His. Joseph took Jesus to Egypt when He was still a baby because King Herod wanted to kill Him. On the contrary, there are very small numbers of immigrants who were actually threatened with their lives in their homelands.

MATTHEW 2: 13 – Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.

MA-THI-Ơ 2: 13 – Sau khi mấy thầy đó đi rồi, có một thiên sứ của Chúa hiện đến cùng Giô-sép trong chiêm bao, mà truyền rằng: Hãy chờ dậy, đem con trẻ và mẹ Ngài trốn qua nước Ê-díp-tô, rồi cứ ở đó cho tới chừng nào ta bảo ngươi; vì vua Hê-rốt sẽ kiếm con trẻ ấy mà giết.

– In the quoted verse above, God sent His angel down to warn Joseph and told him to take Jesus to Egypt. None of those illegal immigrants were told by higher beings to cross the border into the United States. They did it by their own desires to find a better life. Some of them even had the desire to commit crime on American soil. In fact, many of them did, so how can they compare themselves to Jesus?

– The career politicians argue that every human being has the right to find a better life, but they stop short at the end of that sentence in order to make people believe in their cause. They did it because they often thought that they were better than anyone else, or wiser than the general public, but actually, they are committing a terrible sin.

– We should know that it’s okay to want a better life, but how to obtain it is another matter. Wanting something and knowing how to achieve it are two different things. There is an example for that.

– When an honest person wants to have a better life, he will look for job. When he gets one, he will certainly work very hard for himself and his family. A bad person would also want a better life, but instead of working hard to achieve it, he will do whatever he could to have it, even if it was a crime. He would think of robbing a bank, stealing from others or deceiving the innocents.

– The politicians cannot tell their audience that because the foreign immigrants want a better life, they are entitled to enter into the U.S. illegally. If it was so, why did the U.S. government charge those who bribed universities to get admission for their children? They wanted a better education and better life for their children, why could they be entitled like the illegals immigrants to do it illegally?

– We all know that they had committed a crime by bribing university’s officials to get their children into those schools. They cannot get their children a better education illegally. But why the career politicians support illegal immigrants?

– The contradiction/hypocrisy in their argument and their actions is the reason why they will be judged and punished when Jesus returns to Earth:

1CORINTHIANS 2: 6 – However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

1CÔ-RINH-TÔ 2: 6 – Dầu vậy, chúng tôi giảng sự khôn ngoan cho những kẻ trọn vẹn, song chẳng phải sự khôn ngoan thuộc về đời nầy, cũng không phải của các người cai quản đời nầy, là kẻ sẽ bị hư mất.

– As we have mentioned before, Jesus was taken to Egypt to escape persecution and it was allowed according to God’s instruction in the Bible:

MATTHEW 10: 23 – When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

MA-THI-Ơ 10: 23 – Khi nào người ta bắt bớ các ngươi trong thành nầy, thì hãy trốn qua thành kia; vì ta nói thật, các ngươi đi chưa khắp các thành dân Y-sơ-ra-ên thì Con người đã đến rồi.

– The Christians in the Apostles’ time also did it to help Paul (called Saul) to escape persecution at Damascus:

ACTS 9: 22-25 – But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.

CÔNG VỤ 9: 22-25 – Còn Sau-lơ lần lần càng thêm vững chí, bắt bẻ những người Giu-đa ở tại thành Đa-mách, mà nói rõ rằng Đức Chúa Jêsus là Đấng Christ. Cách lâu ngày, người Giu-đa mưu với nhau để giết Sau-lơ. Nhưng có người báo tin cho Sau-lơ về cơ mưu chúng nó. Người ta lại giữ các cửa cả ngày và đêm đặng giết Sau-lơ. Song lúc ban đêm, các môn đồ lấy thúng dòng người xuống ngoài vách thành.

– Even when trying to escape persecution, Jesus and Paul did not do it illegally. We should remember that in the time of Jesus and Paul, Judea and Egypt were parts of the Roman Empire, therefore Jesus’ flight to Egypt cannot be counted as entering another country illegally.

– We should remember that Jesus always taught His disciples to obey the law, even it was the Roman law:

MATTHEW 17: 27 – Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.

MA-THI-Ơ 17: 27 – Song le, để chúng ta khỏi làm gương xấu cho họ, thì ngươi hãy ra biển câu cá, bắt lấy con cá nào dính câu trước hết, banh miệng nó ra, sẽ thấy một đồng bạc ở trong. Hãy lấy đồng bạc đó, và đem nộp thuế cho ta với ngươi.

– It clearly indicates that Jesus made a good example of obeying the law by paying taxes to the Roman authorities, but the career politicians nowadays quoted Him as a law breaker when they said that Jesus was once an illegal immigrant. They are either ignorant, or they are liars who want to manipulate Christians into following their devious agenda by insulting Jesus as a law breaker. We should always be careful with them.

JOHN 8: 46 – Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?

GIĂNG 8: 46 – Trong các ngươi có ai bắt ta thú tội được chăng? Nếu ta nói lẽ thật, sao các ngươi không tin ta?

– This is another reason that we should always encourage our fellow Christians to study the Bible thoroughly in order to know when someone is manipulating us, especially career politicians. We will gather enough wisdom and understanding that way, and we can call others out when they are being ignorant.

– May God bless us to understand the Bible and to remember God’s words by heart so that we can withstand Satan’s attacks and win over human’s manipulation.

– May God help us follow His teachings and instructions carefully in all aspects of our lives so that we can have in faith in Him to the end. Amen.