Getting serious on you about immigration.

Yeah, honestly I dont know much about the subject, about the uproar, about what's going on right now. And I'll tell you why. I like to keep myself ignorant like a good woman should. JUST KIDDING!! (lisa I can see your hairs stand up right now ;) No, the real reason I dont know alot about the immigration issues in the news right now if because, I dont watch the news. One, I dont have time, and two...it makes me worry and stress about the future and I would rather Live in the Day you know?
Okay, with that all being said...I did however want to share with you a response Mike wrote to an aquantaince of his who emailed him a rather shocking opinion about immigrants.
I was very proud of my husband for speaking his mind to this guy that assumes because we are Christians and usually conservative on issues, that we would remotely be interested in his opinion. I wont share Jack's whole email (yes, I changed his name). But here is one quote from Jack that shocked me;
"I am of the opinion that we need to "mistreat" the illegal immigrants who are in this country, and make their capture and detainment so horrible that when we drop them out of parachutes into their homeland that they will have no desire to ever come back to this country, for fear of losing their life, and for the social contempt they will find if they dare to return."

And here is Mikes Response:
____________________________________________________
Jack, we don't see eye to eye on a lot of this stuff, so I normally don't respond, but this kind of made me sad to know this is how you think of other people.

Let's keep in mind, as history is clearly written, we are all immigrants here. None of our families were started in America, we came here, kicked the natives out, and took over. America is made up of people from all over the world, and I believe it's the one place, even though flawed, where a person has the greatest opportunity in life.
This is the only country were Christianity is so freely expressed and followed, without fear of prosecution or even worse in some cases.
Jesus clearly states in the Bible that "whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me". With that in mind, if Jesus were to come back to America today, do you think he would consider immigrants less than us? What gives us the right as Americans to say we are better than anyone? Have we become so arrogant that we now think we are the superior race or country? We are talking about human beings, ones that are loved by God, and ones that are looking for a place to call home, just like our forefathers did way back when. We ran from persecution for freedom of religion and freedom in general, and we fought together, as immigrants of this land, to make it our own. I don't understand how you can consider people from a different country lesser than yourself?
Paul teaches us that we are to consider others greater than ourselves.
If that is applied to everything in life, as God meant it to be, then I would say that we are to love these people and think of them greater than ourselves, to build each other up, and to spread the word of God to everyone.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love. It protects, trusts and hopes...that is why these people you speak of are coming here, for hope. After reading your email, you have taken a very strong stance against people and have taken verses out of context to support your position.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

That is speaking directly to your immediate family, not just those "in your house". So by your rationale in your reply, everyone not in your immediate family, or your house, would be considered infidels or unbelievers. That would include me and everyone else in America right now. Mexicans are not infidels or unbelievers, they are men and women just like us.

Now I realize that some are coming into the country illegally, but is that any worse than the ones we have here, "Americans" if you will, that are breaking the law every day? We have so much focus lately on "those that don't belong" but I would much rather take a Mexican worker that is coming here to earn an honest living and support his family over some idiot that was born here that is slinging cocaine to our kids. Our what about the child predators that our out there, great Americans themselves, right?

I don't know who this Lamm guy is, but if that is what he truly believes, than I believe he is an egotistical, ethnocentric, self-centered idiot who would make Hitler proud! We should all have one culture, and not celebrate our own? If having multiple cultures is going to destroy America, then I say let it happen. Because I don't want to be a part of any country that doesn't celebrate differences, or freedom!

Culture:
The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

Culture is not just what you do in your own country, it's what you do as a person, as a family, etc. Behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, and all other products of thought. The way you practice your belief in God is culture Jack. Whether you open your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas is culture. The music you enjoy listening to is culture. It's ALL culture, so to actually say that we need to discourage multi-culturism is to say we all need to be the same. We need to believe the same thing, do the same thing, live the same way, etc. That is not freedom, it's fascism (A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.)

I love your passion brother, but I am feeling it's misguided. Don't fall into the traps of guys like this, they are spreading un-Christian ideals and thoughts, and it's not becoming of any of us. Jesus spent his entire life here teaching us to LOVE each other, and then in the greatest act of love he died a brutal death for you, for me, and for the Mexicans. Remember, whatever you do to the least of those (in your
mind) you are doing to Christ. Don't let this hype destroy what God is doing in your life, don't consider yourself better then someone else just because they are from a different place. We all came from different places, if anyone should be pissed it's the Native Americans that now live in tiny "camps" across this country!

If you remove all your biases and prejudices regarding this issue, pray about it, and honestly think about the answer to this question, what would your answer be?

Would Jesus kick them out?

Mike
For those of you who want to read what the original email was about here's a link.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/lamm.asp