Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Showing posts with label Loving the Unloved - Rights & Refuge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loving the Unloved - Rights & Refuge. Show all posts

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Bible Verses About Immigration



Bible Verses About Immigration

Compiled by The BibleStudyTools Staff


What does the Bible say about immigration? Although the Bible does not give a complete set of guidelines for immigration, it does give us some specific commandments that can lead to an understanding of God’s view on immigration. There are examples of commandments that shed light on having the same law for an immigrate and the native-born. “At the end of seven years, you shall have a release of debts … Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother” (Deuteronomy 15:1-3). Learn more from our list of Bible verses about immigration below.

For a more in-depth study on immigration, visit these informative articles:

5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.

19 “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”

49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”

21 “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

9 “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.


10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

22 “ ‘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 for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.’ ”

22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’ ”

35 “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.


5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

33 “ ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.
34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

9 “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,
6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.


19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.
4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.
4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
10 This is the account of Shem’s family line. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.
17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.
21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.
25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.
30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.



The Apostle Paul's Refugee Experience






St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles'
Itinerant Life and the Refugee Experience

by Pope Benedict XVI


St. Paul's 'all things to all peoples' an incentive to solidarity

For the upcoming 95th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, to be celebrated on 18 January 2009, the Holy Father has written a Message to honour the 2,000th anniversary of St. Paul's birth. The following is a translation of the original Italian texts of the Papal Message, dated 24 August, Castel Gandolfo.


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This year the theme of the Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees is: "St. Paul migrant, 'Apostle of the peoples'". It is inspired by its felicitous coincidence with the .Jubilee Year I established in the Apostle's honour on the occasion of the 2,000th anniversary of his birth. Indeed, the preaching and mediation between the different cultures and the Gospel which Paul, "a migrant by vocation" carried out, are also an important reference point for those who find themselves involved in the migratory movement today.

Born into a family of Jewish immigrants in Tarsus, Cilicia, Saul was educated in the Hebrew and Hellenistic cultures and languages, making the most of the Roman cultural context. After his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus (cf. Gal r:13-16), although he did not deny his own "traditions" and felt both esteem and gratitude to .Judaism and the Law (cf. Rm 9:1-5; 10:1; 2 Cor 1:22; Gal 1:13-14; Phil 3:3-6), he devoted himself without hesitation or second thoughts to his new mission, with courage and enthusiasm and docile to the Lord's command: "I will send you far away to the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21). His life changed radically (cf. Phil 3:7-11): Jesus became for him his raison d'être and the motive that inspired his apostolic dedication to the service of the Gospel. He changed from being a persecutor of Christians to being an Apostle of Christ.

Guided by the Holy Spirit, he spared no effort to see that the Gospel which is "the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rm 1:16) was proclaimed to all, making no distinction of nationality or culture. On his apostolic journeys, in spite of meeting with constant opposition, he first proclaimed the Gospel in the synagogues, giving prior attention to his compatriots in the diaspora (cf. Acts 18:4-6). If they rejected him he would address the Gentiles, making himself an authentic "missionary to migrants" — as a migrant and an ambassador of Jesus Christ "at large" in order to invite every person to become a "new creation" in the Son of God (2 Cor 5:17).

The proclamation of the kerygma caused him to cross the seas of the Near East and to travel die roads of Europe until he reached Rome. He set out from Antioch, where he proclaimed the Gospel to people who did not belong to Judaism and where the disciples of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time (cf. Acts 11:20, 26). His life and his preaching were wholly directed to making Jesus known and loved by all, for all persons are called to become a single people in him.

This is the mission of the Church and of every baptized person in our time too, even in the era of globalization; a mission that. with attentive pastoral solicitude is also directed to the variegated universe of migrants — students far from home, immigrants, refugees, displaced people, evacuees — including for example, the victims of modern forms of slavery, and of human trafficking. Today too the message of salvation must be presented with the same approach as that of the Apostle to the Gentiles, taking into account the different social and cultural situations and special difficulties of each one as a consequence of his or her condition as a migrant or itinerant person.

I express the wish that every Christian community may feel the same apostolic zeal as St. Paul who, although he was proclaiming to all the saving love of the Father (Rm 8:15-16; Gal 4:6) to "win more" (1 Cor 9:22) for Christ, made himself weak "to the weak... all things to all men so that [he] might by all means save some" (1 Cor 9:22).

May his example also be an incentive for us to show solidarity to these brothers and sisters of ours and to promote, in every part of the world and by every means, peaceful coexistence among different. races, cultures and religions.

Yet what was the secret of the Apostle to the Gentiles? The missionary zeal and passion of the wrestler that distinguished him stemmed from the fact that since "Christ [had.] made him his own", (Phil 3:12), he remained so closely united to him that he felt he shared in his same life, through sharing in "his sufferings" (Phil 3:10; cf. also Rm 8:17; 2 Cor 4:8-12; Col 1:24). This is the source of the apostolic ardour of St. Paul who recounts: "He who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles" (Gal 1:15-16; cf. also Rm 15:15-16). He felt "crucified with" Christ, so that he could say: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20), and no difficulty hindered him from persevering in his courageous evangelizing action in cosmopolitan cities such as Rome and Corinth, which were populated at that time by a mosaic of races and cultures.

In reading the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters that Paul addressed to various recipients, we perceive a model of a Church that was not exclusive but on the contrary open to all, formed by believers without distinction of culture or race: every baptized person is, in fact, a living member of the one Body of Christ.. In this perspective, fraternal solidarity expressed in daily gestures of sharing, joint participation and joyful concern for others, acquires a unique prominence. However, it is impossible to achieve this dimension of brotherly mutual acceptance, St. Paul always teaches, without the readiness to listen to and welcome the Word preached and practised (cf. 1 Thes 1:6), a Word that urges all to be imitators of Christ (cf. Eph 5:1-2), to be imitators of the Apostle (cf. 1 Cor 11:1). And therefore, the more closely the community is united to Christ, the more it cares for its neighbour, eschewing judgment, scorn and scandal, and opening itself to reciprocal acceptance (cf. Rm 14:13; 15:7). Conformed to Christ, believers feel they are "brothers" in him, sons of the same Father (Rm 8:14-16; Gal 3:26; 4:6). This treasure of brotherhood makes them "practise hospitality" (Rm 1 2: 13), which is the firstborn daughter of agape (cf. 1 Tm 3:2, 5:10; Ti 1:8; Phlm 17).

In this manner the Lord's promise comes true: "then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters" (2 Cor 6:17-18). If we are aware of this, how can we fail to take charge of all those, particularly refugees and displaced people, who are in conditions of difficulty or hardship? How can we fail to meet the needs of those who are de facto the weakest and most defenceless, marked by precariousness and insecurity, marginalized and often excluded by society? We should give our priority attention to them because, paraphrasing a well known Pauline text, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor 1:27).

Dear brothers and sisters, may the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated on 18 January 2009, be for all an incentive to live brotherly love to the full without making any kind of distinction and without discrimination, in the conviction that any one who needs us and whom we can help is our neighbour (cf: Deus Caritas Est, n. 15). May the teaching and example of St. Paul, a great and humble Apostle and a migrant, an evangelizer of peoples and cultures, spur us to understand that the exercise of charity is the culmination and synthesis of the whole of Christian life.

The commandment of love — as we well know — is nourished when disciples of Christ, united, share in the banquet of the Eucharist which is, par excellence, the sacrament of brotherhood and love. And just as Jesus at the Last Supper combined the new commandment of fraternal love with the gift of the Eucharist, so his "friends", following in the footsteps of Christ who made himself a "servant" of humanity, and sustained by his Grace cannot but dedicate themselves to mutual service, taking charge of one another, complying with St. Paul's recommendation: "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). Only in this way does love increase among believers and for all people (cf. 1 Thes 3:12).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not tire of proclaiming and witnessing to this "Good News" with enthusiasm, without fear and sparing no energy! The entire Gospel message is condensed in love, and authentic disciples of Christ are recognized by the mutual love their hear one another and by their acceptance of all.

May the Apostle Paul and especially Mary, the Mother of acceptance and love, obtain this gift for us. As I invoke the divine protection upon all those who are dedicated to helping migrants, and more generally, in the vast world of migration, I assure each one of my constant remembrance in prayer and, with affection, I impart my apostolic: Blessing to all.


Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
15 October 2008, page 27

L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See.
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What does the Bible say about refugees and displaced people?


Artiom (pictured at age 2) and his sister, Yeva (pictured at age 5), play at World Vision’s child-safe play area while their mother, Diana, shops for supplies in Romania’s Romexpo, a center that was converted at the onset of the crisis to offer housing and access to essential resources such as hygiene materials, clothing, and food. Diana drove her children from Ukraine through Moldova to Romania, leaving her husband, parents, and in-laws behind. (©2022 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)

What does the Bible say about refugees
and displaced people?

by Denise C. Koenig
June 8, 2023


You won’t find the term “refugee” in the Bible. But the Word of God has plenty to say about people called “strangers” and “sojourners” or “foreigners” in our translations.

“Strangers” and “foreigners” refer to anybody who lived among the Jews but was from another ethnic group — no matter what category they might represent in today’s terms.

For instance, the book of Ruth is about a widow from the tribe of Moab who chooses to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Israel and live there with her. In Ruth 2:10, we see her ask Boaz, in whose field she is gleaning, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me — a foreigner?” She understands her status as being outside the tribe of Israel.

“Sojourners” are people who are temporarily living in Israel or traveling through the country.


Today’s strangers, foreigners, and sojourners

We use many different terms today for what the Bible calls strangers, foreigners, and sojourners. Here are a few:Refugees — individuals who have fled their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution, war, violence, or serious harm to their life, physical well-being, or freedom. When someone meets the criteria of a refugee, they are entitled under international law to protection and assistance. In many cases, the circumstances that force families to flee their homes are ongoing crises that make it unsafe for them to return for many years — or leave them without a home to return to — resulting in prolonged displacement.

Asylum seekers — anyone who seeks international protection due to persecution or harm in their home country. Every refugee was initially an asylum-seeker, so when this term is used, it is often meant to indicate someone who is seeking but has not yet been officially granted refugee status by a host country. When an individual applies for asylum, the host country’s government evaluates the claim and determines if the individual meets the criteria for refugee status under international law. If so, they are then formally recognized as a refugee and granted the according protections. If denied, they may be required to leave the country they sought refuge in.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) — individuals who have been forced to flee their home but have not crossed an international border to seek protection. IDPs are like refugees in that they have been uprooted from their homes due to natural disasters, conflict, persecution, or other threats of harm. However, IDPs remain within their country of origin, often living in temporary shelters, in camps, or with host families. IDPs typically return home if it becomes safe and feasible to do so.

Migrants — those who have chosen to leave their home country, mainly to overcome poverty. Migrants are making a permanent move to reunite with family or improve their conditions by pursuing work or education opportunities and would not return to their home country unless conditions improved significantly.

Immigrants — people who choose to move to another country for any number of reasons, such as marriage or other family ties, employment, or business opportunities. The term “immigrants” encompasses a broad range of people, while “migrants” specifically refers to people who move to escape poverty.

Stateless people — those who are not citizens under the laws of any country. A person can experience statelessness when a country ceases to exist or when a country adopts discriminatory laws that do not recognize certain ethnic groups within its borders.

There are principles in God’s Word about how His people are to treat strangers, foreigners, and sojourners.


Temporary shelters lining a park walkway in Turkey (Türkiye) accommodate people who were displaced by the earthquake near the Turkey-Syria border on February 6, 2023. World Vision staff in the area are working to reach those affected with water, sanitation, and hygiene support, educational and livelihoods programs, health and nutrition assistance, shelter and survival items, cash vouchers, and child protection services. (©2023 World Vision)

Jesus said we should show disciple-like behavior in how we treat “strangers.”

"… I was a stranger and you invited me in." - Matthew 25:35 (NIV)


Middle Eastern cultures have always been famous for their hospitality. For example, Abraham invited the angelic visitors into his tent and provided a lavish meal for them (Genesis 18:1­–8). Even so, strangers among the different tribal groups were looked at with suspicion, often conned or taken advantage of, and generally mistreated, especially if they were poor. Against this cultural backdrop, God’s directives in the Old Testament are counter-cultural.

Jesus builds upon the Old Testament precedent and takes it a step further by emphasizing that how we treat strangers indicates whether we are His followers. As His disciples, we are to invite the stranger in.


Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

"Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be
foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." -  Exodus 23:9 (NIV)


The principle here is clear: Honor the dignity and humanity of foreigners. Notice that the Scripture gives Israel a reason why: because they knew how it felt to be foreigners. Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees when they were made into slaves in Egypt. They were instructed not to cheat foreigners or take advantage of them in any way.


Treat foreigners or refugees as citizens — and with love.
"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." - Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)

Most Christians know Jesus’ instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” but may not be aware that Mosaic Law has the same instruction for how to treat foreigners. The command to treat them as “native-born” would have been shocking to people in Moses’ day.

Historically and currently, displaced people may live away from their homes for a short period or even many years. In today’s world, over 100 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.

This instruction in Leviticus is as relevant now as ever before.

God has set a high standard for treating those who are foreigners. His people are to love them like we love ourselves and to treat them as citizens. And the reason given? Because God — the “I Am” — commands it.


Make foreigners part of the community.

Miscellaneous instructions in the Law of Moses — the first five books of the Bible — made sure foreigners were included in the Jewish community. They included provisions for them to be treated equally under the law and to be included in festivals and celebrations of the community.

  • Cities of refuge were available to Israelites and foreigners in cases of accidental killing (Numbers 35:15).
  • Foreigners were to be included in festivals and celebrations mandated in the Law (Deuteronomy 16:14; 26:11).
  • Some of the tithes collected by the priests were to be used to not only feed them and their families, but also to help provide food for foreigners, widows, and orphans (Deuteronomy 14:28­­–29).
  • Farmers were instructed to leave the gleanings of their fields for the poor and the foreigner (Leviticus 23:22).
  • The command to care for the stranger was so embedded in the Law that it was used as the basis for how God’s people were to treat each other: Israelites were to treat their own poor as they would the stranger or the foreigner (Leviticus 25:35).

Notice how these verses address the importance of meeting the needs of displaced people, particularly with regard to food. What needs would someone have coming to the U.S. with a prearranged job as a research scientist in a pharmaceutical lab? How about someone from Ukraine who lost their business and home and sought refuge in Poland? The inequalities are striking. God’s people are called to help meet needs for those struggling with access to food and a means of income, sparing them the devastating effects of extreme poverty and hunger.

Rose and her children, refugees from South Sudan, enjoy their first real meal in weeks at the Goboro transit center in Uganda. This hot meal was provided by World Vision for Rose’s family and hundreds of others on their way to more permanent shelter. (©2018 World Vision/photo by Moses Mukitale)

Show hospitality to strangers.
"Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:1-2 (NIV)

In this passage and a few others (Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9; 3 John 1:5–8), the habit of showing hospitality is highlighted as a characteristic of those who follow Jesus. The church is to support one another, including strangers who come to worship. This became especially important once the Jews were forced from Jerusalem and Palestine in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Then and now, the church should be a welcoming community to all.


All believers are strangers on earth.

"… live out your time as foreigners here with reverent fear." - 1 Peter 1:17 (NIV)


This is a principle for God’s people of all times. Moses instructed the Israelites not to sell any of the land permanently, because the land belonged to God and they were only foreigners living there (Leviticus 25:23).

Think of how graciously God treats us, the foreigners living in His world. His kindness to us can guide our thoughts and actions toward those living as strangers among us.

All believers in Jesus Christ belong
to the kingdom of God.
"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household." -Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)

This verse follows the great passage in Ephesians that lays out how we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus (2:8–10). The terms “foreigners” and “strangers” are used here as metaphors for our condition before our faith in Jesus Christ. Before we believed, we were outside the covenant and considered foreigners or strangers in God’s kingdom (2:11–13). But because of our faith in Him, we are now part of God’s community — strangers who have been welcomed in.

Most people can relate to feeling like an outsider at some point in their lives — whether it be due to their race, ethnicity, economic status, religion, nationality, gender, or other factors. For believers, this feeling can be an opportunity for solidarity with the displaced and marginalized — especially when we recognize that we too were once strangers to God’s kingdom but were welcomed in through the grace and mercy of Christ. In this way, the biblical commandment to welcome strangers becomes a powerful expression of our shared humanity and a reflection of the divine love that transcends all boundaries.


Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Problem of Biblicisim - "My God Does Not Kill"

 



My God Does Not Kill
by R.E. Slater

"Biblical literalism or biblicism is a term used of the manner of interpretation of the bible based on the subjectivity of the reader's beliefs and the religious views of the group(s) the reader participates and identifies." - res

 

"Redaction criticism is a critical method for the study of biblical texts. It regards the author of a text as a subjective editor to the source materials available to them at the time, such as oral legends, societal beliefs, cultural mores, attendant consequences, all of which may have shaped the theological narrative to the ideological goals of the author." - res 


My God is not this God...

God is not a God of wrath or violence. 

The problem the picture above points out is that Christiandom - as well as many other religions including Judaism and Islam - believe God is right-and-just in dispensing death, judgment, punishment, wrath, and cruelty.

This belief about God has ever been a problem. It has created many awful deeds in the name of religion.

A Couple of Things About Perspective...

Let's suppose for a moment that the biblical flood was what any other flood has been when experienced by humanity. A natural disaster....

Let's also suppose that from time immemorial mankind holds a general ignorance about climatic events... especially including those natural  events which occur far beyond the settled environs of a population.

As example, consider when ancient settlers of the Mesopotamia region beheld the large, green fertile valleys between the great rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates. Did they consider it as a natural flood plain? Probably not.

But this did not stop the area from having the potential for loss and destruction by once-in-a-century or millennia flooding.

Let's further consider that such disastrous rainfalls happen even now when the conditions are ripe for a natural disasters. Currents examples abound now as then: 1) Any of flood-prone low-lying areas as the swamps upon which the city of Houston, Texas, was built. Or, 2) the tidal lowlands surrounding the city of New Orleans.

Doe God bring these disasters or nature? Let me kindly suggest that, if anything, God was doing all that He could in trying to prevent such disasters through nature and through mankind. God is a God of love... not a God of judgment and wrath.

And in process terms, God cannot directly interfere with a freewill creation. Which is where divine partnership comes in re help from nature itself or through mankind. God does not rule over nature but works with nature. God's physical hands-and-feet must come creation and mankind if God's will is to be done.

Thus, process theism is exactly opposite of classic theism's divine interruption overruling creation according to God's will than through submitted natural process agencies. This means that in classic theism miracles happen occasionally whereas in process theism miracles per se are everyday natural occurrences.

In the past I would use the term "synchronicity" when describing the partnership between God and creation versus a classical theism's "forced unnatural interruption" of the natural, God-inhabiting flow, of creation, known as panentheism.

Does God Purposely Send Naturally Destructive Events?

In process theism the answer is NO. God does not bring the flood, the fire, the earthquake, or the wind upon mankind to punish, kill, or judge mankind.

These are naturally occurring events because creation bears the same freewill agency as mankind does. Agency is not evil. But agency can be evil and affect both environment and people.

Of course, many of my biblical brethren would say this is not true. The bible tells of God's judgment upon both the evil and the innocent on this earth and that we must accept all which happens in this life as from God's hand.

An attitude which is the very kind of Christian attitude I both challenge and disagree with.

Why?

Because a God of LOVE is not this kind of dipolar, schidzophrenic, monstrous God. God brings beauty, wellbeing, and healing into a world of sin and suffering. A world which brings consequences upon itself by its own acts when choosing to live in unloving ways to nature and mankind.

How Do We Know God is a God of Love and Not a God of Wrath?

I come from a dispensational, fundamentalist Christian tradition which thought of conservative evangelicalism as "liberal" in good-humored but serious surmise. Yet despite my early faith heritage I can no longer reconcile the passages of the bible which speak of God so terribly or so controllingly in a harming, determinative future. This would also include the belief of a future Armageddon or eternal hell.

Why?

Mostly because I realize these errant beliefs come from the Christian tradition of reading the bible "literally". A bible which I have exhaustively studied, dissected, and exegeted from cover to cover for most of my adult lifetime using the very helpful and enlightening covenant theology found in the Baptist and Reformed traditions.

And though I used to abide by the hermeneutical (interpretive) adage of reading the bible "literally, grammatically, historically, and later... contextually," I now have dropped the literal interpretation of the bible while keeping the latter three helpful tools of biblical interpretation. Literalism makes the bible say what it really isn't saying....

And so, as I was transitioning in bible college from fundamentalism to evangelicalism I knew the "literal" portion of interpreting the bible had to be dropped. While at the same time continuing to uphold my faith heritage's belief system until I couldn't....

The God of the Bible is the God of Today...

My Spirit-led change began when I started asking questions my church didn't wish to ask. Questions of doubt and uncertainty - not of my faith, but of my faith's traditionally held doctrines and beliefs. It rapidly became a series of questions I needed to answer. Which I did... beginning with the very first days of this website until now.

And it has proved to be a very long and arduous journey with very little outside help at first except that of the Spirit of God's daily revelation. In a very real sense you might say God was "inspiring me" to comprehend who He was and is. Which is not so unusual if we think of God's nature as one which quite naturally walks and talks with His creation. Communication, fellowship, and especially relationship, are all part-and-parcel of God's image set into creation including God's daily communion with us.

And if God "inspires" mankind today no less than God did in earlier bible eras, then God's Spirit will continue to enliven hearts, minds, and spirits even as He had done in ages past using the present day's contemporary pens, voices, and works of fellow Christians similarly pursuing God. Amen?

And once realizing this it was but a short walk over to reading the bible not literally... but redact-ively as I weighed out the pens, voices, and deeds of the church's present fay pastors, priests, prophets, and apostles. Spirit-inspiration is happening even now as it did then... but always with the knowledge that we discern the religious views of God's spokespeople both then as now....

A New Hermeneutic I Give unto You this Day...

I can hear Jesus speaking this phrase to my heart and ears even now... "A new hermeneutic I give unto you this day." A covenant founded upon Jesus' life, passion, ministries, atonement, and resurrection. A covenant of love.

Wow! A new covenant of LOVE... not just to God's remnant of Jesus followers but to all mankind. Wow! Which is also why I prefer an open communion to all willing receivers as versus a closed communion to only church members.

Which is why I cannot see the God I know at times in the Old Testament when it's biblical narratives speak of a God of judgment and wrath.... Or even in parts of the New Testament such as found in the eschatological prophecies of God-produced woes and travail.

When hearing of God "doing this or that" which is unloving and harming my mind switches to redacting man's words of God written in the bible. It doesn't take a God of wrath to reap harm and cruelty upon creation when knowing the immediacy of judgment through the very acts of sin and evil. Acts which are judgments in themselves without any need of God's further compounding of divine judgment.

No. God is not a God of wrath and judgment. This can be done quite easily on its own within a creation full of agency which is more than able to fulfill "God's" religiously invoked job by biblical passages read literally rather than redactively.

Which is how I now react to biblically conflicted passages... passages written by well-meaning "inspired" men and women of the bible who were no less filled with religious zeal than today's Christians preaching the same inaccurate things of a God of love.

And finally, where did all this divine wrath and judgment get us? I don't think very far when reading of history's religious crusades, insurrections, inquisitions, and forcible ills placed upon mankind and creation.

However, if churches were to bear dogmas of a loving God... would not such religious attitudes been far more preferable to those religious dogmas of man-made holiness crusades?? (Perhaps a "just" war concept from time to time might arise. A doctrine which I also have problems with but admit in my heart I may react similarly when seeking to protect family and community).

God is a God of LOVE through and through and through...

To wrap things up, my new Jesus hermeneutic is reading the bible through the eyes of God's love and not God's wrath. A divine wrath which I will strongly observe comes from the idolatrous hearts of men placing all their prideful, legalistic  sins upon the divine figure of the Creator-Father Himself. Such a punishing god cannot be the God I know and love.

Thus, I read the bible redactively, not literally. In it I read of a God of love beyond the wickedness of religious men's hearts.

The other helpful redactive aid I've added is a new philosophical theistic foundation. One that isn't some eclectic version of pagan Semiticism like Akkadian, Babylonia, or Persian dialectism; nor Platonic, Hellenistic, Scholastic, Thomistic, or even Modernistic construction. And even though I love postmodernism and embrace its many positives over modernistic culture, I realize even this isn't enough.

Neither Western philosophies nor Continental philosophies (which latter I vastly prefer over the West's usage of philosophy). No, the theistic foundation I am finding the most helpful is the one replacing all previous foundations with that of Process Philosophy and its correspondent Process Theology as they each morph in lockstep with the other in helpful guidance and reading of  Scripture.

In short, any faith, and especially the Christian faith, must be a faith of love, kindness, and acceptance of difference. A faith which will pulpiteer for the rights of the other. A faith of hope, beauty, and joy. One that sings and walks boldly into brokenness of this world.

Where an open future informs us of a God who would partner with freewill beings to remake this world into a place of paradise against the ills of sinful agency and the resultant evil it produces.

This is the God I will preach and the very One who tells me this world may become an Eden should we rid ourselves of the very unbiblical doctrines we hold of a God of wrath taught by much of the church because, well, its the way it has always been done and believed.

And Noah? The lesson here is not to ignore nature. Learn to co-habitat with it. Don't ignore climate change. Be wise in our decisions. Don't follow the masses should they not listen and ignore God's word placed upon the hearts of his prophets amongst us, like Noah. And to do all that we can to help and not hurt one another. That is my message from the Noahic Flood passages of the bible.

Peace my brothers and sisters,

Look to Jesus. Let Jesus be our God.

R.E. Slater
October 20, 2021



PS

To be clear, I hold to the evangelical tradition of

  • one bible, not two;
  • one covenant explained in four;
  • one God not two;
  • an open and relational theology
  • etc


PROBLEMS BEING ASKED IN THIS ARTICLE

  • philosophical theism
  • philosophical consequentialism
  • moral exactitude
  • the principal of consequentialism
  • natural laws v divine laws
  • the role of punishment or love in morality
  • metaethics v emotivism
  • metaethics v religion
  • utilitarianism v (social) justice
  • the benefits v the effects of poorly constructed religious belief
  • whether God, Church, man, or nature determine morality
  • whether divine love is the ultimate determiner of everything
  • whether love defines justice and all other divine attributes
  • whether love is the ultimate prescription for human welfare
  • the role of biblicism in misleading beliefs
  • the positive role of religion in society (health, learning, well-being, self-control, self-esteem,  empathy)
  • the negative role of religion in society (discriminiation, persecution, anxiety, depression, stress, victimization, physical violence, personal harm, societal exclusion, scapegoating, etc)
  • whether religion is a blessing or a curse
  • obligation to duty and role playing v the intrinsic worth of an act
  • the place of principalism in religion (the locality of autonomy, benevolence, justice, etc)
  • the role of religion in establishing personal identity and worth
  • etc


God is love but -
it takes humans to show God's love...