President Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Sanders, and his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, have come under fire recently for saying it is biblical to enforce the laws of the land as Paul instructed us in Romans 13:1, which reads, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
Believers are biblically told to obey the law as a safeguard from the chaos of anarchy and which provides a modicum of legal protection to spread the Gospel and live out our faith. That is the principle I think Sanders and Sessions were referring to.
There is a responsibility to enforce the law.
They were not saying the immigration laws that have created this problem of separating children from their parents is either good or bad, they are just saying they have a responsibility to enforce the law, and that responsibility is biblical.
Promoting a sense of duty to obey the law is one thing; a law that is inhumane or does not promote what is good and just is quite another thing. When such a law exists, we should examine it, and if necessary, change it. Is that the case here?
Our nation has been separating parents from their children since its inception. When people are convicted of breaking the law they are sent to prison and separated from their families. It happens every day; children are separated from their parents as a consequence and reality of criminality.
It is happening now at our border with Mexico in response to those attempting to enter our country illegally. I think Rich Lowry’s article in National Review gives us a more balanced view of what is actually happening at the border.
We let ourselves be manipulated by the mainstream media.
But people have allowed themselves to become incensed by what the mainstream news media is feeding them and it is unashamedly anti-Trump. The idea that the media might be manipulating or misrepresenting the coverage of this story, should be as clear as the nose on Pinocchio’s face.
Why do I say that? Because current reports claim there are about 2,000 children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services since Trump began enforcing the current immigration laws as enacted by our bipartisan Congress. But the media did not give former President Obama the same attention when he did the same thing and there were 52,000 children being detained.
Of course, I am depending on the news media for the numbers quoted here and you can trust them about as far as you can throw a cameraman holding his camera. The mid-term elections are just around the corner and I think the news media will do anything to influence the voting public’s opinion against Trump.
We should not always believe the first report until we examine what is actually happening.
In circumstances like these I remember the words of Solomon, “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him,” Proverbs 18:17. One might want to take a closer look at what is actually happening and the agenda of the news media.
Great commentary on a complex subject.
Did the best I could with only 500 words, there is much more to this issue. Republicans and Democrats need to forsake partisan politics and enact a common sense immigration law and then enforce it.
Exactly.