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Ricochet Tuesday Essay Assignment
Recently tweeted by novelist Stephen King:
Your assignment? Simple. Compose a tweet in reply.
Published in General
How is it unChristian to return a lost child back to his home?
Steve, weren’t you complaining about separation of church and state last week?
This is the key piece the Christian Left and the Left in general has failed to understand. There is no call anywhere in Christ’s teachings to take over the reins of power and use government to force people to do His will. All of His teachings were directed at the individual: examine your own heart, you help the sick, you give to the poor, you visit those in prison. We have abandoned many of these responsibilities to the government to the extent that the Church in the West at times more resembles a social club than the body of followers described in the New Testament. There are valid criticisms of how Christianity is practiced in America, but they aren’t the ones being made by King and his ilk.
You make fair points here but actions speak louder than words. There are some notable exceptions, but there hasn’t exactly been an outpouring of sympathy among the public face(s) of the Christian Right when it comes to these people. I’m sure there are more than a few individual instances of charity but if the attitude I observe here on Ricochet is in any way indicative of the whole it’s basically “deport these disease ridden waifs first, ask questions later.”
I’d be tempted to spin his tweet in a way he probably didn’t expect:
“Suffer them to come Jesus? Are you suggesting we take them on at the border so that their innocent souls go right to Jesus? You’re sick.”
Thank you for fleshing that out. Very well put.
And how many of the little darlings will you be taking in, Mr King?
We are responding to the exclusion of justice. In a scenario which emphasized justice to the exclusion of mercy, our comments would focus on mercy.
If our government’s actions and media coverage were balanced, we would respond with balanced concerns. But they have erred completely on one side, so our call for correction is focused overwhelmingly on the opposite direction (justice).
But I agree that it’s bad optics, politically.
Stephen King, Our government has usurped much of what was formerly individual acts of Charity. Now the function and duties of “charity” have become institutionalized social programs funded by mandated taxes (formerly tithes) . #ObamaPastorOfStateRunWelfare
Unfortunately I think it’s a bit more complex than merely bad optics. And emphasizing the disease aspect doesn’t really square with your finely nuanced view.
Nice iron fence you got there, Steve. Do they charge extra for the spikes? http://kendallgiles.4orion.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/stephen_kings_house.jpg
Feed them, clothe them, give them their shots, and pay to ship them home to their family. No family back home? Put them up for adoption here in the US and in their home country.
Oh. This again. Pretty sure in Guatemala they’re not fighting the DEA, but other rival drug gangs.
Never miss an opportunity to blame the US for all the world’s problems.
But, even if they were escaping violence, why not go to Costa Rica or Panama or Belize. Pretty quiet there.
Christianity doesn’t allow me to outsource my charitable obligations to, of all entities, the State.