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Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 6:07 am
by Valerie
I really like the 'safe zone' proposal, I just don't know how quickly this can happen.
A Christ like response is to help calm down the naysayers before the hysteria and misinformation gets blown out of proportion.
Matthew 12:25
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand

How can we, as Christians, be a 'peacemaker' when the raging is going on? Indeed I have tried this last week, but what I found is, that the left (I'm talking some facebook friends) is very vile, and spews foul language at me for trying to convey what President is trying to do- to calm them down. But I have found that evil is waxing worse & worse- the left is in hysteria over the right to life possibly having hope of overturning abortion being legal- and knows this administration is not for the homosexual agenda, nor the atheist agenda- so it's going to be increasingly difficult to be a peacemaker other than to just realize, all this God is using as we move towards the end and the Anti-Christ gets ushered in.
President Trump will make mistakes but so did every President. We don't want to come across as blind to his errors so we need to pray and give things time to work out. I was in high-school when the Vietnamise started coming to our country as refugees, the area I lived in was really flooded with them- now their communities are full of gangs against each other-
I guess thinking about what's being said here, the 'safe zones' seem like a much better option. American's started getting upset over the Vietnamese getting benefits that Americans could not get- seemingly unfair advantage over those who were already here- I took a college course out of high-school- Ecology- I remember a statement made: "America is a lifeboat, but if too many people climb on a lifeboat, it will sink"-
Is that statement unChrist like? Or is it reality?

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 6:21 am
by Bootstrap
To me, a Christlike response means taking all the Scriptures we've seen seriously, which pretty much requires us to be welcoming to refugees and foreigners. When I think about how to be Christlike to foreigners of a different religion, I think about how Jesus related to Samaritans, who were not Jews, and how Jesus and Paul related to Greeks and Romans, the pagan occupying military force.

I'm uncomfortable with the idea that the Christian response is to petition Caesar to keep them as far away as possible, especially groups that have never been involved in any terrorist incident in the United States. I worry that the safe zone option is mostly about that. "We don't want them here." I just don't see that attitude anywhere in New Testament discipleship.

Remember how shocked people were that Jesus would talk to a Samaritan woman?

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:14 am
by Valerie
God is the one who created the nations- the tower of Babel-
We will have nations until the healing of the Nations in the New Jerusalem-the city of God-
I think you missed my point- the 'safe zones' are a wonderful idea IF POSSIBLE because it is not with the thought to 'keep them away' but to keep them in a part of the world where they are culturally comfortable-

Anabaptists came here as a last resort-obviously by keeping their culture and language alive to this day- their own feelings were to hold true to their heritage. I think safe zones are a loving way to help them not have to start completely over, seeing the challenges first hand (St. Matthew's Church) of what Syrian refugees go through to start over here, I think if possible, safe zones are better for them. I don't see that as unChrist like. Remember, Jesus said to "GO" to the nations not bring them all to one place- Samaratins Purse is 'going' there- perhaps if more people are willing to do that, that would be beneficial!

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:24 am
by Bootstrap
Valerie wrote:Anabaptists came here as a last resort-obviously by keeping their culture and language alive to this day- their own feelings were to hold true to their heritage. I think safe zones are a loving way to help them not have to start completely over, seeing the challenges first hand (St. Matthew's Church) of what Syrian refugees go through to start over here, I think if possible, safe zones are better for them. I don't see that as unChrist like. Remember, Jesus said to "GO" to the nations not bring them all to one place- Samaratins Purse is 'going' there- perhaps if more people are willing to do that, that would be beneficial!
"We don't want them here." That's the attitude that worries me. It doesn't seem like Jesus Christ to me. (I'll start a thread for discussing whether safe zones work and the policy issues, that's largely Caesar's responsibility, I'm more concerned about our responsibility in this thread.)

Christlike = like Christ = mirroring the love and actions of Jesus. In this thread, I'd love to see people point to what Jesus did and said, how he related to other groups, how Paul and the church did in Acts and the letters, and use these things to try to feel out what is Christlike. It's really, really difficult to keep our eyes on that, so I think we should try very hard to keep our focus there in at least one or two threads.

What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do back then?

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:56 am
by Valerie
Bootstrap wrote:
Valerie wrote:Anabaptists came here as a last resort-obviously by keeping their culture and language alive to this day- their own feelings were to hold true to their heritage. I think safe zones are a loving way to help them not have to start completely over, seeing the challenges first hand (St. Matthew's Church) of what Syrian refugees go through to start over here, I think if possible, safe zones are better for them. I don't see that as unChrist like. Remember, Jesus said to "GO" to the nations not bring them all to one place- Samaratins Purse is 'going' there- perhaps if more people are willing to do that, that would be beneficial!
"We don't want them here." That's the attitude that worries me. It doesn't seem like Jesus Christ to me. (I'll start a thread for discussing whether safe zones work and the policy issues, that's largely Caesar's responsibility, I'm more concerned about our responsibility in this thread.)

Christlike = like Christ = mirroring the love and actions of Jesus. In this thread, I'd love to see people point to what Jesus did and said, how he related to other groups, how Paul and the church did in Acts and the letters, and use these things to try to feel out what is Christlike. It's really, really difficult to keep our eyes on that, so I think we should try very hard to keep our focus there in at least one or two threads.

What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do back then?
Certainly, you did not interpret what I said correctly at all, it makes it very hard for reasonable discussion.

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 12:04 pm
by Bootstrap
Valerie wrote:Certainly, you did not interpret what I said correctly at all, it makes it very hard for reasonable discussion.
I'm sorry if I am misinterpreting you. Going back, I see that you said this:
Valerie wrote:I think you missed my point- the 'safe zones' are a wonderful idea IF POSSIBLE because it is not with the thought to 'keep them away' but to keep them in a part of the world where they are culturally comfortable
I agree with that. If possible, the best thing would be to stay in their country. I'm not sure that it's realistic for a foreign power to provide safe zones that protect people from their own government, though. That falls under your IF POSSIBLE. If those safe zones existed, Christians could perhaps go and serve in them.

There are also refugee camps in neighboring countries. We need them. They are overflowing. There is lots of opportunities for Christians to serve there right now. Some of our agencies are doing just that.

Given a choice, refugees often prefer to come to other countries, especially ours. If the question is about their comfort, I think they get to decide. If they come here, I hope we welcome and serve them as Christians.

I'm guessing you might actually agree with all of that?

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:41 am
by Valerie
Bootstrap wrote:
Valerie wrote:Certainly, you did not interpret what I said correctly at all, it makes it very hard for reasonable discussion.
I'm sorry if I am misinterpreting you. Going back, I see that you said this:
Valerie wrote:I think you missed my point- the 'safe zones' are a wonderful idea IF POSSIBLE because it is not with the thought to 'keep them away' but to keep them in a part of the world where they are culturally comfortable
I agree with that. If possible, the best thing would be to stay in their country. I'm not sure that it's realistic for a foreign power to provide safe zones that protect people from their own government, though. That falls under your IF POSSIBLE. If those safe zones existed, Christians could perhaps go and serve in them.

There are also refugee camps in neighboring countries. We need them. They are overflowing. There is lots of opportunities for Christians to serve there right now. Some of our agencies are doing just that.

Given a choice, refugees often prefer to come to other countries, especially ours. If the question is about their comfort, I think they get to decide. If they come here, I hope we welcome and serve them as Christians.

I'm guessing you might actually agree with all of that?
I forgive you--
But- you and I are not the one's who need to be figuring out the 'safe zone' possibility- let's leave that to our President & those he's speaking with to see if they can work it out. California wants to become a 'sanctuary state' - that is the LAST place I would want any refugee to live but- hey- I'm glad they want to bring them to one of the most expensive places in the nation to live. That state has lost it's sanity (my mom told me to prepare her bedroom here in Ohio in case she flees).

Anyway yes I agree with your last statement-
What is Christian Aid Ministries doing? I know they get really involved with these needs-
St. Matthew's where we attended have refugee families they are helping get resettled and it is an enormous, expensive task to get each family to start a new life here- language barriers when they need jobs- lots of problems. It's working because it has too. They were under persecution from ISIS where they were living.
There are ministries going there to help:
http://www.partners.ngo/middle-east
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaste ... P-Mid-East

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:12 am
by mike
Valerie wrote:What is Christian Aid Ministries doing?
They are accepting donations for food parcels which are delivered to refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:34 am
by temporal1
Valerie wrote:I really like the 'safe zone' proposal, I just don't know how quickly this can happen.
A Christ like response is to help calm down the naysayers before the hysteria and misinformation gets blown out of proportion .. ..
altho, evidently, not aired in the recent mainstream, safe zones are nothing new, and people have been considering them in serious ways in recent years. there is no way trump could have "just invented" some radical new thinking like this .. it's neither radical nor new.

it's odd how the mainstream thinks so narrowly. :?
anything outside their immediate experience is "beyond them." possibly this is partly because so many employed in mainstream media are just simply so young, lacking life experience? (not necessarily the ones in view, some are "ancient," but the thousands working behind the scenes.)

for those age 30-ish or younger, they've barely experienced more than one presidential admin in their young adult lives. that's not much to draw on. many aren't yet paying much attention .. they have a lot of important things going on in those years. human maturity takes time.

big challenges deserve multiple responses.
this is no time to wear blinders.
we can pray for God to bless the overall responses of many; of course, including trump's.

Re: [Poll] A Christlike Response to Trump's Border Security Orders

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 9:14 am
by Bootstrap
Valerie wrote:I really like the 'safe zone' proposal, I just don't know how quickly this can happen.
A Christ like response is to help calm down the naysayers before the hysteria and misinformation gets blown out of proportion .. ..
I agree, but I would apply it a little differently. The existing system was working. No refugee ever committed an act of terror in the United States, we were screening well enough to accomplish that. Nobody from the 7 countries on the list ever committed an act of terror.

When people are telling us to hate and fear people and throwing up walls, how do we respond to that as Christians? How do we relate to Samaritans who don't practice the same religion and to Greeks and Romans who not only don't practice the same religion but represent the military occupation?
temporal1 wrote:big challenges deserve multiple responses.
this is no time to wear blinders.
we can pray for God to bless the overall responses of many; of course, including trump's.
I agree with all of this.

But I also think that as Christians, our message to refugees needs to be a loud "welcome". And however Caesar responds, we need to find ways to show our love.