{"id":358,"date":"2010-07-31T04:00:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-31T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=358"},"modified":"2011-08-27T11:40:43","modified_gmt":"2011-08-27T17:40:43","slug":"birthright-citizenship-illegals-a-grace-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=358","title":{"rendered":"Birthright Citizenship & Illegals: A Grace Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Every baby born in this country, regardless of whether that baby’s parents are legally or illegally in the U.S., was born here because that’s exactly where God determined that little one would be born.\u00a0 At least that’s what I believe the Bible teaches.\u00a0 In Acts 17:26-27, the Apostle Paul spoke these words to the citizens of Athens:<\/p>\n

And He (God) has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed\u00a0times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. (NKJV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some view this Scripture from a\u00a0macro level — that God does indeed determine the preappointed\u00a0times and boundaries of entire people groups,\u00a0but not individuals.\u00a0 However, if God could exert His sovereign power on a large-scale, then certainly the Creator of the Universe, who with a Word spoke everything into existence, could\u00a0work at the micro level as well,\u00a0determining where each individual would be born.\u00a0 I do not believe that I was born in\u00a0this country\u00a0by accident or coincidence.\u00a0 In fact, each and every person born in the United States of America, the most blessed nation in the world, is here because God desires\u00a0them to\u00a0be here.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0light of Wednesday’s ruling, enjoining major portions of Arizona’s Immigration Law from going into effect, there are some within the halls of government that do not desire certain American citizens\u00a0to remain in the land of their birth:\u00a0 Children of Illegal Immigrants Born on American Soil.\u00a0 Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believes it may be time to\u00a0end “birthright citizenship<\/a>,” the legal principle which confers automatic citizenship on “all persons born or naturalized in the United States<\/em>.”\u00a0 In the U.S. House of Representatives, there are currently 92 co-sponsors of a bill that would grant “birthright citizenship” only “if one of the child’s parents is a U.S. citizen or national, or a legal immigrant<\/span><\/em>.”<\/p>\n

There’s\u00a0just one\u00a0small problem with this approach.\u00a0 The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Adopted on July 9, 1868, in the aftermath of the Civil War, Section One of this Amendment clearly states:<\/p>\n

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That means that anyone who is born on American soil is a citizen of the United States.\u00a0 And regardless of one’s opinion on comprehensive immigration reform, the children of illegal immigrants are likewise citizens of this great country.\u00a0 The only way to change this fact is to amend the\u00a0Fourteenth Amendment.\u00a0\u00a0 And to attempt this strategy, no matter how pure and non-discriminatory\u00a0someone’s motives might be, will appear to a large portion of the voting public to be both petty and discriminatory.\u00a0 Appearances matter and they often become more persuasive than reality, whether we like it or not.\u00a0 Conservatives would be wise to reject any talk of tinkering with the\u00a0Fourteenth Amendment’s “birthright citizenship” principle.<\/p>\n

In my previous post, Are You An American Citizen?<\/a>, I argued that our borders must be secured\u00a0first\u00a0before we move to a discussion of a “pathway to citizenship” for those who are illegally in this country.\u00a0 Regardless of what happens in the legal and political arenas of the immigration debate, the Church —\u00a0follower’s of Christ\u00a0— must respond with grace to those who live in our communities and neighborhoods.\u00a0 And that includes people who may be here illegally.<\/p>\n

Grace is unmerited favor.\u00a0 God granted us His favor not only when we didn’t deserve it, but when we should have received His judgment.\u00a0 When we\u00a0comprehend how\u00a0rich God’s grace is\u00a0toward us, then we will want to show that same grace to others.\u00a0 While Christians should voice their opinions in the public square regarding immigration or any other issue that America faces, we must never forget that the Church’s primary mission is not practicing social justice, but\u00a0rather proclaiming the\u00a0amazing grace of and glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all people, regardless of their ethnicity or language or immigration status.<\/p>\n

The people who live near you and your church\u00a0are not there by accident or coincidence.\u00a0 God has determined not only their place of residence, but yours (and mine) as well.\u00a0 Remember that the next time you discuss the\u00a0problem of illegal immigration.\u00a0 It may not change your view on\u00a0border security or amnesty.\u00a0 But maybe, just maybe, it will cause\u00a0you to\u00a0see the\u00a0multitude of real\u00a0people right in front of\u00a0you who are seeking after God in the hope that they might find Him.\u00a0 And\u00a0as\u00a0you see them,\u00a0respond\u00a0with grace and love, pointing ALL people to the One who “has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth!”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every baby born in this country, regardless of whether that baby’s parents are legally or illegally in the U.S., was born here because that’s exactly where God determined that little one would be born.\u00a0 At least that’s what I believe the Bible teaches.\u00a0 In Acts 17:26-27, the Apostle Paul spoke these words to the citizens…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,28],"tags":[163,399,451,509,613],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grace","category-immigration-reform","tag-birthright-citizenship","tag-fourteenth-amendment","tag-grace-2","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-lindsey-graham"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-5M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/2607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}