Tag Archives: national borders

NATIONAL BORDERS & THE BIBLE

Non-eschatology Studies August 26, 2022 1 Comment

jesus-and-bordersPMW 2022-064 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

The collapsing border disaster under the Biden Maladministration is a live topic of international consequence today. Many well meaning Christians believe it is wrong to keep refugees out on a temporary basis because they believe borders are man-made constructs lacking biblical warrant. Besides the contradiction obvious in their having homes with walls and locked doors, their argument does not hold.

Established borders are biblically warranted as we see in two clear scriptural examples. Though other arguments are available, these are quite potent.

First, the garden of Eden.

The garden was distinct from the rest of the world, which meant something must have distinguished it from the broader world. God created Adam then “placed” him in (Gen. 2:8) / “took” him to (Gen. 2:15) the garden.

Then when Adam sinned, God “drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). From this point on, Adam was not forbidden to dwell in the rest of the world, but only in the specific, guarded region of Eden. Eden had borders. Continue reading →

BORDERS, IMMIGRATION, AND THE BIBLE (2)

Culture, Law October 30, 2018 Comments: 2

PMW 2018-087 by Victor Couture

(This is part 2, continuing the previous article)

Standing Precedent Considered

Let’s now consider God’s “no molesting [vexing] a stranger” commands from Exodus and Leviticus. Israel’s Remembrance of being strangers/sojourners in a far off country was to be of special interest in observing this command.

In what way, and where, were they strangers? There were three particular incidents of this sojourning happening (which Peter Leithart dutifully notes in his study – as linked later-on in this article). Except for the one ordeal that spanned five centuries, they were rather short dramas of intrigue. Continue reading →

BORDERS, IMMIGRATION, AND THE BIBLE (1)

Uncategorized October 26, 2018 Comments: 2

PMW 2018-086 by Victor Charles Couture

Dr. Kenneth Gentry has asked me to expand on some observations of mine (which first appeared in varied Facebook groups on February 16, 2017) regarding Joshua 9 and how it pertains to immigration and the associated sojourner classifications and obligations of the Pentateuch. Note that all web-source quote referencing is enclosed using the “pipe” character | throughout this study, and that I’ve used Bible Hub throughout for referencing scripture (for KJ2000, YLT, and word studies).

Let us first consider one of the known scripture passages that contains Yahweh’s pertinent command:

17) “You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger ….. 18) But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there: therefore I command you to do this thing.” (Deut. 24:17-18).

God is serious enough about this command that He later has His people swear to keep it (Deut. 27:19). Continue reading →

DECREED BORDERS

Culture, Ethics June 10, 2016 1 Comment

Border 1PMT 2016-041 by Don Strickland

 

Acts 17:24-26 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, (25) nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. (26) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”

Recently, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a commencement speech in which he spoke approvingly of a “borderless world.” Almost a week later, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in which he stated that the coming presidential election will be a choice between nationalism and globalism. Will we remain a distinct nation, or lose our identity in the sea of the global community? Open borders, or nations without borders, is being pushed, and has been for years, throughout the countries comprising Western civilization – that is, those countries populated by the people native to Europe. Even otherwise theologically conservative Christian pastors have argued from a compassionate and/or evangelistic framework to justify the invasion crossing Europe’s and America’s borders. But what exactly does the Bible teach about national borders? Continue reading →