Maryland's Dream Act: 9 of 10 people miss this

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

9 of 10 people miss this

I have noticed, with great interest, that people who care deeply about Scripture make the same mistake about Matthew 25, 9 times out of 10. In the description of the Last Judgment, Jesus talks about feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty ... and, and ... what's the third? Almost everyone says: clothe the naked. That's 4th. #3 matters, really matters. The passage is sobering: the Lord says, more or less: "Do these things, meet my Father; don't do these, go to hell." So skipping the itchy one is probably a bad idea. The third: "I was a stranger (alien, migrant, foreigner -- xenos in Greek), and you welcomed me."

4 comments:

Jo Chopra McGowanApril 4, 2012 at 9:40 AM
I love this, John. Thanks for the reminder.

My parents were great, great believers in welcoming the stranger and they practiced it to a fault (according to their long-suffering children who thought many of the strangers they brought home were pretty strange).

But some of us are following in their footsteps now!

And we are all pretty strange if you get right down to it.

Much love to all of you.
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mike spahnApril 4, 2012 at 11:44 AM
A good reminder of how to stay happy in life. Even for those who don't believe in Christianity, happiness doesn't come through wealth or possessions but through relationships with others. Welcoming a new person into your life could change it forever.
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Intro

There are about 12 million immigrants in the United States without legal documentation. Numerous efforts to solve the challenge of illegal immigration have failed. One such effort is the Dream Act. The federal Dream Act addresses the national challenge, but there are other state efforts as well, including the Maryland Dream Act. The Maryland law deals with a very small piece of the overall issue: it would provide in-state tuition rates at community colleges and in-state tuition rates for juniors and seniors at four-year state colleges and universities, to undocumented immigrants who meet a list of conditions. The law passed in April 2011, but opponents of the bill collected signatures to force a referendum on the issue in the 2012 election. Polls in late 2011 indicated that voters were split, but the bill was likely to go down in defeat.

Many of the leaders of the opposition to the Dream Act are conservatives who identify themselves as Christian. My intent to is open and maintain a civil argument among Christians on the issue. It is not my intention to exclude anyone from the debate; I am focusing on a debate among Christians because that’s who I am.

I am convinced that Christians who oppose the Dream Act have overlooked the clear and forceful teaching of Bible and the Church throughout the ages.

The easiest example: nearly everyone makes a mistake in discussions of the Last Judgment as described in Matthew 25. Nearly everyone makes the SAME mistake -- and it’s an interesting one. (See "9 of 10 ...")

So let’s talk.