The key word is resident.
To become a resident you have to be welcomed according to the law of that land.
I wonder what they'll say about how the Israelis kicked all the people that inhabited Canaan according to the Almightys instructions.
I don’t claim to have all the answers to the problem of refugees, but since the author quotes scripture to insinuate that White evangelicals are hypocrites for not following the teachings of the Bible, Let’s ask ourselves some relevant questions from the verses the author quotes :
1. Leviticus 19:34 — “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreign in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Notice the phrase “as the citizen among you.” What does it mean?
If someone from a pagan nation came to Israel ( e.g. Ruth or Rahab ), is Israel supposed to assimilate to the pagan’s religion and culture or is the pagan supposed to assimilate to the culture, morality and God of Israel?
Next question -— how many percent of refugees from places like Syria or Somalia are assimilating to American culture instead of retaining their own Muslim culture? ( the culture they are so desperate to escape from). Replace the word “American” with “German” or “French” or “Asutralian” and the question remains the same.
2. Matthew 25:35 — “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Suppose we establish a safe zone IN SYRIA for instance, and send troops to protect those fleeing the civil war there, feed them, house them and clothe them, instead of encouraging them to treck thousands of dangerous miles to come to the west. How is this violating the teachings of Jesus?
3. Jeremiah 22:3 — “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
Notice the word “Do Justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who was robbed”
Let’s talk about Syria again. How do you “deliver then from the hand of the oppressor”?
There are two oppressors in this case — on the one hand, we have Bashar Al Assad, on the other hand we have the opposing Syrian Front ( of which many ISIS terrorists are embedded ).
What to do to deliver them from these oppressors and do justice and righteousness?
Do we protect them from Assad’s chemical weapons? Do we kill the ISIS terrorists?
Heck, the USA is doing both ( Trump bombed the airports and military runways of Syria that was delivering the chemical weapons, all these against Putin’s warnings ). The USA just sent troops to help the Syrians and the Kurds decimate ISIS, and I don’t see White Evangelicals opposing these military interventions.
It’s easy to quote a Bible verse, but to PUT IT IN PRACTICE requires wisdom.
4. Exodus 22:21 — “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
What does oppress a resident alien mean?
Is there a case where some Evangelical oppressed a RESIDENT alien as in stealing his things, or preventing him from being housed, clothed and fed? If ANYONE, Christian or not did this in the USA, he would be punished
by our laws.
The author quotes the Bible but does not cite examples
Finally, here is a question we should all ask -— when aliens and strangers come to Israel, is it the expectation that the alien bring with him his culture and worship of his own pagan god? Or is it the
expectation that the alien assimilate and become a worshipper of the true God of Israel?
The answer lies in both the lives of Rahab and Ruth.
Question -— Are refugee Muslims who come to the USA or Europe assimilating? Or are they bringing their culture with them? And how compatible is this culture with the Judaeo-Christian culture of the USA and what used to be Europe?