Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. In today's episode, we're talking about a Texas law change. And we're asking the question, should we educate illegals? Now, this is based on an article I read in the Washington Post recently that was looking at a law in Texas that has been repealed under pressure from the Trump administration. And here's what it changes. Uh, so called dreamers are children who are born in the United States. Two parents who are themselves illegal immigrants. So children who by no choice of their own, find themselves being born as illegal immigrants in the United States, but grow up in the America as the only country that they've ever known. Now, in the past, states have seen them differently than even their parents. And these dreamers have been afforded rights and privileges typically restricted to citizens. So, for example, they are able to receive funding, uh, for college education. They're able to receive in state tuition at states in which they live. Uh, but the Texas law changes that so that they are afforded none of those privileges. And as a result, their bills in college are skyrocketing sometimes anywhere. An increase between 5,000 do and $21,000 for this fall semester. In fact, opponents of this law change argue that this will affect over 57,000 students in Texas alone and will cost the state about $461 million in economic activity. And the Trump administration isn't just stopping in Texas. They're challenging similar laws in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Minnesota and other states as well. So the question, of course, for us is how should we think about this from a biblical perspective? On the one hand, the respect for law. On the other hand, these children who were born in a country they didn't ask to be in a status they did not gain for themselves as illegal. Well, the answer to this is nuanced. And of course, one of the things I'm always challenging you to do at, uh, wake Up Lookup is to think in a nuanced way, to reject the binary impulse of our culture, to either answer this question as Republican or as a Democrat, because as a follower of Jesus, there's tenention here. On the one hand, the Bible certainly affirms respect for government. In Romans 13, for example, we're told to submit ourselves to the government. Breaking the law is not a good choice for a Christian. On the other hand, the Bible also makes sure that we understand that just because something becomes law, or in this case stops being law, doesn't make it just or unjust. So In Isaiah, uh, 10, for example, were warned, woe to those who make unjust laws. Simply because something's legal doesn't make it right. And that is a Christian is a tenention we have to live with. Listen, here's what I think the Bible would say. Children shouldn't pay for their parents choices. Ezekiel 18:20 says the child will not share in the guilt of their parent. It's interesting to me because conservatives here have a little bit of a double standard when it comes to something like systemic racism or generational sin. They tend to say, hey, don't hold me responsible for the mistakes of previous generations. But then with dreamers, they're turning around and saying, I will hold you responsible for the mistakes of your parents. That is a double standard that should make us uncomfortable. What the parents did was illegal. But being born is not a crime. Being born to parents who live in the United States legally or illegally is not, uh, a crime. When we punish people for that, we're punishing them for something that's beyond their control. And um, it feels at odds with the scripture that tells us, for example in Leviticus 19, to love the stranger as yourself and reminding Israel for you were once foreigners in Egypt. And I could apply that here. By the way, every person who lives in America lives in America because someone in a previous generation, I guess I shouldn't say every. Most people who live in America live here because someone in a previous generation made the choice to become an American, to move here and they had no control over that decision. And yet here we find ourselves, dreamers are in much the same place. And as Christians we're also called to defend the voiceless. Proverbs 31 says speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. It reminds us in Psalm 85 that justice and mercy go together. It says mercy and justice meet together. And that's what we're looking for. Listen, it can't be okay to be in a country illegally. But what we should be having a conversation about, at least for dreamers, is how do we make the path to legal citizenship as easy as possible. Can they serve in the military? Can they agree after college to become a teacher or to work in some kind of public service. There have to be ways that we can help children who have only ever known America as their country, who have themselves not committed a crime, become a healthy and robust part of this country. This is why simply being anti immigration or pro immigration, being anti law or pro law is too simplistic of an answer. The Bible calls us to hold justice in one hand and mercy in the other. It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time, and it's Christians who should be leading out in that. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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