Wise and foolish virgins

“This is a crisis, and not simply a political crisis, but a moral one,” said Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. On Tuesday, Mr. Moore led a delegation of Southern Baptist officials to visit refugee children at detention centers in San Antonio and McAllen, Tex. In an interview after the visit, Mr. Moore said that “the anger directed toward vulnerable children is deplorable and disgusting” and added: “The first thing is to make sure we understand these are not issues, these are persons. These children are made in the image of God, and we ought to respond to them with compassion, not with fear.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/us-religious-leaders-embrace-cause-of-immigrant-children.html?_r=0 

America’s southern border is engulfed in a humanitarian crisis, as refugees fleeing violence in central America, many of them unaccompanied children, seek safety.  

That done, reform is to try to make a way for those here under our “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to come out of the shadows and, where possible, make things right. 

The Samaritan has no reason to claim accountability for this terrorized neighbor. He does so because he treats him, a stranger, as though he were kin. The lawyer questioning Jesus rightly sees this as showing mercy (Lk. 10:37). And Jesus says simply, “Go and do likewise.” That’s why Christians are at the border, ministering to people. And that’s why all of us should be praying for those in harm’s way on the border, and those trembling in fear in violence-torn Central American countries, as well as those exploited by traffickers and cartels. 

http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/07/13/the-road-to-jericho-and-the-border-crisis/

Several issues:

i) Moore is too nearsighted to see that amnesty is the magnet creating the crisis in the first place. The policy he champions precipitates the result he deplores; he then cites the deplorable result to expand the ruinous policy. A classic vicious cycle. 

ii) It's not a Christian virtue to be a dupe. The kids are being used as bait by La Raza and the Democrats. 

iii) Presumably, Moore doesn't think children should be separated from their parents. So where should they be reunited? It's obvious that the children are being exploited by opportunistic adults to secure a foothold for the adults. If you reward that tactic, that's an open invitation to flood the Southern border.

iv) There's such a thing as destroying the very thing you came for. If you overload the system, you destroy what you came for. Everyone loses. Like dying of starvation because you hunted game species to the point of their extinction. 

v) It isn't the responsibility of American wage-earners to provide for all the needy and oppressed people of the world. We couldn't do that even if we wanted to. 

From what I can tell, the American economic is dying, thanks to liberal policies. We can't afford another unfunded mandate or bankrupting entitlement program. 

vi) Illegal immigrants are looters. We can't afford to have waves of people plunder our goods and services. That impoverishes everyone (except the ruling class). Those who pay into the system get nothing in return because those who didn't pay into the system take it all.  

vii) The parable of the Good Samaritan is not the only parable of Jesus. Here's another parable:

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps….8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves’ (Mt 25:1-2,8-9).

i) The wise virgins brought their own oil. It was theirs to keep. 

ii) Notice the theme of personal responsibility. 

iii) Because supplies were limited, there wasn't enough to go around. If they shared their oil, there wouldn't be enough for anyone. Before you can even provide for others, you must be in a position to provide for your own needs. Sometimes you have to be hard-nosed. Otherwise, no one benefits.