ramblings of randomness 2: electric boogaloo

a follow up to my random post from the other day.

so i was reading in Leviticus this morning. what a way to start the day! and i stumbled upon this verse:

^33-34 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.
~ Leviticus 19:33-34 (the Message)

and in case you find the Message translation to be too much of a paraphrase...

³⁴ The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
~ Leviticus 19:33-34 (NIV)

i find this verse very interesting in light of the new law in Arizona to rid its self of illegal immigrants. Arizona Senate Bill 1070 states that any Hispanic can be stopped and detained unless they carry the proper paperwork proving their citizenship. So this is what we've come to. I dare say that Arizona is out of control. Jon Stewart referred to them as "the meth lab of democracy."

This new bill is the toughest of its kind.

So in light of all of this - and putting politics aside: what should the Christian, no,Christ-like or Godly response be?

--

actually, speaking of politics, I wonder how Christians might act, think, behave or believe different if we looked to the example of Christ first rather than our political party of choice.

what if we made great effort to 'love' first? how would our country and our world be different?

we would probably care for others more. there would be no debate on health care. we would find a way to get sick people well. there would be no poverty. we would find a way to get people fed and clothed and housed. we would probably care for the earth more. if nothing else, we would take care of it. we'd recycle, etc. wanting to take care of the earth doesn't make one an environmentalist (in the radical sense, anyway). it makes one human. was not Adam instructed to take care of the land? [Genesis 3] We'd listen more. there would be less arguing and bickering. public servants called to public service would follow the needs of the public first not greedy temptations.

some of our current systems may be flawed - but would they be if we acted Christ-like first? think of how productive we could be?

--

if you do a Google image search in order to find pictures of 'Jesus' this image of Jesus holding a rifle will no doubt show up. really? a rifle? people have a keen knack of distorting scripture to say what they want it to say.
So what did Jesus mean when he said "blessed are the peace makers"; "love your neighbor as your self", "love your enemies"; "pray for those who persecute you"; "turn the other cheek"; "give to those in need", etc.

I don't remember him saying "Annie get your gun!"

yeah, i know, the 2nd Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms. fine. but don't insert Jesus into your own desires. Bear your arms if you like. i pray you never have to use it. Life would be different if this guy hadn't been packing heat.