Dear friends, please consider the implications of this tweet and of the worldview it represents.
The Syrian refugee crisis isn't about people who live in the United States. It's about people who used to live in Syria, but have fled to escape the violence they daily faced there. They are displaced, scared, weak, and vulnerable. And they are humans, just like we are.
We live in a very consumeristic society. Many people are concerned with what they can acquire to make their lives better and happier and safer. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if we had not begun to also apply this consumeristic mindset to the people around us. I would argue that one of the primary reasons many marriages end in divorce today is that husbands and wives are concerned with their own happiness more than they are concerned with their spouse's. (I understand that there are cases in which abuse is present and forces many wives to escape terrible situations; that is another issue.) We hear words like, "You complete me," and "You make me so happy," and "You make me feel alive." The common thread through all these is that the relationship is about ME: MY completion, MY happiness, MY feeling alive.
We take this attitude so easily into every other area of our lives, and I fear that it has come to poison our perspective on the value of human life. The author of this tweet calls me a "bleeding heart liberal" for holding this perspective, and I approve of his description. My heart aches for the people of Syria. My heart aches for the non-extremist Muslims in the Western world who are being viewed increasingly as threats and as enemies based on the actions of others around them.
During World War II, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put in prison camps because people were afraid they might be disloyal spies for the United States' enemy at the time. Many people would say we are at war with ISIS and other extremist Muslim groups. It does seem pretty apparent to me that they, at least, have declared war on us. But what price are we willing to pay in the name of "national security"?
Dear friends, there are two logical discrepancies that I can see in many people's approaches to this situation. First, people say that we must go to extreme lengths to make sure our country is safe; we must keep out ALL the refugees on the chance that some of them MIGHT be terrorists. Many of the same people, however, would argue passionately that the government has no right to spy on its citizens to try to keep them safe. Second, many of the same people who say that our own personal safety is more important than others' lives claim to be pro-life.
In light of all the above, I would like to answer this tweet's question and then pose one of my own.
Syrian Refugees estimates that around 9 million refugees have fled Syria since 2011. Let's just say, for the sake of this tweet's analogy, that 0.1% of those refugees are terrorists. That means that around 9,000 of these refugees are actually terrorists seeking to infiltrate other countries, but it also means that 8,991,000 of them are NOT terrorists. This tweet asked if I would eat the M&M's. The answer is twofold: first, since we all know what we're talking about, yes. In a heartbeat I would, because of the second part: people are not M&M's. They are not products to be consumed for our satisfaction. Not everything is about how happy or how safe we are. We are talking about LIVES: lives that have been uprooted and cast out onto the wild seas of uncertainty and fear. So yes, I would eat the M&M's, because if I get nine poisoned ones and one ordinary one in my handful, that is still one life that I have saved.
For those of you who may be reading this and are not believers in Christ, you have no reason to listen to me. There is no higher authority to which I can appeal than your sense of pity or justice or generosity. I hope that my words will perhaps trigger some thoughts on your part on the value of human life and the way we ought to approach the difficult situations in which the world finds itself.
To those of you who are my brothers and my sisters in Christ, I want to speak specifically to you. Mark 10:45 says that "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
I don't want to preach. I don't want to act like I'm up on a high horse with the perfect position on everything. I don't want to come across as arrogant and judgmental. But I do want to challenge you. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that Scripture is "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." So ignore everything I said in this post, if you like. But consider Mark. Consider Ephesians. Consider Romans 5:8: "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The Scriptures are clear that we are meant to imitate Christ, to love as He loved, and to lay down our lives, if necessary, for the sake of others. Jesus Christ, God the Son, says in Matthew 5:44-45, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." And in John 13:34-35, He says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Finally, in Matthew 5:46, He says, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?"
Christ's love was scandalous, illogical, unsafe, and undeserved; it cost Him everything to love us. Will we now, as those who bear His name and are sealed by His blood, refuse to show that some love to those who most need it?
Yes, it's ridiculously scary. I don't particularly want to have to suffer and die for my faith. We can let the future paralyze us if we think about it. So many things could go wrong. So many people could betray us and hurt us. But Christ gives us this assurance in Matthew 6:25-34:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not show or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solimon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Dear brothers and sisters, I beg you to not let fear keep you from showing others the love of God. Consider the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where Jesus condemns the goats, saying: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Do we look at the Syrian refugees and see Christ? They are poor, afraid, homeless, and potentially dangerous. Are they not the least? Can we not show them the love of Christ, that our Heavenly Father might be glorified?
