Theological Liberals are often guilty of practicing Leopard Theology, where they claim that the Bible is only inspired in spots and that they are inspired to spot the spots, or Advanced Dalmatian Theology, where God is also changing spots and adding or removing spots, and, oddly enough, He is only telling theological liberals and progressives.
A prime example of that is in the case of illegal immigration (a phrase they can’t bring themselves to utter, always leaving off that pesky “illegal” part). They are quick to quote Leviticus 19 to support their open borders / U.S. law defying view:
Leviticus 19:33–34 (ESV) When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
False teachers such as Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution” Wallis insist that we should apply that teaching to the U.S. But do they preach that we should follow the next chapter as well, not to mention the rest of Leviticus or the Old Testament? Of course not.
Leviticus 20:10–13 (ESV) If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
I could offer fifty more examples like that from the Old Testament and the New. But they just pick and choose what verses they like and ignore the context.
They ignore true teachings, such as that Jesus is the only way to salvation (over 100 times) and they teach a perverted view of the Gospel, yet pull out Israelite-specific commands like the one above and try to force their (misunderstood) religious beliefs on others. Where is the ACLU when you need them?
Was Leviticus 19 written to Christians in the U.S., let alone the secular U.S.? No. Should we treat people kindly no matter where they are from? Of course. But should we obey the laws? Yep. Should we protect the borders? Of course.
Side note: Regarding the argument about the Israelites being illegal aliens, that is simply false. They were originally given permission to be in Egypt.
If they wanted to consider something more universal in nature, they should read Leviticus 18 (read the beginning and ending of the chapter — God is punishing the Canaanites and warning Israel not to be like them). Then read Leviticus 19, which applies specifically to the Israelites. (Also see flaws of the shellfish argument for reading Leviticus in context.)
Why doesn’t Jim reference Romans 13 and the command to obey the laws of the country?
You get the same type of selective Biblical references by false teachers such as Chuck “Jesus is not the only way” Currie here. Follow the comments section and watch how he continually labels as racist anyone who disagrees with him, and how he dodges the question about whether it would be racist if Obama enforced the immigration laws of the country. Theological Liberals really are pathetic in how they play the race card.
Should we love our neighbors? Of course. Let’s work the root causes and help Mexico fix their country. If you think the U.S. is bad, go live in Mexico. And as usual, let’s love our neighbors consistently with our own time and money. Wallis & Co. want to love some of their neighbors with your money, and that isn’t biblical or logical.
And let’s read the Bible in context and not just pull out the things we like.
Eternity Matters 
Time and time again Neil, you show how theological liberals simply pick and choose what parts to obey. I don’t think they always do consciously; sometimes they don’t realize that they use their own belief systems to evaluate what parts of the Bible are true.
Concerning immigration, it is by no means unfair to ask people to obey the law. That being said, I tend to be a little more liberal in this area as a whole because I do believe in making it easier to become a legal immigrant ( as far as I know most conservatives don’t necessarily believe this or haven’t thought about this part as much). I think the primary consideration when it comes to determining if someone can come here is really our security. I think the market will regulate itself when it comes to the jobs issue, and I don’t think it is the role of the government to regulate immigration based on cultural considerations. I do like the idea of a probationary period of some sort in case people commit crimes, so that people can be deported for being criminals. I believe in enforcing the laws we have and making it easier for immigrants.
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Good ideas, Chance. Forbes had a provocative article about opening up immigration more, but of course we need to have well defined rules and then enforce them. There are all sorts of benefits to controlled immigration.
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I don’t have a problem with revisting our immigration policy and even adjusting it in some way, perhaps in raising the number of people allowed in annually. But at this point, with so many illegals already here, I think our priority has to be on sealing the border and enforcing existing laws.
Someone recently suggested a moratorium on immigration until we get some of the illegals documented to match what normally would have been allowed in. That is, if we normally let in one million new people in per year, and we have 12 million illegals here, we would not allow anymore in for twelve years.
I don’t know how this could work in practice. I also don’t like to prohibit the law abiding their chance to enter and become citizens while we make special arrangements for those who chose to cut in line. I think justice, that is REAL justice, not this wacky “social justice”, demands that the law breakers be sent back. We don’t have to try to round them all up. Simply unhandcuff law enforcement and send back those we find as we find them.
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Good post. Thanks for standing for biblical truth.
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Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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the only reason God blessed the US is so they can bless other people, otherwise they wiil be punished
love your neighbour as yourself, doesn’t mean anything to you?
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I’m not sure I follow — why don’t you think “love your neighbor as yourself” means anything to me?
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You talk about liberal Christians picking and chosing, but I say YOU PHARISEE! Take the log out of your eye before you try to point out the splinter in your brothers. You’re as much guilty as they are by choosing to not obey the clear word of God in Lev. 19:33-34. Don’t say that you could give 50 more examples when you are as much guilty as they are.
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Hi Elias — I’m not sure I follow. The passage you cited says, “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” I didn’t realize that applied to me. Did you even read the post?
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….”I never knew you, depart from me you evildoers”….Christ.
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