I am a Christian. I say this because my faith is a huge part of my life and I’m proud of it, no matter what. One thing I’m not prideful of, however, is how many supposed Christians have been responding to immigration/refugees, especially from the Middle East. The nasty, racist comments I’ve seen from people I know well who claim to be Christians is not representative of the love God demands we have for others. Matthew 25:35 says this:
‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
I don’t know about you, but I take that verse to mean we, especially for those of the Christian faith, should be welcoming refugees, immigrants, and anyone else with a loving heart.
Seeing disgusting comments about people of other backgrounds is unfortunately not unusual where I live. I love my home, but the ideals and mindsets many residents of my county have are ones that are small- minded and, in my opinion, extremely hypocritical. To give you a better picture, I’m from Kentucky. A very small town in Kentucky, to be exact. Though many people do have open hearts and minds here, there are too many others who do not. Quite frankly, it’s disheartening. I see the negative image so many people get of Kentucky from those who do spread hate, and I get disappointed. I want to scream, “We aren’t all that way!!” But I think to myself: How is anyone ever going to know we aren’t all “that way” if someone isn’t spreading a different narrative? So here I am.
The ones posting these anti-refugee sentiments are, from my observation, the same ones sharing bible verses in the same hour. If they paid more attention to verses like Matthew 25:35, they’d see that God isn’t in fact calling them to spread hate, but in fact he’s calling them to spread a message of acceptance. Though with my time here at Affinity I plan on writing on a variety of topics, I want part of my focus to be on a message of love and acceptance on behalf of Christians who feel as I do.
I’d like to apologize from the bottom of my heart to anyone who has been made to feel unwelcome or unworthy by someone who claims to be Christian.
The end of Matthew 25: 35 truly resonates with me:
‘For I was a stranger, and you invited me in.’
As a Christian, I welcome you. I hope anyone who reads this who shares my faith welcomes you. You are a stranger, but I invite you in.
And I mean it.
