Thursday, February 18, 2016

On building walls or bridges

Building Walls or Bridges

Pope Francis, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, made the following statement is response to calls for a wall to be built to protect the US Southern border with Mexico: 

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,"

The I am a confirmed Christian and a member of the Holy Catholic Church of the Lutheran Denomination.  When we are served communion the announcement is made for all who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are invited to the chancel for the service of communion.

Yet, when we attend services in a Roman Catholic Church, with friends or family who belong to that Church, we are denied the service of Communion.

Is that not building walls?  And is not the Vatican a walled city?  The reasons for building borders are not necessarily bad, especially in these times of turmoil.

Remember that Jesus said, “Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar’s and render unto God that which is God’s.”  Jesus was telling us to respect the secular laws as well as God’s laws.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States is: 
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.


Without a secured border it would not be possible to provide for the common defense and insure domestic tranquility.  The unsecured borders would also lead to a destabilization of the union, a reduced ability to maintain justice along the border areasEventually, our very liberties, which we cherish so dearly, would be at jeapordy as our way of life dissolves in the wake of the balkanization of the United States.