DoubleQuoting the “Good Samaritan at the Border” question
[ by Charles Cameron — I may quote scripture here, but the question is not one of church vs state, but of morality vs legality ]
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On the question of giving water to the illegal thirsty, we are clearly split:
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The scripture I have in mind isn’t the tale of the Good Samaritan, relevant though that is. No, it’s the list of what have come to bve called the acts of corporal mercy, as formulated in the gospel of Matthew:
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. .. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.
The Good Samaritan instinctively acted on these commands, even though he lived only in the imagination of the man about whom the gospels would be written decades later. In that story, that morally compelling fiction, his action is contrasted with that of the priestly scholars of the law — and the lawyer who asked Christ the question which prompted that story is counseled by him to show mercy..
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Sources:
Tucson, Jury deadlocks 8-4 for acquittal WaPo, Judge rejects good Samaritan defense
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Morality vs legalism?
At this point in human culture, is it even a question?
September 7th, 2019 at 4:36 pm
You know, it’s worth noting the passage I quoted there from St Matthew’s gospel is drawn from a section about the end times, and specifically the Final Judgment, and those who did not feed, clothe, invite, visit etc the thirsty, hungry, strangers, sick and prisoners are condemned in the same verses to a “hellfire and brimstone” fate..