My View on Syrian Refugees

"You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow." - Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus is never wrong. He didn't do a lot of clear speeches, He mostly spoke in riddles throughout the Bible but with the Sermon on the Mount, He meant for us to understand Him clearly. And that last bit. "Don't turn away those who want to borrow." I can't help but feel like that's exactly what we are doing by denying Syrians refuge here in the US. I know that there is no way to differentiate between who is good and has no ill intent to harm us, and who is indeed intending to harm us. But even with that uncertainty, I can't help but feel that we should still try to help them. I have seen people posting about how poor America already is, or how we have so many homeless, etc. but let's be honest, America is in far better condition financially than all third world countries put together. We have more than enough. I'm not saying that it's not a problem that we have homeless U.S. citizens and have not helped them. By all means, we should address that issue and try to form a solution. But also we must find a way to help the Syrian people in need as well and any other country that lacks in an area where we have an abundance. I look at it like this, if a young child knocked on your door in the middle of the night, you are alone in your home, he looks fragile, cold, hungry, in need.... do you let him in? You don't know if it could be a facade, there could be someone just out of sight who wants to take your life once you open that door, but do you open it? That is the question we face here and I don't know about anyone else's answer is but it's evident what God's answer to that is. YES. You open the door. "Don't turn away those who want to borrow." There has to be a point where just your faith in humanity has to be enough. You may witness some fallout from allowing someone you don't fully trust into your home but you may also witness the gratitude in someones eyes as tears stream down their face, thinking 'thank God someone still cared enough about me to help.' I think it's worth the risk to do the right thing. For the greater good. Once we lose our faith & hope in humanity entirely, there is no turning back. Yes, I believe there is evil. But I believe wholeheartedly that that same evil will inevitably be extinguished by GOOD. It always is. See; God 'Commands' us to love. It not a request, it's a command. That means we don't have a say in the matter. It's not only an obligation but should be something we do from the fruit of our souls because we desire to. Furthermore, if we do nothing at all to try and help them, and then we tune into our TV sets, in our warm home, on our comfy couch, and watch hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians being slaughtered; we cannot then say their blood is not on our hands. We cannot say it wasn't by our lack of compassion and faith in mankind, that they died. I don't want to lose hope in humanity. I believe most of us are good.... and those who are not will be dealt with either in, or after this life, by God. So I have no qualms about us taking in Syrian refugees or any other refugees for that matter. And should it result in attacks on lives here in the US; I say this..... I'd rather die for doing good than live doing nothing to stop the bad. - Brianna Colleen Carey

"We can't let the bad prevent us from doing good." - Brianna Colleen Carey