Walls Tell You Where You Are

The United States government remains partially shut-down over the issue of a wall (border security).

Rasmussen reports that most voters favor strongly controlled borders and reject House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s charge that it is immoral for the USA to build a border wall.

53% of “Likely U.S. Voters” think it is better for the United States to tightly control immigration. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree and say it is better to open our borders to all as long as they are not terrorists or criminals.  (How do you guarantee the latter?  If borders are “open,” I doubt anybody would announce they’re a terrorist or murderer when they drive in.)

Where do you stand on “The Wall” (or steel fence)? To me it’s a no-brainer.

Walls tell you where you are.

President Trump has threatened to invoke the National Emergencies Act, a post-Watergate reform statute that was enacted in 1976, if Congressional Democrats won’t give 5.7 billion dollars needed for a wall. Since the National Emergencies Act was enacted, presidents have declared national emergencies on numerous occasions 31 of which are technically still in effect.

5.7 billion dollars sounds like a lot of money for a wall–but not in comparison to the federal budget of 4.4 trillion dollars.

It’s less than .13%.

By comparison, let’s say you make $59,000 a year (median U.S. income) and want to protect your yard with a fence. Would you be willing to spend $76.43 to build it? (.13% x $59,000.) Of course you would. You’d probably be willing to spend ten times that amount if you were having a problem with trespassers.

So, Democratic Party, where’s the beef?

This border battle is not about money. It’s also not about President Trump. The battle to control our southern border is over the biblical worldview which champions boundaries against destructive behavior, and the secular view that anything goes, power intoxicates, and open borders (one world government) is the desired Nirvana.

I couldn’t disagree more with that oppressive secular agenda,

We learn from creation, the Bible, and personal experience that boundaries, walls, fences, are vital for freedom and blessing.

• The boundaries of space and time allow us to live and exist. If an astronaut took off his helmet in oxygen-less space, he or she would die. The important boundary of space and earth’s atmosphere’s tells you where you are, and where you can breathe.
• God has placed boundaries between the species on earth–despite the lie of macro-evolution. Species don’t cross those “walls” for their good. They are designed for their health and protection.
• We also have gender boundaries built into creation (even though some want to blur them today). Your created gender at birth tells you who you are, and how you are to act in accord with your creation.
• God has placed many sexual boundaries for human beings to observe–for their good. It is destructive to have sexual relations with anyone outside of a man and woman in  marriage. History abounds with examples of this abuse.

In our physical world, walls or boundaries tell you where you are, which in turn, helps guide right behavior. Seeing the walls of a kitchen tells you what the room is used for. You don’t skateboard through it or play football. Well, you can–but only if you want some things to break or be destroyed.

A fence between your yard and your neighbor’s tells you that you own and control the piece of ground you’re standing on. You have no right to hop the fence and cut down the tree that blocks your view which is owned by your neighbor.

Walls or boundaries reveal domains or spheres of authority–telling us who owns what, how we are to act, and how to respect  the God-given rights of others.

We even have invisible boundaries of “personal space” that we don’t like having invaded. We stand at a distance from strangers we’re talking to. We hug those we know and love. If someone gets “in our face,” we step back for comfort.

Boundaries are good. They teach civility, respect, the Golden Rule, and how life “works.”

Frank Peretti, in his insightful book This Present Darkness, eloquently explains that humans need boundaries to make sense of even their own existence.

Here’s Sally Beth Roe writing to a Christian teacher about “open borders” confusion in her personal life:

” When I first entered high school I relished what I was taught–that I was the ultimate authority in my life, the final arbiter of all truth, the only decider of my values, and that no traditions, notions about God, or value systems had any authority over my will, my spirit, my behavior. ‘Maximum autonomy’ they called it. Such ideas can be very inviting.”

“But there was a catch to all this freedom: I had to accept the idea that I was an accident, a mere product of time plus chance, and not only myself, but everything that exists. Once I bought that idea, it was impossible to believe that anything really mattered, for whatever I could do, or create, or change, or embrace, would be no less an accident that I was. So where was the value of anything? Of what value was my own life?”

“So all that ‘maximum autonomy’ wasn’t the greatest liberation and joy I thought it would be. I felt like a kid let loose to play in an infinitely large yard–I started to wish there was a fence somewhere. At least then I would know where I was. I could run up against it and tell myself, ‘I’m in the yard,’ and feel right about it. Or I could climb over the fence and tell myself, ‘Uh-oh, I’m outside the yard,’ and feel wrong about it.

“Whether right or wrong, and with infinite freedom to run and play, I know I would still stay near the fence. At least then I would know where I was. I would know something for sure.”

Re-read that enlightening passage again. Maybe a third time. Sally is sharing the foolishness and deception of secular progressive “no walls” philosophy. Looks alluring. Looks freeing. But in reality, a world without fences leaves you meaningless, lost, and in danger.

Necessary walls tell you where you are.

President Trump is right about the need for American sovereignty and order on the Mexican border. In his January 8 nationally televised speech, he said to the nation:

“Some have suggested a barrier is immoral. Then why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences, and gates around their homes? They don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside but because they love the people on the inside. The only thing that is immoral is the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized.”

You can read the entire address here.

Columnist Frank Turek concurs:

“Do you have locks on your doors? How about on your car? Got a fence so your kids can play safely? Do you have passwords on your computers? How about your bank accounts? Do you protect your credit card numbers? Your social security number? How about your medical records? Do you think curbs, guardrails, and traffic lines are a good idea, or should people be able to drive anywhere they want?”

“Everyone believes in secure borders. They’re necessary because human nature is bent toward evil, because of the fall of man—all have sinned. Our Founders understood that truth and so must we.”

Amen.

Walls are needed to control the bad aspects of human nature and promote true freedom. Freedom exists only in proportion to wholesome restraint.

If the no wall/open borders crowd continues to rebuff our president, then I agree with Pat Buchanan’s suggestion:

“Trump should declare a national emergency, shift funds out of the Pentagon, build his wall, open the government and charge Democrats with finding excuses not to secure our border because they have a demographic and ideological interest in changing the face of the nation.”

Maybe a secure border will help us re-discover who we are and what we should be.

One nation, under God.