Government, not citizens, accountable on refugees

Mr. John Steinmeyer's recent letter, "A true Christian nation would not abandon refugees," is misleading, because as many folk in this country, he is confused as to what the responsibility is of the citizens and the government regarding terrorism.

We as Christians are to love, forgive, and pray for our enemies. But the government has the responsibility to protect the citizens and secure the borders.

The Bible is full of stories of walled cities and the defense of those positions. As the renowned Dr. Robert Jeffress expresses, the government is never told in the Bible to turn the other cheek or to forgive. The Bible in Romans, Chapter 13, states government is to be an instrument of wrath and to bring retribution against those who do evil.

Since we have no way of vetting the recent refugees, this presents a dilemma. What to do about all these people displaced. The Christian's spirit would be to help, but we are fearful.

Dr. Jeffress rightly states that there is a difference between our individual responsibility, and government responsibility. Individually, we can support relief agencies like Samaritan's Purse and so forth, but what we cannot allow as government is to bring people into our country we do not know.

The government says we will vet them, but we cannot trust our government to do that. Do we really believe our government will protect us when they refuse or are unwilling to identify the enemy? I am speaking of radical Islamic terrorists and the like.

Until our government faces up to its God-given responsibilities of securing our borders, let's do what we can, but that does not include allowing them into this country.

Gary Bogart, retired firefighter

Bradenton

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Government, not citizens, accountable on refugees ."