I’ve seen a meme floating around social media for a few years now:

Although the words are ostensibly theological, telling us something about heaven and hell, they’re really using heaven and hell to appeal to Christians to adopt a “biblical” perspective on current immigration debates in the USA.

The assumption is that as Christians we want to be heavenly rather then hellish. Since we want to be heavenly, we need to adopt heavenly policies in our national politics. The suggestion is that God rules heaven like a modern nation state. As a wise deity, God puts strict rules in place as to who should be allowed in and under what conditions. This model misses the biblical teaching nearly entirely.

The Bible says things like, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wished take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17)

If we’re making an analogy between the the phenomenon of immigration and the phenomenon of entering eternity to live with Jesus, I read that Jesus invites all – and the only only condition is faith in him.

In cartoons we see the devil as the ruler of hell (Milton portrayed him as saying, “Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven.”), but that’s not what I see in the Bible. Sure, if we were pagan Greeks who equated hell with hades and Hades with the devil, we might be happy with the image of the devil ruling over hell. Such a devil would be happy to have anyone come join him in eternal torment, no questions asked. Again, such a picture of hell and the devil is not what we see in the Bible.

Jesus actively tried to keep people out of hell – and calls his people to do likewise. Paul says that God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” So does heaven/eternity with God have “strict immigration policies?” Sure, if by “strict” we mean something like “clear and definite.” If by “strict” we mean “difficult” or “only for a few who are acceptable to current occupants,” then that misses the Bible entirely.

So what do heaven and hell have to do with the immigration practices of a modern nation state? Nothing. Well, if the nation state happened to think of itself as a Christian nation state – and as blessed by God – there’s a likelihood that such a nation state would see the numbers of people who want to come enjoy those blessings as an opportunity to share. If a nation state has no interest in being a Christian nation state (if there can be such a thing), or if its citizens do not profess the Christian faith and do not want that faith to shape their nation’s immigration policies, then it would be unsurprising that they would want to keep as many out as possible, lest their wealth be diluted by having to share with others.