— Years ago while teaching a Sunday school class of teenagers, I asked the question: Are you a conformist?

None could answer, so I said go home and ask your parents the question and come back next week and we will discuss it.

Well, one of the students was the pastor’s son and I didn’t have to wait until the following Sunday to get some feedback.

My pastor cornered me downtown the next day and said, "Don’t you ever give my son an assignment like that again. We spent two hours at the dinner table the other night trying to arrive at an answer and couldn’t. It just destroyed our evening.”

Some questions are just not easily answered.

That’s kind of like the immigration question. There is no easy answer, but maybe if we try to invite Jesus in to the discussion we may at least find a little common ground upon which we can agree.

Since I have written quite a bit about Immigration lately and with the thought that maybe Jesus could help out in this area, I began to wonder if the problem would confound Him as much as it has us this day and time.

I had my idea how Jesus might approach the illegal immigration situation, so I went to see my current pastor to get his take on the subject.

We agreed that Jesus would not cause the entire kingdom to become embroiled in what was right or wrong.

We agreed that Jesus would probably ask the question, "Is what you are doing legal? Does it conform to the law of the land?"

Then we discussed the idea that Jesus would welcome the sojourner.

What is a sojourner? Is an illegal alien a sojourner or a law breaker in our present sense of what is transpiring in Arizona, and the rest of the nation for that matter?

The dictionary says a sojourner is a temporary resident. Thus it seems to me that an illegal alien is one who does not have a valid visa and therefore has no right to demand anything from our government as such.

My grandparents came from Sweden and England, and I suppose in the literal sense they were initially sojourners until they became legal. They did not come here under false pretense and didn’t try to subvert the law as it was during the 1880s.

Currently in the United States, more than 100,000 aliens receive U. S. citizenship annually.

They apply for citizenship under the rule of law and they agree to abide by our rules and regulations.

Our immigration laws have served us well for hundreds of years and there is no reason to change them now.

Why do so many believe they should not follow the same procedure? Do they feel the United States owes them all the benefits of a free nation just because they are here as sojourners and have come here in violation of our laws?

Jesus loves the legitimate sojourner, and I would imagine the illegitimate sojourner as well. But I really believe He would still ask the question upon entering this country in light of our present law, "Are you obeying the law of this land?”