The problem of registering Muslims – or any group

The problem of registering Muslims.

Donald Trump Sets Off a Furor With Call to Register Muslims in the U.S.  

 Sure - it sounds great to some people.  If they don't think about it too much.  Even a little bit of thought would (should?) bring up all sorts of reasons why it's not good at all.

But then, how many of us actually do what my wife calls "play the movie forward"?  If we did, we'd have to take a hard look at ourselves - but the look may be more than worth the time and effort.  

There's this saying about when you point - some number of fingers point back at yourself.  Some say three.  Others say four, although my thumb isn't capable of pointing back at me without a great deal of effort.  Either way - the "point" (pun intended) is that there are more fingers pointing back at us than there are pointing at the person to whom we point.

Here's the first part of the article from the New York Times that this story comes from (sorry, the article is no longer available).

Under assault from Democrats and Republicans alike, Donald J. Trump on Friday drew back from his call for a mandatory registry of Muslims in the United States, trying to quell one of the ugliest controversies yet in a presidential campaign like few others.

The daylong furor capped a week of one-upmanship among Republican presidential candidates as to who could sound toughest about preventing terrorism after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. Polls show the national mood has soured on accepting refugees from Syria amid concerns about potential terrorist attacks within the United States.

Mr. Trump’s talk of a national database of Muslims, first in an interview published on Thursday by Yahoo News and later in an exchange with an NBC News reporter, seemed the culmination of months of heated debate about illegal immigration as an urgent danger to Americans’ personal safety.

Sure - Trump has a reason for saying this.  What's actually in his head?  Who knows.  What about those who support his call for a registry of Muslims?  Most likely - fear.  The problem with talking about or judging the statements / actions of those involved in any movement to register Muslims (or any other group) is this statement from Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5 -

Mt 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Consider that - first take the plank out of your own eye - because only then can we see clearly to remove the speck from your (our) brother’s eye. Sounds like "playing the movie forward".  Because when we look at this issue as applying to us - then we can clearly see why it's a problem for others.

So let's do that. 

What if it was a registry of Christians?

Since I'm a Christian - let's look at this as the plank in my eye.  What if the call was to register all Christians?  Would I be in favor of that?

BTW - let's take a small side trip here.  Some say the registry "only" needs to include Muslim terrorists.  Question - who is going to decide whether any given Muslim is a terrorist or not?  I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a simple thing like having each Muslim check a box that indicates: terrorist? select (a) yes or (b) no.  
So if I was to play this movie forward, and it was a registry of Christians - I'm guessing that someone other than me is going to be checking that box either yes or no as to whether I'm a terrorist or not.  Thanks - but no thanks.

What if we were to have detailed vetting - and an unbiased person making the decision?  Maybe something like what Jesus said when a woman who had committed adultery was brought to Him.  The woman wasn't to be put on a registry.  She was to be stoned to death.  So Jesus set the criteria for this stoning to take place -

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.