The Case for Christian Adoption…

December 23, 2005 | 3:06 PM

The Ancient Greeks used to practice exposure, a form of child euthanasia, when they found their children as imperfect or flawed. They would place the child, usually naked, on a mountainside or hill and allow the children to die, if not by the weather then by starvation or by the animals around them. The Spartans were known to practice exposure more than any other group, because for them, only the strongest survived. We know that it was prevelant even among the Ephesians during Paul’s time. In fact, when Paul reminds the Church at Ephesus that they were adopted by God, it is a concept they were all too familiar with. The early Christians in Ephesus would go to the hills where the babies lay to die and they would adopt these children, raising them as their own.

Today it’s not much different. In China often females are aborted in an attempt to regulate population. In Sudan the young boys are kidnapped and enlisted into rebel armies. Young boys and girls all over Africa are raped and infected with AIDS because in many places, having sex with a virgin is considered a cure for HIV/AIDS. In Southeast Asia children work as prostitutes in brothels. The sex slave trade is alive and well worldwide. To say these children are being exploited is beyond understatement. Our children are being butchered.

Recently I asked the important question, “should we be against gay adoption?” I asked the question with the expectation that most of us as evangelical Christians would say no. Often the case was made due to the sinfulness of homosexuality. However, to me this is nothing short of sin-biggotry. We are ignoring the sins of others, elevating the sin of homosexuality above the rest. It seems logical to me that if we as evangelical Christians are against homosexuals as adopters, we should also be against those of other religions, those from broken or adulterous homes. We should be against murderers adopting and against adoption by all those who are not evangelical Christians. Why? Because the basis for the argument against gay adoption is like the rest: they are sinners, they do not always have the ideal family situation, and they will raise their children to believe in something other than Jesus as Christ.

Fine.

My friend Matt Sachitano beat me to the punch, but hit it right on the head when he said the following:

Do I think these unwanted kids are better of in an orphanage or foster care? No. Do I think they’re better off with another lost family? No. Do i think they’re disqualifed to be parents because they’re gay? No-but because they are living in wilful sin and refuse to acknowlege God as having the right to define sin (let alone salvation).

I go to the gay student meetings here on campus. And calmly and quietly listen to them, and I calmly and quietly tell them about Jesus. We share beliefs. The battle we fight is with the ROOT of the problem, not the FRUIT. Gay adoption is a FRUIT issue. My pastor says, “let’s get these ole’ boys saved, and there wont be any of these problems.” That is a ROOT issue. This is the battle we are called to fight. This is spiritual warfare!

My opinion - Gays shouldnt adopt. My solution: Christians, step up. Men, step up.

Christians, step up. I just recently did a study on Acts 2:37-47, and we see in verses 46-47 that the early church held favor among all people. In Acts 4 Luke says the same thing. No one had anything against these new believers in Jesus the Messiah. The solution is not always going to be through legal action. The solution to stop abortion isn’t ONLY to make it illegal. The solution is to reach out to the women who would have abortions and show them what the gospel is. Part of the solution for ending gay adoption, or adoption by all “families” or “groups” that are not what we as evangelicals would say is “ideal” is to adopt children of our own.

God has consistently adopted us into his family, adopted us as His children. He set up a model by adopting all who would come and follow Him in the Hebrew Bible (OT). We see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob not as Jews but as those adopted by God into a relationship with Him as Father. We see Jesus later tell us to see our God as our Father, the one who adopted us into His family. Paul reminds us of the same in his letter to the Church at Ephesus. Consistently God has not been one who worried about blood lineage, because we are all sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. God has adopted us, and in doing so set the model for the adoption of those into our families.

Recently Al Mohler said that for a Christian couple to marry and not have children is a sin. I think that’s ridiculous, and if you want to debate that, go here. But I think maybe we should have less children of our own, and adopt children into our families, into our communities. There are children out there being murdered, being raped and destroyed, being brainwashed and recruited for a war that began decades ago. There are children out there who need our help, and it’s time for the CHURCH to wake up, go out, sacrifice a little bit, and adopt these children off our hills of genocide, disease, and slavery.

Church, Wake Up.