Saturday, October 28, 2006

The Blessing of Children follow up

Here is another article by Mr. Wait in regards to adoption of children. As always, it is eloquent and thorough. I've often wondered about adoption being compulsory since the thought of adopting children overwhelmed me in an already fruitful marriage. So, I particularly like this excerpt as a clarification on the subject:

...the concept of adoption is a Biblical idea but it is only explicitly
found in the New Testament. But the only sense that Scripture speaks explicitly
of adoption is the spiritual adoption of believers as the children of God. From
the doctrine of adoption we see that it is by free choice rather than
compulsion. So, perhaps we can say that we are free to adopt children who
otherwise would be outside of the covenant, but we are not required to do
so.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

emily,
i felt like the article by mr. wait was lacking. i completely agree that we are not explicitely commanded to adopt "pagan" children (as he refers to them). i think alot of what he said had merit...but the subject of adoption and the implications for a covenant believer are much broader than his paper. i know that for us, neither of our adopted childrens' parents benefited financially, nor did CPS or the agency that "granted" our last child to us. I think that i diagree with him about how the covenant community "expands". i think that i am looking at adoption more as an inference from scripture- a legitimate way for the community of God to be populated. he made some assertions that i just don't agree with. i think that if it is a legitimate way for the covenant family to grow then it is an "expansion" or a legitimate means of being fruitful. I would've liked for him to answer questions like, "Why do we care if homosexuals adopt children if believers aren't going to?" or "Whose responsibilty is it to care for these "pagan" children who have been beaten and abused?" i know that his article was limited in nature...but i felt like it was dismissive of christian responsibility and mercy. i felt like he was a little reductionstic. i am NOT convinced by his argument...i think that we are holding to some different presuppositions. good talking to ya'll - thanks for the school stuff!

Bethany said...

Great article!!...I posted it on my blog about a week ago:)
http://bethany.preciousinfants.com

Erik Wait said...

Thank you for taking the time to read my articles. As Marie can testify, I have always appreciated the insight of women on Biblical and theological topics. Moms have an interesting insight on a lot of things.

Amongst other things I am working on a "Theology of the Family." So over the next year or so I should have other articles posted related to the Biblical roles of husbands, wives and child rearing. While there are already books on the subject (which I am reading) I am probably the only never-been-married guy I know who has ever taken an interest in such topics.

In my opinion, too many Christians who are interested in developing Christian culture (especially those who run parachurch organizations) have limited their focus to either politics or the arts. Yet it seems to me that the direction of the family determines where all the other aspects of culture will go.

Grace & peace

Erik

Bethany said...

Is there a way I can subscribe to your new articles, Eric?

Anonymous said...

Hello sis. Just stopping by. Updated my blog re: the sermon today. Would love to have your comments.

Grace and Peace.