I was driving my husband's car, which was tuned to a Christian College radio station.
This post is about an advertisement that came on. When I got back to work, I sent an e-mail to the radio station asking if there was a way I could link to that commercial, or if they could send more information about their organization. I did not get a reply from the radio station, so I can't link to the sound byte, nor can I paste in their transcript.
"The story is about a girl named Rachel. She had been living on the streets in the Philippines. She had experimented with drugs and at times turned to prostitution. By age 21 she had three children. Two of the children she sold. The third child was kidnapped one night when they were sleeping under a bridge.
Homeless and destitute Rachel found herself pregnant again.
Someone told Rachel about this organization that maybe could help her. She turned to this wonderful Christian group. [Most unfortunately I cannot remember the name - but it doesn't really matter, because it represents the mindset of so MANY Christian Organizations that 'help' pregnant women.]
This group took Rachel in. They arranged the adoption of her child to a loving Christian couple. They provided Rachel with the basic needs and began to train her with useable life skills. They helped Rachel get a job. She thrived and continued working and supported herself. She can now read the Bible and is a manager over a few people at her place of employment."
Isn't that a wonderful "success story?"
Yay for this wonderful group of Christians who showed the love of Jesus!
Really?
Did they show the love of Jesus?
Was it a wonderful story?
Well, I’d like to tell you another story. Then you pick the one that you think is the better “Success Story.”
Story B ...
"The story is about a girl named Rachel. She had been living on the streets in the Philippines. She had experimented with drugs and at times turned to prostitution. By age 21 she had three children. Two of the children she sold. The third child was kidnapped one night when they were sleeping under a bridge.
Homeless and destitute Rachel found herself pregnant again.
Someone told Rachel about this organization that maybe could help her. She turned to this wonderful Christian group.
This group took Rachel in. The provided her with the basic needs of food and clothes. They arranged appointments at the doctor throughout her pregnancy. They recognized the trauma Rachel must be living with to have lost three of her children, and provided counseling to her.
This organization had requests from Christian American couples to adopt Rachel's 4th child. But this wonderful Christian group replied to those requests in an unexpected manner. They would not even consider adoption for this child. Their reason was that for them to arrange an adoption would not help Rachel. To sell her 4th child legally via adoption was no different than Rachel being forced to sell her other children out of desperation. Adoption would only further traumatize Rachel.
This wonderful Christian group cared for Rachel throughout her pregnancy. They taught her how to read and trained her with other life skills. They helped her get a job.
Rachel gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Her little girl is now in elementary school, and Rachel is a manager over a few other workers at her place of employment.
If you'd ask Rachel about her story she would tell you how thankful she is to find these people who loved her and helped her through the darkest times of her life. This group of people was different than everyone else she had ever known. These people seemed to LOVE her and care about her, unconditionally. She would tell you that her greatest accomplishment is when she sits down at night with her little girl in her lap, as she reads the Bible to her."
So,
Story A
or
Story B
Which really showed Compassion?
Mercy?
LOVE without expecting anything in return?
Story A
or
Story B
God has created a very sacred mother-child bond.
Why do Christians treat that so lightly?
Instead of allowing the adoption industry to sell their babies as mere cattle, why aren't we doing more to help Expectant Mothers to become the Mothers that God intended them to be?
Instead of allowing the adoption industry to sell their babies as mere cattle, why aren't we doing more to help Expectant Mothers to become the Mothers that God intended them to be?
Rachel's story
I'd rather hear more like Story B
I agree with a lot of what you're saying; especially regarding doing all that's possible to keep families together. But how can you simply write ALL adoptions off as ungodly, when each is different - I'm referring specifically to adoptions of children with NO families, those already abandoned in orphanages, those already being shopped up and down in the foster care system. We're specifically intructed to look after orphans in the bible - so I really thing you are incorrectly using this story to generalise ALL adoptions.
ReplyDelete- happymurphy
So what you're basically speaking about here is infant adoption -- completely disregarding adoption of orphans and struggling orphanages. Both of these are forms of adoption. Naming your blog "Christianity and Adoption" and then only focusing on one adoption scenario makes the blog not as helpful as it could be.
ReplyDeleteThis specific post was about infant adoption, true. But that does not mean other types of adoption aren't or won't be discussed on this blog.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall stating here that "ALL" adoption is evil.
As far as adopting from orphanages, when the subject comes upon on this blog, as I'm sure it will. I support taking care of orphans. Jesus told us to care for orphans and widows.
But the problem with adoption as it stands now is that so many people insist on adopting an infant, and don't consider orphans. Such as in this radio story. Instead of going to a Philippino orphanage and donating $15,000 to the orphanage, or even adopting an orphan, they took home an infant.
So it is the orphans who actually suffer because of the infant adoption industry.
The purpose of the blog is to educate people on rarely discussed topics of adoption. In particular, people who call themselves Christians, to ponder adoption practices that conflict with the principles found in the Word of God.
I am a half orphan adopted by Roman Catholics. I was taken from my existing family as if it didn't matter that I had a family. I resent being ripped from my family and forced to believe in a god who ignored that I was born to a married mother who died. I have been abused by adoption itself. Resepct and dignity were replaced by my adoptive parents' fantasies of what I should be, not who I was born to and where I came from and who I really am.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog. Many Christians need to read this before tear apart more families in the name of Jesus...
Dear Joan,
ReplyDeletethank you for your comment
I'm very sorry that you lost your original family, and did not have the chance to ever know your original mother.
Listening to adoptees stories over the past two years, what you say is far to often the norm. That the adopted child learns early on to conform to the image of the DREAM CHILD the aparents want, rather than seeing and nurturing WHO the child already is.
I agree and hope with you that Christians will read this blog and as you say stop tearing apart families in Jesus name...