Transracial Adoption

Newsflash: Piper is Chinese. We are not.

We gave considerable thought to this fact before we adopted her. We read a lot about what others had to say about transracial adoption. We prayed. We read the bible and found themes that we had missed before about unity and showing love and kindness to 'aliens' and 'foreigners'. At one point it occurred to me, 'wow, I am really glad that God is in favor of transracial adoption, for if He were not, I would not have been adopted into His family.' His family is Jewish. I am not. For the first time, I found myself in the verses about 'aliens' and 'foreigners'.

Here's a sampling:

Exodus 22:21-24 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless." (Whoa)

Deut. 10:17-19 "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt."

Deut. 14:28-29 "At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." (There are lots and lots of verses that say basically this same thing- see Deut. chapters 24 - 26)

Psalm 146:9 "The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow"

Ephesians 1:5-6 "he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

Ephesians 2:19 "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household..."

Romans 9 Paul is agonizing over the people of Israel, "those of my own race" v.4, how they are God's people, the human ancestry of Christ, and how many have not accepted Him. He goes on to say in verse 8 "In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring."
(Check the context - I can't write out all of it here)

All this to say a wonderful pastor, by the name of Thabiti Anyabwileo, has a short interview on transracial adoption that succinctly states the same conclusions we came to on the matter. The approach he talks about, here, will be same one we will pursue with Piper on matters of race, identity, and adoption. I ask anyone who is a part of Piper's life to please (pretty please) take a few more minutes and read what he has to say. Thank you in advance!

Even for those not touched by adoption, he gives some insightful words on parenting that apply to all of us.

Click here...