Underground Exiles

So, as part of my research for the manuscript I’m still working on, tentatively titled Adoptive Grace, I’ve done some thinking on the Fatherhood of God - mainly on the theology side of things.  Since I’m emotionally stunted, I’ve yet to work out how this fleshes out in our actual lives (even in my own), so I post this hoping that someone will read it and give me their thoughts.

When we think of God’s fatherhood, it’s first necessary to make certain distinctions. There is, first of all, God’s fatherhood that is exclusively trinitarian; the fatherhood of the Father, the first person of the trinity, in relation to the Son, the second person. This applies only to God the Father in his eternal and necessary relation to the Son and to the Son alone. It is unique and exclusive. No one else, not even the Holy Spirit, relates to the Father in this sense. In modern theology, it is sometimes said that men by adoption come to share in Christ’s Sonship and so enter into the divine life of the Trinity - needless to say, that’s patently false. It is serious confusion and error. The eternal Son of God is the only-begotten Son and nobody shares his Sonship, just as God the Father is not the Father of any other in the sense that he is the Father to the Son.

Read more…

Many of the regular readers of the blog know that I’m adopted; it’s a fact I’ve never hidden. As I’ve grown as a Christian, I’ve discovered that the area I need the most growth in, and the doctrine I have the hardest time grasping, is adoption.

I’m incredibly fortunate - the family that adopted me at the tender age of 3 weeks is incredible. They’ve been an amazing gift of God in my life and I’m more thankful for them than I can possibly express. Nevertheless, the idea of adoption is one that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

The reason for the horribly bitter aftertaste left by adoption isn’t easy to explain; as a matter of fact, even posting anything on the subject puts me at risk of becoming a caricature - the stereotypical angry adoptee, of which there are plenty, especially in the blogosphere. To be frank, there’s a part of me that completely identifies with them. I understand their anger, while I believe it in some cases to be misplaced. God knows I’ve gone through several years of my life in an absolute rage over the system of closed adoption, and the secrecy and lies that surround much of the closed adoption system in the United States (particularly my home state of South Carolina).

Read more…

While there’s still at least two more posts left to write on the Eternal Security series, I thought I’d give ya’ll a foretaste of what will be coming next on undergroundexiles.com.

For roughly a year now, I’ve been pounding out a book manuscript that I’ve tentatively titled Adoptive Grace: Adoption As The Heart of the Gospel. I had hoped to have it finished by now, but instead I’ve learned that backing up your documents isn’t just a good idea and that writing something on the subject of adoption in it’s human aspect and how it does and doesn’t connect to the biblical doctrine of adoption is something of a pain in the ass.

When I first think about writing on the subject of God’s adoptive grace, I was stunned to discover that it was a subject on which very little has been written.  The most extensive treatment I’ve been able to find is in John Murray’s book Redemption Accomplished and Applied. His treatment of the doctrine of adoption covers a scant nine pages.  So I just plowed in and figured I’d work it out as I went.

It was a singularly bad idea; I had no idea how emotionally exhausting the act of writing on the subject of adoption would be for me.  Which lead to the writing bogging down.  So now you guys get a truncated version of the work in progress, starting tomorrow…

When I was walking into my job Wednesday, I saw this cover story from USA Today. Since I am adopted, it immediately caught my eye.

More and more states here in the US are realizing that closed adoption records need to be rectified, and are giving adoptees access to their Original Birth Certificate. I thank God for it. I would just about kill to know who my biological parents are, and where to find them.

I also loved this:

“This is really about identity and the truth of a human being’s existence. We never start a book from Chapter 2; as adoptees, we live our lives from Chapter 2.” - Darrell McDainels, adoptee, also known as DMC

Here’s hoping more and more adoptees will push for open records in their home states, until there’s not an adoptee anywhere in the United States that can’t find out their heritage if they want to.

Follow the link to join the fight…