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Adopted For Life
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Item Description...
Overview
A manifesto calling Christians to adopt children and to equip Christian families going through the process. Offers biblical foundations for adoption and identifies adoption as a Great Commission priority in evangelical churches.
Publishers Description
A recent poll indicated that for every American who believes he or she is going to Hell, there are 120 who believe they’re going to Heaven. This optimism stands in stark contrast to Jesus Christ’s words written in the Bible: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few”(Matthew 7:13-14). The truth is that according to the Bible we don’t automatically go to Heaven. In fact, Hell—not Heaven—is our default destination. Unless our sin problem is solved once and for all, we can’t enter Heaven. That’s the bad news. But once that’s straight in our minds we’re ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ—Jesus took upon himself, on the cross, the Hell we deserve so that we could experience for eternity the Heaven we don’t deserve! The Only Two Options There are two possible destinations when we die—Heaven or Hell. Can we really know in advance where we’ll go? John, one of the writers of the Bible, said this: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). We can know for sure that we’ll go to Heaven when we die. Do you? To sin means to fall short of God’s holy standards. Sin is what ended Eden’s paradise. And all of us, like Adam and Eve, are sinners. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2). Sin deceives us and makes us think that wrong is right and right is wrong (Proverbs 14:12). Sin has terrible consequences, but God has provided a solution: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved us so much that he became a man to deliver us from our sin. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He came to identify with us in our humanity and our weakness, but he did so without being tainted by our sin, self-deception, and moral failings (Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus died on the cross as the only one worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by the holiness of God: “For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). But God raised Jesus from the grave, defeating sin’s consequences and conquering death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57). When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). In those times “It is finished” was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “Paid in full.” Christ died so that the certificate of debt, consisting of all our sins, could once and for all be marked “Paid in full.” The Critical Decision Only when our sins are dealt with in Christ can we enter Heaven. We cannot pay our own way. Jesus said “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness. To be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins. Forgiveness is not automatic. It’s conditioned upon confession: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Christ offers to everyone the gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). There’s no righteous deed we can do that will earn us a place in Heaven (Titus 3:5). We come to Christ empty-handed. We can take no credit for salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved. It’s dependent solely on Christ’s generous sacrifice on our behalf. Now is the time to make things right with God. Confess your sinfulness and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf. You are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, and Heaven is the place. They are a package—they come together. You cannot get Heaven without Jesus or Jesus without Heaven. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). For all eternity you’ll be glad you did. If you understand what God has done to make forgiveness and eternal life possible for you, you may want to express it in words like these: “Dear Lord, I confess that I do not measure up to your perfect standard. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. I now place my trust in him as my Savior. Thank you for your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.” |
Item Specifications...
Pages 230
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 6" Height: 9"
Weight: 0.7 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date May 1, 2009
Publisher Crossway Books/Good News
ISBN 1581349114
EAN 9781581349115
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Availability 30 units.
Availability accurate as of May 26, 2012 08:15.
Usually ships within one to two business days from New Kensington, PA.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Dangerous Arrogance May 17, 2010 |
Adopted for Life disturbs me (as an adult adopted person) very much. Russell Moore adopted two boys from Russia and weaves his story (NOT theirs) into a rambling Biblical justification and call for evangelicals to save unwanted orphans from abortion by wholesale adoptions. Two excerpts:
"That's adoption. We're part of a brand-new family, a new tribe, with a new story, a new identity.
As Maria and I went through the adoption process, we were encouraged by everyone from social workers to family friends to "teach the children about their cultural heritage." We have done just that.
"Now, what most people probably meant by this counsel is for us to teach our boys Russian folk tales and Russian songs, observing Russian holidays, and so forth. But as we see it, that's not their heritage anymore, and we hardly want to signal to them that they are strangers and aliens, even welcome ones, in our home. We teach them about their heritage, yes, but their heritage as Mississippians. They hear, then, about their great-grandfather, a faithful Baptist pastor from Tippah County... They learn about their people before them in the Confederate army and civil rights movement.
"Yes, I'll read Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy to them one day, I suppose, but not with the same intensity with which I'll read to them William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. They wouldn't know an arrangement of "Peter and the Wolf" if they heard it, but they can recognize the voices of Charley Pride and Hank Williams in seconds. When we sit at the table for our holiday meals, they don't eat borscht. They eat what we eat- red beans and rice or fried catfish.... They share our lives, and our story. They belong here. They are Moores now, with all that entails." p.36
And as to their previous identities -
"I remember standing in that courtroom in Russia, giving the judge there the new names of our boys. The court was issuing new birth certificates, with these new Americanized names.... These names were, legally now, who they were. But they didn't know it.
"We knew these boys were adjusting to their new identity when they started turning around when we said "Benjamin" or "Timothy." There came a day when one could cry out "Maxim" or "Sergei" and no one would respond. Those old names now meant nothing to them. They seemed to them to be someone else's names, and they were.
"Some people would think we've done something wrong by renaming these boys. One book for adoptive parents advises against it because it can "interfere with the continuity of the child's life" or "interfere with their sense of self" We didn't agree.
"... A name is important to one's identity. And that's why in the story of our fathers and mothers God keeps changing people's names." - p.40
I find this attitude terrifying. In his absolute certainty that the Bible justifies his behavior, Moore believes he is on a holy mission to rescue orphans and lead them to his God. He is willing to dismiss the advice of professionals because he only believes in his own interpretation of the Bible. Not only is he so "convicted" of his beliefs himself, he urges others to follow in his footsteps.
Most of the book is a concantenation of Scriptural verses chosen to "prove" his point- a method that I find difficult to follow. In my religious traditions, Scripture is read in entire parables or sections, placing it in context. I am often baffled by the ways in which some preachers grab a verse from Psalms, a half verse from Romans, a snippet from Deuteronomy and a phrase from John to illustrate an obscure part of Revelation - I consider it extremely selective editing, which often changes the entire meaning of Scripture. Using this method, any point can be justified, especially when no one dare question the sources as unerring Truth. Even more dangerous, Moore appears to come to his conclusions first, then go in search of supporting Scripture passages; I find that an arrogant usage of the Bible.
I don't personally believe that every adoption is totally good or totally evil; every situation is unique, as are the individuals involved. That is not to say that practices and actions cannot be improved upon; I don't wish that I had grown up in St. Anthony's or other orphanages. Nor do I believe that my parents did not sincerely love me and do the best they knew to raise me. But this book represents a return to the worst practices and beliefs of the past; it perpetuates the idea of children as "blank slates," and sees adoption as only a cure for infertility and a way to combat abortion.
Even worse, this deliberate blinding to reality is being applauded throughout the evangelical community. This is the justification which Laura Silsbey and her ilk used to defend their attempted kidnapping of Haitian children (none of whom were truly orphans) and which celebrities use to gather praise and publicity for their international adoptions.
I have friends who have adopted children internationally. But they are very ethical people, and received their children as caretakers from the mothers themselves, and return with their children to the Adean village where their children were born - another family brought their girls back to India, found their children's birth parents, and telephone weekly with them. Both of these sets of adoptive parents truly want their children to have complete knowledge of their birth countries and families - theirs are ethical guardianship of human beings, not self-righteous saviors or purchasers of living property.
We Americans tend to have a smug arrogance that Happy Meals are better than rice or borscht, that no child could possibly prefer a rural hut or teeming slum to Fox Run subdivision, and that two parents - or in many cases, a nanny and boarding school - are superior to growing up surrounded by those who share culture, appearance and genetic ties even if it means living at a subsistence level. The Carpenter from Nazareth indeed called us to care for widows and orphans, but He didn't demand that we change their names and hide their origins from them.
For generations, we only heard adoption praised by agencies and adoptive parents (those who gained), but those who lost (birth parents and adopted children) were told to keep silent, be grateful and pretend it didn't happen. Criticism of adoption as practiced was denounced as ingratitude or sour grapes, signs of maladjustment or even of mental illness. Only in the last few decades have adopted persons and birth parents found the courage to speak out of their experiences and tell their side of the losses involved to a world which had largely assumed that the myths were unchallenged truth.
Adoption is not a cure-all, win-win solution to end abortions, cure infertility or the problem of parents who are unable to care for their children; it is a compromise in which some gain while others lose. To portray it in terms of a holy crusade or salvation ignores the problems it can (and often does) create. If Mr. Moore's children grow to become healthy, happy, well-adjusted adults he then may be qualified to offer his advice, but there is a long time between now and then, and many shoals to navigate through first. | | |  | A book that will change many lives May 5, 2010 |
This is a book I never thought I'd read. Now I can't imagine how a book exactly like it wasn't published long before 2009! In his first chapter Moore explains why you ought to read the book, even (and especially) if you don't want to... and I'm ashamed to admit that this probably described me.
There are plenty of "how-to" books regarding adoption. There are plenty of books describing the great need for adoptive families felt by orphans all over the world. There are plenty of books examining the theological doctrine of spiritual adoption. This, to the best of my knowledge, is the only book that combines these three in a manner that shows how these issues absolutely cannot be separated.
Russell Moore is a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but he writes this book as both an adoptive father and an adopted son of our Heavenly Father. His book argues that the Bible does not draw any lines between theological adoption and practical adoption, so Christians should not, either. The Bible tells us over and over what it means to be adopted into the family of God, as sons of the Father and co-heirs with Christ. It also tells us that pure & undefiled religion requires the care and rescue of orphans, just as Christ did not leave us as orphans.
Moore does not assert that all Christian families are called or equipped to adopt, but he DOES assert that EVERY Christian has a responsibility to be involved in adoption, whether through becoming adoptive parents, helping others to adopt, or working to create and/or support an adoption ministry in the local church. After reading this book, I am 100% convinced that this is absolutely true. After your Bible, I don't know that there is a more important book that I could commend to you than this one. | | | | Excellent, Thought-Provoking Read! Apr 13, 2010 |
I have always believed that the church should involve itself more in adoption, but Russell Moore's perspective on how adoption mirrors the gospel changed my perspective on how adoption ought to fit more in with the church's Great Commission involvement.
It was an EXCELLENT read, and will challenge you personally in considering what your role in adoption ought to be! | | | | Wonderful Book Apr 1, 2010 |
| The BEST book I've read in a few years. It is a theological look at adoption. Dr. Moore looks at the steps and challenges facing families that adopt, and in the process shows the beauty and wonder of the spiritual adoption accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ on his people's behalf. Excellent book. Very moving. Highest recommendation possible, even if (like me) you are not currently thinking about or pursuing adoption. | | | | One of the Best Books of the Year Mar 18, 2010 |
There seems to have been a lot of excitement surrounding this book which is, frankly, surprising for a book on adoption. I expected this to be a niche book, consumed by those contemplating adopting a child or by skeptical family members trying to understand the motivation for choosing to adopt. Moore's book spans the gap between personal vignette and theological treatise. Any book on adoption is going to be intensely personal, and Moore doesn't spare any tears in describing the process he and his wife went through before the Lord impressed international adoption on their hearts. And yet, I didn't turn the close the back cover of the book thinking about what a wonderful story it was about the Moore family. Rather I closed the book thinking of how great a God we serve to have adopted us into His family.
And that's why this book is truly something special. Rather than argue from a "this is what my family did and you should too" perspective, Moore spends the first three chapters of Adopted for Life passionately explaining our adoption as sons of God. God could have planned to justify us, sanctify us, and glorify us without making us members of His own household, Moore argues. But that isn't what He has done. He has made us his legal and relational family, meaning that we are co-heirs with our Brother, Christ Jesus. As such, the gospel is all about adoption. The good news is about God adopting wretched sinners into His own family. The church is not like a family. The church is our family.
I'm not typically an "everybody needs to read this book" kind of person. I think it's the height of arrogance to assume that everyone is going to be transformed by what God has recently revealed to me. There are many others who are already much further along the path. But I've never read a book that has so clearly and so freshly explained the relationships within the family of God before. The first three chapters of this book are relevant to absolutely every churchgoer. We don't talk about adoption much within the church. But it's one of the cornerstones of our hope in and love for our Father.
Moore refers to the idea that adoption is plan-B, only for those who cannot have children on their own. Wrapped around his own testimony of committing "genetic idolatry," he states, "The protection of children isn't charity. It isn't part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps. It's spiritual warfare." And again, "Not every believer is called to adopt children. But every believer is called to recognize Jesus in the face of his little brothers and sisters when he decides to show up in their lives, even if it interrupts everything else."
The remainder of the book discusses different challenges in adoption, from interracial differences to the legal ramifications of domestic adoptions. Throughout the whole the process, each issue is continually examined from through the light of what Christ has done for us and the eternal realities that surround adoption. It certainly is a messy process, but then again so was our adoption into the family of God.
One great blessing God brought into my own life was being able to watch as a young student my college discipler and his wife adopt a baby boy from Uganda. Pictures of unwanted babies in flea-ridden Russian orphanages and undernourished orphans in Ghana easily become guilt-laced white noise under the sheer feeling of helplessness to make any kind of difference. But putting a face and a personality behind the concept of an orphan child rescued and adopted into a fiercely Christ-centered home strips away that feeling of helplessness. Meet Moore's children in this book, and the self-deceiving lie of helplessness to make a difference will dissolve very quickly.
My appreciation for this book is probably evident from what I've already written. As a church, we're called to be at the forefront of adoption. This book would be a good place to start for anyone who wants to know how he or she can respond being an adopted child of God. Not everyone is called to adopt. But we're all called to participate. As Moore writes, "The Father adopts children, and we're called to be like Him. Jesus cares for orphans, and we're being conformed into His image. If you're in Christ, you're called to be involved in this project somehow."
Nate Brooks
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