Latest / Reformed Thinking / At-Risk Children and How Adoption Displays the Gospel

Transcript

At-Risk Children and How Adoption Displays the Gospel · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to reformed thinking. Glad to be here.
0:02
Imagine a judge sitting high up on the bench.
0:05
The gavel comes down. He looks at the guilty man
0:08
standing in the docket. Right, Right.
0:11
And this is a man who has racked up debts he could never repay.
0:15
In 1000 lifetimes, he is caught dead to rights in his crimes.
0:18
Yeah. Completely guilty.
0:20
But then the judge drops the gavel, clears the man of all
0:23
charges, and pays the massive fine out of his own pocket.
0:26
Which is incredible on its own. Right, that alone would be
0:29
headline online news. But then, instead of sending the
0:32
cleared man away, the judge steps down from the bench, walks
0:35
over, hands the man the keys to his own house, and says, You
0:40
live with me now. My inheritance is your
0:42
inheritance. Wow, Yeah, that's a perfect
0:44
picture. So I am thrilled you were
0:46
joining us for this custom tailored deep dive today.
0:49
If you are listening to this on your commute or maybe while
0:51
getting things done around the house, our mission today is to
0:54
extract the absolute most critical insights from a stack
0:57
of material covering Orphan Care, International adoption,
1:01
and how these earthly realities mirror the gospel of Jesus
1:05
Christ. It's a heavy topic, but so
1:07
necessary. Very much so.
1:09
We are looking at excerpts from a book called Biblical Missions,
1:12
Principles, Priorities and Practices by Mark Tatlock and
1:16
Christ Burnett, right? And we are pairing that with a
1:18
very raw, real world account written by David Beakley about a
1:22
street kid named Handsome. Yeah, that story is just, well,
1:26
we'll get to it. It's intense.
1:28
It really is, Yeah. And because we are Protestant
1:30
Christians who adhere to the Westminster Confession, we are
1:32
looking at all of this through a Reformed theological lens.
1:35
Right, which frames everything we're about to discuss.
1:38
Exactly. We are going to look at God's
1:40
absolute sovereignty, the grim reality of total depravity, and
1:44
the staggering doctrine of adoption.
1:46
OK, let's unpack this by looking at the sheer terrifying scale of
1:51
the global crisis Tatlock and Burnett bring to the table.
1:54
Yeah, so the material starts by laying down a working
1:56
definition, like what does it actually mean to be an at risk
1:59
child, right? The definition they provide is a
2:02
child who lacks the protection and care of one or two parents,
2:05
a situation that leaves them entirely vulnerable to being
2:08
neglected, harmed or exploited. Because that rotective barrier
2:14
is gone. Exactly when you remove that
2:16
barrier of a family, the statistics that follow are
2:20
chilling. 20% of all trafficking victims worldwide are children.
2:24
Oh wow, 20%? Yeah, we are talking about human
2:27
beings who are abducted or purchased outright for forced
2:30
labor, and Tatlock and Burnett do not hesitate to label this
2:34
with the correct term, which is slavery.
2:37
Right, let's just call it what it is.
2:38
Yeah, one in six children globally between the ages of
2:42
five and 14 are enslaved right now.
2:44
I mean, I need to pause on that 20% statistic.
2:48
If you are listening to this and you look out your window at a
2:50
crowd of people, imagine that one out of every five people
2:54
caught in the absolute worst horror imaginable is a child.
2:58
It's just hard to wrap your mind around.
2:59
It is. And when we hear the word
3:01
slavery, I think a lot of us picture historical textbooks.
3:04
You know, we think of things that happened centuries ago.
3:06
Right, like it's a thing of the past.
3:08
But the material points out this is happening right this second.
3:12
The authors talk about kids doing menial, repetitive labor,
3:16
like rolling cigarettes or making breaks in rural
3:18
brickyards. Yeah.
3:20
How does a child even end up in a Brickyard?
3:23
Like what is the actual mechanism making this happen?
3:26
Well, primary mechanism is the debt trap.
3:28
The authors lay out a scenario that is incredibly common.
3:31
OK, imagine a father in a developing nation.
3:33
He works hard but lives day-to-day.
3:36
Suddenly he gets sick and needs an emergency surgery just to
3:39
survive. Right?
3:40
But he has zero savings. So to get the surgery, he goes
3:43
to a local lender. The lender gives him the money,
3:46
but the interest rate attached to that loan is exorbitant.
3:50
Oh, I see where this is going. Yeah, it is designed to be
3:52
predatory. After the surgery, the father
3:56
goes back to work, but the interest is compounding so fast
3:59
that his wages cannot even cover the monthly interest fee, let
4:03
alone the principal amount. Man.
4:04
So it is essentially a payday loan but without any government
4:08
regulation or oversight. And it's enforced by people who
4:11
operate outside the law. So the father realizes he is
4:16
mathematically trapped. What does the lender do?
4:19
So the lender offers a solution. He tells the father that to pay
4:22
off the debt, the children must come work in his Brickyard.
4:26
Unbelievable. And the family has no legal
4:28
recourse, right? So the children are handed over
4:30
for labor. But the trap is that the lender
4:33
continues to manipulate the books or he keeps the interest
4:36
rate climbing. So they never actually pay it
4:38
off. Right, the family can never
4:40
catch up, the material notes. A terrifying reality.
4:43
These children often spend their entire lives in forced labor.
4:46
Wow. They grow up, they have their
4:48
own children, and because the original debt from that one
4:51
surgery was never paid off, those new children inherit the
4:54
debt. That's just sick.
4:56
It really is. The slavery of the first child
4:59
turns into generational slavery for the entire family line.
5:02
All stemming from a single medical emergency.
5:04
It is a brilliant, evil economic trap.
5:07
And lest anyone listening thinks this is only an issue happening
5:10
across an ocean, the material points out that international
5:13
sporting events right here in the United States are known hubs
5:17
for the exchange of trafficking victims.
5:19
Right, it's not just a problem over there.
5:21
No, not at all. When massive events bring
5:23
thousands of people to a city, the dark underbelly of sexual
5:27
follows right along with it. What's fascinating here is how
5:30
this staggering list of horrors perfectly illustrates the
5:35
Reformed doctrine of total depravity.
5:38
Yeah, let's talk about that. Because total depravity is a
5:40
concept that often gets misunderstood, people think it
5:43
means every human being is as bad as they could possibly be at
5:46
all times. Right, like everyone is a mass
5:48
murderer. Yeah, which isn't true.
5:51
But the Westminster Confession explains it is humanity being
5:54
utterly indisposed, disabled, and wholly inclined to evil.
5:58
It means sin has corrupted every part of human nature, our minds,
6:02
our wills, our affections. What we are seeing in these
6:05
brickyards and trafficking hubs is total depravity functioning
6:08
not as a debated theological theory, but as systemic
6:12
observable rot. It's sin on full display.
6:15
Yes, it is the natural outworking of sin in a fallen
6:18
world, actively and intentionally praying on the
6:21
most vulnerable targets available, which are children
6:24
without parents. It is the complete inversion of
6:28
creation. I mean, instead of adults
6:30
protecting children, adults are consuming them for profit.
6:33
Exactly. And the list of horrors in the
6:35
material does not stop there. We have to look at the reality
6:39
of child soldiers and refugees. Yeah, the numbers on that are
6:42
staggering. They really are.
6:44
The data shows there are more than 40 million children
6:47
displaced in the world right now, predominantly due to
6:50
violent conflicts. 40 million. Yeah, and when a war tears
6:54
through a region, everything that provides bed security,
6:56
healthcare, education, a roof, a bed is obliterated.
7:00
Right. And the authors highlight
7:02
scenarios that are difficult to even comprehend.
7:05
They describe 14 year olds who are forced to become the head of
7:08
a household at 14. And you have a teenager trying
7:11
to care for three or four younger siblings, including
7:13
infants, because the parents were killed or separated during
7:16
a sudden evacuation. That's a child raising children.
7:19
And in active conflict zones, the situation degrades even
7:23
further. Militias actively abduct
7:26
children to break down their natural conscience and
7:29
resistance. These militias drug the
7:31
children, forcing them into the influence of narcotics to kill
7:34
others, sometimes even people from their own villages.
7:37
Other children are carried off to military camps for systematic
7:40
sexual abuse. It's just horrifying, and we
7:43
also have to look at the extreme medical vulnerability mentioned
7:46
in the text. Yeah, that's a huge factor.
7:48
Because in the West, if a baby is born with a cleft palate or
7:52
clubbed feet, it is a routine issue.
7:55
You schedule a surgery, the doctors fix it, and the child
7:58
lives a completely normal life. Right, it's very manageable.
8:00
But in the developing world, those same highly treatable
8:03
conditions go entirely unaddressed due to a lack of
8:06
money or local medical infrastructure.
8:09
Because of these untreated physical issues that children
8:11
are viewed as cursed or burdensome.
8:14
They suffer massive physical pain, but they also face
8:17
absolute social rejection and abuse from their own
8:19
communities. Which leads directly into the
8:21
reality of St. kids. When children face physical
8:25
abuse at home, or when parents simply cannot find a way to feed
8:28
them, the children run away. They take their chances on the
8:31
street. Exactly.
8:32
They end up on the streets, the material notes.
8:35
A heartbreaking coping mechanism, too.
8:37
These kids turn to sniffing glue or inhalants.
8:41
To numb the hunger. Right.
8:43
They do this because the chemicals numb the physical pain
8:45
of starvation and provide a temporary escape from the
8:48
psychological trauma. But once they are isolated on
8:52
the street, organized crime syndicates and drug cartels spot
8:55
them. A cartel looks at an
8:57
undocumented starving child and sees the perfect asset.
9:01
Because they can fly under the radar.
9:02
Yes, they recruit these vulnerable kids to carry drugs
9:06
across borders, through security checkpoints and into rival
9:09
territories because a child is much less likely to be searched
9:12
by authorities than an adult. Right.
9:14
And the final risk category the material covers is
9:16
incarceration. Over 1,000,000 kids are locked
9:20
up and denied their liberty every single year. 1,000,000.
9:23
Like, how does a child end up in prison?
9:26
Well, the authors describe a system of pure extortion.
9:30
Dishonest individuals or corrupt local authorities will approach
9:34
a family and file a completely fabricated criminal claim
9:37
against the child. A total lie.
9:39
Right. They then demand a bribe to drop
9:41
the charges. When the honest family cannot
9:43
come up with the extortion money, the accuser follows
9:45
through the corrupt system, processes the paperwork, and the
9:49
child goes to prison. Unbelievable.
9:51
Or, alternatively, the authors point out that when a parent is
9:54
incarcerated, especially a primary provider, the children
9:58
are left completely alone, becoming what the material calls
10:01
functional orphans. Yeah, in every single one of
10:04
these examples, from the debt traps in the brickyards to the
10:06
militias in the war zones, from the cartel mules on the street
10:09
to the extortion of the prisons, we see human sin weaponized.
10:13
Weaponized is the right word. But the author's deliberately
10:15
contrast this massive darkness with the biblical promises of
10:19
God. They bring in passages like
10:21
Psalm 27.10 do, which says that even if a father and mother
10:24
forsake a child, the Lord will take them in.
10:26
They reference Revelation 21.4, highlighting A Heavenly Father
10:30
who hears every cry and promises to eventually wipe away every
10:34
tear. God is presented as the ultimate
10:36
refuge against this systemic depravity.
10:39
I hear those verses and they are beautiful, but I have to push
10:43
back a little here. Sure, when you lay out the
10:45
statistics, 40 million displaced, 20% of trafficking
10:48
victims, millions in forced labor, it feels like humanity
10:53
has inherited a massive crushing debt that we never signed for,
10:56
right? If you are listening to this as
10:58
a Christian, how do you process the sheer terrifying scale of
11:02
the suffering without falling into absolute despair?
11:06
The cruelty is so vast it feels unbeatable.
11:09
That is the exact tension every believer has to hold.
11:12
We process it by recognizing 2 concurrent truths.
11:15
First, the fall of man described in Genesis broke the world
11:18
entirely. The suffering is real and it is
11:20
catastrophic. But second, God has not
11:23
abandoned the world to its own destruction.
11:24
What are the ways we see God's sustaining hand is through
11:27
common grace. Recognizing the darkness of this
11:31
crisis, human governments and societies attempt to build
11:34
systems. They create bureaucracies,
11:36
agencies and legal frameworks to manage the crisis, to fix it, or
11:40
at least to mitigate the worst of the suffering.
11:42
Which brings us directly to the second major area.
11:46
We need to look at the systems we build to handle this fallout.
11:49
If we focus on the United States, the primary system
11:52
responding to this is foster care.
11:54
The material notes that over 600,000 kids enter or exit the
11:58
foster system in a given. That is a massive logistical
12:02
undertaking. It is and the author's detail,
12:04
the immense legal red tape involved in the.
12:06
Process because the intention behind the foster system is
12:08
inherently good, right? It's to provide a temporary,
12:11
safe and stable home for a child while the biological family is
12:15
given a chance to rehabilitate. The goal is reunification.
12:18
Exactly. But the bureaucratic reality is
12:21
incredibly complicated. The material points out a
12:23
crucial legal fact. No child is actually adoptable
12:27
until both parents rights are legally terminated by the
12:29
courts. I think a lot of people do not
12:31
realize that they don't. You might have a child living in
12:34
a foster home for years, deeply attached to the foster parents,
12:38
but they're stuck in a legal limbo.
12:40
The state has to balance the rights of the biological parents
12:42
against the safety of the child, and that process takes an
12:46
agonizingly long time. It does.
12:48
The material describes what they call the Foster experience.
12:52
It involves repeat entries where kids exit the system to go back
12:56
to a biological parent, only to have that situation fail again,
13:00
sending them right back into the system.
13:01
It's a revolving door. Right.
13:03
It involves siblings being separated and placed in
13:05
different homes because a single foster family might not have
13:08
enough beds for three or four kids.
13:12
And we also see children being bounced from home to home.
13:15
The reason for this constant relocation is often tied to the
13:19
immense trauma that children bring with them.
13:21
Yeah, trauma does so much damage.
13:23
It manifests as severe physical, developmental, or behavioral
13:27
problems a foster family might take in a child, realize they
13:31
are unequipped to handle the violent outbursts or the medical
13:34
needs, and request the child be moved.
13:37
Which just adds more trauma. Right.
13:39
The system is trying to cope with an ocean of trauma, and the
13:42
authors readily acknowledge that stepping into this as a foster
13:45
parent comes at a very high personal cost.
13:47
It's not easy. Not at all.
13:49
It requires massive amounts of time, mandatory training,
13:53
opening your home to state inspections and facing the
13:56
devastating emotional toll of saying goodbye when a child
14:00
transitions back to their biological family.
14:03
But if you are listening to this and thinking I agree this is a
14:06
crisis, but I am simply not in a position to foster a child full
14:09
time, the material actually offers a very practical
14:13
alternative. Yes, this is such a good point.
14:16
They talk about respite care. This is where individuals get
14:19
approved by the state to provide short term babysitting,
14:22
sometimes just for a weekend or an overnight stay for existing
14:25
foster parents. It acts as a pressure release
14:27
valve. Exactly, it allows the full time
14:29
foster parents to rest and avoid burnout, which keeps a child in
14:33
a stable placement rather than being bounced to a new home.
14:36
Respite care is a fantastic example of a community
14:39
supporting the system, but we have to recognize that the
14:42
foster care system, with all its checks and balances, is largely
14:47
a Western luxury. That's true.
14:49
In developing nations that do not have the tax base to fund a
14:52
foster infrastructure, the default societal solution has
14:56
always been building orphanages, and the authors highlight a
15:00
highly startling unintended consequence of the orphanage
15:04
model. Wait, hold on.
15:05
This part of the material made me read it twice.
15:08
Are the authors seriously suggesting that building a
15:10
state-of-the-art facility to feed and how starving kids might
15:13
actually be causing harm? Yeah, that seems completely
15:15
counterintuitive to everything we are taught about charity.
15:18
It is entirely counterintuitive, which is why it is so critical
15:21
to understand. The authors explain it through
15:24
economics and perverse incentives.
15:26
OK, lay it out. Imagine an impoverished widow
15:28
with two young children. She loves her children, but she
15:31
has no job, no money, and they're literally starving.
15:34
Then a well fronted international charity comes in
15:38
and builds a beautiful orphanage right down the road.
15:41
That orphanage offers 3 guaranteed meals a day, warm
15:44
beds and a free education. So the mother looks at her
15:48
starving kids, looks at the pristine orphanage, and realizes
15:53
the only way her children will survive and get an education is
15:56
if she abandons them to the facility.
15:59
The very existence of the high quality orphanage incentivizes a
16:03
loving mother to break apart her family.
16:06
Precisely the author's note that well-intentioned, heavily funded
16:09
orphanage ministries can inadvertently create a market
16:12
for orphans, contributing to more children being separated
16:15
from their biological families. That is devastating.
16:18
So how did charities respond to that?
16:20
Well, the material notes that modern ministries are undergoing
16:23
a massive shift in methodology. Instead of defaulting to
16:26
building a compound and taking children in, they're moving
16:30
heavily toward family preservation.
16:31
Which makes a lot more sense. Right, they try to come
16:34
alongside that struggling widow. They provide micro loans, job
16:37
training and legal advocacy. The goal is to keep the
16:40
biological family intact so the parent never feels the economic
16:43
pressure to hand their child over to an institution.
16:46
That shift toward preservation is vital because the material
16:49
points out the lasting, severe effects of institutionalization.
16:53
Even if you build a good orphanage, one that is clean,
16:56
well staffed and safe, the children still face massive
17:00
hurdles. Huge hurdles.
17:02
The authors discuss developmental trauma, and they
17:05
make a point to specify that this trauma is not just
17:08
emotional, it alters the child's physiological development.
17:11
Yeah, and they give a very specific mechanical example of
17:14
this. Picture a baby in an orphanage
17:16
crib. The baby is clean and fed, but
17:19
because there are 50 other babies and only a few
17:22
caregivers, that baby lacks the constant one-on-one parental
17:26
attachment. When a baby in a normal home
17:28
cries, a parent picks them up, bounces them, makes eye contact
17:32
and stimulates their brain. In an institution, a baby learns
17:36
that crying does not bring comfort, so they stop crying.
17:39
Furthermore, lacking a parent to place them on the floor and
17:42
encourage them to move, the baby might not be inclined to crawl.
17:45
That lack of physical practice delays their motor functions.
17:48
Because no one is interacting with them.
17:50
Right. The synapses in the brain
17:52
literally failed to connect because the environmental
17:54
stimulation is missing. The child falls physiologically
17:58
behind their peers. This brings us to a crucial
18:00
theological concept, the intersection of common grace and
18:03
human limitations. Right before we go further, it
18:06
is helpful to define common grace in Reformed theology.
18:10
Saving grace is the specific regenerating work of the Holy
18:14
Spirit that brings a person to salvation.
18:17
Common grace, however, is God's general goodness to all of
18:21
creation. It is the rain falling on the
18:23
just and the unjust. The foster system, the social
18:26
workers, the well meaning orphanages.
18:29
These are all examples of common grace.
18:31
They are systems God uses to restrain total depravity and
18:35
alleviate suffering. But they are human bureaucracies
18:38
trying to artificially replicate the family structure that God
18:41
ordained in creation. Whenever a human system tries to
18:44
replicate a divine design, there will always be friction,
18:47
inefficiencies and unintended consequences.
18:50
You can think of an orphanage like a greenhouse.
18:52
The greenhouse is a marvel of human engineering, right?
18:55
It can keep a plant alive in a totally sterile, temperature
18:59
controlled environment. But because the plant never
19:02
experiences wind or natural resistance, it never develops a
19:06
deep root system. If you take that plant out of
19:09
the greenhouse and put it in the real world, the first storm will
19:12
blow it over. Oh, that's a great point.
19:14
An institution can keep a child alive, but it cannot provide the
19:17
deep relational roots a family offers.
19:20
That is a very accurate analogy, and that reality is why the
19:23
material heavily highlights realistic expectations for
19:27
parents who decide to adopt. Right, you have to be prepared.
19:30
When you bring a child out of the greenhouse and into your
19:32
home, you must be prepared for the fact that trauma has changed
19:36
their brain chemistry and their physiological baseline.
19:39
Love is absolutely necessary, but love alone does not
19:42
instantly reverse physiological setbacks or attachment
19:46
disorders. No it doesn't.
19:47
It requires specialized care, intense patients and realistic
19:51
milestones. Now, hearing about all these
19:54
unintended consequences, perverse incentives, and the
19:57
physiological stunting, it begs the question, OK, are the
20:01
authors saying that building an orphanage is fundamentally a bad
20:04
idea? Like, should Christians
20:06
completely abandoned that model? The authors are very careful to
20:10
avoid sweeping absolutes. They acknowledge that orphanages
20:13
are still the necessary and right option in specific cases.
20:17
Like when there's no other choice.
20:18
Right. There are truly children who
20:20
have no parents, no extended family, and no shelter
20:23
whatsoever. In areas devastated by war or
20:26
natural disasters, immediate institutional shelter is
20:30
required to save lives. That makes sense.
20:32
But the guiding principle must be that the goal of Christian
20:34
ministry should always align with God's original design,
20:37
which is the family unit. If a system incentivizes the
20:40
destruction of a biological family solely due to poverty,
20:44
the system is misaligned and requires adjustment.
20:46
So what does this all mean for us?
20:49
We have looked at the global crisis and the imperfect human
20:52
systems trying to manage the fallout of a broken world.
20:56
The material pivots significantly here.
20:59
It does. It zooms way out.
21:00
It moves away from the sociological realities of orphan
21:03
care and forces us to look at the massive theological
21:07
implications of bringing a child into a permanent home.
21:11
It forces us to look at the theology of adoption itself.
21:15
Yeah, The authors argue that Christian should look at
21:16
adoption not just as a humanitarian effort, but from a
21:19
missional perspective, pulling our understanding directly from
21:22
Scripture. They root this deeply in the Old
21:25
Testament context. When God frees the nation of
21:27
Israel from Egyptian slavery, the language used is
21:31
consistently the language of adoption.
21:33
God calls Israel his son. Throughout the Old Testament,
21:36
God is repeatedly identified as a father to the fatherless and a
21:40
defender of the helpless. He aligns his own character with
21:43
the defense of the orphan. And to understand the New
21:46
Testament context, the material brings in a quote from a scholar
21:49
named Ted Johnson, who focuses on the Greco Roman culture of
21:52
the apostle Paul's day. Right when Paul writes about
21:55
adoption in his letters, he is speaking to an audience that
21:58
understands adoption very differently than we do today.
22:01
Johnson points out that in the Roman Empire, adoption was
22:04
rarely about taking in a needy infant.
22:07
It wasn't about charity at all. No, it was almost exclusively
22:10
for the upper class, used to secure political dynasties or
22:13
economic advantages. An emperor without a biological
22:16
heir would adopt A grown successful military general to
22:20
confer legal authority upon him and secure the succession of the
22:24
throne. And Johnson details the specific
22:26
Roman legal concept called patriot potestas, which
22:30
translates to the power of the father.
22:32
Yeah. Under Roman law, this gave a
22:34
funder near absolute legal authority over his child.
22:38
That authority extended to the power of life and death.
22:41
Literally. A father could legally sell his
22:43
child into slavery or order their execution, and this power
22:47
continued as long as the father was alive, regardless of whether
22:50
the child was an infant or a 40 year old magistrate.
22:53
That's wild. Under the law, the child was
22:56
viewed as the absolute possession of the father.
22:58
So in that context, to be adopted meant you were entirely
23:02
removed from the legal dominion, the debts and the control of
23:04
your previous father, and placed entirely under the authority,
23:07
the protection and the wealth of your new father.
23:10
The legal transfer was absolute. Right, that historical context
23:14
is crucial for understanding the Gospel parallel the authors are
23:17
drawing. The material lays out the
23:19
believers original state before salvation.
23:22
We start out legally classified as Children of wrath, accursed
23:26
Children, and Slaves of sin. That's our default state.
23:29
We are completely destitute, spiritually bankrupt and facing
23:33
a massive legal debt we cannot pay.
23:36
Yet the material points out the staggering truth found in
23:39
Ephesians chapter 1. Before the foundation of the
23:42
earth, God chose specific individuals for adoption.
23:46
Amazing. When the Holy Spirit regenerates
23:48
a heart and conversion happens, the legal status of that person
23:51
changes instantly and permanently.
23:54
Sinners are set free from the dominion of sin and granted the
23:56
full privileges of the first born son, Jesus Christ.
23:59
They are made Co heirs with Christ.
24:01
And the material includes A magnificent quote from Jay
24:05
Packer that sums this up beautifully.
24:08
Packer says adoption is a family idea.
24:12
To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, But to be
24:15
loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.
24:18
If we connect this to the bigger picture of Reformed soteriology,
24:22
soteriology being the study of the doctrine of salvation, we
24:26
set a vital distinction between justification and adoption.
24:29
Let's break that down. Justification is a legal
24:31
declaration. It deals entirely with the
24:34
courtroom. God acting as the judge,
24:37
declares the Sinner not guilty, right, based exclusively on the
24:40
imputed righteousness of Christ. Right.
24:43
But adoption moves beyond the courtroom.
24:45
Adoption deals with the living room.
24:46
I want to make sure we really grasp that distinction because
24:48
it is the core of this whole discussion.
24:50
Yeah, it's essential. Imagine that courtroom scenario
24:52
from the beginning. You have a destitute guilty
24:55
person standing trial. The judge brings down the gavel,
24:58
drops all the criminal charges and pays the massive fine
25:01
himself. That is justification.
25:04
The person is legally clear they will not go to prison.
25:06
They are free to walk out of the building.
25:09
But adoption is that same judge stepping down from the bench,
25:12
taking the defendant by the hand, walking them out to his
25:14
car, driving them to his own house and giving them the keys.
25:17
Which is just beyond comprehension.
25:20
He says you do not just get to avoid prison, you get to live
25:24
here. Now my inheritance is your
25:26
inheritance. You carry my name.
25:28
That is a brilliant way to visualize it.
25:30
The authors make a heavy theological point here.
25:33
God could have justified, sanctified, and glorified
25:36
sinners without ever making us his children.
25:39
He could have just kept us as servants.
25:41
Exactly. He could have just kept us as
25:43
pardoned subjects in His Kingdom or workers in His house.
25:47
The relational aspect of adoption, sending the spirit of
25:50
His Son into our hearts so we can cry out ABBA Father, is an
25:54
overwhelming, unnecessary overflowing of grace.
25:57
It goes far beyond a mere legal pardon.
25:59
And because of that immense spiritual reality, the authors
26:02
argue that earthly adoption becomes a visible picture of
26:05
this invisible grace. It acts as a living apologetic
26:08
When adoptive parents go to a courthouse and legally change a
26:11
child's status from ward of the state to loved, redeemed and
26:15
secured son or daughter. They are physically acting out
26:18
God's saving grace for the watching world to see.
26:22
The material asserts that this is the apex of all privilege for
26:25
a believer. Christians who adopt are
26:28
providing A tactile, realistic picture of the gospel.
26:31
They really are. They look at an orphan, a child
26:33
with nothing to offer them but need, and they choose them to
26:37
become their child. This perfectly mirrors how God
26:40
looked at spiritually dead sinners and chose them to become
26:44
His children. The theology is breathtaking,
26:46
but the authors do not let us stay in the clouds of
26:49
theological theory. They brought us right back down
26:52
to Earth, pointing out that executing this living apologetic
26:55
in the real world means you are going to collide head on with
26:58
secular bureaucracies. And that is a hard collision.
27:00
It is, and that brings us to the serious clash of world views
27:04
embedded in the adoption system. The material issues a very stark
27:08
warning to prospective parents. They state that even agencies
27:12
receiving government aid or those proudly bearing a
27:15
Christian name on their letterhead will eventually
27:18
disappoint Christian parents. Because human institutions are
27:20
flawed. Exactly.
27:22
In some truly horrifying cases, agencies operating under the
27:26
guise of orphan care have actually been exposed as fronts
27:29
for child trafficking. And even when an agency is well
27:32
meaning and completely legal, the material notes they often
27:35
adopt worldly psychology and sociology to such a degree agree
27:39
that biblical morals and the gospel witness are completely
27:42
suppressed. The worldview of the state
27:44
agency clashes directly with the worldview of the Christian
27:47
parents trying to adopt. The author's outline exactly how
27:50
a believer must handle this clash.
27:53
On one hand, Christians must enthusiastically affirm certain
27:57
secular agreements. OK, like what?
27:59
We absolutely agree with the state on the infinite value of
28:02
children because we believe they are made in the Imago Day, the
28:06
image of God. We agree on the fundamental
28:08
equality of all people. Furthermore, the Christian must
28:12
demonstrate massive patience and sympathy for the trauma these
28:15
children have endured and the complex behavioral issues that
28:19
stem from abuse. We cannot dismiss the
28:21
psychological damage. No, absolutely not.
28:24
But the authors say believers must simultaneously hold to
28:27
biblical truths that the secular system flatly rejects.
28:31
We must affirm humanity's miserable slavery to send our
28:35
personal accountability before a holy God and our desperate need
28:38
for a Savior. This is where the friction
28:40
occurs. The secular system generally
28:42
operates on a worldview that views the traumatized child is
28:45
fundamentally good but damaged by a toxic environment.
28:48
Right, they see the environment is the only issue.
28:50
Therefore, any bad behavior is solely the result of trauma.
28:54
The biblical worldview is much more robust.
28:56
It recognizes the genuine catastrophic damage of the
28:59
trauma, but it also recognizes that the child, like every human
29:02
being since the fall, possesses A sinful nature and is, in the
29:05
end accountable to God. Handling interviews,
29:09
psychological evaluations and home inspections with state
29:12
social workers who might be actively hostile to the gospel
29:16
requires immense discernment from the parents.
29:18
It really does. The material also addresses a
29:21
massive theological point regarding God's sovereignty and
29:24
salvation, specifically as it applies to Christian parents.
29:27
Yeah, this is a big one. It explicitly states that
29:30
adoptive parents must entrust the ultimate results to God.
29:34
Providing a warm, loving Christian home does not
29:37
guarantee the child's salvation. The parents are responsible for
29:41
providing a faithful gospel witness, but only God
29:44
regenerates the heart. This is a deeply Reformed
29:47
perspective, tying directly into the Westminster Confessions
29:51
teaching on effectual calling. It relies entirely on the
29:54
sovereignty of God. And this doctrine actually lifts
29:57
A crushing burden off the parents.
29:59
It does. The pressure to save the child
30:00
is removed because parents do not possess the ability to save
30:04
anyone. Their job is daily obedience,
30:07
faithful proclamation of the truth, and providing that
30:09
tactile picture of grace. The actual regeneration of the
30:12
child's soul, taking out the heart of stone and giving a
30:15
heart of flesh, is exclusively the domain of the Holy Spirit.
30:19
Before we move on, I want to ask a practical question about
30:21
balancing those worldviews. If you are a parent, how do you
30:25
practically balance that? How do you show extreme patience
30:29
for a child's trauma induced behavior while simultaneously
30:33
teaching them biblical accountability for their sin?
30:36
It's tough. Like imagine a child acts out
30:39
destructively breaking things in the house.
30:42
The purely secular worldview might say that is just the
30:45
trauma speaking, do not discipline them, Remove all
30:47
accountability. The strict unloving approach
30:50
might say that is rebellion against my rules, crush it
30:52
immediately. How does the Christian walk the
30:55
the line between those two extremes?
30:57
The biblical balance requires recognizing both reality
31:00
simultaneously. The trauma explains the origin
31:03
of the behavior, but it does not excuse the sin.
31:07
The parent must provide a radically secure environment
31:09
where the child knows with absolute certainty they will not
31:12
be abandoned or sent back no matter what they break.
31:15
The security has to be rock solid.
31:17
Yes, but within that unbreakable security, the parent must
31:21
enforce consistent, loving boundaries that teach the child
31:25
they are accountable to a holy God.
31:28
It requires what the authors call endurance, constant prayer
31:32
and a heavy reliance on grace. Here's where it gets really
31:35
interesting. The sources we are analyzing
31:37
today do not just give us the high level theory.
31:41
They give us a specific, detailed real life narrative
31:44
that perfectly encapsulates this messy, heart wrenching.
31:48
Reality. Yeah.
31:49
The story. Something else?
31:50
We turn now to the personal account written by David Beakley
31:53
regarding his experience with a street kid named Handsome.
31:56
So the narrative places Beakley in a town called Poliquin, South
32:00
Africa, located near the Zimbabwe border.
32:03
The date is March 2007. OK, to give some historical
32:06
context at that specific time, sudden political violence and
32:09
economic collapse in Zimbabwe. We're driving a massive influx
32:12
of refugees and orphans across the border into South Africa.
32:16
Beakley sets the scene. He and his wife are at home.
32:19
He mentions he was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing
32:21
family barbecue in his backyard as the sun was setting.
32:24
But he hears a noise, goes to his front gate and encounters 2
32:28
Young St. kids looking for money or food.
32:31
The boys introduce themselves as Brian and handsome.
32:34
Yeah. Beagley notes that as he looks
32:36
at these boys, he experiences a sudden, undeniable conviction
32:40
from God. He hears the specific words of
32:43
two scriptures echoing in his mind.
32:45
What are you doing here, David? Which is what God asked Elijah
32:49
in First Kings 19. And Physician, heal yourself
32:53
from Jesus's words in Luke 4. The conviction he felt was
32:57
essentially a challenge to his own integrity.
32:59
Was he going to practice what he preached?
33:01
Because he had just preached on this.
33:03
Exactly. The irony is that he had
33:05
literally just preached a sermon on the parable The Good
33:07
Samaritan the previous Lord's Day.
33:10
Faced with these two boys at his gate, interrupting his
33:13
comfortable evening, he dedicates himself to the moment.
33:17
He opens the gate and takes them both into his home.
33:20
The material notes that the arrangement with Brian does not
33:22
last. Brian leaves after about a
33:24
month, choosing to return to the life on the street.
33:26
But Hanson wants to stay. We learn a bit about Hanson's
33:30
background. He had fled his home in Zimbabwe
33:32
at the age of 7 or 8. Seven or eight years old.
33:35
Why did a 7 year old run away? Because he was starving.
33:39
He had no shoes, no clothes, and absolutely no hope of survival
33:43
if he stayed. The Beakley's bring handsome
33:45
into their family completely. They do not just offer him a bed
33:49
in the garage, they integrate him.
33:51
Like a son. Yeah, they start by trying
33:54
homeschooling to get him caught up.
33:56
Then, leveraging support from their local community, they
33:59
managed to get him enrolled in a private Christian School.
34:03
This is a massive logistical victory considering Handsome is
34:06
entirely undocumented and legally residing in the country
34:09
without a visa. And the narrative details a long
34:12
season of really good years. The material mentions rigorous
34:15
education and consistent, loving discipline.
34:18
Handsome is treated as a full member of the Beakley family.
34:21
He really is. He attends youth group.
34:23
He goes to church camp. Later on, a compassionate local
34:27
gym owner meets Handsome and gives him a job.
34:30
Handsome thrives in that environment.
34:32
Over the next five years, he works hard, gets an
34:34
international fitness trainer qualification, gets into
34:37
bodybuilding and builds a solid, respectable clientele.
34:41
He's a success story. But the narrative shifts,
34:44
demonstrating the complicated nature of the human heart we
34:47
discussed earlier. As Handsome gets older and
34:50
enters young adulthood, he begins to drift.
34:53
He acquires a new group of friends who do not share his
34:55
family's values, and he starts distancing himself from the
34:58
Beakley's in the church. It's hard to read that part.
35:01
Beakley describes this period with heavy realism.
35:04
He notes it took serious effort in negotiation just to get
35:07
Handsome to attend the Sunday service.
35:10
There were many difficult days of trying to hold him
35:12
accountable to the truth he had been taught.
35:14
Then we reached the devastating tragedy of the story.
35:17
It is October 2017. The local gym owner calls
35:20
Beakley early on a Saturday morning at 5:20 AM.
35:23
He delivers one horrifying sentence.
35:26
Hanson was killed in a motor vehicle accident the night
35:29
before. 4 young men lost their lives in that single crash.
35:33
The theological honesty in Beakley's writing at this
35:36
specific point is staggering. A lesser writer or someone
35:40
trying to protect their own emotions might offer pleasant
35:43
platitudes. Right, they might just say he is
35:45
in a better place now. Exactly.
35:48
But Beakley plainly admits that all his rigorous theological
35:51
background offers him 0 assurance regarding Handsome's
35:54
eternal salvation. He knows that Handsome had been
35:57
giving grace upon grace by their family in the church, and yet he
36:01
frequently rejected or presumed upon that grace even though he
36:04
verbally understood the biblical truth.
36:06
Beakley writes that Handsome is now experiencing 100% biblical
36:10
reality. The time for theory is over.
36:12
Handsome is either facing a righteous judge, holding him
36:14
fully accountable for his sins, or he has been embraced by a
36:18
loving heavenly Father through the blood of Christ.
36:21
Beakley refuses to invent a false assurance just for the
36:24
sake of his own emotional comfort.
36:26
This raises an important question regarding how
36:29
Christians handle huge grief when they are dedicated to
36:32
strict biblical truth. Right.
36:34
The Reformed view of sovereignty we discussed earlier.
36:37
The belief that God alone regenerates the heart does not
36:40
allow us to peer into the book of life.
36:42
We do not know who is elect. We just don't know.
36:45
Beakley's refusal to soften the reality of eternal judgement
36:49
highlights a rigorous adherence to Scripture over
36:52
sentimentality. He acknowledges God's sovereign
36:55
right over handsome soul, even in the midst of a father's
36:59
crushing grief. But the story does not end with
37:01
that phone call. The very next Monday evening,
37:04
after what had to be the most emotionally exhausting weekend
37:07
of Beakley's life, the doorbell rings Right.
37:10
Beakley goes to the gate. Standing there is a man named
37:13
Zion. Zion was the driver of the car
37:16
in which Hanson was riding. He is out on bail facing
37:19
multiple charges of culpable homicide for the four deaths,
37:22
and his wife, Whitney, is standing right next to him.
37:25
The man directly responsible for the accident that killed
37:27
Beakley's adopted son is standing at his front gate.
37:30
Beakley writes that he again feels that exact same scriptural
37:34
conviction from 10 years prior. What are you doing here, David
37:37
in Physician? Heal yourself.
37:39
So Beakley pushes the button to open the gate.
37:42
He invites them inside. They sit on the sofas in his
37:45
living room, their heads hung low in shame and fear.
37:48
Wow. And Beakley, along with another
37:51
pastor who lived with them, begins to share the gospel with
37:53
the man who drove the car. Beakley explained his
37:56
theological stance to Zion. He tells him that Handsome is
38:00
gone, either in the hands of a perfect judge or a perfect
38:03
father, and Beakley can do nothing more for him.
38:06
Right. But Zion and Whitney are sitting
38:08
right there, breathing and in desperate need of forgiveness.
38:12
Beakley tells them about a loving God who gave his own son
38:14
to die for guilty people just like them.
38:16
And then Beakley looks at Zion and says the words.
38:19
I forgive you because I have been forgiven myself.
38:22
Amazing. He points out to Zion that if
38:24
not for God's providential grace in his own life, Beakley could
38:27
easily be the guilty man sitting on that sofa.
38:30
But Beakley also delivers a massive, terrifying theological
38:34
warning. Yeah, he doesn't hold back.
38:35
No. He tells Zion that horizontal
38:37
forgiveness Beakley forgiving Zion for the crash is good, but
38:42
it ends the moment they die. He directs Zion to the absolute
38:45
necessity of vertical forgiveness from God.
38:49
To drive the point home, he quotes Hebrews 10.31 looking
38:52
Zion in the eye and warning him that it is a terrifying thing to
38:55
fall into the hands of the living God.
38:57
Yeah. Beakley spends 45 minutes
38:59
preaching, imploring and encouraging this couple before
39:03
sending them on their way into the night.
39:05
If you are listening to this, just pause and consider the
39:08
sheer weight of Beakley's obedience in this narrative.
39:11
The symmetry of it is staggering.
39:13
It really is. He opened his gate in 2007
39:15
because he was convicted by a sermon he preached on the Good
39:18
Samaritan and he brought in a starving undocumented St. kid.
39:23
10 years later, grieving the loss of that exact same kid, he
39:27
opens that exact same gate to the man who drove the car that
39:29
killed him, offering immediate forgiveness based entirely on
39:33
the grace he himself received from God.
39:35
The lesson Beakley draws from this entire decade long
39:37
experience is perseverance. He states that when missionaries
39:42
or any Christian family take in an orphan, they must embrace the
39:45
child as their own flesh and blood.
39:48
But he points out that all Christian parents must persist
39:51
through intense challenges. Striving for consistency and
39:55
applying gospel truth bore real fruit in Hansom's life for a
39:58
time, even if the ultimate eternal outcome remains hidden
40:02
in the secret counsel of God. And Beakley concludes his
40:05
account by saying the ground is utterly level at the foot of the
40:07
cross. All heads are level.
40:09
Missionaries, pastors and adoptive parents are no more
40:12
deserving of God's grace than the cartel mules, the corrupt
40:15
lenders or the man facing a homicide charge.
40:18
This is not just a strategy for international missions, he says.
40:22
This is simply what it looks like to live for Christ.
40:25
It is the living apologetic we discussed earlier, played out in
40:28
its rawest, most painful form. Knowing with absolute certainty
40:33
that you were adopted out of your own spiritual depravity
40:35
gives you the supernatural capacity to look at the man
40:38
responsible for your son's death and offer immediate, genuine
40:42
forgiveness. We have covered massive ground
40:45
today. We really have.
40:46
We started by looking at the heartbreaking mechanical
40:48
statistics of the global orphan crisis.
40:51
We looked at the millions caught in the Brickyard debt traps, the
40:54
war zones in the streets, seeing how these horrors perfectly
40:58
illustrate the dark reality of total depravity.
41:02
We looked at the common grace of human systems like foster care
41:05
while critically acknowledging their inherent flaws, the
41:08
bureaucratic red tape, and the unintended consequences of
41:12
things like the orphanage paradox.
41:14
We moved into the theological heights of Efijes Chapter 1,
41:18
seeing adoption not just as a legal transaction of
41:20
justification, but as the apex of privilege where the judge
41:24
becomes the father. Yes, we examine the friction of
41:26
maintaining A strict biblical worldview inside secular
41:29
bureaucracies that deny the reality of sin.
41:32
And we ended with the gritty, devastating, yet beautiful
41:35
reality of Hansel life and Beakley's faithful obedience at
41:39
the gate of his home. We've seen the theology of the
41:42
Westminster Confession walked out in the dirt and the grief of
41:45
Poliquin. The theology is proven true in
41:47
the Crucible of real human suffering and the application of
41:50
radical horizontal forgiveness. Which brings us to the end of
41:54
our time and leaves us with a final challenge to consider.
41:57
OK, building on everything we've drawn from Tatlock Burnett and
42:00
Beakley today, if the Creator of the universe looked at us and
42:04
our spiritual poverty, our act of rebellion and our absolute
42:07
filth, and spared no expense, even the life of his only son,
42:12
to legally adopt us, to pull us out of the courtroom and seat us
42:16
at his family table, how does that completely rewrite the way
42:20
we view our own resources? That's a huge question.
42:23
How does that change the way we look at our spare bedrooms, our
42:26
bank accounts, and our free time on the weekends?
42:28
Are we living as heirs who hoard the inheritance behind locked
42:31
dates? Or are we living as heirs who
42:33
are actively pushing the gate open, inviting others into the
42:36
family? The judge has given us the keys
42:38
to the house. What are we doing with the
42:40
doors? Thank you for joining us for
42:42
this deep dive on reformed thinking.
42:44
We wish you a highly thoughtful and intentional week ahead.