To all Christian couples in Nigeria who have endured the pain and shame of infertility but remained strong and faithful to Jesus Christ. The light of His gospel shone in my darkness and the Word of light gave me life. My deep appreciation goes to everyone who supported me financially and made this adventure possible.
Haste and the PDS office, thank you for your sensitivity and compassion in granting me a continuation fee waiver for two additional semesters to alleviate my financial challenges. Foster, my supervisor and friend, thank you for your patience, prayers, and constant encouragement during the various challenges (in my job, in my country, and a devastating cancer diagnosis and difficult treatment for my wife) that I faced during the period of working on this project. Thank you for your constant encouragement to always teach God's word accurately.
Thanks for your insistence that I keep plodding along when the going gets tough during this program.
INTRODUCTION
It is the responsibility of the pastors to teach and counsel such couples in the church. Therefore, in the words of John Swinton and Brian Brock: "Israel understood fruitfulness as one of the most important indicators of divine pleasure in Israel's obedience."5. The repetition in the Old Testament of the blessing and the command to 'be fruitful and multiply' indicates that Israel perceived fertility as one of the most important.
Consequently, this group of authors arguing for the Jewish background of huiothesia sees Paul's idea of adoption in the New Testament as a continuum of Old Testament reality, as Gruden believes. In salvation, adoption is accomplished when a sinner puts his/her faith in the atoning work of Christ (Rom 8:15; Galatians 4:5), and the fulness of the adoption experience will be realized at Christ's Second Coming (Rom 8). :23 ). On the child's part, the desire for the baby to be seen as a natural birth promotes acceptance of the baby more extensively.
The focus of this chapter is the detailed description of the project preparation, implementation and the processing of the data collected. I also received the reply and approval from the Ethics Committee of the PDS office this week (January 26). For example, in Nigerian culture, like most African cultures, children go beyond a mere desire or satisfaction of the parental instincts.
During this week of March 1, I met the Moderator of the Union Baptist Association, Jos, Nigeria, in his office (March 4). He promised to be personally involved in mobilizing the pastors in Union Baptist. 14 Both the chairman of the Conference and chairman of the Conference Pastors' Fellowship sent their fellow pastors (one and two Pastors respectively) to participate fully in the seminar.
During the weeks of June 7th through June 20th, I sent reminders to each of the pastors again on June 11th and June 18th. During this last week of the project (June 28 to July 4), I collected the remaining questionnaire after the seminar from the priests. The purpose of this project was to biblically and theologically equip pastors of the Union Baptist Association, Jos, Nigeria (Plateau Baptist Conference of Nigerian Baptist Convention) to teach child adoption as a viable ministry option for infertile couples to care for orphans, satisfaction with parental instinct (desire to have children) and fulfillment of the great task for the glory of God.
At the end of the day, several shared testimonies of how the workshop had impacted them. The fourth goal was to assess changes in biblical knowledge and changes in pastors' personal beliefs about childbirth and adoption after attending the seminar. These responses show the impact of the seminar in improving the biblical knowledge and convictions of the trained pastors.
Just like Sarah, Rachael, Hannah and Elizabeth, all true believers who struggle with infertility
0001, which means in this study, the effects of the seminars taught to participating pastors were much more impressive.
Children born essentially belong to their
I believe doctors doing “test-tube babies”
I don’t see anything wrong in people going for any of the “test-tube babies” technology
All truths are God’s truth, God gave doctors wisdom, it is therefore okay for Christians to
There is no record of adoption in the
The Chair and other influential leaders in the conference share both the short-term goal (completion of this project) and the long-term vision and mission of the seminar. The support of these leaders gave credibility to the project as they became sponsors of the program to other pastors. Adoption, which has been recognized as a treatment option for infertility, has a very strong biblical and theological basis.
The beauty of these descriptions was that the cited literature and research related to the differences in the incidence of adoption practices in the three regions of Nigeria (North, South West and South East). The pastors also gained insight into how things could have gone better to teach and mentor a childless person. Many pastors were unaware that some ART methods are not acceptable to Christian ethics, and the seminar was an eye-opener for them.
This pastor told their story as his objection to the idea of teaching about adoption in the early part of the seminar day. I also communicated to the participants that it has been documented by research that adoptions go wrong about 15 percent of the time.5 But the question remains, do all biological children turn out great in all situations. I used face-to-face, person-to-person communication at the initial time of the project presentation and then reminded the participants the next day of the workshop by text and WhatsApp.
Another weakness of this project was that no accountability system was put in place before the pastors were dispersed on seminar day. The pastors left the seminar with enthusiasm and a sense of satisfaction that some of their questions were answered about how to be more effective and scripturally balanced in ministering to church members who are largely rejected by the culture because they are barren. . But the question is, how many of these pastors will be strong enough to confront this evil cultural belief (and also reject the compromises of other preachers) in their congregations and bring relief to members who are struggling with infertility.
Another weakness of this seminar was that there were no real testimonies shared by either an adoptive parent (or couple) or an adoptee of their experience with adoption. Testimonies by any of these would have increased the impact of this seminar on the pastors.
Would Do Differently
Biblical and Theological Basis of Childbearing 1 When a Christian couple is barren (i.e,
2 When a Christian couple is barren (ie unable to have biological children), it is because they are cursed. 3 When a Christian couple is infertile (ie unable to have biological children), it is because God is punishing them for certain sins in their lives. 5 Perhaps it is God's will that some Christians do not have their biological children.
6 Some Christian couples cannot have children because of the fall of man and sin from Genesis chapter 3. 7 Jesus removed all the consequences of the fall of man; therefore, no true Christian should have problems with infertility. 14 The church and leadership should understand and not frown upon those who commit adultery with the intention of having children because their marriage did not produce children.
17 When a Christian couple is barren and cannot have children, it is because they have not prayed and fasted enough. 18 When a Christian couple is barren and cannot have children, it is because they have not planted very large seed offerings. 19 Some of the Christian couples who are barren and cannot have children must have married wrongly (ie outside of God's will).
20 As a pastor based on biblical instructions, I am confident that I will teach and advise that a Christian couple without children can live a good life and serve God without existence.
Theological and Ethical Considerations of Assisted Reproductive Technology
Biblical and Theological Basis of Adoption
Christian and the Adoption Cause
50 People who encourage Christians who already have children to adopt more children, especially orphans, promote modern slavery because non-biological children can never be loved the way biological children are. 51 People who encourage barren Christians to adopt do so to help barren people hide their shame about barrenness. I look forward to seeing you at the seminar scheduled for a later date.
Knowledge and Attitudes towards Adoption and Child Fostering among Infertile Women in Northern Nigeria.” Sahel. Acceptability of Child Adoption in Infertility Treatment: A Survey of Women Attending Fertility Clinics in Tertiary Institutions in Lagos.” Journal of Clinical Sciences 11, no. The Suffering of Suffering Children: Christianity and the Rights and Wrongs of Adoption.” In The Moral of Adoption: Social-Psychological,.
Baby Factory Menace in Southeast, Parents Encourage Pregnant Teens to Abandon Babies.” The Herald, April 28, 2013. Child Adoption Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Among Infertile Patients in Sokoto Northwest Nigeria.” The Nigerian Postgraduate Medical Journal 18, no. Child Adoption Policies and Practices in Nigeria: A Review Paper.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no.
Acceptability of child adoption as a fertility management option in Nigeria: evidence from focus group discussions. African Journal of Reproductive Health 13, no. The challenges of child adoption and the emergence of a baby factory in Southeast Asia. Nigeria 3, no. Adoption: A Protestant Agapic Perspective.” In The Morality of Adoption: Social-Psychological, Theological, and Legal Perspectives, edited by Timothy P.
What Are We For?" In The Gospel & Adoption, edited by Russell Moore and Andrew T. Understanding the Social Meaning of Infertility and Childbirth: A Qualitative Study of Perceptions of Childbirth and Childlessness in Northern Ghana." 16 January 2013. This project aimed to biblically and to theologically equip pastors at Union Baptist Association, Jos, Nigeria to teach infertile couples about child adoption as a viable ministry option to care for orphans, satisfy the parental instinct, and fulfill the great commission for God's glory.
Examples of physical adoptions and images of adoptions in the Old Testament have been extensively studied. Joseph's adoption of Jesus is the only instance of physical adoption in the New Testament.
