503: A Deeper Look into Adoption and the Bible

My new book Adoption Unfiltered, has three chapters in it devoted to religion and adoption, with my co-authors and I each researching and covering a chapter. Sara Easterly, an adoptee and a Christian, wrote about religion’s pain points for adoptees. Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, a birth mom, wrote about religion’s role in relinquishment. I, an adoptive parent, wrote about reexamining religious narratives that guide us on our journeys to adopt, and later, in the ways we parent our children. In each case, we interviewed people of various faiths who had experienced ways in which religion – not God – had caused harm.

No parent wants to cause harm, at least, not knowingly. So what do you need to know about some of the unexamined ideas you may have around your religion’s messages and their effects on your child and their birth parents?

Joining us for episode 503 is Amber Jimerson, a birth mother and a preacher’s wife, who has dived very deeply into this ocean of thought. When is the word adoption used in the Bible? Who uses it in the Bible, and who doesn’t? How have ideas been misinterpreted over the millennia, and what needs more critical thought today? Are you open at this moment to seeing an old thing in a new way? I love it when that happens to me!

We are so fortunate to have Amber with us in this episode. Tune in to all the compassion and wisdom Amber brings to this conversation.

Show Notes

• @firstfamilysupport on Instagram@ajimerson_ on Instagram
• When Helping Hurts, a book by Stever Corbett
• David Smolin, JD
• Dr Erin Heim, biblical scholar
• One Child Nation, film
• Adoption Unfiltered podcast, ep29 with Jessica Davis
• Adoption: The Long View podcast, ep305 “The right (and wrong) way to tell your adoption story”
• NCFA article, “Improving Open Adoptions”

Transcript

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About this Podcast

Lori Holden (The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole) brings to you an array of articulate and thought-provoking guests with lived experience in adoption, each with valuable insights to share about the all-encompassing journey of parenting an adopted person from babyhood to toddlerhood to school age to teenage -- and ultimately to adulthood. Join us as we explore Adoption: The Long View.

Named a Top 25 Adoption Podcast