Proclaiming the Joy of Being Made in the Image and Likeness of God

Ratholing is something that never happened and were hoping for what had already been done to be at our own lives. This is family policy matters. Focus on faith addition with Thomas Grant and pastoral outreach director for NC family join us once a month is Pastor Graham shine some light on the intersection between our Christian faith and engaging our culture.

Thank you for joining us this Christmas week for special focus on faith, addition of family policy motors today excited to have as my guest a wonderful man who has dedicated his life to proclaiming the joy of being made in the image and likeness of God, which seems particularly appropriate for this holiday celebrating the incarnation of our Lord Damon Owens was the founder and Executive Director of joy to be joy to be as a teaching ministry that utilizes new methods and seal to make Jesus Christ and the joy found in his truth and love known through a variety of public and social media outreaches and activities.

Damon Owens welcome to family policy matters.

It's great to have you on the show today sir.

What a privilege for me so much of what you would explore with us a little bit this idea that family is the universal human experience and and let's talk.

If you don't mind about how that plays into why family is so widely studied and debated in an ultimately central to society on something that we have to convince anyone of a consular family and in a secular stance week we speak about functioning dysfunction in our family because the culture that values what we do what we value, to who we are coming to know that I am worthy to be loud and not for what I do that others are willing and capable of loving me to the way that I desire. Those are relational things that are not function and fitness that really what it really affect the relational. There there there there stance and lock. So if you asked the question were all from family. We all need to know whether worthy to be loved and whether others are capable and willing to loving the human thing I said anything about Christ. Yet human right is affirmed in our faith of the Christian faith is saving interest in archaeology that it's always a grace of God that builds on nature so as to be supernatural God is not to be altered.

Other it builds up in our experience of grace always build on nature and the nature of the human person is that were deeply relational, we come to know who we are intimate relation were literally born inside of another person can see inside were born from that was the fruit of the union of virtue unique and unrepeatable person and third person uniquely and unrepeatable. He created at the fruit of the union of the other two when we are at the moment were born. We look and gaze into her mother's eyes for our what our identity. This is this is the gaze of a child who can only see literally from the breast to the mother's eyes as the site can go any further, any wider because all we need is as human beings is to know that we exist and that we matter and that were worthy to be loved and missed identity to get sporting through relationship is as natural as can be and it circle grows.

The circle from mother to child grows father to child in building a relationship is taken from the mother and the father in this reality of what's possible in terms of love and communion and life in a grocer siblings and neighbors and friends and church and community and nation and world. We look at the relational land. The family is is the primordial literally the first order placed with the human person comes to know who he is and we come to know who we are.

Through these relationships of love.

Now we look at the supernatural. What is it that the Christian faith was the Christian proposal that says he doesn't just begin in the natural the Christian proposal. There the Holy Spirit is the author and giver of life that somehow we can operate the God allow you to cooperate with this incredible life-giving cosmic reality that arguing in the natural is an invitation or call to God himself to come into yes indeed not a lot of your presentations focus on the.

The interwoven nature of a theology of family theology of love and the theology of the body.

It sounds to me like you've pretty well got a perfect image in your mind of how all of that integrates and functions. Could you give us just a little taste of what those three theologies are and how they are so intimately connected absolutely really neat categories phone line but reality often are left categorized under more integrated, we speak about distinct theology that all studies of God, but there there faith seeking understanding of how we look at it through a theology of love. Well, theology of love begins with the truth about who God is that he is father and son and Holy Spirit.

And that love is a self yes we have three distinct divine person in such communion that the love that you do in a nutshell with the Trinity, but we are made in the image and likeness of God, male and female he created us male and female so that in the body.

Persons formed directly by God. But now given in endowed with the spirit of God by his own breath with his body, soul mixture, this composite mixture composite such that what we do with our bodies is what we do with ourselves and being made from love father son and Holy Spirit in such communion that the one and being children of God, male and female. We also have the cowpox the capacity to live in love expressed as communion and that cultic community is not just emotional or psychological. It's not just physical. It is all of these things that make us human person.

We can literally enter into communion so fully with another that we become something that cannot exist on our staff that the truth about God's Trinity that the truth about who we are in life that the truth about love is the ultimate expression of love is this free total faithful and fruitful self gift live. This communion helps us understand why marriage is a book in the bar from the beginning to the end by the family at the fruit of marriage allows us to expand this life-giving call with.after theology of the body efficacy a theology of and recognizing the family at the place with these two are interwoven.

That's just beautiful.

You are listening to policy matters in a resource from family to listen to our radio show online intermodal resources that will be a voice of persuasion in your community to our website and see family.org.

November you and your wife have a beautiful personal story of openness to life that has resulted in a very full house with seven daughters and one son both biological and adoptive, including a particularly interesting connection to North Carolina. Could you share that with our listeners to better beautiful six girl in a row when a beautiful unveiling from 1996, following a 2005, and we experienced up for the first time in America. Real crisis of infertility and addicted to a beautiful other story of suffering, but recognition and presence of God.

But in that time he put on our heart, something we had no money.

I had talked about even back when we were dating in 1992 of adoption and very candidly, very afraid. Even after all those years of ministry and build in the family. We were afraid of the idea of adoption just as frightened. It's hard enough raising our own children, and there's something comforting about recognizing even the flaws in the in the course of ourselves and our children is challenging but he recognized to take someone else's child. Not knowing their background, not knowing their own temperament. It it it was it was a field just outside of our our bubble. Our comfort zone and got stretched us and called us out and we said no… Elise find out more so a beautiful long story very short, we connected with the Bethany Christian services, a beautiful Christian adoption agency and after almost 17 months of waiting thanks for a birth mother that she was an expert child.

We got a call from Winston-Salem so that is a North Carolina connection and a beautiful young woman in a very terrible crisis situation, God redeemed all of us and through that beautiful gift. My daughter Olivia came to us through adoption and it to say that exchange our family is an understatement.

God wasn't done with this because within 12 months to call her back and and by a surprise turn of events. My son Nathan came to us in 2010 we have two beautiful children through adoption. That is just change the way to change your family for the for such a great daughter.

It was time to talk about is what I'm doing interviews or or speaking otherwise it's just a way for us to really see how connected we are with each other and and to be more provocative. How connected we are with you know, our sexual behavior that we have a responsibility to each other to raise children that the Holy Spirit has called into existence. If someone else cannot do it well various seasons of poor flavors if you will, of suffering, hardship, difficulty what scriptures come to mind give you cause for hope or for perseverance during those particularly difficult and while trying seasons of hard overall, the book of Ephesians has been such a guidance from the for these years. I tell you what I really need that uplifting of reminder of what I'm doing and why.

In the middle of suffering, it's John in particular chapter job. John chapter 15 verse 11 the Lord seems to summarize everything all the law all the command finishes. I have told you all these things so that my joy might be yours and your joy might be completed next August and uplifting bumper sticker for the entire tree is for the purpose of joy and and until we achieve and actually enjoy that we are in process and that that has uplifted me, including joy to be the center part of our mission is to proclaim everything with joy for joy.

Otherwise, why would you just exactly right exactly what the incarnation during this Christmas season. The gift of God's only son impact our our own perspective on the gift of life, and about that as we begin valve to draw this interview to a close. Would you please I could see how that the Christmas Christmas day celebration that the solemnity that we hold so high in our faith is such at the time of hope.

Christmas is a time of hope. This is where I hope it's something that never happened.

While holding something that has never been seen or done before were hoping for what had already been done to be effective in our own lives to be present for us to reach us in the midst of our sin in the midst of our failures in the midst of our brokenness and for us to look and see what God is already done and saying what that was what Mary had said nine months earlier, let it be done unto me according to your word and it was that the celebration is the celebration of the boy you really nailed it big time. I enjoyed our conversation so much, but we are about out of time and I'm sure many of our listeners today have really taken note of the many things that you have shared and would like to probably get to know you better work in our listeners go to learn more about joy to be Andrew, good work. There were working they go online by joy to DJ all why GOP theology like JR why GOP.org were also on Facebook and Twitter and things like that, but the website will really help you to see this great nation of ours to to bring joy to marriage and family help us recognize that the joy to be in man and the joy to be a woman is rooted in our joy to be loved as sons and daughters of God our father and what does that mean for your family for the need for your life definition of joy to be not be honored to share in that with your listeners wonderful wonderful will miss you so very much for being with us on firmer levels of mother's of the for your commitment to showing and spreading the joy of Christ in our world is so desperately needed carry-on. God bless and Merry Christmas and you bless you and you've been listening to family policy matters focus on Dave edition production and see family to listen to a radio show online, and for more valuable resources and information about issues important to families in North Carolina go to my website and see family.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook