God’s Disownment Policy

You can leave home, but God will always keep the porch light on for you.

Let’s start with a crazy question: “Would you ever consider disowning your kid?”

Most of us react instinctively to a question like that. Of course not! Are you nuts? Loving parents are not going to abandon a poor, defenseless youngster and make them an orphan. A child may wander, rebel, disappoint or break trust — but disown them? Sever the relationship? Declare them no longer yours? No one wants to imagine such a thing.

And yet, it happens.

Comedian Rodney Dangerfield built much of his “No Respect” persona around the idea that his parents didn’t want him. He used self-deprecating humor to suggest they went to great lengths to avoid him or get him out of their lives.

• “When I was a kid, my parents moved a lot — but I always found them.”
• “My old man used to take me to the zoo. He said he was hoping my real parents would claim me.”
• “When my parents got divorced, there was a custody fight over me. No one ...