LayGuy

Meet Lakshmi.  Her story broke in November 2007 when she was a two year old born with 4 arms and four legs.  To make things worse, she also had four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities and shoe couldn’t stand up or walk.

You’d think her family would be shattered with these circumstances surrounding their child.  But instead they, and the village where she was born, considered her to be the reincarnated Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune, Lakshmi.

But the truth is, Lakshmi is a joined to a “parasitic twin” - a headless sibling which failed to develop in her mothers womb and attached itself to Lakshmi’s pelvis.  Click on the picture on the right to see what her skeleton looks like.

This is a life threatening situation for Lakshmi.  But instead of her parents listening to medical advice, they submit Lakshmi to public display and worship as the reincarnated goddess.  Check out the video below for more details:

Removing Parasitic Twin

What a sad reality for this poor little little girl.  Her reality as a child in dire need of medical intervention is hindered by a faith steeped in superstition and idol worship.  I wonder if the goddess she represents would have been something other then “wealth and fortune,” if her parents would listen to medical advice.  After all, they seem to come from a very poor village and the caste system in India would probably have something to do with their hesitation to intervene medically.

This is an example of blind faith gone horribly wrong.  This is religion and superstition at it’s ugly worst and it’s not only prevalent in Hinduism, but rampant in all the world’s religions - including Christianity.  And that’s really sad.

But there is a litmus test exemplified in scripture for us that should guard us from error and it’s found in Acts 17:11:

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

The Bereans listened to Paul’s teaching and instruction - but they also wanted to prove if what he was saying was true. So what did they do?  They listened with open ears and then they searched the scriptures with open eyes and minds.  This kind of attitude and discipline can guard us from believing all kinds of things and guard our minds and hearts.

We’re not Hindu’s - therefore goddess worship should not really show up on our faith radar.  But when you think of it honestly, how many things do we blindly follow out of ignorance also?

As for Lakshmi, the beautiful little girl ended up having her surgery and it was reported in June 16 2008, that she took her first steps after having her conjoined twin removed.  Check out the video here. I hope she gets the chance to live a normal life as any little girl has the right to do.