Saturday, March 31, 2012

Adopting Babies and New Ideas

What do you make of this? 

Yesterday I told you about the couple whose children died from heart complications.  After they first inquired about God, which was months ago, they went to the hospital in the city and were able to adopt two twin baby boys from a family (not of the same tribe) who were not able to raise them. 

Not too long after they adopted these boys they found out the wife was pregnant.  So, they felt like twins and a newborn would be too much.  They decided they needed to give one of the twins back to the birth mother.  However, they didn't know who the birth mother was--they had only dealt with hospital officials.  All they knew is that the birth family was from a particular district.

So this husband and wife took the baby with the whiter skin (the "better-looking" one) and went to that district and asked around everywhere until they found the birth mother.  The reason they brought the one with whiter skin was so that they birth mother would more readily take him back and not feel like they were dumping the less-desirable baby on her.  This lady accepted her son back and now this husband and wife only have the one to raise. 

Now, before you begin to think that the valuing of "whiter skin" has anything to do with foreigners or foreign influence, let me assure you that it does not.  It is just how the people here think.

But this story reveals a lot of different values and perspectives from our western way of thinking.  It is easy for us to judge them as a result.  I'm not going to try to defend or promote those values.  But I wanted to share them with you just to make you think. 

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments...

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