How Many Have the Name Onesiphorus?

How much is a boy worth?  How much is a girl worth?

What's the Value of One Soul?

Perhaps the better way to word that is, "What's the value of one soul over another?"  Worded this way, the sentence provokes a vastly different response from you and me and from most Indians.  Let me explain.

Here's a break down chart on the profit/loss view on raising children in Indian culture:  

From a twisted perspective you can see why a girl born into a family brings tears and sorrow.  It's the reason many fathers drown themselves in wells.  It's the reason many mothers are inconsolable with grief when they learn the gender of their coming baby will be a girl.  

Mothers-in-law feed poison to the daughter-in-law, husbands shame the wife into committing suicide because of the horrible burden she's brought upon the family.  And if it is the second or the third girl born, any serious Hindu (Muslims and so-called Christians as well!) assumes the obvious -- surely the gods are against him!

I wish I were overstating the matter.  I wish this was the result of a cynical view of the culture in India.  Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth.  The U.N. declares India to be "The Most Dangerous Country In The World To Be Born A Woman".   Many other organizations with which my philosophy of life is diametrically opposed, agree wholeheartedly in this assessment.  In fact, they go farther in their dim view of the state of Indian culture and society.  

Sure, Hollywood and the elite of our society try to convince us that everything "Eastern" is mystical and magical and beautiful.  But, even many of them lead the charge against the ruthless attack on the female children of India.  

Primarily, Indians see girls as threats because they cost money to raise, they consume meager resources in the family and they will eventually be an incredibly large financial drain when it comes time for the family to produce a huge dowry in order to marry the daughter off.  

Gender-specific abortion is rampant in India.  Female infanticide is rife in many levels of society.  And thousands of women are burned to death, poisoned or otherwise murdered each year simply because they and their families don't continue giving more and more and bigger and bigger dowries.  I wish I were exaggerating.  The evidence is staggering.

Her life will not always be so happy and carefree.

The only way a woman or young girl becomes "productive" in lower class families is if her father, mother or uncles sell her into indentured servitude.  90% of the time that translates into prostitution and international human trafficking.  

Let me encourage you to investigate a little on your own.  It would only take 15 minutes of reading to be overwhelmed with the vastness of the need in India.  Jesus is the only hope for that nation and the future of Indian's 1.2 billion souls.

A Few More Facts:

- 46% of girls in India are "child brides."
- 22% of those will have babies before they are 18 years old.
- Some states in India have only 834 girls to every 1000 boys.  This is due to gender-selective abortions, female infanticide and literally starving the girl babies to death by inattention in the first 5 years of life.
- The costs of providing dowries for one or more girls can place entire families in impossible debt for generations.  Truly, modern day slavery is as ugly as in the past.
- Human trafficking is growing beyond imagination every year.  It financially destroys poor families to pay to marry the girls off.  Selling their own daughters to brothels is the "solution" many families see to their dilemma.  


Amy Carmichael spent 52 years of her life rescuing little girls from the Hindu temples where they were sold to be temple prostitutes.  We need God to raise up another few thousand just like her.  

Please pray for India.  Pray for the orphans that abound.  Please pray particularly for the girls of a nation that has despised them for thousands of years.

Beyond Frontiers