Conjoined Twins

Q: I don't understand why God would allow conjoined twins? Especially the "unsurvialable" (sic) ones? Why would God do this? Do they have one spirit that they share? Did Satan make them like that in the womb or did God?

A:  Thank you for your questions. Honestly, your question could be asked of any kind of suffering. Why would God allow any of it? Ultimately, the answer to your question of why God allows such things as conjoined twins is because He allowed mankind free will to choose and we, in Adam, chose to not believe Him and sin entered into the world. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)." Conjoined twins are the byproduct of sin being in the world. One could say that God allows such things in order that you would ask the kind of questions you are now asking. It gives you an opportunity to get to know more about the Lord by inquiring about the terrible effects of sin in the world.

I assume by "unsurvialable" you mean unsurvivable. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, "Approximately 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 percent survive only one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5 percent and 25 percent." That same fact sheet stated that "Conjoined twins occur once every 200,000 live births, and their survival is anything but assured." It would seem that the birth of conjoined twins is both rare and has low survival rates. One reason God may allow this to happen is because it makes us deal with those tough moral questions we so often face. I cannot help, but think about the topic of abortion. Abortion is a sin; the willful killing of innocent life in the womb. Proponents of abortion often use these types of topics to justify abortion. It is too easy to say we should end the lives of conjoined twins, but they have a right to life just like any other child. The verse in Joshua that says, "choose for yourselves today whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15)" comes to mind. Will we serve God and trust the outcome of the twins lives to Him or play god and listen to the sinful influences of man? Difficult, yes, but faith is not always simple.

I do not believe that conjoined twins share one spirit. History seems to support the idea that although conjoined twins share one body, there are two distinct personalities at work. In every case of conjoined twins I can find, each twin has its own name. Also, there are different types of twins. Some have one body with two heads, while others have separate bodies, including arms and legs, but are attached to each other somewhere. The Lord's plan of salvation does not require a person to have their own separate body  in order to be saved. The Bible says, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being (Proverbs 20:27)." It is our regenerated spirit that occurs through faith in Jesus Christ that makes us alive to God. The Bible also says that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50)." The bodies of the saved do not go into the Kingdom of God. In fact, we will receive new bodies. Speaking of our new bodies, the Bible says, "it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44)." I believe conjoined twins that come to faith in Jesus Christ will get their own individual spiritual bodies.

No, I do not believe that Satan or God made conjoined twins that way. However, Satan is indirectly responsible for it because he is directly involved in sin entering the world. It was Satan, in the Garden of Eden, who deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit that she then gave to Adam. And it was God who warned Adam that "from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die (Genesis 2:17).” As referenced earlier (Romans 5:12), sin entered the world when Adam ate the fruit. History records that there are conjoined twins that go on to lead fairly productive lives. God allowed them to lead those lives in hopes that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ. God did not make them that way, but He did make a way for them to be saved and, ultimately, get new bodies of their own. While able-bodied people may look at conjoined twins as if they were dealt a raw deal in life, God loves them just as much as the rest of us. And He can use their physical disadvantage to draw people unto Himself by asking the questions you posed. I pray I have shed some light on the subject for you.