The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Real Meaning of Christmas
A Christmas Poem by Joseph P. Martino

Two thousand years ago the King of Kings was born.
'The Lamb of God' later made to feel the thorn,
If his words are accepted and not scorned,
They will make us all reborn.

Though God's grace, Joseph and Mary presented
A gift to the world that day, which we can all repay,
by living the ten commandments each and every day.

Try to remember and keep in your heart and mind
Jesus's gospel while here on Earth,
Redemption not a life lived in constant mirth.
Peace on Earth, good will toward man
Everyone should try it, whenever they can.

The Lord gave us the option and choice of 'free will,'
Now it's up to us to fit the bill.

So when you’re Christmas shopping for family and friends,
and money is tight at both ends,
Remember that the greatest gift of all,
Is your love of Jesus in the manger stall.

Stem Cell Rules [Yuval Levin]

For eight years, opponents of the Bush stem cell policy said all they were after were funds for the use of embryos “left over” in fertility clinics, which might end up being “destroyed anyway,” and that assertions that the real goal was creation of embryos specifically for research (including such creation by human cloning) were unfair and unfounded. Last week, however, President Obama overturned the Bush rules but did not limit federal funds to those “left over” IVF embryos. Instead he left it entirely to the NIH to decide what work could and could not be funded. And today, right on cue, the New York Times editorializes that indeed the NIH should support the creation of embryos specifically for research, including through human cloning (which they are of course careful to call “somatic cell nuclear transfer.”) That sure didn’t take long.

Collectivism

Eric Hoffer:

Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom."