Posted on 12/24/2011 11:48:31 AM PST by Steelfish
MARK STEYN
DECEMBER 24, 2011 Elisabeth’s Barrenness and Ours Who celebrates a birth nowadays?
Our lesson today comes from the Gospel according to Luke. No, no, not the manger, the shepherds, the wise men, any of that stuff, but the other birth: “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”
That bit of the Christmas story doesn’t get a lot of attention, but it’s in there — Luke 1:13, part of what he’d have called the backstory, if he’d been a Hollywood screenwriter rather than a physician. Of the four gospels, only two bother with the tale of Christ’s birth, and only Luke begins with the tale of two pregnancies. Zacharias is surprised by his impending paternity — “for I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years.” Nonetheless, an aged, barren woman conceives and, in the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, the angel visits her cousin Mary and tells her that she, too, will conceive.
If you read Luke, the virgin birth seems a logical extension of the earlier miracle — the pregnancy of an elderly lady. The physician-author had no difficulty accepting both. For Matthew, Jesus’s birth is the miracle; Luke leaves you with the impression that all birth — all life — is to a degree miraculous and God-given.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Except for Muslims on welfare.
What could be truer? And very nice take on Elizabeth’s significance.
I’ve often wondered if Mark is doing his part by having the 3d or 4th child? In any case, his math is correct and we’re essentially screwed financially and much of that is do to demographics. Kotlikoff’s ‘The Coming Generational Storm’ is a superb book on the subject.
Even better Buchanan’s Book: “Death of the West”
You are right, we are headed the way of Greece...just wait until 76 million Baby Boomers are all on SS and Medicare, and everyone else is on Obamacare...WHO is going to pay for it???
My family is doing its part. Yesterday my daughter let me know my 6th grandchild is on their way.
A Merry Christmas Bump & Mark Steyn Ping!
Abortion and “gay marraige”: the road to poverty.
Today’s Headline: “Egypt Islamists Take Two-Thirds Of 2nd-Round Vote”
Tomorrow’s Headline: “English Islamists Take Two-Thirds Of 2nd-Round Vote”.
Congratulations. The larger families like yours should hold together in the future. I hate to think how many lonely people, bereft of any family, we have on the way in the next few decades.
Us...all 300+ million of us. Obamacare/TOTALITARIANCARE...massive new taxes FORCED on us and abortion of the elderly, undesireables, infirm, useless eaters, etc., etc., after all savings/assets have been plundered by the state.
Instead of DEFUNDING/DISMANTLING socialist collectives, BIG GOVERNMENT is creating a BEHEMOTH of a life-extincting, wealth-extracting collective never seen before in this republic.
North Koreans?
They are the only potential immigrants left who haven't realized that Social Security and Obama Care are giant Ponzi schemes.
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