Posted on 12/23/2011 5:51:32 PM PST by Kaslin
Our lesson for 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 back story, 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' birth is the miracle; Luke leaves you with the impression that all birth — all life — is to a degree miraculous and God-given.
We now live in Elisabeth's world — not just because technology has caught up with the deity and enabled women in their 50s and 60s to become mothers, but in a more basic sense.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Taxation and the cost of living certainly have something to do with it but I think that some of it is about following the cultural norm of only have two kids. That seventies environmentalists movement drummed it into out heads that it is irresponsible to have more than two kids. I think that in the back of people’s minds they feel that they would be doing something wrong to have more than two kids. We have been lectured constantly for the past forty years and it does have an effect on people.
The Democrats control all of the welfare programs and they pick and choose which groups they will support and which they deny. Democrats made the immigration policy so that European immigrants are now a small minority and nonEuropeans are the vast majority. There is a lot of social planning going on about what our future will look like. Democrats are bringing in the people that they believe will vote for them. The santurary cities are an example of that.
Also...I think we should get away from the Prussian-model, prison-like, brick and mortar idea of school. How about:
Kindergarten, first, second, and third grade in day care centers?
What if the Karate studio, dance center, community theater, or ice skating rink opened a school?
What if a local summer camp upgraded to a boarding school?
What if a talented neighbor opened a dame school in her home and taught 4 to 10 children? Why should the health and safety regulations be any more onerous than a home-based day care center?
Why do we treat children like prisoners?
It started in the mid-1800s to early 1900s.
From the very beginning the first modern government schools were a socialist entitlement. ( Mid-1800s to early 1900s) Simply by attending socialist schools children risk learning that government can give them tuition-free schooling. Why not use that power to get lots of socialist goodies?
In one to three generations of socialist schooling we had Franklin D. Roosevelt!
Socialist entitlement schooling has never been a failure. It is developing and working **exactly** as the progressives of the 19th century planned. Progressives have **always** controlled the schools. Progressives have always controlled curriculum and teacher development. The goal was always to produce a minimally educated and compliant servant of the state.
Perhaps earlier socialist schooling was academically successful because they running on the fumes of the values of earlier generations.
The high school in my community has been in existence barely 100 years, the elementary schools for a decade or two earlier. Even then, the one room schools in this county were essentially organized by the parents of the children who attended. The fathers built the school. The parents hired **a** teacher. The schools of my father's generation ( born 1913 and the generation that put men on the moon) were staffed by people who literally broke the first sod in this county or personally knew people who had.
We will see the same in socialized medicine. The professionalism and values of the existing medical educators and administrators will assure that the Obamacare won't be truly horrible at first. But....As these people retire and die, then we will see the true horror of socialized medicine.
Ok...So?...Who exactly put men on the moon? When were they born?
My father was born in 1913. What percentage of the population of his generation were educated in one room schools? Only a small percentage of the population graduated from high school. It was **not** common for there to be armies of Ph.D. scientists in companies that were responsible for the NASA effort. Most of the men my father worked with never finished college.
My father was the **head** engineer ( a high school drop out, by the way) for the team that produced the emergency power for the Mercury and Apollo missions. Most of the engineers on that project had **some** college education from night school at the local college. My father attended night school and learned engineering from classes offered at his company. It was routine for companies to train their own chemists and engineers.
By today's standards these men lack credentialing, but, I bet that by 7th grade all of them could add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions, and tell you **exactly** what was meant by a numerator and denominator.
It's been truly horrible recently, I agree.
However....In my opinion, Franklin D. Roosevelt was made possible by having one to three generations of socialist schooled voters march into the voting booth and pull the lever for socialism.
Children who attend socialist schools risk learning to be comfortable with socialism. If a powerful government can give the child tuition-free socialist schooling, why not use that power to steal **lots** of socialist goodies from their neighbor?
Those applicants who had a high school diploma did not get an interview. I required some community college, and this was for a job that an 8th grade graduate of my mother's generation could have easily done. If the applicant has some community college, I could count on basic literacy, but even with that they needed a calculator for the most elementary addition and subtraction.
If an applicant only had a high school diploma it usually meant that they were functionally illiterate, but, a GED was Ok. They actually have to know something to pass that test.
By the way....I think all high school students should have to pass the GED for a high school diploma. Regardless if they are 19 or 9, if they pass the test give them a diploma. As for the teachers, I wonder how many would fail it, especially the math section.
The Hellenistic and Roman name of Edom was Idumaea. They and the Nabataeans, I have read in different places, were proto- Arabs and therefore Semites like the Hebrews.
I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that the Midianites and Amalekites were other names for proto-Arabic bedouin peoples.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2824624/posts?page=27#27
My apology for the erratum.
Courtesy ping.
No big deal. :)
Now that would be nice!
If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.
Or you can get raw with these strings.
How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).
Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.
Do it!
You’re really thinking outside the box—I like it.
1 Corinthians 10:26
For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
John 15:2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Isaiah 43:2
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
I only care about what God says. But I pray that you will come to trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. - Proverbs 3:5
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Romans 3
3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Do what ever you want, But I believe these are the last days. The Earth is filled with people, over 5 Billion now. The Oceans are fished out, cities exploding in violence, the secular society has pushed God out.
For the last time, & I am now done talking to you about this, Do what you want, But many other agree with me, and we could care less what you think.
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