CALL 1-888-510-BABY or click on the picture on the left, if you gave birth or are about to and can't care for your baby, to give your baby to a worker at a nearby hospital (some states also include police stations or fire stations), NO QUESTIONS ASKED. YOU WON'T GET IN ANY TROUBLE or even have to tell your name; Safehaven people will help the baby be adopted and cared for.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas. From the Old English Cristes Maesse, meaning "Christ's Mass."
The date, December 25, is not mentioned in the Gospels but early records indicate that, by the middle of the fourth century, Christ's birthday was celebrated in Rome on December 25.
In the old Roman calendar, December 25 was the official time to observe the winter solstice, when the sun begins to return to the northern skies and the days begin to lengthen. During the third and fourth centuries, many people in the Roman Empire honored the sun as divine. They called it the "Unconquerable Sun." December 25 was a time to recognize the sun's power.
The Fathers of the Church compared the birth of Jesus to the "rebirth" of the sun. They pointed out that Jesus was the "Sun of Justice" and the "true light of the world" (John 1:9, 8:12, 9:5).
And so, December 25 came to be honored as the birthday of Jesus in Rome and in the West. In the East, Christ's birthday was commemorated on January 5, although by the sixth century most of the East had adopted the December 25 date.
~ Dr. Joan Kelly
So the actual December 25 date has more to do with competing with pagan rituals than with the actual birthday of Christ. Many Christian-criticizing sites (some even with misleading, "Bible-explaining" names) are quick to point out that Christmas isn't even really Christian, that it's a pagan holiday, that Christ is a false savior and even denying that the Last Supper was Christ instituting the first Mass.
I say: Let them say what they will. They rather miss the point, don't they?
I find it ironic that all the anti-religion ACLU types fighting the creches in the public square are fighting what many of their own ilk disparage as paganistic to begin with.
If they're so upset about December 25 not being the "real birthday", then what to do? Celebrate Christmas every day of the year?
What a concept.
I daresay that the materialistic, retail aspect of Christmas would finally fall to last place if we really celebrated Christmas--the spirit of Christmas--every day of the year.
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"After Abortion,...run by Emily Peterson and Annie Banno, two women who had abortions in the 1970s, ...tries to avoid the political tug-of-war that tends to come with this turf. They concentrate instead on discussing the troubling personal effects of abortion on the mothers." ~ Eric Scheske, Godspy contributing editor, in NC Register's "Signs of Life in the Blogosphere", 2/2006
"Godbloggers could, in the best of worlds, become the new apologists...[including] laymen with day jobs: Emily Peterson and Annie Banno, for instance, at the blog After Abortion..."~ Jonathan V. Last, The Weekly Standard online editor, in First Things's "God on the Internet", 12/2005
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George & Linda Zallie, Stacy's parents, "assisting women who made the difficult choice of ending their pregnancy in finding nonjudgmental help" for suicidal feelings.
For immediate help, call tollfree, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: national, confidential, post-abortion-recovery hotlines: 1-877-HOPE-4-ME or 1-866-482-5433 or 1-800-5WE-CARE ...more help below...
"I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion...[many are] aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and [do] not doubt that it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace...You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child..."
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