not the end of the world!
I had sincerely hoped that when the election cycle came to a merciful end we could all relax and return to our normal lives. Wrong again! The general confusion and uncertainties associated with one crisis after another has everyone on edge. Our new president has not been quick to offer the general populace much in the way of encouraging words. Quite the contrary, he has offered a continued litany of gloom and doom.
This is unfortunate. The ordinary folks often come to a dinner table and some see a beautiful roast with all the trimmings. Others, for whatever reason, see not quite enough hamburger and a scant supply of vegetables. Both recognize that whatever they have is a gift from God and give the thanks to Him for what ever is there. They are also quick to recognize that the bounty they enjoy on a daily basis comes from Him and give thanks for that as well. It would not be rare for them to beseech God to grant His blessings, not only to their immediate circle, but also to those who are responsible for our mutual well being. It is our custom to pray in this manner and I hope you agree that God can and would help to solve our problems if He were sought with faith and a firm belief. Only He can provide the wisdom and discernment required in difficult times when man’s solutions fall short.
Meanwhile, we owe it to each other not to succumb to the temptation of asking for unnecessary assistance or seeking an opportunity in the midst of the financial crisis to take unfair advantage. This is a time to test our character both individually and collectively. We need a cheerful outlook and a huge measure of determination to not be defeated by circumstance. Reality is tough enough and imagined fear is no aid to solving problems. It is a time for clear thinking and determination. Given that, we can survive this or any other condition. With God’s help, we shall.
In an ironic twist we find the following in the news at the end of the week. Terrence P. Jeffrey, editor in chief of CNS reported the following:
“CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicitly bans federal funding of any 'research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.
"The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996.
The amendment says, in part: "None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death. "
Found in Section 509 of Title V of the omnibus bill (at page 280 of the 465-page document), the federal funding ban not only prohibits the government from providing tax dollars to support research that kills or risks injury to a human embryo, it also mandates that the government use an all-inclusive definition of “human embryo” that encompasses any nascent human life from the moment that life comes into being, even if created in a laboratory through cloning, in vitro fertilization or any other means. “For the purposes of this section,” says the law, “the term ‘human embryo or embryos’ includes any organism … that is derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one or more human gametes or human diploid cells.” (The entire verbatim text of Section 509 of the omnibus spending law is reprinted at the bottom of this article.)
At a widely publicized White House ceremony on Monday, President Obama signed his own executive order lifting an executive order that President Bush had signed in 2001. While allowing federal funding of research involving embryonic stem cell lines that had already been created from embryos that had already been destroyed, Bush’s 2001 order denied federal funding to research that required the killing of any additional embryos.”
In His abiding love,
Cecil Moon
I had sincerely hoped that when the election cycle came to a merciful end we could all relax and return to our normal lives. Wrong again! The general confusion and uncertainties associated with one crisis after another has everyone on edge. Our new president has not been quick to offer the general populace much in the way of encouraging words. Quite the contrary, he has offered a continued litany of gloom and doom.
This is unfortunate. The ordinary folks often come to a dinner table and some see a beautiful roast with all the trimmings. Others, for whatever reason, see not quite enough hamburger and a scant supply of vegetables. Both recognize that whatever they have is a gift from God and give the thanks to Him for what ever is there. They are also quick to recognize that the bounty they enjoy on a daily basis comes from Him and give thanks for that as well. It would not be rare for them to beseech God to grant His blessings, not only to their immediate circle, but also to those who are responsible for our mutual well being. It is our custom to pray in this manner and I hope you agree that God can and would help to solve our problems if He were sought with faith and a firm belief. Only He can provide the wisdom and discernment required in difficult times when man’s solutions fall short.
Meanwhile, we owe it to each other not to succumb to the temptation of asking for unnecessary assistance or seeking an opportunity in the midst of the financial crisis to take unfair advantage. This is a time to test our character both individually and collectively. We need a cheerful outlook and a huge measure of determination to not be defeated by circumstance. Reality is tough enough and imagined fear is no aid to solving problems. It is a time for clear thinking and determination. Given that, we can survive this or any other condition. With God’s help, we shall.
In an ironic twist we find the following in the news at the end of the week. Terrence P. Jeffrey, editor in chief of CNS reported the following:
“CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicitly bans federal funding of any 'research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.
"The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996.
The amendment says, in part: "None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death. "
Found in Section 509 of Title V of the omnibus bill (at page 280 of the 465-page document), the federal funding ban not only prohibits the government from providing tax dollars to support research that kills or risks injury to a human embryo, it also mandates that the government use an all-inclusive definition of “human embryo” that encompasses any nascent human life from the moment that life comes into being, even if created in a laboratory through cloning, in vitro fertilization or any other means. “For the purposes of this section,” says the law, “the term ‘human embryo or embryos’ includes any organism … that is derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one or more human gametes or human diploid cells.” (The entire verbatim text of Section 509 of the omnibus spending law is reprinted at the bottom of this article.)
At a widely publicized White House ceremony on Monday, President Obama signed his own executive order lifting an executive order that President Bush had signed in 2001. While allowing federal funding of research involving embryonic stem cell lines that had already been created from embryos that had already been destroyed, Bush’s 2001 order denied federal funding to research that required the killing of any additional embryos.”
In His abiding love,
Cecil Moon
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