Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas Eve. Soon, we will be going over to the daughter's for a Christmas Eve get together, and then I will be going to the church for a midnight Christmas Eve service. Tomorrow, we will again go to the daughter's place early, where the grand kids will be opening gifts. Grandma likes to spoil them rotten.

All this activity is to celebrate the birth of the greatest gift God could give to mankind, Jesus. So it was with trepidation that I read Cal Thomas' piece, Jesus the Socialist, in today's Townhall.com. A quote:

Speaking Monday afternoon to a group of children from the Washington, D.C., Boys and Girls Club, the president delivered a mini sermon on "why we celebrate Christmas." He asked the children if they knew. One piped up and said "The birth of baby Jesus."...

The president spoke of what Jesus "symbolizes for people all around the world," which he said, "is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect." And then, in the best tradition of a community organizer, the president said Jesus is about "doing something for other people." Even the "three wise men" were invoked to support the president's idea of wealth redistribution: "...these guys ... have all this money, they've got all this wealth and power, and they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby."

And what conclusion should be drawn from that journey? The president told the children, "...it just shows you that because you're powerful or you're wealthy, that's not what's important. What's important is ... the kind of spirit you have."

All of that is true, as far as it goes. But, Jesus never said that having wealth, and pursuing power is wrong, rather it is the kind of spirit you have while pursuing those things that matters. Jesus also does not give a grant for government to take from the productive, and give to the nonproductive (after taking a cut for themselves of course) at gun point. Rather, giving, whether it be money, or food and clothing, or time and talents, needs to be given of each person's own free will. To be forced to give charity is not charity at all. Charity, done correctly, breeds gratitude on the part of the receiver, and a desire to become able to give back to the community themselves. But government "charity" only breeds a sense of entitlement from those who receive it, and resentment from those from whom it is taken.

In the end, then, Obama and the Leftists have it all wrong. They have managed to corrupt the idea of charity, as they corrupt everything they touch.

To my two readers though, have a Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous New Year!