THE ORIGINAL & THE NEW BETHLEHEM

Christmas, even for non believers, raises our thoughts to the matter of birth and birthing. But also carries them into the realm of death and dying. Here's how...!

Birth and birthing are of course what first come to mind. The birth of a Savior, coupled with the very idea of birthing something new in our world. Today's Darwinian evolutionists offer an exciting new Bethlehem when they say: Evolution can only take us so far; we should see how we can do the rest; now is the time to cross our new medical frontiers toward more highly evolved bionic creatures.

Given the genetic engineering we are just now starting to tap, Bionic Man does seem possible. The challenge, of course, will be discovering whether this new species will be so "bionic" it will no longer be "man." At least not the version swaddled under that starry might in the original Bethlehem.

On the flip side of these thoughts on birth and birthing are those about death and dying. Even bionic creatures must confront these. All of which brings us to the current debate about "death panels killing grandma." When the Alaskan prophetess raised these boogie-men during the recent health reform shout-fest, it was like recklessly throwing some of her state's oil on the country's bonfires of vanity. It does however remind us that the current cost-of-dying is wildly irrational.

Consider the UCLA Medical Center spends on average $50,000 on a patent's last 6 months, while the equally celebrated Mayo Clinic spends about $25,000. The reason for the difference? At UCLA they speak proudly about "no one dying in our facility;" whereas at Mayo they team doctors to avoid repeated and overlapping treatments that have little chance of altering the situation.

Perhaps two conclusions can be drawn here.....

First, thanks to the President's health-care proposal, we are at long reluctant last talking about death and dying in our medical culture's emerging new Bethlehem. Second, thanks to the the infant of the original Bethlehem, we are still talking about the rapture of birth and birthing.