A Difficult Decision

Sometimes life seems to be nothing more than a continual series of choices - and often they can be extremely difficult. Take, for example, the one which Joseph was forced to make:
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He was engaged to be married to Mary, but some time before the wedding he learned that she was pregnant. Horrified by this revelation, Joseph immediately resolved to end the engagement but, being a fair man, he decided to do it discreetly, so that Mary wouldn't be subjected to public disgrace.
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He was thinking about this dreadful situation when he went to bed and fell asleep. In his sleep he dreamt that someone - an angel - came to him with a message from God.
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"Joseph," said the angel, "don’t be afraid to take Mary for your wife. The child who is within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary is going to birth to a boy who will to rescue his people from sin. This will be a fulfilment of the promise which the Lord gave through the prophet Isaiah: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel."
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When Joseph woke up, he did exactly as the angel had said and took Mary home as his wife, but he avoided sexual relations with her until after the baby was born.
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It was during this period, while they were still waiting for the baby to arrive, that Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be made of the whole Roman Empire. Everyone was instructed to go to their ancestral home in order to registered, so Joseph and Mary left Nazareth and travelled south to Bethlehem, the city of David, because Joseph was a direct descendent of David.
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They were still in Bethlehem when the time came for the baby to be born. Mary gave birth to a boy and because there wasn't enough room in the inn she had to wrap him in blankets and lay him to sleep in a feeding trough which had been previously used by the animals.
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