blackbird

Who do you think created the complex universe with all of intricate laws of physics and gravity that keeps the planets in precise orbits around the sun and gives us the four seasons we need to grow crops and live on earth? Hardly could have all happened by pure chance or cosmic accident. The big bang is a flawed theory because it still doesn't explain how a complex universe with the laws that govern it came to be. Explosions do not create order. They create disorder. It also still doesn't explain where it all came from. Had to have a beginning and a Creator.

9 Things to Know about the Fall of Man (crosswalk.com)

No, bible believers do not believe in purgatory. It is not taught in the Bible. There are only two places, heaven and hell. Rome has built a vast empire of wealth on the teaching of purgatory and indulgences that the people can receive if they continue to pay for them. Why would they give that up? It has brought them untold wealth. Read the book "The Vatican Billions" by Avro Manhattan available free to read on the internet if you can find the right website. Here is what a different website says about the wealth of the Vatican. "One of the world’s 7 remaining absolute monarchies, Vatican City is not only the smallest state in the world, but also the richest state in the world, so rich that it could end world hunger not only once, but twice. There is no doubt, however, that between the church’s priceless art, land, gold and investments across the globe, it is one of the wealthiest institutions on Earth. The amount of Church-owned land, in square kilometers, across the globe — an area slightly bigger than the huge province of Alberta in Canada. Properties include Vatican embassies, churches, cathedrals, monasteries, schools and convents. [All tax free.] Thirty years ago the Vatican bank had 10 BILLION dollars invested in foreign companies. The vaults hold at least one metric ton of gold. 31 million dollars was seized from the Vatican bank by Italian authorities during an investigation into money laundering. 2 BILLION dollars was paid out as settlements by the church for sex-abuse cases just in the United States. In 2011 one offering, the Peter’s Pence, brought in 86 million dollars. The Sistine Chapel, offers a look at how difficult it is to appraise all of this. Estimates range from $400 billion all the way up to $2 trillion for just this one masterpiece. [How can the papacy call for corporations to be more generous? “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls….” Rev. 17:4.]" THE UNCALCULABLE WEALTH OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (eternalgospel.org)

I don't know what Trump believes. I am not going to judge him.

I will have to get the dictionary out. Sorry I must have hit the wrong key and posted a page before I typed it.

Good question. The explanation for this requires more than I can give on here. If you want to know, there are many websites that explain. It is rooted in the Fall of Man. "Originally man was made to be the created image of God, to live in union with God’s divine life, and to rule over all creation. Adam and Eve's failure in this task is their sin which has also known as "the fall of man". The Fall of Man in Genesis 3: Bible Meaning Explained (christianity.com) You said "who among us hasn't lied at some point". That is a fact. It is because of our fallen, sinful nature. That is why unless a person is redeemed, they will go to hell. The Bible makes it clear. There are only two places to go, heaven or hell.

I went to a walk-in clinic in Winnipeg one day a number of years ago. I was just visiting relatives in the area and don't live there. The waiting area was small and crowded. I believe I went in for a relatively small matter. What I got in the walk-in clinic was the Norwalk Virus and was sick as a dog that night.

I can only go by what the KJV Bible says about it. Doesn't sound like a state of being. Sounds like an actual place. "Matthew 13:50 - And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." "Revelation 21:8 - But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. John 3:16-18 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Let me be clear. I agree the health care system needs a lot more money. But that alone will not fix a bad system. It might improve it marginally, but it needs far more than money. The attached article explains why doctors are frustrated with all the red tape and extra hoops they must jump through continuously. Cutting Red Tape Could Let Canadian Doctors Provide 55.6 Million More Patient Visits per Year: Report (theepochtimes.com) The problem with a public health care system is it is bureaucratic with endless rules, red tape, administration that blocks innovations and unions that block changes and individual initiatives. Some doctors on the Vancouver Island are frustrated with their island administrator because he or she is causing them problems. The higher administrator backs that administrator 100% and so the system is paralyzed. They are not listening to the doctors on the front line. The system is paralyzed partly because administrators are stubborn, not innovative or inventive, refuse to change or allow any changes or freedom to use personal judgment and initiative. Being part of a public system, they prefer to hide behind the safety of massive rules, procedures, regulations, and red tape. Job security, pensions, and avoiding changes that could cause some upheaval, all contribute to the paralysis. There is no excuse for an emergency department to have only one doctor when people are waiting for six hours to be seen and there are other doctors in the community just working in their offices. Another example of bureaucratic paralysis. They kept the temperature turned down in the waiting areas of the ER probably to discourage people from going there and save a few dollars on heating, which by the way, they spend in many other ways. One doctor to see patients and many nurses running around doesn't sound rational. Some doctors are overworked and others far fewer patients. Yet people can't get a family doctor. The system is really dysfunctional and needs major changes. Since it is largely a public system run at the top by politicians and bureaucrats, I am doubtful it will be changed much. As you said there are many other demands by the population besides health care and politicians do not really give it the priority it requires. They are doling out money rapidly for all kinds of other things and spending time on many other issues. That's the trouble with a public system and why Canada ranks far worse than many other countries. Our political leaders have let the health care system go down to an abysmal state in the last number of years and done next to nothing to stop the disaster. Why should I believe they are suddenly going to change their attitude? I don't hold out much hope for the meeting today in Ottawa. They might throw more federal money at the system, but that won't fix all the problems. It requires far more than money. It requires the will of our political leaders, which I don't see. They are divided as is the population who have been constantly fed with propaganda. The NDP is more interested in placating the health care unions than fixing the system.

If you think Jesus would have been a liberal, you are dead wrong. However, we must get past the hurdle of you saying you don't believe in God. The belief is a guaranteed ticket to hell unless changed. All the more reason for you to study the Bible, its origin, message, and meaning. Google "is the Bible from God and why"?

There is a time for forgiveness. But that doesn't mean criminals should not receive justice for their crimes. I suppose the liberal ideology is forgive them and let them off. What a hopeless view of the world. No wonder it is in such a mess. Let the criminals do what they want eh? Maybe do some research as to what Genesis 9:6 KJV means and why God ordered capital punishment for murderers. Should not be too hard to figure out. Try Googling it and find some commentaries. The real answer is to read the Bible, particularly the New Testament and believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and start studying his word, pray, and resist the Devil.

No. God ordained capital punishment for murderers back in Genesis when human government was ordained. See Genesis 9:6 KJV. I have yet to hear an explanation as to why that is no longer valid. The liberal idea of rehabilitating someone who murdered an innocent person is bizarre. Where is the justice in that? What is un-Christian is liberal theology that perverts justice and constantly lets dangerous criminals out on bail or parole or gives a very lenient sentence for serious crimes. Canadians are sick of it. Nobody feels safe in the cities.

I am too. But I doubt that special appointments to talk about islamophobia will stop insanity and criminals. Maybe they could appoint a commissioner to plead with drugs addicts and repeat offenders to stop their assaults and crimes. Armed guards and capital punishment would do more ... and locking up insane persons in institutions for life.

You are ignoring the reality that the superpowers each have thousands of nuclear missiles read to go. Any nuclear war would wipe out much of the world's population and destroy all major cities and leave the rest of the world in rubble.

Canadian doctors spend over 18 million hours a year on unnecessary administrative work (cfib-fcei.ca) This is just more evidence that bureaucracy in the public system is destroying health care for millions of people.

"Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.Romans 12:18 - If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Mutually assured destruction is nonsensical. Practically nobody thinks that way.

Nonsense. You haven't seen what sort of equipment was on the balloon and are just making up assumptions. China claims it was some sort of weather research civilian balloon. So perhaps it did have some sort of propulsion and solar system on it for that purpose. Lets wait until we see the facts, if they are even made public before jumping to conclusions. It is exactly your kind of false accusations that politicians and media in the west are making which make international relations more strained at a time when we should be reducing conflict. Let's wait until there are some facts.

these negatives are not "fantasy world" as you claim. These are facts that you choose to ignore. You need calm down and come back to reality. These are some of cons (negatives) of a PR system: "List of the Cons of Proportional Representation 1. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. That structure makes it easier for extremist views to find official representation. The seldom receive access to the majority coalition and rarely earn an absolute majority, but there is always the possibility that their voiced opinions will gain traction with the general population. 2. It can create political gridlock, just like in any other system of government. Coalition governments are encouraged to compromise and pursue centrist views. The reality of this type of governing, however, is that each party wants to have its own way with things. That creates a system of government that tends to be indecisive and weak because everyone argues for their own best interests. More gridlock, instead of less, can be created, especially if more than two parties are involved in the coalition. 3. It does not provide direct representation to specific communities. Under the system of proportional representation, seats are not awarded based on community or district voting. That means those who serve in the government are less likely to focus on local issues as they have no local representation responsibilities. It creates a system of government where more voices can be heard, but fewer actually receive a listening ear. Many communities under this system can come away feeling like they don’t matter to the governing coalition. 4. It is not always wise to compromise. Even in countries that have encouraged proportional representation, some of the largest changes that have occurred in those societies happened when an absolute majority was present within the government. There are times when a strong majority in the government is required to push through needed reforms. 5. It can be an unstable form of government. Italy has proportional representation built into their government structures. Over the last 4 decades, the government has been forced to dissolve its parliament 8 times. In Belgium, the negotiations required after their 2010 election to form a governing coalition took 18 months to complete, leaving a crippled government in its place where nothing got done. Having more voices can be a good thing, but it can also create a discord that makes it impossible to government. These proportional representation pros and cons have certain benefits that allow for greater inclusion and variety. At the same time, greater inclusion can also lead toward higher levels of extremism within the government, while encouraging more gridlock if the political parties are unable to find a pathway toward compromise." 12 Proportional Representation Pros and Cons – Vittana.org There are several serious negatives from a PR system. A big one is it is more undemocratic than FPTP because it give the power to political parties to choose many of the MPs and removes the electoral choice from the ridings.

There are several problems with so-called proportional representation. 1. It is proportional in the sense the proportion of the vote that a party gets determines who the representatives are in the legislature. For example if a small fringe party gets 3% of the vote, then according to the PR system, they would be entitled to 3% of the number of MPs. That means more fringe parties get to have MPs and the larger parties would end up with fewer MPs. That's the reason one country has around 14 parties represented in the legislature and is unable to reach agreement on which parties form the government or pass a law. With that kind of system, rarely does one party get a majority of MPs. It is almost impossible to win a majority government because of the number of small parties. So in one sense, you can see how democracy is harmed. The will of the majority is taken away with the PR system in an attempt to give every fringe group or party a voice and vote. You end up with nobody having any real authority or power to govern. You need to seriously consider this. Countries often face serious crisis or urgent matters that require a majority to take action. If the legislature is always tied up by a pile of minorities trying to manipulate the system and blackmail the government to get their way, nothing can get done. The government is paralyzed. We are getting a little sample of this with the NDP-Liberal coalition. The NDP is holding the government hostage in a way in order to get their demands through. 2. In a PR system, the voters in an individual riding lost their democratic rights. In a PR system, it is not the majority of the voters in a riding that determine who the MP is. The votes are counted and each fringe party gets to take some of the votes and use those votes. Each fringe party's votes are added together from all ridings and those are what determines how many MPs the fringe party gets. This is done at the expense of the people in each riding who did not vote for those fringe parties. So its not really democratic any more. You end up with small parties having MPs even though they did not win any one riding. A small number of people in each riding gets to pick MPs from small parties. Those votes are used by the party and the party selects who the MP will be, not the voters. That's not democracy either. 3. The MPs selected by the PR system are chosen by the small parties. That means they are not accountable directly to any one riding. The MPs chosen that way were not chosen by the voters in one riding. They were chosen by the national party. So they are not accountable to the people. They are accountable only to the party. That's not democracy either.

As we speak there are countries that do not use the FPTP system but have a system that gives smaller parties who can't win any seats by the FPTP system seats in their legislature. One of the problems with this is there is at least one country who does this and is paralyzed and unable to govern because there are about 14 parties represented in the legislature. They are unable to reach agreement on essential matters. The country is in a crisis. This is what happens when you try to change the system to give every little party a representative in the government. You create a disaster and paralysis.

Tomorrow the PM and Premiers, after many months of bickering, will finally sit down to try to come to an agreement on federal health care money for the provinces. But the health care system has been failing Canadians for years and is in dire condition with over a million people on waiting lists, millions without a family doctor, and approximately ten thousand a year dying on the waiting lists. Is this what it took for these politicians to get together? I'm afraid I don't hold out much hope for this system or our politicians to rectify the problem. It is very serious and they do not seem to have the urgency to be able to fix it. Trudeau said there will be no agreement reached on Feb. 7th, when they meet tomorrow. What kind of an attitude is that to go into such an important meeting? No wonder two thirds of Canadians believe the system is broken. Canadians feel trapped in a broken system with no way to fix it. "The latest government data indicates that 3.2 million Canadians are waiting for surgery, a diagnostic scan, or specialist treatment, according to think tank SecondStreet.org. The latest data also suggests that 41,487 patients have died while on a waiting list since 2018–2019." Over 3.2 Million Canadians on Health-Care Waitlists: Government Data (theepochtimes.com Adding to the confusion are the NDP's Singh's comments: "Shawn Whatley: Jagmeet Singh uses confusion about private care to support the status quo" Shawn Whatley: Jagmeet Singh uses confusion about private care to support the status quo (msn.com) Yet he continues to prop up the government helping to keep Canadians in this disastrous situation of a failing health care system. His solution would seem to be to greatly increase taxes and spend billions more on more nurses and staff in the public system, which may be failing us because of serious flaws. He believe tax money alone will fix the system. He offers no solutions to the need for innovation and efficiency in the system.

You use the term "democracy" very loosely. You imply because we have a parliamentary democracy that it must be completely moral and above board. Considering all the moral failures and unethical behavior of the government, I think that is a pretty big stretch to believe or claim everything is just democratic and right. A poll found two thirds (67%) of Canadians believe the country is broken or the system is broken. That doesn't say much for so-called democracy in Canada. It is a clear condemnation of the government and what they have been doing. They should all resign.

Are you ok with people dying while waiting in line ups at the emergency departments? Are you ok with the thousands of people who have died waiting on waiting lists for medical care in Canada? "The latest government data indicates that 3.2 million Canadians are waiting for surgery, a diagnostic scan, or specialist treatment, according to think tank SecondStreet.org. The latest data also suggests that 41,487 patients have died while on a waiting list since 2018–2019." Over 3.2 Million Canadians on Health-Care Waitlists: Government Data (theepochtimes.com) That's approximately ten thousand people a year dying while on waiting lists. But that's just a "little irritant" according to you.

The time a wayward Canadian balloon caused an international stir — and thwarted 3 air forces | CBC News

Wayward weather balloon have caused panic in the world before these ones. "The Sask. weather balloon survived more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition back in 1998" The time a wayward Canadian balloon caused an international stir — and thwarted 3 air forces | CBC News