blackbird

Depends whether you are one of the one's in need of heart or cancer surgery to save your life and you have been sent home and put on a list for the undetermined future, or one of the one's in the ICU with Covid trying to stay alive. One's particular situation determines one's perspective.

The definition of heathen also depends on who is defining it. Each of three groups you mentioned would technically say the other two are not worshiping the true God and therefore would fit into their definition of a heathen. heathen definition 3. 3. Informal a. One who is regarded as irreligious, uncivilized, or unenlightened. b. Such persons considered as a group. A religion that considers people outside it's religion as worthy of death would surely not fit into a definition of being civilized or enlightened and therefore would meet the definition no. 3 (a) above. A religion which believe people should receive the death penalty for blasphemy surely could not be considered as civilized and would therefore fit into that definition. The Bible also divides the world into three groups Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God. So if the definition of a heathen is someone who is not a true believer, then anyone outside the Biblical definition of Christian (or Church) would fit that definition. Also, anyone who Christianity would consider as unconverted or unevangelized would fit into that category. Yes, I know the ten commandments pre-date Christ. I never attempted to give you a running history from 400 A.D. to 1500 A.D. What would be the point?

Of course the Jews are part of the culture. I never said they were not. Pakistan is not heathen???? Are you serious? 86.3% Muslim with blasphemy laws and the punishment is death or life imprisonment, death being the first choice. Heathen assumed to mean people who are not Christian. I realize some define it as anyone who is not Jew, Christian or Muslim, but I go by the definition which refers to people who are not worshipers of the one true God, Jesus Christ. The would make the eastern world in general heathen with the exception of there being pockets of people scattered around who are Christian. Of course the ten commandments are Christian principles and have been used as a basis for many laws. Of course the Reformation was part of the change in society. It was a major factor in western civilization from being under a complete dictatorship of Rome to individual freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Prior to that we had the 400 years of the Holy Roman Inquisition which was brutal for people who deviated from Rome's teachings. The Inquisition did continue through the Reformation period in some countries. It was used to stamp out any opposition to Rome.

Nice diversion from the central issue of the criminal death of thousands of Canadians.

I am not talking about strict Marxist doctrine. I am talking about brutal dictatorships, which you would find in Marxist type government, that steamrolls over human rights and leaves large numbers of people dead it's wake. This also happened in Fascist, Socialist/Communist dictatorships in the world. People are so accustomed to benevolent government handing out cheques to millions of people, they do not see what is happening to many victims around them in their benevolent country.

1. The term Judeo-Christian has to do with the historical evolution of development of western culture. It refers to the morals, laws, democracy, human rights, as having come from the belief in one God who gave ancient Israel the ten commandments and which was later passed onto the western world in Europe in the early centuries. There were also some christians in the early centuries and down through the ages in the western world who did later influence laws and culture. That is what made the western civilization different than eastern civilization and the rest of the world which remained totally heathen. Later christian principles such as the ten commandments and respect for the individual were used as a basis of western morality, laws, etc. beginning around the time Christianity spread in 300 A.D. That is why the west has democracy and claims to have human rights and much of the rest of the world does not. Much of the rest of the world are dictatorships with no human rights. See the difference? 2. I don't think Canada will become a "Christian state". As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am called to point out what the problem is and maybe God will open someone's heart to believe in his word. One more person believing in God, Jesus, and the Bible is better than none. I don't expect Canada will change in general. I believe in pointing out truth which comes from God (the Bible which is God speaking) and perhaps someone or a few will be led by God to agree. Mankind needs to change. We live in an evil world. If you can't see that, you need to take your blinders off and look around and examine your own beliefs. I know this is an old cliche that many false religionists use, but there is some truth in the saying one is on the side of God, or on the side of the Devil. If I am not mistaken, the Bible divides humanity into three groups: the Jew, the Gentile and the Church of God.

Marxist ideology in a general sense is when government or those who are making decisions, make blanket decisions that affect whole populations without taking into account individual cases and circumstances. An example would be the blanket decision to triage people on the basis of treating only Covid patients because they need immediate treatment and not treating heart and cancer patients simply because they are not in an immediate emergency. But this hides the fact that just leaving them means their condition would just get worse and they would eventually die and never receive their surgeries to save their lives. This is what happened. It is sort of a Communist or Marxist state ordained brutality.

Canada was more of a Judeo-Christian society in it's earlier history. In fact, in the a long time ago, I think churches were the people who started education. Public schools read passages from the Bible to students every day. Then about 50 years ago things started to change and Canada adopted multiculturalism. Then they banned Bible readings from schools and declared schools would be secular. Since then public schools have gone completely into liberalism / progressivism. Young people are brainwashed with the liberal, leftist ideology including sexual orientation and gender identity ideology (SOGI) and now cancel culture.

Just an example of how bad the judiciary is. In B.C. a man went on a wild rampage with his car from the city of Richmond into Burnaby, wreaking havoc all the way. He smashed into parked cars and knocked signs down, and managed to do at least $28,000 of damage to various things. He barely missed hitting some pedestrians. After all that, he was given a thousand dollar fine and six months probation. That is liberal soft-on-crime justice. Not protecting the public. Common in Canada. He should have received a real jail sentence.

I am not whining about losing or saying I don't want democracy. I am saying the system we have produces much evil and immoral laws and practices. Democracy has not solved that problem. But we live in an evil world and no other system would produce anything better and likely worse as in Communist countries. I don't see the conservatives as much different or better than the liberals.

You talk about independent judiciary and fundamental freedoms as if that solves everything and created a godly nation. In fact it failed completely because the people running the system do not believe in many Biblical morals. They are more in line with liberal ideology. This means the courts, particularly the Supreme Court had made rulings that in effect condone murder of the unborn and condone murder of people who choose MAID and in fact chastise the government for not hurrying up to bring the process in. So you're wrong; I do know what's going on in the system and find it abhorrent.

Liberalism is not a part of the Protestant Reformation and never was. Liberalism is antithetical to Protestant beliefs and Biblical teachings. Take for example abortion on demand. That is murder because human life according to the God of the Bible begins at conception. Similarly medical assistance in dying (MAID), another law that liberals are proud of is also murder. Then there are the great bywords of inclusiveness or diversity, which are standard liberal talking points which mean they support Islam and oppose Islamophobia, whatever that is exactly is not clearly defined. Liberals have gone so far as to recently ban any kind of free speech between consenting adults if an adult LGBTQ person wants to seek counseling from a church minister or counselor. This kind of liberalism is antithetical to the beliefs of people in the Protestant Reformation. So don't tell me to educate myself. I know all about liberalism and what is going on in the liberal mind and it's not good.

It is a huge tragedy that should never have happened. One example is a woman in Alberta who had cancer was scheduled for surgery and brought into the hospital. At the last minute she was told she could not have her surgery because there were no ICU beds available for her. She was then put on a waiting list. Then she was later told that her cancer had progressed too far and she was no longer a candidate for surgery because she is terminal now. This is the kind of thing that has happened to thousands of heart and cancer patients across Canada during the pandemic. Covid patients are given top priority and other people in need of life-saving surgeries are put on waiting list indefinitely. I believe this is a result of a uncaring public health system which operates in a very clumsy, un-compassionate manner. It decided that Covid patients were all that mattered in hospitals and basically rejected everyone else that might take up a bed in an ICU. This is a kind of Marxist ideology. What the exact reason for this policy is I don't know, but it is obviously wrong and is not providing proper life-saving health care for many Canadians. It is a brutal ideology of mass production using tunnel vision which makes no allowances. Once the pandemic emergency became widespread, all other people were just wiped off the radar. Shocking.

Yes, Canada is still somewhat mired more deeply in false religion and paganism than America. In Catholicism you can be pro choice (look at Trudeau), you can be a Socialist (look at the Pope), and support liberalism. It's a free for all. Many Catholics have little to do with their church except at perhaps Easter and Christmas, but they are all in for evil progressivism, Socialist ideas, liberalism. Many American have much less use for all that garbage and realize it will destroy their fundamental freedoms.

Where did I say that? We all know your modus operandi. Get help.

There is no evil in God and God does not create evil for his pleasure. "Isaiah 45:7 in the King James Version reads, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” How does Isaiah 45:7 agree with the view that God did not create evil? There are two key facts that need to be considered. (1) The word translated “evil” is from a Hebrew word that means “adversity, affliction, calamity, distress, misery.” Notice how the other major English Bible translations render the word: “disaster” (NIV, HCSB), “calamity” (NKJV, NAS, ESV), and “woe” (NRSV). The Hebrew word can refer to moral evil, and often does have this meaning in the Hebrew Scriptures. However, due to the diversity of possible definitions, it is unwise to assume that “I create evil” in Isaiah 45:7 refers to God bringing moral evil into existence. (2) The context of Isaiah 45:7 makes it clear that something other than “bringing moral evil into existence” is in mind. The context of Isaiah 45:7 is God rewarding Israel for obedience and punishing Israel for disobedience. God pours out salvation and blessings on those whom He favors. God brings judgment on those who continue to rebel against Him. “Woe to him who quarrels with his Master” (Isaiah 45:9). That is the person to whom God brings “evil” and “disaster.” So, rather than saying that God created “moral evil,” Isaiah 45:7 is presenting a common theme of Scripture – that God brings disaster on those who continue in hard-hearted rebellion against Him." Why does Isaiah 45:7 say that God created evil? | GotQuestions.org It sometimes helps to read what different expositors have to say about different subject in the Bible in order to understand the context. Search engines are useful for that.

Well, there was a talking serpent in Genesis ch3 that talked to Eve in the garden of Eden. "1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? {Yea…: Heb. Yea, because, etc.} 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:1-5 KJV "According to Numbers 22, the Moabite king Balak had sent for Balaam to come and place a curse on the Israelites, who had escaped from Egypt and were in the wilderness. As Balaam was riding on a donkey to meet Balak, the angel of the Lord blocked their path. The donkey saw the angel and kept stopping, but Balaam did not see the angel and struck the donkey three times trying to get it to keep going forward. At this point the narrative reports a conversation between Balaam and his donkey:" The Talking Donkey in the Bible: Balaam’s Donkey in Numbers 22 | Biblical Christianity (irr.org) " 28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? 29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay. " Numbers 22:28-30 KJV "Let’s first understand that the Bible was not suggesting that donkeys can naturally talk. People in the ancient world understood just as well as we do that donkeys do not have the capacity for speech. In the New Testament, Peter actually makes this point when referring briefly to the Old Testament passage. He speaks about wicked people who “have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with the voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet” (2 Peter 2:15-16). Peter states that the donkey was “mute,” meaning of course that donkeys are naturally incapable of speech." So if the donkey talked, it was God who made him to do so. Nobody says donkeys can normally talk. But this may have been a miraculous event or supernatural event. The Bible is full of supernatural events. It is a Bible of the supernatural. The last sentence is not worth answering as it is nonsense. Nobody sings Adam's sin was a happy event. Just your invention.

I do not see Trudeau removing the pervasive influence of China and the CCP in Canada. Many Liberals are in business relationships as well as many business people in Canada. There are also strong cultural ties to the motherland held by many people who immigrated or of Chinese descent. (over a million in Canada) That is not to say all of them are supporters of the CCP. Many support the Hong Kong democracy movement. But I suspect many are. China's CCP expects loyalty from it's diaspora and reportedly uses lots of pressure and influence on them. The Chinese benevolent society in Vancouver held a gala dinner in 2019 I believe to celebrate the 70 years of CCP rule in China. Guess who attended? The liberal Minister of Defence, Harjit Saijjan. There are deep ties between Canada and China that have evolved over the years. The Liberal government has struggled for three years on what to do about Huawei even though they have been warned by our allies in the Five Eyes. Ordinary Canadians seem to have little say and are generally ignored. Trudeau appointed MP Joly as our new Foreign Affairs minister but an article in National Post points out she has no experience at all and no understanding of countries like China and the situation in the world. Yet she is in a key position. One reason put forward in the NP is that Trudeau appoints people like that with no experience so that he can run things himself. The cabinet in general are inexperienced. Who knows.

Americans also believe more in individual freedom than Canadians. Canadians seem to have surrendered a lot of their freedom to various levels of government in the hope that such governments will be benevolent to them. Americans not so much as they don't put as much trust in governments of any kind. Americans are more likely to believe individual freedom is something worth fighting and dying for rather than surrender it all to the government; Canadians not so much. I suppose either view has it's pros and cons and books could be written on it (and probably have). But if the people put too much trust in government and politicians there is always the possibility the people will lose their freedom entirely and become some kind of Marxist or Fascist state, which has often happened in history.

It is ironic that in Chinese mythology, they pay much credence to the dragon. The dragon in the book of Revelation, last book of the Bible, mentions the dragon in reference to Satan, although I think the term dragon is used as a metaphor and not that Satan is a literal dragon.

I think we need to look at the broader picture of what is happening in the world. The world is an evil place. Many don't believe that Satan is to a large extent in control of this world system. In fact many don't believe Satan even exists. But the Bible teaches that he does. His former name was Lucifer and he was at one time a very prominent beautiful angel in heaven near God's throne. These verse explain what happened. Quote The Fall of Lucifer Many are interested in the fall of Lucifer. The Bible says that the reason for Lucifer’s fall was his desire to exalt his throne above the stars of God, and be like God. Isaiah 14:13-14 (KJV) 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. The stars of God would be Gods angels. This is stated in Revelation – Revelation 1:20 (KJV) The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: Isaiah states that Lucifer was cut down to the ground (earth). Isaiah 14:12 (KJV) 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! Lucifer caused discord in heaven and started a war, and the angels took sides. And the angels fought against each other. Michael and his angels won, and Lucifer was cast out of heaven along with his angels. Revelation 12:7-8 (KJV) 7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. Unquote The Fall of Lucifer (kjv-bible-verses.com) Many think these things are a myth. But the authority of the Bible as coming from God is backed by solid evidence. One evidence is the many fulfilled prophecies (foretelling future events) in the Old Testament that were fulfilled centuries later. Another important proof is the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was seen by many eye witnesses after his resureection as recorded in the gospels. So the world systems are evil and Satan is primarily in control of the world systems. This leads to the subject of Communism. Communism as in China with the CCP is a major diabolical system. Most people look at China through their own tunnel vision of how the world is where they live and in their sheltered life see no evil. They have no idea what the Communists did in history in China for example. They had the brutal revolution ending in 1949, then the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and later the Great Leap Forward. Most westerners don't know all these things resulted in the death of millions of people. After Chairman Mao passed away in 1976, things cooled off a bit as far as pushing some of the Marxist agenda, but they never really abandoned it. After Mao, the new leaders took only a slightly less extremist stand on free enterprise and realized the way for China to prosper was to allow a degree of capitalism (corporations) to grow but under the watchful eye of the CCP and it's millions of drones. So China started gaining wealth and influence in the world. Then Chairman Xi came along and turns out to be a kind of Mao, a strict Marxist, with imperialist plans to influence and control as much of the world as possible. He took action against the Uighurs and put a million in concentration (re-education) camps. Nobody questions the Marxist system and must pay homage to the CCP, statues of Chairman Mao, and now Xi. This is why they do not allow any religions in China or if any exist, they must be registered, state-controlled, and believe and act in a manner that supports the Communist-Marxist system. No opposition to that is permitted. So generally all religions are forbidden and the punishments are severe. Many have spent years in prison for practicing religion. The CCP believe religion poses a serious threat to their rule because people involved in certain religions might just reject Marxism and Communism. So the CCP could well have launched Covid 19 for their own purposes. Nobody knows for sure where it came from and China has not be cooperative in the early stages to investigate the cause. But one can easily visualize the CCP being a main player because of their belief that Marxism is meant to be spread to the rest of world. They really believe in that system and ideology as the best thing for mankind. If a virus will weaken the rest of the world and helps them increase their influence and strength in other countries, why would they not try it? There are some interesting books on China. One is "Wake up America: Unrestricted Warfare" written by former members of the People's Liberation Army. An important point is that conventional or nuclear war are not something that they would necessarily want because it guarantees mutual destruction. That is not the way to win. They would surely consider unorthodox methods that would increase their influence and weaken their opponents. Another book is "Hidden Hand" which shows the tremendous influence they have gained in the west (Europe and north America) through various means.

In actual fact I gave you a lot of evidence of why you should believe the Bible, but you refused to accept it. For example I gave you a list of prophecies that prove the Bible came from God. You either just ignore what I say or refuse to accept, maybe a bit of both. The Bible has internal evidence that proves it came from God. You did not address the evidence I gave you about prophecies. It is not a matter of "running away". But it is a matter of whether one should spend a huge amount of time on something which seems pretty hopeless. I have lots of better things to do. If you seem like you are sincerely searching for the truth that would be a different matter. But unfortunately I don't see that with you. You have likely read Winston and maybe been emboldened by his anti God, anti Bible stance. I'm not sure what couple "simple" questions you asked. I have answered a fair amount of why you should believe the Bible. I have also given you links for further information. I can answer any reasonable question you raise and have done so. But if your mind is closed to anything other than what you already believe, we are beating a dead horse. As for "peer reviewed" scientific articles, you have to understand that process is controlled by non-believers or atheists within the secular humanist scientific world. Of course that is not going to be a normal venue for creation believing scientists. They are unlikely to accept papers from creation scientists and there are many creation scientists. Some of the greatest scientists that ever lived believed in God and creation. 25 Famous Scientists Who Believed in God Modern scientists today do not have a monopoly on the question of God. Nothing has been discovered in the last century of so that proves there is no God or that we were not created. We are talking about the supernatural here. That does not fit into the scope of the majority of scientists. So it is a waste of time, using that as any kind of test of anything.

At this point, I don't see the value of further discussion with you. I don't believe you are interested at all in any information I gave you. You have your mind closed. So I won't pursue this any further at this point. It is pointless as far as I can see. I wish you well but believe you are in deep darkness. Only God can save you from here on. I ask God to be merciful to you and open your eyes. I am convinced God is real, is a holy God without sin or flaw, and created everything. You take the opposite position and do not seem to hear anything I put forward. So will leave it at that.

You don't want to listen or read anything from someone who believes in the Bible. Further you think anything on creation.com is propaganda even though there are vast amounts of information and articles from professionals with degrees etc. and you have not read or studied any of it. You only want me to provide information from someone who does not believe the Bible or someone who agrees with a non-believer. That means we are wasting out time. If you were serious in wanting to know about these things you would have given some indication you were interested, but you haven't. You obviously don't want to know or even hear anything contrary to your own present bias against the Bible and God. So I don't really have anything else at this point in time. I think there are many other people who would be more serious about wanting to know about these things and may be concerned about their eternal destiny. So I don't see any reason to pursue this with someone who has made up their mind to be in darkness and who refuses to accept any truth on the supernatural or spiritual matters. If you change your mind, a search engine is easy to find answers and of course looking up references in the Bible yourself or reading it online.

Here is an article that you need to read. In part it says : "The self-destructive logic of atheism It is in relation to the issue of the ultimate source and origin of human consciousness and moral values, that atheism fails the test of credibility and truthfulness. I first learned this from the opening chapters of C.S. Lewis’s brilliantly argued book Miracles, as well from his much simpler and more limited treatment of this issue in Mere Christianity. Let me therefore try and explain, in my own words, Lewis’s central argument against atheism. Not only because it challenges us to think clearly about the problem of evil, but also because other philosophers have reached similar conclusions about the issues Lewis raises.[5] If, as atheists insist, there is no God or divine purpose behind the universe, and humans are purely physical beings – biological machines without souls or spirits – the implications are logically self-destructive for atheism. If atheism is true then all our thoughts and values, and all our deepest convictions, including our belief in the validity of logical argument and the existence of mathematical and scientific truths, are simply an accidental by-product of our cerebral biochemistry and the mindless movement of atoms. This means we are deluding ourselves when we think that we have free will, and with it, that inner freedom to weigh evidence and judge between conflicting arguments without which there can be no successful pursuit of truth, or acquisition of knowledge. In reality, all our reasoning and conclusions are nothing more than the unplanned result of a long chain of entirely random non-rational physical causes over which we have no control. In other words, if we have no souls and no spiritual connection to God as the ultimate source of reason and truth, it follows that our brains, and therefore all our mental activity, are imprisoned within a process of physical determinism that discredits all thinking. We cannot be sure that any of our thoughts correspond to reality, moral or scientific, since we are biologically conditioned to think them regardless of whether they are true or not. By discrediting all thinking, including their own, atheists cut their own throats philosophically. Their view of ultimate reality is therefore self-refuting." For the full article: Evil and God: Reflections of a Former Atheist - bethinking.org