Posts by Vanderhoven7

101

Do you give to beggars?

by jean-luc picard in

jw
friends

i have seldom given money to beggars.

i have often thought that many are people who just do not want to work.

however, i am starting to wonder if i ought to: and how much to give?.

Vanderhoven7

Lady Lee,

<<I taught sign for hearing people at MacKay back in the late 80s....>

LOL. Small world, isn't it. I taught at Mackay (PH Dept) from 1974 to 2005 (31 years). My wife started teaching there in 1972. I got my job based on her rep. and perhaps my good looks too ;o) I was hired in the parking lot by Jamie McDougal (psychologist) who later became director and is now proffing at McGill. You probably saw me in the halls, unless you taught sign language courses at night. My wife also worked with deaf Inuit students up north (both in Nunivik and Nunivut) and finally came back and "replaced" me when I retired from Mackay. You might have seen Donna in the halls of our illustrious institution as well. I'll ask her if she recognizes you from your pic.

- - -

OK back on topic. I often give to down-and outers with cardboard signs and empty cups who tend to hang around traffic lights downtown as I drive to McGill almost daily. I hate giving to the squeegy bunch though. They tend not to ask if you want your spotless car windshield cleaned and start right in if you say "no thanks"... and then have the audacity to give you a dirty look/choice word or two if you don't fork over. I'm sure some are high on something. Oh well; seems to be one of the prices you pay for driving into town from the burbs I guess.

24

Watchtower 1954 claims Jesus had nice short hair and NO BEARD....remember the pictures?

by Witness 007 in

flicking thru some old watchtowers i was suprised to see pictures of jesus clean shaven with short hair!!

wachtower 1954 p.511 "why do watchtower books now show jesus with short hair and no beard?

...because he was shown that way in representations of him that are older then traditional effeminate looking pictures..." {having a beard is not so effeminate may refer to long hair}.

Vanderhoven7

marked

101

Do you give to beggars?

by jean-luc picard in

jw
friends

i have seldom given money to beggars.

i have often thought that many are people who just do not want to work.

however, i am starting to wonder if i ought to: and how much to give?.

Vanderhoven7

Lady Lee,

I ran into the same situation, but the guy was actually deaf...or at least he was a good ASL signer. Hope he used the 20 bucks properly.

I'm curious. You have been to Montreal. You know sign language. Are you a native signer (i.e. daughter of deaf parents) or have deaf sibblings or did you just take lessons? My Dad was pastor of "The Montreal Mission of the Deaf" for many years btw. That's how I met my significant other. My wife's parents were both deaf; she is still teaching a deaf class at the Mackay Center.

Vander

29

How Did You Get Rid of Your Bound Volumes?

by Eiben Scrood in

jw
friends

my town will no longer collect old books like that as trash and they're pretty hard to burn.

my solution has been to include one in every bag of used cat litter when i clean the cat boxes.

i've gotten rid of around 30 that way and i'm about halfway there.

Vanderhoven7

I gave my entire set of original "Studies In The Scriptures" to JWs I was meeting with and who were anxious to collect Russell's volumes back in the 70's. My Dad subsequently gave me a set of the reprints when I realized I should have kept them for reference.

38

Have you ever successfully persuaded anyone?

by losthobbit in

i've had many conversations with religious people and am always surprised that i am never able to get anyone to put their programmed beliefs aside and process the logic that proves how unreasonable their doctrines are.. so, i'm wondering, have you ever successfully persuaded someone to change their mind about something that they had been brainwashed with, and if so, how did you do it?.

thanks in advance .

Vanderhoven7

Hi Lost,

<<An example could simply be two rational people discussing evolution, or the age of the Earth, or the time light takes to travel to the stars. In such a conversation a young-Earth theorist could be made to feel very stupid.>>

What is rational (not necessarily what corresponds with reality) often depends on ones' presuppositions. I think young earth Creationists would simply argue that God created a fully functional universe...just as He created a fully formed and functional adult human being.

95

Why Arguments and Debates on the Trinity are a Waste of Time

by AllTimeJeff in

this isn't meant to be a shit stirring topic, just a thought or two, a memory really, from my jw days.

because i know i have more experience then most on debating the veracity of the trinity..... there are two camps, people of faith, and people of math.. people of faith will always be more convinced of the trinity every day, because for the most part, the teachers of the trinity are very up front about the fact that it is a mystery.. so the more you point out how illogical it is, the more a mystery the trinity becomes, and thus, it also becomes more real.

awesome!

Vanderhoven7

<<I think the doctrine arose from an honest attempt to put in to words what is really ineffable, if "God" exists necessarily we cannot satisfactorily put into words an explanation of His essence.>>

Yes, the story goes that there were very stiff requirements for those who would be priests in Orothodox circles. Candidates had to speak for 5 minutes on the subject of the Holy Trinity without commiting more than 17 heresies.

14

According the WT, how many comings or returns of Christ are there?

by cyberguy in

according the wt, how many comings or returns of christ are there?

and the follow-up question is: how many comings of christ are actually indicated in the scriptures?

(yes, we can debate for days, needlessly, concerning the 1914-calculus, but the truth is so much simpler than this!

Vanderhoven7

marked

95

Why Arguments and Debates on the Trinity are a Waste of Time

by AllTimeJeff in

this isn't meant to be a shit stirring topic, just a thought or two, a memory really, from my jw days.

because i know i have more experience then most on debating the veracity of the trinity..... there are two camps, people of faith, and people of math.. people of faith will always be more convinced of the trinity every day, because for the most part, the teachers of the trinity are very up front about the fact that it is a mystery.. so the more you point out how illogical it is, the more a mystery the trinity becomes, and thus, it also becomes more real.

awesome!

Vanderhoven7

Why are Arguments and Debates on the Trinity a Waste of Time?

Because believing the Trinity saves no one.

However to be "saved" scripturally, forgiven, adopted into the family of God and imputed Christ's righteousnes, one must treat Jesus Christ as he/she would the God of scripture. You don't get to the Father without communion with the Son.

23

Does anyone here homeschool their children?

by PaintedToeNail in

i homeschool my son, he has just been accepted into the local community college in the dual-enrollment program.

he scored higher than average for english and slightly above average on math.

i don't homeschool because of the 'worldly' kids at the school.

Vanderhoven7

We homescholled our guys for 18 years running.

Socialization - Hey no problem. We took them into the washroom weekly and beat them up for their lunch money. ;)

17

Watchtower Door to Door Work...what an incredible waste of time.

by I quit! in

jw
friends

yesterday morning while driving heading for the grocery store i saw four jw women out in "service".

they were walking very slowly on a street where there were no people out and about.

i observed them for several minutes.

Vanderhoven7

Yes, and besides being a waste of time preaching the WT non-gospel; door to door preaching was never commanded or even mentioned in scripture.