@ cofty:
So what was the younger sister doing while you and the older brother were talking? What was her reaction? Awesome experience by the way!
Excellent Conversation At Literature Trolley
by cofty 87 Replies latest jw experiences
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Vidiot
Cofty, you're a bad, bad man. :smirk: -
Phizzy
Well done Cofty ! and please post any thoughts on how anybody could possibly improve on what you did !
You are helping us all to hone our "Presentations" in this the Apostacratic Ministry School.
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Heaven
Cofty, your ability to do this leaves me in awe... well done. I think being kind is important.
The only suggestion I'd have is to give the guy your recommendation on a book he can read on Evolution. He may not know where to start.
You certainly gave him something to think about.
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cofty
A few more details of our chat.
The girl stayed a few yards off to the side and showed by her body language that she didn't want to be part of the conversation. I asked her a few questions but only got yes or no answers. After about 10 minutes another JW lady turned up and they moved off a bit further and chatted to each other.
When I first asked him about what the carnage in the natural world tells us about god's "invisible qualities" he replied "his power!".
Me - "So god created a world where every living thing would die in agony from predation, parasites, disease, exposure or starvation so that he could demonstrate his power did he?"
That was when he tried to change the subject with "what about photosynthesis?"
I'm happy with my initial approach and will use it again but I think that genetic evidence for evolution is hard for somebody to grasp if they have no prior knowledge. Next time I will make the point that the evidence for common ancestry is of exactly the same sort as the forensic evidence that is used to prove paternity and leave it at that unless they ask for more details.
In future I will focus on evidence that is easier to grasp quickly, especially things like human vestigial features such as goosebumps, the ability to wiggle your ears, and our third eyelid. These are things that you can actually demonstrate in real time and pose challenging questions.
Series of transitional fossils such as the evolution of tetrapods and whale evolution would also challenge their assumption that there is on fossil evidence.
I did suggest to John that he should check out "Why Evolution is True" by Jerry Coyne. Of all the basic books on evolution it is perhaps the easiest to grasp.
It's important to be realistic. Nobody is ever going to declare right there on the spot that they have been wrong all along. My objective is to present something clear and memorable and then perhaps in the future when other things happen in their life they will give themselves permission to face up to doubts.
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Vidiot
Probably saved the young girl some future grief, at least. -
stuckinarut2
So I hope they have to count "negative hours" or "minus hours" on the report slip for that month!
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Dagney
Well done cofty.
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KiddingMe
Thanks for sharing. -
LouT8503
Cofty, I read your back and forth with Pressman on the argument against blood doctrine thread you linked. Dude, you are PATIENT.
