All about rev. Rolf Venema from Holland

de dominee · Getting comfortable Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 8 Gender:

Dear Friends,
Yes, you have noticed it right: I am a minister; a Baptist minister, to be precize. Altough retired. But: from Holland. I don't know whether you anything about my little country, but we are know for our liberal policy. We have e.g. coffeshops, where you can buy mariuana; we have an active euthanasia policy; homosexuals can get married; to mention a few. So you guess right when you think that I will probably also liberal.
in front I want to explain why I signed up at book talk. it is not the first place for religeous people. My theory is that religion is one way for people to try to cope in their lives and in society. all of us have the same questions: where we come from; we are we going to; why am I here etc. And alle of us are looking for ways of answering these questions. We have of course to agnolidge that religion has for many ages provided such answers. And people were happy with it. and that is a very important point: you have to be happy with the way you find answers to these questions and where you get your strenght and energy. more and more less people find it in religion. well that's to say, in traditional religion. there are now all kinds of spiritual helpers, who try, for a lott of money, to lead people in there ways. and as long as you are happy with it.....
My line of thinking is that every system is allowed, as long people are helped to be or become a good member of human kind. but all the systems or representatives of systems who cheat people by telling lies, or only helping for their own profit should be fought against. People who fight unjustice and unequality should have our support, whether they are religious or not. Great examples are Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Jimmy Carter, Dag Hammerkjold etc.

But who am I?
I am middleaged, married, have three daughters and three sons in law, and a grandson. As a small boy I wanted to become a farmer. which I never became. As I attended middle school I did'nt know what to become. Lateron in my teens I started to think that I could mean something for others when I became a minister. I grew up in a small vilage and I saw how ministers helped people. and of course, you are someone. you have a leading role and a weekly audiance. These are of course not the main reasons, but somewhere deep down it played its part.
As a young man I thought, being raised as christian, that everything that was written in the bible was historical true. But when I started to study theology I noticed that it is very much possible to explane the bible in many ways. Also ways that damage people, or hold people down. I have elarned to use the bible in a way that paople can find comfort in it and find ideas about how you can become a very honarable member of the human kind. The science in theology helped me to discover, that you cannot use religion, or the bible as you like, to explain how the world came to be and how the human race evolved into what it now is.
This makes it very exiting: to be religious on one hand and accept other scientivic discoveries on the other hand.

well, this is, to start with, a little bit about me. I hope to here from some of you, besides the discussion about books.
Please don't be to hard on my way of writing English it is not my native speech.

Rolf

marti1900 · Senior Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 354 Gender:

Welcome to the community. I look forward to your input.

Marti in Mexico

Chris OConnor

Rolf

Holland sounds wonderful! Although I'm not into smoking pot, I think the United States has too rigid of a stance on this natural drug - way out of proportion with the risks of using it. It would feel strange to be able to smoke pot legally. :smokin

You're bringing a unique perspective to BookTalk and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. I've been enjoying your posts!

Welcome to the community!

Chris

de dominee · Getting comfortable Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 8 Gender:

As you know my loginname/ username is 'de dominee'. but as it turned out: it is not a good choice. because it looks a lot like 'domineer'. as I understood that means: "oppress, tyrannize, dominate; be arrogant". that is exactly the opposite of what I want to be, or to suggest.
So I want to drop the dutch word 'de dominee', meaning the minister, and replace it with my real name: Rolf Venema.
now, I dont' know how to change it in the account, but i'll find out. in any case: you now all know.

Rolf Venema ::75

Chris OConnor

Actually, you cannot change it without creating a new account. But since you have only made a few posts you shouldn't mind creating a new account. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes. I guess it is better to make this change now before you have hundreds of posts.

Chris

Rolf Venema

Yes, I've donnit!!!!!!!!!!

de dominee is gone;
Long live Rolf Venema

Please note that wherever you read 'de dominee' you have to look for Rolf Venema, because I have changed my login name to my own name. the other account does not exist anymore.

Rolf ::60

Chris OConnor


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