Hi Open Mind! Thanks for digging up that thread. I'll go through and read each of the responses. Saw people go together in Tahoe? My heart lept with hope! :)
I'm a single female, young 30's living in SF. I'm a professional working in a common area for Bay Area employees. Grew up far from Cali though now I've been out here for many many years. It's been half as many of that that I've been apart from the org—until recently. Strange events brought me back in 'officially' and I officially realized that it wasn't the truth. It's been a fast process over a little more time than a year. As my family pretty much ignores me anyway (since I only want to talk about the real truth) I am considering my options so I don't have to feel like someone having to hide my identity. I feel stuck in a strange limbo—6 or 8 years of making tons of friends who aren't "friends" who don't really know about me, and what I believe, and thus I feel stiffled, especially in the atheist areas I've lived in where people believe religion is a disease as much as the WT thinks apostates are mentally diseased.
During my long time out God and I weren't on speaking terms. I couldn't understand why he'd abandoned me. But was respectfully of his decision and likewise respected being 'disowned' from my family.
I would never have stepped foot in another church, so it's interesting that the strange events which brought me back to the WT made everything so crystal clear.
I'd never read the scriptures through cover to cover before.
Now I have, and no wonder what I was taught never seemed to make sense!!!
I don't believe in religion. I believe in God, and God's son.
I have a lot to talk about, but need to find people to do that with. It's hard to find folks interested. I'm turned off by religion bashing (ours or others) and am more interested in the actual content. What I read makes total sense—but it seems no one else believes what I believe... but kind of hard to figure that out when you have to protect your identify and can't find an appropriate forum.
I get the feeling most people who have left the religion have also left faith entirely. Anyone in SF who still believes, even like me, that to truly believe is to be free?