Terry my friend,
You just have to see the light. I can't believe that you can't see it! ( now for what I truly think)
Your clarity of thought is still reachable for a mental midget as myself. Clasping my hands and starting a prayer made me only question my belief that I mattered because it never felt real. I have no intention of challenging someone else's beliefs or suggesting that God is not real, but I definitely can relate to your perspectives. Personally, I agree completely with your comments on this matter. Your analogies really make the point for me.
I felt proud in my ability to explain matters as this and only have been able to realize recently, that it was in living up to the organization's teachings on such matters. (As vague as that was). I could never train my child to accept my guidance and just sit back and watch her neglect it and suffer the consequences. Of course, I'm not God. I can accept that I am not 'all-knowing'. I know that my love for my daughter means that I will do whatever it takes to protect her. As an imperfect human, I could never comprehend the supposed sacrifice God made in watching his son die in behalf of humanity, and I never watched the "Passion of the Christ". "For God loved the world so much ...."
If I lived in the south during the 50's or 60's, a KKK member would gladly exact justice on me and feel that they represented God on the issue just because of color. Human thinking is still given credibility, it just depends on where you come from, not how intelligent you are. Even if people come up with laws that contradict your views, faith takes precedence.
Understanding why evil happens ...? There are those that can speculate and those that can answer with conviction that we just have to wait on Jehovah to settle such matters. Where did JW's get the idea that they have a monopoly on 'truth'? Just delusional I guess.