I grew up in a proper Dub family, my folks were very active converts and fully committed to the full life style.
I started having questions at a very early age without realising that the questions were fundamental to faith. I was baptised very young on my own whim without, of course, having any idea why or what I was signing away.
By my mid-teens I remember going to an 8 day assembly, the atmosphere was great, the girls plentiful, the "world" did not exist. "This is great", I thought, "but is it true?"
That was a definite way point. I decided to put my doubts to one side and plunge in. That I did, pioneered, went where the "need" was great, became an elder 1 year after the position was invented. The whole 9 yards.
The truth is though, the unanswered, unanswerable questions do not go away. My decision to be gullible eventually frayed and I had to face the TTATT.
By then though I had married, procreated and been absorbed by the web, the net that keeps you locked in. As many testify, you can leave but the price is high. So I keep going as a reluctant passenger, I keep my nose clean and try not to offend my conscience by influencing any one to "faith". I fact I do the opposite and try to spread gentle doubt from within.
Some would call that cowardly but that's where I am and I'm comfortable in my own skin now.