Users
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Heaven
Born-in, never baptized. The problem of theodicy, why an all-loving, all-powerful God allows suffering and evil, began when I was around the age of 10 due to the Ethiopian famine in the early 1970s and God's inability and/or indifference to resolve this massive scale of suffering. As I moved into my teen years, I began to disagree with Watchtower doctrine and beliefs, as well as the Bible itself. Misogyny does not sit well with a teenage girl. I was also having difficulty with Watchtower's doctrinal flip-flops - one that I recall was about Evolution. For 15 to 16 years of my life my mother vehemently and adamantly denied the Theory of Evolution and then one day said to me "You know Heaven, there may be something to Evolution after all." I was gobsmacked. I definitely did not agree with Watchtower's blood policy. Even as a teenager, I could not reconcile elevating a symbol of life above life itself.
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SouthCentral
I grew up in One of the worst neighborhoods in America (see The movie, Boyz in the Hood) but I never knew it because of my sheltered environment. I was Baptized at 13, regular pioneered throughout high school and had planned to go to Bethel. While sitting in the meeting for Bethel at Dodger Stadium… A light came on. I asked myself… "When is the end date for my Bethel assignment?." There would be no end date, they would kick me out whenever they got ready! Also, I wanted to have a family! By the time that I was 21, I had fizzled out in the organization … I was inactive and well along in my career and marriage. Fortunately, I am very happy with my life choices… My wife is still in and she knows my secret! When the generation teaching changed in 1995, I almost had a nervous breakdown! Everything I had believed (in up to that point in my life) crumbled via a single watchtower. I remember telling thousands of people to examine their religion in field service… But a witness will get excommunicated if they even mention examining "TROOF".
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