I have only been away from the meetings for about 4 years and I can't get past how angry I am, now betrayed I feel and how scared I am for staying away. I was baptized at 13 and am now almost 39 years old. Being a witness is the only thing I have ever known. I don't know how to make friends because mine were chosen for me. I never learned how to make friends and am completely alone now. Plus, I have a 10 year old daughter who misses going to meetings. How do I explain to here that in order to keep her safe, I have to keep her away. I don't want to have to tell her that the elders don't care enough about her safety, that they will willingly and knowingly protect pedophiles, even at the risk of their congregation. I don't know how to explain to her that there are two sets of standards that the congregation is to follow; those for the privileged, and those for the rest of us. She loves Jehovah, which I am not going to discourage, but I can't encourage her to attend meetings. The choice of religion has to be hers, I owe that to her. I didn't get a choice; it was just understood that I would be a witness, and I made all my choices around that assumption. And I missed out on college, the prom, parties, etc. And I am angry that I was told that the congregation would be my family, would love me and take care of me, only to have them betray me when I needed help the most. They left my ex-husband and my mother out to dry without so much as a word, saying they were leaving because they lacked faith. What they needed was a kind shoulder to cry on, someone to listen to them and validate their concerns and pains. Instead, the elders just let them fall by the wayside, while they provided money and food to a sister who allowed her 16 year old son to rape his 10 year old sister repeatedly. And once it came out, nothing was done to the son, NOTHING. No public reproof, no private reproof, and definitely not disfellowshipping. He is allowed to come and go in the hall as he pleases and none of the parents know what he is. I can't stop being angry, and I definitely can't forgive them. But, my daughter is scared that since we don't go to meetings anymore, we will die at Armageddon. She worries about her grandparents, since they are inactive now. She worries about her dad since he is disfellowshipped. Please, someone, tell me what to say to her.