THE BIBLE CHANGES LIVES -AS TOLD BY STEPHEN MCDOWELL

My live was going from bad to worse

MY PAST:  I grew up in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., in various neighborhoods infamous for their street gangs and drugs.  My parents had six children, of whom I was the second. 

My mother raised us as members of an evangelical church. However, as a teenager, I led a double life. On Sundays I sang in the church choir. During the rest of the week, I lived to party, abuse drugs, and commit sexual immorality.

I had a quick and violent temper. I would use anything as a weapon to win.  What I learned at church did  not  help. I used to say:  "Vengeance is the Lord's-and I am his instrument!"  While in high school during the late 1960's, I was influenced by the Black Panthers, a political group know for their militant approach to civil rights issues.  I joined a civil rights student union. On several occasions we staged protests, each time temporarily closing the school.

It seemed that protesting did not satisfy my violent nature.  So I started participating in hate crimes. For example, on occasion my friends and I saw films featuring the past suffering of African slaves in the Unites States. Incensed by those injustices, we assaulted white youths right there in the movie  theater.  Then we went to white neighborhoods, looking for more people to beat up.  

By the time I was in my late teems, my brothers and I were confirmed hoodlums. We got in trouble with the authorities.  One of my younger brothers was member of a notorious gang, and I associated with them.  My life was going from bad to worse.

Next time: THE BIBLE CHANGES LIVES - HOW THE BIBLE CHANGED MY LIFE

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015