Question for Sam Warner, Jesse Huntington & others

Here's a question lots of people have and this is for the sake of Family history. You guys were there and in a position to know. But anyone who was in for lots of years can answer:

HOW MUCH were the early days of the Family better than what it became? I think we all agree it was better from an abuse point of view...less sexual abuse, no Victor Camps. And better from a Christian doctrinal point of view...less heresy and more preaching a genuine Gospel.

So HOW MUCH better were the early days? A lot of oldtimers who were only in in the early days have nothing but good memories of the Children of God. And some of the oldtimers who were in for the later crap still look back on the early days as what the Family was. They're able to selectively block out the Davidito book and the Victor Camps and only focus on the good old days.

But those old days were actually better, weren't they? So what if there were hardships? We endured the sleeping bags on the floor, lots of 3-day old starchy food pulled out of the garbage and road trips looking for a place to sleep. Those don't bother lots of us. But...

What about what Bithia once told Sam Ajemian, that kids in the nursery at TSC were getting abused in 69-70?

What about that Berg had abused his own daughters sexually long before the Family began and began using his leadership position to have sex with teen girls? What about the one he got pregnant at TSC? Was that Martha?

What about what he did to Mother Eve, taking on Maria and making Eve go around topless in his trailer to shame her?

What about the way women were treated back then? Good old "helpmeets" to "help their meat"?

What about the rampant stealing that happened? Mother Eve walking out of stores with carts full of groceries, saying "The Lord hath need of it." The brothers who liberated Bibles by stealing them from Christian book stores?

And what about the fact that Mo had started the Law of Love back in 1970-71 with leadership behind the scenes, and "Sin in the Camp" was the result?

No Victor Camps, but there was the L.A. Purge room where people were so traumatized they went into dry heaves? And horrible rebukes in public by Mo and other leaders?

There was still the censored mail. There was a harsh condemnation of our own parents. There was still smuggling kids away from their parents, and running off from California with 14-year old Rachel.

There was still the mind control, the fear tactics and a lot of other crap wasn't there? Remember people praying,"God kill me if I leave the Team?" Remember the signs on the walls, "You can't leave. You know too much"?

I know I've deliberately brought out the bad of the early days but that's only to level the playing field so that when we discuss the "good" that was back there, that we don't drift off into nostalgia wishing for the good old days. But there was some good, wasn't there, especially compared to how things became later?

I'd like to see an honest discussion of all this without anyone posting, "It was all bad! It was all evil! Don't try to say there was any good involved in it." There was some good, or at least a lot less evil had had a chance to come to the surface.

So come on you old timers: Sam Warner, Jesse Huntingon, Sam Ajemian, M.G. and any others who were in during the early days and also saw what the Family evolved into. Speak up please.