THE MORMON CURTAIN
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TIME
Total Articles:
4
The Mormon Church's latest motto they are using on Television is, "Family. It's about time." The reality is that Mormons have very little time for family - especially males. Mormons are given numerous "callings" and teaching assignments. These callings can take as much as 24 to 48 hours of time each week. Many General Authorities (Mormon elite) have made comments that their wives raised their children - because they were so busy with Church work.
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God Forbid You Skip Sunday School For Easter Dinner
Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007, at 09:12 AM
Original Author(s): Punky's Dilemma
Topic: TIME -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | My TBM sister has been upset that she has not hosted any family gatherings.
The problem has typically been one of location. She lives the farthest north of all of the family and if she hosts a celebration half the family cannot attend. Additionally, she's not much of a housekeeper or hostess, so we have all had a hard time imagining that she would really *want* to host a major family holiday meal. But when I hosted this past Christmas instead of her, and she made the effort to drive a couple of hours to our house for the weekend, I thought it was fair to return the sentiment when she asked to host Easter Dinner.
*Sigh* What a disaster.
First of all, half of the family couldn't attend because it was too much of a drive.
Second of all, nothing could start until 2:00pm on SUNDAY because the TBMs all had inviolable church obligations. This meant that although we all had a three day weekend (we all got off on Good Friday) the family would only get together for a couple of hours on Sunday so that the mormons wouldn't miss church.
My TBM sister kept reminding me to bring a salad. As if I would just show up at her door without food. She also emailed and called everyone to let them know that the meal was at 2pm sharp. I thought to myself "this is awfully late to be eating since we are feeding several preschoolers, and it seems to be during the kids nap time." But she said there was nothing that could be done about it. For some reason Sunday School on EASTER couldn't be cut short for a special family holiday.
SO--since my family of four has to drive a couple of hours and we didn't want to drive all afternoon, eat, then turn around and drive all night, I asked if we could show up a hour or so early for a bit of an extra visit. I figured she'd also like help with the meal. She said that was fine as long as I gave her a warning call first.
My family had our stuff together Easter morning, so after celebrations with our kids and attending an early Easter Cantata, and making good time on the road we roll into my sister's town about an hour and twenty minutes early. As promised, I call, but no one is there. We check the house. No one is there. We drive around town, do some shopping, and look at houses. We get no calls from any family. Everyone is held up by church. My sister doesn't even show up at her own house until JUST PAST 2PM. And when we go inside it is filthy.
She has not swept, done dishes for the last day or two, cleaned her kitchen recently, picked up the table, cleared places in the living room to sit, etc. Nothing. No food is ready, either. So, my mother and I start getting the food together. I go into the dining area and clean all the stuck on food off the table and chairs and set the table. I set up a children's table. I hunt down extra chairs. My mother gets the food together.
I look around my sister's beautiful new house. It is cluttered with mormon paraphenalia spilling out everywhere. Hardly anything is hung on the walls, but there is a huge collage about JS hung by clips on strings across the whole living room (BIL teaches seminary in the house). We couldn't even set out the food properly because the countertop was full of Early Morning Seminary materials that had not been put away.
What blows my mind is that my sister is a SAHM, with two children in school. She has one toddler the same age as mine, who is well-behaved and an all around easy kid. And she had been planning this meal for two months. And she apparently couldn't get it together enough to clear the countertops and table, set out dishes, clean the floor, etc. And, even knowing how far I had to drive she couldn't be bothered to just *leave church on time* in order to get the meal together.
Her comment on all of this? "I'm sorry. But church just got hectic and we had to stay an hour late."
As it was we ate very late, and we all cleaned up, "Well, I had games planned for the kids, but I don't think that's gonna happen." She was just too pooped.
I'm thinking to myself, "This is CHURCH, fer cryin' out loud. Not the military. It's not like you're AWOL if you leave early for a family dinner...especially one you are hosting..."
I'm just grousing, I guess, but I work full time, have two children, and am embroiled in home remodeling. We just refinished all of our floors and I've been cleaning dust all over a huge house for the last week and a half. Still, on Good Friday, I had the house spotless (at least the parts we live in), with three huge tables set for a holiday brunch. There were games for the kids, a nice menu, and everyone had such a good time that brunch lasted until past midnight. I'm feeling irritated that I had to go to such effort to attend dinner at my sister's house, and she couldn't be bothered to even clean her house, prepare much food, or even leave church a little early so that we could enjoy the family holiday.
But then again, *I'm* the wicked family apostate. What do *I* know about what's important?
| My 15 Year-Old Daughter Recently Worked Out the Hours Spent in Church
Thursday, Feb 19, 2009, at 07:36 AM
Original Author(s): Anonymous
Topic: TIME -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | My 15 year-old daughter recently worked out the hours she spent on church in her math class. She came up with over 700 hours per year.
Monday:
-Seminary, 1 hour
-Family Home Evening, 1 hour
Tuesday:
-Seminary, 1 hour
Wednesday:
-Seminary, 1 hour
-Ward youth activity, 2.5 hours
Thursday:
-Seminary, 1 hour
Friday:
-Seminary, 1 hour
-Stake Youth Dance, 4 hours (once a month)
-Stake Temple trip, every quarter, Friday evening to Saturday Evening, 6 hour drive
-Youth Conference (once a year), Friday evening to Sunday Morning
Saturday:
-Youth Sports and tournaments, 3 hours (once a month)
-Young Women's General Meeting Satellite Broadcast, 2 Hours (once a year)
-Pioneer Day Picnic 4 hours (once a year)
-Stake talent night 2 hours (once a year)
-General Conference 4 hours (Twice a year)
Sunday:
-3 hour block, Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, Young Women
-Bishop's youth Council, once a month, 1.5 hours
-Sunday Evening Discussion, once a month, 1.5 hours
-General Conference 4 hours (Twice a year)
-First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2 hours (Once a year)
-Seminary Honor Night, 2 hours (Once a year)
-Pioneer Day Commemoration Broadcast, 2 hours (Once a year)
-Young Women in Excellence, 2 Hours (Once a year)
- Young Women's Camp, Monday to Friday (once a year)
| The Time It Takes To Be A Mormon
Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009, at 07:57 AM
Original Author(s): Angsty
Topic: TIME -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | I'm sure this has been explored before but it just hit me again how much of my life's minutes have been spent in devotion to the church.
Here's what my life as a TBM teenager looked like:
- 3+ hours of church meetings on Sunday
- 5 hours of seminary
- 2 hours of Mutual activities (at least)
- 7 hours of personal scripture study (and yes, I really did it)
- 5 hours of family scriptures study (at least)
- 3 hours of FHE (and my parents did the whole nine yards with a very serious lesson EVERY time)
This does not include hours spent on Personal Progress Goals (and I really worked that program whole-heartedly), Keeping a journal (which I did take very seriously), serving in callings (Beehive/Mia Maid/Laurel president several times over and I took those callings seriously), firesides, service activities (like babysitting for every ward function that needed it), choir practice, learning hymns on the piano so that I could play for meetings, or time spent in prayer (and I was praying a lot because I was miserable).
So, at the very least, I was spending 25 hours a week devoted to church. This is while attending high school and trying to be a teenager.
No wonder I didn't have time for extra-curricular activities and I felt like a total freak.
As an adult, I didn't have seminary or personal progress, or mutual, but I had callings that I took very seriously and I easily spent more time on church-related business than I did as a teenager-- particularly when I was a ward missionary, and taught YW and Sunday School lessons.
No wonder I didn't ask questions until I got older-- I was too busy to think, or breathe.
| Take A Moment To Think For Yourselves And To Extricate Yourselves From The Web Of Deceit
Thursday, Aug 27, 2009, at 09:40 AM
Original Author(s): Life Rocks
Topic: TIME -Link To MC Article- | ↑ | Think about if you were active, what could you be willing to stop doing as an active member of the Church.
Church on Sunday...Sac mtg, sun school and priesthood or relief society. Min of 3 hours plus time to get ready and get back. Sometimes they have special dinners for mothers/fathers day.
If you have seminary aged kids, they're in seminary 5 days a week, time to get them there is needed by parents who don't live beside the building.
Family night with a lesson...every faithful member family will be willing to do that, including a short lesson and prayer.
Scouts Starts with prayer and has it's own badges and activities related to the priesthood.
Young men/young women with dances every weekend, some times 2 per weekend.
Church magazines...every faithful Latter-day Saint will have a subscription to all 3, Ensign, New Era and The Friend.
A family that prays together, stays together...morning and night...at least. A true Saint will be on their knees night and day from time to time praying over his flock.
Needless to say, you should be reading your scriptures. Faithful Latter-day Saints will be memorizing passages and getting together as a family...daily...reading and studying these sacred texts, particularly the Book of Mormon which is "the most correct book on the earth."
Got to have the tabs playing on Sunday...or any of the other LDS singers or talks by some of the more prominate speakers.
You know you didn't get to finish your degree while at BYU so now with the internet you can pay some serious money to have the priviledge of taking internet classes so you can "graduate" from BYU. In fact of you wear your BYU t-shirt and watch a few of the regular season games of the Lord's University Cougars and sing the fight song that's almost as good as being a full time student. And that way you don't have to feel badly that you couldn't actually attend the university and actually attend a class in person. It's a modern time with modern solutions.
Every member a missionary...you should have your copy of the Book of Mormon on display in your home and at your office should you be able to start a "gospel" conversation.
There's the doorbell...it's time for the hometeachers...or the visiting teachers...I know they're only suppose to stay an hour but some/most times it runs over because they have a gospel lesson every time.
But then you're either a hometeacher or visiting teacher yourself, so there's more time you need to go service your 5 families not to mention the personal priesthood interview from time to time.
What about your calling (s) as the Ward Mission Leader and Gospel Essentials Teacher which requires a good hour or two in preparation.
You know on Sunday, you really must be prepared for the Gospel Doctrine and Priesthood lessons, a good half hour or more in reading and studying. Probably should pray before and after to get yourself in the right spirit.
The calendar goes around in the Gospel Doctrine class for an "opportunity" to feed the missionaries. We can use all the blessings we can get so we'll do it.
And since we're temple worthy members, the Lord wants us to wear the LDS approved Holy under "garments" night and day so that we'll remember that every knee will bow to confess to God in the last days.
For a further reminder you can wear your CTR ring to remind you to Choose The Right which is always the LDS version of what is right.
Of course your home is adorned with lots of "LDS" art...pictures of Joseph Smith that hardly resemble him at all they've been so airbrushed and softened. There's statuary of Joseph giving a coin to Emma and reprints of paintings of famous LDS artists. What home is complete without pictures of the prophet and the apostles and temples and those catchy posters for the youth.
By the way after choir practice and the actual performance, they want you to lead the music at the ward baptismal service. And the choir has been asked to sing at the Stake fireside lest you run out of things to do.
Members are required to pray for the leaders, participate in Church sports, roadshows, genealogical research, any priesthood blessings, ward service projects such as the cannery and dairy farm or helping at Deseret Industries, writing the missionaries, ward parties and social events, temple and marriage preparation classes, read only Church approved books by LDS authors, maintain a years food storage, attend the workshops and meetings for their respective callings, speak in Church (which requires time to prepare) pass the sacrament, read the Church News, maintain missionary haircuts, attend Father and Son outings, and be at the Bishops beck and call at any moment. There are worthiness interviews, tithing settlement,youth conferances and if you're really drinking the Koolaid, most all of your "friends" will be faithful members of the Church. Don't forget listening to all of the sessions of conference to remind you all of the stuff you "should" be doing and for which the "Lord" will hold you accountable.
And if that's not enough, the Prophet feels he has the right to tell you what behavior you can or can't engage in with your spouse in the privacy of your home.
And there's more...
In advertising the thing that advertisers are interested in are hits...and they want as much exposure as they can get. If, as a member of the Church you run into a "friend" and all your conversation is about the Church, and even if it's not. I'd say that any exposure to anything LDS is a hit intended to influence your thinking.
So when you're having a picnic with a friend, who is a member, that reinforces the message of the Church. it woud be akin to going to a Nazi party or KKK meeting and seeing people you trust and respect. You go to a secret meeting that you're told is special and by invitation only. There are people you trust...the governor...the chief of police etc. If you don't have any critical thinking skills, you can't dispute the voice of the gang to question what's going on.
After all theyre much smarter than me, who am I to question these people.
Even such things as Church art...DVD's...with powerful images and music have a terrific ability to capture the heart and mind. The movie "Legacy" is a work of fiction, completely, but it's based loosely on the time when the "Saints" were in Missouri.
Little children who are taught from early on catchy songs that talk about "Called To Serve"
or "I hope they call me on a mission" only stand to show that they want to indoctrinate the children fully so that when they get to missionary age, they're already prepared to go without questioning their message at all.
It works with the adults who have been raised in the Church too. Taught for a long time to not question anything they don't.
They can go to a temple ceremony fraught with throat slashing and disembowelling gestures and never stop to say...this isn't uplifting.
They can attend the weddings of the children of those who are devoted parents and think nothing of feeling "worthy" to go because they're able to answer a dozen questions which pale in comparison to 20 years of faithful service by the parents.
What's the net affect of all those "hits" or exposures to the mind...it's relentless and frequent.
I can't imagine those who are living in a predominately LDS community, seeing the temples every day, meeting houses on every corner, the extensive holdings of the Church where the Church's influence is constantly present. You can buy your insurance...your airline tickets...your banking...the radio...the level of saturation is so intense.
Is it any wonder that the State of Utah's use of prescription drugs for depression is so high or the use of internet porn is so high.
There's never a time when members of the Church can actually think anything else other than ...
I have a testimony and I know the Church is true...beyond any shadow of doubt.
And they do. The completeness of the indoctrination is absolutely amazing and startling.
One has to be impressed with how good a job they've done. It's an incredibly complete organization...they have really thought deeply about most everything.
It says a lot about those here who were able to take a moment to think for yourselves and to extricate yourselves from the web of deceit.
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