I'm going to go see the eclipse tomorrow. A solar eclipse is something I've never seen before and I'm going to make a day of it. The next reasonably close to my location solar eclipse to see will not be for another five years.

So I tell my mom. Big mistake.

"Oh...isn't that eclipse on Sunday?"

"Yeah mom."

"Oh...but aren't you going to church?"

"Probably not mom."

This little dialogue, while seemingly innocuous, represents to me a huge portion of the damage that this cult did to me during my time in it. This eclipse event is just one small event of many hundreds more that I might have missed out on had I still been a true believer.

It is also something of a symbol of all the opportunities of the past that I missed out on due to my membership in this organization. I'm not even just talking about events I could have gone to but didn't because they were on Sundays like Super-Bowls. There are literally hundreds of opportunities I missed out on, because I was figuratively, "in church."

To any true LDS believers (and also to anyone whose head is so wrapped up in dogma or mysticism that you're missing life's major events) I say, get out of the cinder block building and go see the eclipse.

and I considered going there for the event, but that "mormon" aspect seems to make it not worth it.

It's amazing how obedient mormons are to Sunday and their callings. So much in life to be done, but, it will be skipped because, you know, that primary class has to be taught, or music has to be led, or whatever.

I don't know exactly how frequently eclipses normally occur (though I heard briefly somewhere that the next solar eclipse isn't supposed to happen until at least the year 2117). However, it does seem like a once-in-a-lifetime event that really should not be missed.

And the uber-religious wants to value their church above even such once-in-a-lifetime events!!? Okay, what if the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ was to happen on a Sunday? Would they prioritize their regular Sunday meetings over even that!?

BTW: I thought I wouldn't be able to afford the drive out to Southwestern Utah from Southern California to see it, but now, thanks to my job, it looks like I'll be heading over that way after all! But, instead of St. George, I think I'll be checking it out in Nevada, at either Caliente or the ET Hwy junction along US Hwy 93.

The original thread about the eclipse seems to be long gone, so I can't find either the time of the eclipse or the map of its path. What time is it supposed to be passing over St. George again? And what time for the Caliente NV area?

Thanks!

Plus: There seems to be an exmo meet up for the eclipse planned at the Mountain Meadows Massacre site not far at all off my planned route up to Salt Lake for Monday, so I'm going to seek them out as I pass through on late afternoon Sunday.

So why am I not just driving Interstate 15 all the way to Salt Lake? Because Arizona charges money for all commercial drivers just to enter the state at all, and with all that had been going on in AZ lately, that Nazi state doesn't deserve one single cent of my money!!!

That's what my mother would have said to me. Yeah, miss an event that only comes a few times in your life so that you can attend Sacrament Meeting. No interest whatsoever in seeing a solar eclipse -- just get your butt to church. What can you even say to a reply like that?

OMG this reminds me of the things I've missed so far because they are on sundays :D

With regard to the "but you'll miss church" aspect, you have to remember the sheer guilt and fear that the church puts into people.

If you 'aint there when a meeting begins, then the recording angel will have departed; one day yo will have to stand before God himself and account for your abscence and your disobedience.

And, of course, if you were to miss a meeting and, by some chance, have a fatal accident ... well, that would be your lot 'upstairs' matey.