"But try as I might, going to three hours of church plus the two hours of round-trip travel (at least) and another hour or so for Lance's morning meetings destroys naps and meals and makes the children miserable for at least that day if not more. It takes me anywhere from one to three days to get my children back on track."
Supposedly the block was designed for people like her, so at least she wouldn't have to make SIX one-hour trips every Sunday with her kids! But those geniuses Kimball, Tanner, Hinckley, etc. then made it a pretext for holding three hours of boring meetings instead of one. Having made a small concession, they had to take it back and then some. They had to make it absolutely clear they didn't want things to get too easy for anyone. Their religion must demand the sacrifice of everything, or it isn't true!
I can't image being so obligated to an organization that supposedly preaches about 'free agency' and the 'privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience'.
If the Lord created everything in six days and rested on the seventh, when does a TBM rest?
Are all these comment-makers on DN "church-broke"? Or is their only frame of reference what the church tells them will make them happy? Sacrifice, unhappy kids, too much busy-work is all for your happiness!
It seems a bit much, but the phrase 'Arbeit macht frei" just popped into my head.
If the men were the ones going through this turmoil, it would all end YESTERDAY!
I don't know a man alive that would put himself through that torment, and have 3 days of whiney kids as a reward. You've got to be kidding me.
If this woman ever finds out what a lie and farce the mormon church is, I fear for her mental health. She most likely will go into a rage like no other.
Apparently her husband has special dietary needs. He needs to get his lazy ass up and tend to his own dietary demands. Shame on him for dumping that on his wife. Shame on her for taking it on. She's not his mother. Hopefully she figures out birth control and doesn't have any more kids. You can only fit so many on a bike.
madalice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hopefully she figures out birth > control and doesn't have any more kids. You can > only fit so many on a bike.
Since this article is in Deseret News - and the author is married to the bishop! - you know how this is going to end. She will decide that it's all worth it in the end.
For any normal person, looking from the outside in, this is insanity.
I grew up going to Catholic church (my mother's faith) and I have to hand it to the Catholics, they know how to get in and out of church in a reasonable time - under 1 hour.
In my family, the trip home included a stop by the bakery to pick up Kuchen (fruit coffee cake).
Back then, many Catholics had fairly large families. They usually staggered attendance. Dad would take part of the family to early mass, then Mom would take the rest of the family to a later one.
It's really sad the way Mormons put up with outrageous demands by their church.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2015 01:12AM by ellenl.
My Catholic grandmother had a large family, and she rarely attended church. Grandpa took the kids to church while she prepared the Sunday meal. She reportedly said that the priest would understand. lol
Why did I get the vibe that this family was attending church in Europe or the UK or something? The bus commute, riding a bike, child named 'Gideon', the subtle implication of their family not owning a car- all smacked of some Western European family, especially given the distance they apparently have to travel.
Apparently, if you put up with this craziness, your reward will be that someday you can watch your grandchildren going through the same torture!
What a great thing to look forward to.
I think there's more going on here than simple obedience to a cult. There's an aspect of one-upmanship to all of this self-sacrifice. The author has managed to outshine her friends and sisters - she actually bicycles uphill to church! Who can top that?!
It didn't even occur to me about riding the bike for 2 hours to get 5 miles. I used to ride my bike 6 days a week, May-September in the horrific humidity of the midwest, often in 100 degree weather, 8 miles to work. One day I was 45 minutes late cause my alarm didn't go off and I made it there in 25 minutes, and half of the ride is uphill.
I wasn't carrying some kind of cart behind me, but still. If you make these trips often enough you should develop the muscles to the point where the ride gets easier and shorter everytime. She should bicycle for her daily exercise for the long haul on Sundays to make better time, if she's so devoted to doing it this way. She could probably be home in time for dinner or something if she could shave an hour off coming home.
It sounds like this woman is Insane anyway so whatever.
Holy shit! How did the church buy the SL tribune? There goes that Newspaper. Although I read a side-by-side comparison of their report on the John Dehlin Excommunication and the tribunes was fair and impartial and the DN's could not have been more obviously biased and full of ad hominem.
Call me an old cynic but I can't help wondering how true this is. If hubbie can get home on the bus why can't they all get there by bus as well? I know that buses tend to start to run later on Sundays but in London they should be running by the time they leave for church. Nor can I imagine what kind of bike they have that will carry 2 adults, a toddler, a baby and all of the paraphernalia she describes.
I have to agree with ellenl that this sounds like a severe case of one-upmanship - there's nothing a lot of Mormons like more than to outdo each other on the self-righteousness front.
as she describes it, I think it is what we call a 'bakfiets'
Google bakfiets and you'll get the idea. You can fit a load of stuff into one of them.. but I do also fail to see how you can get all that she describes AND two adults on a bike like that and not have it collapse.
All the comments are so faith promoting and supportive because the DN will cut any comment that isn't .
I've tried commenting on several articles there and never got approved yet.
I don't understand why the Deseret News sees this article as faith promoting. The article has been written by a woman who is close to collapse, who explains that the impact of Church is all negative and that negativity takes three days to overcome.
Also, 2 hours to cycle five miles? Put your back into it woman!
On a serious note, cycling in London is exceptionally dangerous. Cycling through London with a family and associated luggage on one bike and on your own is negligent parenting.
Also. Did you notice the Priesthood holder cycles there whilst the roads are quiet, but he allows the wife to cycle it home when the roads are busy?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2015 06:42AM by pettigrew.
Mass at my Catholic parish is an hour or less, and after there is coffee and donuts or bagels. An hour is the upper limits of how much church little kids can stand, I can't imagine three hours and an hour each way to get there. Poor English Mo lady!
Most normal churches are around an hour or a little more. A three hour block is like magic underwear; the only point is the regular practice of dominince by leaders and blind obedience by the sheep. No other reason whatsoever.
From the article: "The bike is the modern-day equivalent of a handcart, and almost everything we own (it seems) goes into it every Sunday: lunch, snacks, a gluten-free option to enable my husband, the bishop, to eat the sacrament without sleeping through church, two bottles, the baby bag, the stroller for my toddler to nap in, the trug for our newborn to nap in, high heels for me, the bishop's briefcase, my purse, and our two snuggly children.
My husband, Lance, rides it the five mostly uphill miles to church in north London, and I ride it back, while the other gets a break by riding the bus sans children."
She stayed home one week and the result was "It didn't matter that I felt like Esther's day schedule was almost finally on track or that Gideon whined less for two days."
So she sacrificed her children's well-being to take the sacrament. This is one step from abuse.
So many years of struggling as a young mom with young children, my health suffered, my marriage suffered, we were all miserable. We are all so much happier now that we are out of the family church. No it wasn't worth it, I hope some day that woman will understand that.
The Deseret news is a Mormon rag. Nothing but fluff pieces about the cult. It scares me that they own the SL Tribune now too, it's been pretty fair so far but I think it is slowly going to go in the same direction as DN. I don't think the cult wanted to purchase the Trib because of the immense profitability of traditional newspapers.
Since we left TSCC Sundays have gone from the worst day of the week to the best. Instead of fighting to get all the kids and ourselves ready to go to 3 hours of meetings that we hate, I get to do homework, spend time with the family, and *gasp* even have a little time for myself. (Totally selfish, I know. Every moment should be devoted to church cAllings, etc.)