When listening to my very tbm SIL talk about Christmas being on Sunday this year, she said how great that is. She explained that when Christmas falls on Sunday, "you just sing some Christmas songs in Sacrament Meeting and then go home early". It is over three months from now and already she is excited to get out of a 3 hour church meeting.

This is also the case for GC. Mormon's love to stay home on Sunday and watch conference on tv. I always looked forward to staying home from church and not feeling guilty. When church was cancelled because of weather or a power outage members would be so excited to stay home form church. It has been so long since I was in that mindset that I forgot how awful it was to have to attend church and other meetings each week.

Even as a believer, did anyone else love getting out of church?

Being able to skip church honorably was always a wonderful thing. General Conference, Stake Conference, and sometimes Ward Conference, yup, stay home and enjoy every single minute. Fast meeting was the worst, next was high-council Sunday.

It was a toss-up between attending church and being home too sick to attend. Yeah, I had to be on death's door to be sick enough to skip.

So, yeah, I was one of those who really didn't like attending church.

... the last Amen.

I have not forgotten the pure exhilaration I felt as a TBM when that long awaited, tortuously distant, most beautiful sound in Mormomism, finally, at long last, after watching the minute hand on the wall clock not even move for what seemed like hours ... when that final Amen at the end of the benediction, mercifully graced my desperately hungry ears with the sweet vibrations ... that finally ... finally ... set me FREE!

FREE AT LAST! FREE AGAIN! BACK TO BEING ME! FREE AGAIN!

FREE AT LAST TO GO BE ME ... at least until I had to return next week to check ME at the chapel door again ... and one more time ... endure to the end ... until that oh-it-is-wonderful ... wonderful-to me ... last Amen.

Yes! It's difficult to articulate this feeling to a nevermo. They can't possibly understand the torture of a three hour meeting every Sunday.

I left in 1980 before the 3 hour block meetings happened. My family made three trips to church every Sunday.

I dunno which is worse. Enduring 3 hours of torture and getting it over with, or blowing three black holes to pretty much decimate your entire Sunday.

I hear you. I'm old enough to remember the split time blocks. As a kid, primary for me was on a weekday (Wednesday?) my mom worked so I had to ride my bike. A friend and I would ride there and hide in the baptismal font. That way we could honestly say we were at church when asked. I guess it didn't occur to us that our teacher might call and say we hadn't been to Primary in quite some time.

That last sentence would be a great line in a closing prayer. I wonder if anyone would notice.

I always remember one really bad snowstorm overnight Saturday night that piled snow at least a foot or two deep on our roof.

Church was cancelled and everyone encouraged to help our neighbors shovel out. There were more spiritual feelings that day doing that than ANY church meeting offered.

Yes, I always looked forward to ANY reason NOT to have to go to church or prepare a lesson.

People attend church out of obligation and a "what will the neighbors think" mentality.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2016 10:54PM by gemini.

Orem? In the mid 1990s?

We remember that storm fondly. Best Sunday ever. Got to hang out with the neighbors.

It's kind of funny that as a Mormon, shoveling snow off the roof seemed more appealing that going to church.

Same thing with conference. 8 hours of church on TV, in the comfort of your own home was much better than dressing up in pantyhose and heels and sitting as a captive audience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2016 11:16PM by imaworkinonit.

Agreed, but spread out over two days instead of one, I would typically do 1 of 2 on the Saturday, then usually both on Sunday.

It still put a dent in my weekend - BIG time.

Although there was a time I believed those apostules were endowed, highly favored men of God.

Now that I know otherwise, the joke was on us. So much pretense, if they said sh*t, there'd be a chorus of "how much." Or jump, it was "how high."

Now listening the rare moments I have to one of their talks and the monotone voices they speak in, can't believe I gave any mind at all to their talks for as long as I did.

I think that snowstorm was in the late 80's as I remember it in Orem. I was still married when it hit and I was divorced in 1993.Whenever it was, it was kinda awesome....:)

Oh yeah that was a good one!!! The only problem is we ended up on the neighbors carport, who were total assholes, shoveling so their carport would not cave.

These are the neighbors that said I hit their daughter riding her bike in the road. She told them right in front of me it was someone else, but they still berated me and didn't believe her.

Plus when our bishop got released, we got a new one. This psycho man was sure he was to be the new bishop, and he didn't even get into the bishopric. He was so weird and crazy. They were mean people. I was so glad when they moved, and I know I would have left the church then if he had been made bihiope. That was the ward we were trying to adopt in, and we had two great bihsops. The best ever. They were real people and that was nice for once.

But that storm was awesome!! We stayed home from work on Monday, couldn't get the car out. It was fun.

Ihated going to church for the most part most of my life. I did the Wednesday primary and split sundays. we had to drive half hour each way, so it sucked. but I think that is when we went to evil grandparents in between so I could be abused. Good times!! TSCC always made things easier for those child molesters

If there's one thing I know with every fiber of my being, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's that I hated being in that building for three freaking hours every Sunday. Christmas being on a Sunday was the worst of the worst, even if we got to leave early.

I'm with you, CTR - Every time Christmas was on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel that Sunday ruined Christmas - because we had to interrupt our normal traditions to drive 30 minutes to the church house, go to church for an hour (boring) and then drive 30 minutes back home. And as a kid, all I wanted to do was play with my new toys and snack on delicious holiday food.

I felt guilty - because Christmas was supposed to be Jesus's day - but it always was about the other stuff. I could never wrap my mind about the holiday being about the baby in a manger.

But yes - any excuse to get out of church early was reason for celebration. I prayed for snowstorms every Saturday night during the winter. ;)

Holy hell I was pissed when I had to get ready for church after opening presents!

This will be my first year as an unbeliever where Christmas falls on Sunday. Yay! I'm staying home! I'm sure TBM family member will try to guilt me into it.

I used to take comfort in the fact that Jesus established the church and he and his disciples went three times to church on Sunday, for Priesthood meeting, Sunday School and then Sacrament Meeting, and the first Sunday was Fast & Testimony meeting. It felt good to be following in Jesus's's's footsteps. This I say in Jesus's's's name, amenhotep.

It's funny because I am now an atheist, but I love to celebrate Christmas. And, funnier still, because I really enjoy the 'smells and bells' of an episcopal (CofE) High Church Christmas Midnight Mass. I used to be a professional chorister in one, and the music of those services is one of the best things about them.

It's part of my celebration traditions, along with feasting, a train around the tree and of course presents. :)

I was raised in the Episcopal church, but now identify as Pagan. I still LOVE going to church on Christmas Eve. My father is a priest, and it means a lot to him that I go. It's pretty cool, he celebrates Winter Solstice with me, and then I go to church with him a couple days later. I find so much comfort in the lessons and carols, because they're familiar. It brings back memories of sitting in church with my sisters and best friend, whispering and giggling about Santa coming.

How many Mos can say they have such special memories...and mean it?

Jenna

most mormons not really liking having to attend weekly services is yet one more reason why the top boys cannot have the rank and file discussing their true feelings and genuine doubts with one another - even within family units. If they did allow the membership to converse as such, they would soon find out that hardly anyone has a strong testimony and most folks are faking it for the sake of saving face.

Church was a chore that even as a young child I disliked intensely. All my schoolmates got 2 days at the weekend to play; we spent saturday getting ready for sunday & monday and then spent most of sunday at church then home with no tv or radio or playing rowdy games, indoor or outdoor, allowed.

Saving face. That's it, isn't it?

On Sundays we nearly always watched television at night as a family. ABC Sunday night movie specials were one we enjoyed together. Popcorn, ice cream, and soda pop were often our treats for movie night.

Disney was probably my favorite.

As a child when the Sacrament (split) meeting was in the evening or late afternoons, and when it conflicted with a Disney special I was eagerly waiting to watch... I would occasionally feign being sick to my tummy so I could stay home while the family went to church without me.

Disney was much more important to me than going to church was, when there was a movie I didn't want to miss.

My parents were pretty good about letting me stay home. If, however, I'd said instead I was staying home to watch Disney, then they would've dragged my butt off with them to church. So the tummy ache did come in useful once in awhile.

Tried that for school only a couple of times. Church it was more frequent. The one day I wasn't ready for an exam at school, I feigned a fever. By the time mom came home from work that day, I decided that school the next day wasn't looking good either. So I put some of her blush on my face before she came home, danced up and down to make myself feverish. By the time she came home from work, she spirited me into the doctor's to see what was wrong with me.

Doc's examination informed her I was suffering from Scarlet Fever, and needed two weeks of quarantine from school and any outdoor activities. Well, it got me a vacation from school because the doc was either busting my chops or my mom's. But the two weeks of indoor confinement might as well been a jail sentence. By the time it was over, I was glad to go back to school again.

Mom, to her dying day, didn't believe I was faking it. I tried telling her as an adult what I'd done. She refused to accept that I was bluffing. Such are the vagaries of life.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2016 06:56AM by Amyjo.

"Keep your symptoms non-specific." (You don't want Mom dragging you to the doctor, do you??)

I think most members sit there waiting for the ordeal to end.

I remember counting tiles on the ceiling and imagining I was in the woods or by the sea, anything to make the time pass.

Yes, a Sunday staying home in a storm would be a delight compared to sitting in a mormon ward house.

We live a dozen or so blocks from the chapel. My wife and I walk to church. She goes to all three meetings; I hit the first, then it's "See you later alligator!"

Arguably my favorite part of the week is walking home alone after that meeting. I pass a bicycle shop, which is always busy on Sundays. I pass a soccer pitch where a spirited league game is usually taking place. Sometimes I drop into the bakery and pick up a still-warm baguette, or I pass by the vegetable stand and see what's fresh.

There's the lumberyard with a couple of guard dogs inside the fence sunning themselves; there's the volleyball court where a handful of taxi drivers have parked their cabs and are getting a little exercise; there's the young mom waiting for the bus, tending to her fussy baby.

Our house is up the hill, we live in the Andes, and that brisk half-hour walk back from church cleans out my lungs and gets my heart ticking. Still panting, I ditch the church clothes, switch to the ratty t-shirt, well-worn jeans, and sandals. Now the new week can begin!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2016 08:00PM by getbusylivin.

Sounds lovely!

I think the feeling among the members I know is that going to church is a chore that must be done every week. I never got the impression that getting the kids ready and rushing off to endure three hours of teaching or hearing lessons for the 100th time was really enjoyable. They would always say that socializing was the benefit, not the actual meetings.

Growing up in the 50's there was afternoon/evening church. Once a year, 'The Wizard of Oz' would be on TV. Dad and Mom loved it, so we got to skip church. The best day of every year!!!

Wasn't it still in black and white in the 50's? The first time I remember watching it was 1962 on our old black and white tv set we owned. I was terrified of the wicked witch of the West, even in black and white lol. Was also only 3 years old, which added to that specter.

I remember watching it yearly as a child. It has always been one of my favorites too. :))

The first part was black and white, then it exploded into color when Dorothy awoke in The Land of Oz.

Most televisions in the 1950s and early 60s were black and white. Only the very wealthy tended to have color tv's before they became commonplace. :))

"5. The Nation Was Color Blind - The movie famously changes to technicolor when Dorothy leaves Kansas and arrives in Oz. However, when the movie first aired on television, color televisions were so rare that most viewers saw it entirely in black and white, anyway. That was one of the things that made the early television airings so popular; there were so few color shows at the time that could take advantage of the relatively new color TVs.

6. Oz is Not in Black and White - The opening and ending to The Wizard of Oz were not originally filmed in black and white. They were filmed on Sepia Tone film, which gave it more of a brownish tint. However, from 1949, all the prints shown of Oz were in black and white. The movie wasn't restored to the original sepia tones until a 50th Anniversary special-edition videocassette was released in 1989."

http://www.thegeektwins.com/2010/08/10-crazy-but-true-facts-about-wizard-of.html#.V9s_mfkrJD8

Also, " Where the black and white turns to color those few frames on the film were hand painted to give the transition a smooth effect (where Dorothy is looking out of the house door). So to sum this up, The Wizard Of Oz was purposly filmed that way, and was never changed. Some people thought it was later "colored" in. Which it wasn't, even this day and age that is nearly impossible*."

http://www.wendyswizardofoz.com/FAQ00037.htm

Yeah, it was black and white. At least for me. We didn't have color TV. My favorite character was the scarecrow! I was 5 in 1960. I still sing all the song occasionally. By-the-way, I'm color blind. Really color blind. When Dad finally got a color TV, I told him it wasn't any different than the black and white. I learned to read early to tell the crayon color. Self defense. The kindergarden teacher and my parents thought I was retarded because I would color hair blue or whatever color suited my fancy. Good times. ;)

Today it isn't all that uncommon to see people with dyed blue hair.

You were ahead of your time! :))

I watched Wizard of Oz for the very first time on the BIG screen when I was 19, at the old downtown Palo Alto movie theater. That was magic, to see it the way it was originally intended - boy did that bring it home to me.

My favorite character was Dorothy. Then later I would read the Oz fairy tales, as a young adult. Loved them too. Frank Baum was the precursor to CS Lewis Narnia tales, and JR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. :)) (Lewis and Tolkien were contemporaries and colleagues of each other who patterned their fairy tales on the style of Baum's.)

The mention of Black and White TV and Color TV brought back a memory from my childhood. I grew up in small town of 300. A new family moved into town and were much better off financially than the rest of the burg's residents. The family was named Westover. Mr. Westover was reportedly a Pastor, but he did not have a church in our town. Perhaps that was cover for something else he did which may not have been in the heavenly realm.

There were 3 boys in the family. One of the boys was my age. He had two slightly older brothers. Mr. Westover was old school. He handed out discipline to the boys with a razor strap which was in frequent use since they were a handful, always in trouble

The Westovers, due to the financial status, were the first in our town to get a color tv. Some of you old enough will remember that there were some knobs to adjust the color on the early sets and it was difficult to get the color right.

Anyway Mr.& Mrs. Westover went away for the weekend and stupidly left the 3 psycho teenage boys at home. The boys on Saturday morning started watching the color tv and got into a big argument over the adjustment of the color. One of the boys
got really pissed off and went to get a doubled barrel 12 gauge shotgun from the old man's room. He came back to the living room and unleashed both barrels into the picture tube. Of course, when the old man returned, he handed out a major ass whipping to the three of them.

The rest of the town was laughing about how crazy the family was. The funny part is the Westovers moved and another family moved in which was light years more crazy. They provided much needed entertainment for town residents who suffered from a mostly boring existence.

Three hours is just too long, especially if your stuck in a ward with the dreaded 1-4 time block. They should cut it down to two hours.

The morg bigwigs would never do it. They need everyone there for all 3 hours. More if these a fireside, a relief society meeting fireside or stake priesthood meeting etc...

I love attending church. Beforehand I consume a couple of cups of coffee. Then a breakfast of ham and eggs. Then off to church where I can get my morning snooze after being put to sleep with the voice roll monotony of unskilled-untrained monosyllabic orators.

But that's OK because of the very speshul musical disaster by the choir.

When I was a child priesthood meeting was at 9:00 AM, Sunday school at 10:00 AM, and sacrament meeting at 7:30 PM.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2016 08:01PM by desertman.

When I was a Deacon, we had trouble stifling loud laughter watching Sister Haycock lead the music. The flap of flab under her upper arm would swing wildly out of control to the music. It would seem to almost wrap all the way around her arm at times.

Then in Sacrament Meeting, we again struggled to contain our glee when Sister Malpass would sing an inspirational solo number. She had a professionally trained, very powerful voice and would nearly explode the chandeliers and pierce our eardrums with her impressive output of raw decibels.

The other entertainment was watching leaders on the stand struggle to stay awake during the endless droning from the pulpit.

Of course, these were the HIGH POINTS of church attendance for me and my peers. All of us found creative ways to endure the torture. It was torture. Child abuse, IMO. And adult abuse as well. Just plain abuse.

I endured the torture by writing poetry. I would pretend to take notes when in reality, I was writing sonnets! ;-)

So that's what that was! ;o)

Split Meetings were a Disaster, especially for outlying members (who tscc really didn't/doesn't care about).

Inspiration FAIL, that's what it was.

It got to the point where my TBM in laws loved to complain to each other about how bad and how boring and how insufferable that church meetings were that they had attended. ( that in huge contrast to my TBM who did their best to pretend that something really good had happened at their stupid MORmON meetings) Complaining about church meetings became my In Law's way of asserting their high levels of devotion to MORmONISM. They were attending to support THE church regardless of how much that meetings suck. Not because the meetings were rewarding in their own right. The worse the meetings were that they had attended then the higher purported level of their devotion for attending in spite of all of the experienced unpleasantness. They got to the point where they freely and openly discussed on how agonizing their particular ward meetings had been. It was the expected self serving topic on regular Sunday afternoon family gatherings. It progressed to the point where it took on the complexion of a competition; Whose meeting sucked the most? The larger point remains: church meetings SUCK!!!

Reading your post, I got the image of TBMs sitting around the table eating on platefuls of excrement, with a contest to see whose plate of excrement tasted the very worst.

And not a single excrement eater slaps his forehead and exclaims, "This crap tastes like shit! Why don't we all just push away from this disgusting table and go find come actual food?"

I think my TBM sister secretly loves when one of her kids is sick so she has to stay home with them from church. Lol

As a teen I always ditched church and a few of us would go sit in someone's car so as not to get caught. There was always a 'hallway monitor' looking for us! Good times, good times.

My parents are baby boomers and they are so die-hard that they actually seem to love attending church and all the other meetings/busy work. It's their community and way of life. There's no hope for them of ever getting out.

One Sunday was a holiday and a friend and I drove by the an always packed Riverton chapel, but the parking lot was empty. He said, "They'd better not give them a day off. They'll never come back." True that.

Part of the problem was the dress code. Shirts must be ironed, all the kids' hair had to be fixed. By the time you got shoes and socks on the last child, plus diaper changed, the kid you started with was already a mess. Then put on horrible pantyhose - back in the day - and uncomfortable shoes. Make sure everyone eats before, and stuff a diaper bag and "busy book." Get your triple combination, and have your lesson prepared. The authorities told us to try to keep the little ones reverent during sacrament meeting. Talk about child abuse! By the end of the day I always had a headache from the overwhelming scent of cologne and hairspray. Mark Twain said NOTHING feels as good as getting out of church on Sunday!

I remember after the mission, I would start getting a knot in my stomach on Saturday afternoon.

I loved Sundays on the mission...it was still the split schedule and that meant no tracting because as soon as we got back to our apartment and had lunch, it was time to head back to the church. And of course Monday was P-day. So our "weekend" began Saturday, late afternoon.

Their behavior indicates they don't really want to be there. Hanging out in lobby/hall, taking kids in & out of sacrament, and playing on phone during service. Never see this stuff at my new church because the people want to be there.

tomie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Their behavior indicates they don't really want to
> be there. Hanging out in lobby/hall, taking kids
> in & out of sacrament, and playing on phone during
> service. Never see this stuff at my new church
> because the people want to be there.

You nailed it! The few times I've attended SM as an adult (due to supporting a family member for a blessing, etc.), I've respectfully listened to the speakers.....while my TBM family members sit there whispering to each other, texting each other, playing games on their phones, etc. It was appalling to me. But they made good on keeping up appearances for being there and that's what matters!