Central to the Church

Members of the LDS Church feel a certain pride stating that the temple is central to their worship or that it's the focus of their worship. The idea is that the temple is without a doubt what Mormonism is all about. It's the cream of the crop. The delicious white fruit from Lehi's dream. It's our end goal as mortal beings. 

White, delightsome and ready for baptism or whatever.

The funny thing is that it's nowhere near as central as your meeting house. Have you ever considered how odd it is that you're supposed to go to church every Sunday without fail in order to partake of the sacrament, but how you only have to get to the temple to take out your endowment once? Doesn't that suggest that the baptismal covenants are more greatly emphasized in deed if not in word?

This happens in front of all your LDS neighbors. Who knows 

who you'll recognize in the temple.

Consider the fact that Sunday worship is not at all casual. You have a specific day of the week designated for you by the Lord Jehovah himself and a precise time you must come and worship. Your attendance is recorded. They're literally counting you in sacrament meeting and you sign rolls in your other Sunday meetings. Sunday is not to be taken lightly at all. Don't mow your lawn. Don't confess to watching professional sports. You have to keep Sunday "holy".

 Because 3 hrs of this in one day isn't enough.

Contrast Sunday worship to days of temple worship. You can go whenever it's convenient during the temple's hours of operation (just check the schedule if you want to do an endowment session). You can choose your activity: baptisms and confirmations, washings and anointings, an endowment or sealings. You can go right after work if that's convenient, you can play sports afterward, you can go to the movies or play your favorite violent video game. There are no restrictions on your day whatsoever. The impression I get is that the temple is very much extracurricular for members.

"We're going to the mall for burgers and ice cream after this! Yay!"

You can argue that going to the temple is essential for salvation. That's what the Church tells us, anyway. But if it is, you only have to go one for yourself. That will fill your quota. Not so with baptism. After you're baptized you have to take the sacrament every week and make the same covenant with God over and over.

What do you think? Both are said to be essential but which is more central, baptism and the sacrament or temple worship? Doubters like me can rarely tell.

It's about time

How many Mormons have added up all the hours they dedicate to meeting the demands of righteous membership?

Monday:  15-30+ min personal scripture study
                15-30+ min family scripture study
                1-2 hrs family home evening preparation
                 20 min-2 hrs. family home evening
                 5 min family prayer
Tuesday:  15-30+ min personal scripture study             
                 15-30+ min family scripture study
                 5 min family prayer
Wednesday: 15-30+ min personal scripture study             
                 15-30+ min family scripture study
                 1-2 hrs + travel time for Mutual or Institute
                 1-2+ hrs lesson/activity preparation for Mutual and Institute instructors
                 5 min family prayer
Thursday: 15-30+ min personal scripture study             
                 15-30+ min family scripture study
                 5 min family prayer
Friday:     15-30+ min personal scripture study             
                 15-30+ min family scripture study
                 1.5 hrs + travel time for weekly temple attendance
                  5 min family prayer
Saturday:  1-4+ hrs talk and lesson preparation
Sunday:    3 hrs for church services + travel time
                 1 hr for leadership meetings + dead time between meetings
                 30 min choir practice
                 15+ min to set chairs up or put them away
                 15-30+ min personal scripture study             
                 15-30+ min family scripture study
                  5 min family prayer
 

      
I'm not entirely sure how to tally that all up. Not every member will have these exact duties and a good many will have more than these, especially in smaller congregations. A low-ball estimate puts us somewhere around 14.5 hrs/week dedicated to doing the things the Church wants you to do, the higher estimate puts us somewhere around 25+ hrs/week. That's essentially a part time job.

But, of course, there are even more duties that we have to add on.

Monthly: 2-3 hrs + travel time  to fill home teaching duties for 2-3 families
                2-3 hrs + travel time to fill visiting teaching duties for 2-3 women
                1 hr for any deacons in the family to collect fast offerings
                1-2 hrs + travel time to attend a fireside
                2+ hrs for Relief Society activities + 1-3+ hrs of food/activity preparation + travel time
Other:      1 hr. + travel time for high schoolers to attend Seminary
                1-2+ hrs preparation time for unpaid early morning seminary teachers
                20-24 hrs. to listen to all of the semiannual General Conference sessions
                ?? hrs helping your neighbors (yard work, baby sitting, comforting, socializing, etc.)
                ?? hrs collecting and maintaining food storage
                ?? hrs assisting in humanitarian aid following natural disasters
                1.5-2 years to serve a one-time proselytizing mission
                1.5 years each to serve as many service missions as desired when your kids are grown

Mormons are also instructed to be active in the communities and to get involved in local politics. And let's not forget that when you do have time to relax and seek out personal interests and entertainment it's always a good idea to engage in activities that bring the Spirit, like listening to hymns and Church-related music, reading faith promoting books, and watching wholesome Mormon movies.

Steven Hassan had a few ideas about groups that require "major time commitment... for indoctrination sessions and group rituals" and try to "keep members so busy they don't have time to think," and he included those ideas in his work on cults. But Mormonism isn't a cult! It's just a regular old Restoration-style church founded on the True Christ and the True Gospel and it only makes sense that anyone fully dedicated to loving God and neighbor would subscribe heart and soul to everything Christ has asked us to do through his church!

Jesus says: "Stop working to feed your families, dammit! This is MY work and MY glory, you ungrateful fucks!"

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are on the Lord's time here. He paid our ransom and the least we can do is dedicate our lives to his work and our salvation, right?

Surviving church

I couldn't help but question my participation in the Church when it became painfully obvious that I couldn't enjoy church meetings. Every talk, every lesson, every hymn, every nod to authority, every Sunday smile made me hurt inside. I wondered constantly what I was doing in church. I wondered what any of us were doing in church. Nobody really enjoyed being there. There must be a reason half the congregation shows up late even though the meeting house is all of two minutes away from home.

Not enjoying church meetings is a common problem in Mormonism that is frequently addressed (for example, the January 2013 New Era featured an article about how to never have a boring church class ever again and by November of the same year they're soliciting readers for more info on the same topic for an upcoming issue - not being bored at church). The problem, according to Church leaders and publications, is that we the members are not preparing ourselves properly. We're not seeking the Spirit the way we should. It's our fault church sucks, not the lesson manuals, not the repetitiveness, and certainly not the banality of what's taught or the blatant dismissal of numerous facts.

I agree that members half-ass the vast majority of their talks and improvise most of their lessons, but couldn't that be indicative of how uninteresting the material is? Sit down and write a little something about following the prophet and see how compelling it is. Isn't there at least a chance that church is boring because of what we're told to talk about?

Whatever the case my be, I accepted that it was principally my fault I wasn't cuckoo for church and kept rededicating myself to a better attitude and a more open heart. That is until I just couldn't anymore. How many times do you have to eat shit sandwiches before you realize it's not the Thanksgiving feast you were told it would be?