Comments on: Sunday School Lesson 22

By: Mark P.

Mark P. — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 05:01:44 +0000

This is a very good article on the Word of Wisdom. It includes a section summarizing the history of adoption of the WOW by the church: http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/conf/2000AshM.html

By: JKS

JKS — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:25:06 +0000

Wine is good for the heart but…..
One or two years ago the national news had a doctor on with his new study. A glass of wine a day was actually BAD for your brain. Good for your hearth, though, right doctor? Yes, good for the heart but bad for your brain. So, basically you have to choose your organ? Yes. And this doctor knows which organ he’d pick.
Anyway, I thought it was funny from an LDS viewpoint. His new evidence didn’t eliminate the old evidence that it is good for your heart, but it just added new information that just because its good for your heart doesn’t mean it is necessarily good for you.
I have not yet found anyone but me who saw that on the news.

By: On the Wagon

On the Wagon — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 01:32:45 +0000

If there are gains to be had from drinking, the losses outweight them enormously. It is too easy to go from a glass before bed to a bottle instead. I hear people bring up the wine thing as if it is a clever refutation of D&C 89 rather than a bit of controversial trivia which has no bearing on the debate, true or false. (You might as well say that Dr. Atkins has one-upped the Prophet!) It makes sense, when it comes to alcohol, to draw a very, very strict line, and jog and eat your veggies instead.

By: JWL

JWL — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 22:56:14 +0000

Scanning around the Internet, there seems to be a lot of studies contending that alcoholic beverages other than red wine are also good for you. I suspect a lot of this material is promoted by the beer and spirits industries (as well as the wine industry) — more “evils and designs” in the mode of the tobacco companies? However, let us assume that there is some health benefit to alcohol itself (as opposed to just the flavonoids in red grapes which make Welch’s as healthy as a red pinot). I am wondering if we can learn something about why the WoW is of spiritual value from our Jewish friends. For an observant Jew, keeping kosher is about exercising obedience to G-d even though the practical health benefits of the ancient dietary laws have largely been superceded by modern technology. Considering our observance of the WoW to be a spiritual disipline (Mormon kosher) as well as practical heath advice makes sense to me in light of the end of the Section 89, especially the last verse.

By: Costanza

Costanza — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 21:35:53 +0000

An excellent source that discusses the history of the Word of Wisdom from 1833 until 1930 is the chapter dealing with the Word of Wisdom in Tom Alexander’s MORMONISM IN TRANSITION: A HISTORY OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS, 1890-1830.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 24 May 2005 19:04:38 +0000

There are three articles appearing in Dialogue, volume 14, number 3, Autumn 1981 dealing with the WofW. One of them is historical medical, one deals with whether it was a commandment in 1851 or not, and one deals with the history of its adoption. Unfortunately, none of them indicate when it's observation was made a requirement for baptism. Scans of the magazine are available here

By: Jim F

Jim F — Tue, 24 May 2005 15:33:13 +0000

Kurt, I don’t know whether there is a First Presidency statement to that effect, but I’m quite sure it is one of the questions in the baptismal interview, as it is in the Temple Recommend interview.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Tue, 24 May 2005 11:49:08 +0000

With respect to the health benefits of red wine, they can all be obtained simply by drinking purple grape juice.

With respect to the use/misuse of the prohibited items, please note the reason the Lord gives the prohibition: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men. The consumption of these prohibited substances is actively and aggresively marketed by conspiring men for their personal profit. They are killing you for money, and they are happy and eager to do it. The Lord wants to protect us from it, just as we want to protect our children from people like that.

Somewhere there has to be something by the FP stating strict observation of the WofW prohibitions is required for baptism. Now, just to find it.

By: Lorin

Lorin — Tue, 24 May 2005 06:44:17 +0000

If one wants to know how people of JS’s day interpreted the WofW it is useful to compare the WofW with the suggested health practices outlined in the book “The Philosophy of Living or the Way to Enjoy Life and its Comforts” by Caleb Ticknor, published in 1836. D&C 89 pretty much was an affirmation of Ticknor’s recommendations, which must have been common knowledge years before Ticknor’s book. For example, on meats vs. vegitablesl, according to Ticknor, food was created by God so that mankind in all climates and all seasons would have the appropriate food. Animal food is proper and necessary in the polar regions. A vegitable diet is proper and necessary in the torrid zone. In our own climate, animal food is more appropriate in the winter, and vegetables are more appropriate in the summer. Even the type of animals and vegetables appropriately follow the seasons. In the depths of winter, the flesh of old or fully grown animals are most available, most stimulating, and most appropriate. As warm weather approaches, the more bland tender flesh of young animmals becomes available. And then there should be a transition to mostly vegetables as summer arives
There are other interesting discussions concerning alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco..

By: Craig Atkinson

Craig Atkinson — Tue, 24 May 2005 03:40:45 +0000

I’m glad that the leadership of the church has interpreted the Word of Wisdom the way it has. I’ve seen first hand what these substances can do to people, their lives, and families. I think it’s better never to start.