Word Of Wisdom - A Spiritual Commandment

[mathonihah]

I would like to look at the subject from a different angle. Let's assume that the WoW is still a recommendation, a bit of good advice from the Lord, and not a commandment. Why would anyone with good sense want to disobey a good advice coming from an omniscient well-wisher—and especially in the light of the great promises that are made conditional upon obeying it at the end of the revelation?

Another interesting question: should the requirement to observe the WoW be removed from temple recommend interview questions? If yes, would it be okay to admit people to the temple while under the influence of drugs or alcohol? If no, are we not then automatically creating a commandment, whether we like it or not?

A related question: is it okay for a bishop to come to Church on Sunday, sit on the stand to lead the congregation, while drunk? Would he be fit to interview people (for anything) while in that condition? And how can you avoid that situation from ever arising without making it mandatory and a commandment? How could you censure a bishop who acted in that way, and demand that he should not, without automatically making it a commandment?

We have an elderly brother in our ward who joined the Church from Catholicism quite a few years ago, and is active and likes to come to Church, so people give him lifts and bring him. In the Catholic Church it is OK to drink and go to Chirch, and that is the only catholic tradition he has decided keep since he joined our Church. I don't think he has ever been ordained to the priesthood because of this problem. (I don't know his full story, but I think he was inactive for a while before deciding to come back—drunk!) Anyways, he used to come to Church on Sundays drunk! He used to drink on Sunday mornings before he came to Church. He was alcoholic basically and he couldn't help himself. He used to make terrible gaffes in priesthood meeting and Sunday School because he was drunk all the time. Then several months ago he became quite ill and was hospitalised for a couple of weeks. (He is quite old and frail.) The doctors there told him that if he drank one more time again, it would be his last! Since then he has stopped. He hasn't been drinking since. Before he used to justify his actions when that subject was brought up in Church; but he doesn't any more.

How can the Church prevent that situation from arising more often without making it mandatory and a commandment to the whole Church?

P.S. Another way of looking at it is that there are different kinds of commandments. The commandments not to kill, steal, commit adultery etc. are not dependent on whether you are a Mormon or not. They are crimes whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist. I don't think that an atheist will be absolved from punishment for committing murder in the day of judgement because he was an atheist. He will still be responsible for his crime, and be punished for it. But the commandment to obey the word of wisdom is a commandment (if you like to call it that) that is applicable to LDS only. It is not exactly a commandment to you if you are not a Mormon. But in either case, whether it is viewed as a commandment or not, its observance comes with special promises attached; and failure to do so would forfeit the blessing. Should that be looked as as a commandment or just good advice? If the blessings cannot be obtained without observing the advice, then does not that make it a commandment if you want the blessings?

Compare with the following situation: To be exalted you need to be sealed in the temple. If you don't, you will still be saved, but not exalted. So is being sealed in the temple a commandment or just good advice? It is a commandment if you want to obtain exaltation, otherwise it is just good advice!

Edited December 26, 2012 by mathonihah

[Saints Alive]

There is a difference between the occasional drink and drunkeness, the bible forbids drunkeness. So yes it would still be a sin to show up to church or the temple drunk.

[Monster]

The word of Wisdom was made up by JS out of prevailing notions of the day. The term "hot drinks" clearly illustrates this. There is nothing new in it that was not common to the people of the day and before. To continue to apply some great spiritual effect to it is rather silly IMHO. It is just one of those things in the church that got blown out of proportion.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

There are thoughts that the Word of Wisdom is neither a commandment nor spiritual in nature.

The Jesus with the prophets and apostles teach us otherwise:

The Word of Wisdom is definitely a Commandment:

"September 9, 1851, President Brigham Young stated that the members of the Church had had sufficient time to be taught the import of this revelation and that henceforth it was to be considered a divine commandment. This was first put to vote before the female members of the congregation and then before the men and by unanimous vote accepted. President Joseph F. Smith at a conference meeting in October 1908, made the same statement, and this has been repeated from time to time." - Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, Vol 1. Chapter 48 page 196.

"Now, elders of Israel, if you have the right to chew tobacco, you have a privilege I have not; if you have a right to drink whisky, you have a right that I have not; if you have a right to transgress the Word of Wisdom, you have a right that I have not." -Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 12:30-31, April 7, 1867

"The Word of Wisdom is today a commandment of the Lord to us, first given to us "not by constraint or commandment," but of later years given to us by the Prophet Brigham Young and by the Prophet Joseph F. Smith as a commandment to this people." -Heber J. Grant, Improvement Era 19:833, June 9, 1916

"While the revelation came first as a “greeting; not by commandment or constraint” (D&C 89:2), when members of the Church had had time to be taught the import of the revelation, succeeding Presidents of the Church declared it to be a commandment. And it was accepted by the Church as such." - Boyd K Packer, The Word of Wisdom: The Principle and Promises, General Conference, April 1996.

"The Word of Wisdom is a commandment. In 1851 President Brigham Young gave to this Church the Word of Wisdom as a final and definite commandment. From the time it was given to the Prophet Joseph until 1851 it was considered as a matter of preference or suggestions to the people, a word of advice and counsel. From 1851 until this day it is a commandment to all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ. " - Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, chapter 8, page 201.

The Word of Wisdom is not merely Temporal but also Spiritual:

"The Word of Wisdom does not promise perfect health but that the spiritual receptors within you might be strengthened. " - Boyd K Packer, How to Survive in Enemy Territory, The New Era, April 2012.

"The Word of Wisdom is a spiritual law." - Russel M Nelson, Addiction or Freedom, General Conference, October 1988.

Verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; ... neither Adam, your father, whom I created.

Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual." - Jesus Christ, Doctrine and Covenants Section 29.

I view it as a covenant, akin the blood upon the door posts for Israel and not "just" a commandment.

[halconero]

The word of Wisdom was made up by JS out of prevailing notions of the day. The term "hot drinks" clearly illustrates this. There is nothing new in it that was not common to the people of the day and before. To continue to apply some great spiritual effect to it is rather silly IMHO. It is just one of those things in the church that got blown out of proportion.

Something developed out of "prevailing notions of the day" does not make something invalid as a spiritual commandment. That's like saying circumcision must not have a been a commandment unto the people of Israel just because a lot of Semitic peoples practiced it.

I can testify of spiritual blessing that I have received from obedience to the Word of Wisdom, of revelations I have received regarding it, and of miracles, subtle and quiet as well as grand and marvelous that have come from it.

Silly?

A pox on your silliness.

[zangrief]

So lets say it is a commandment, why is it that only obeying part of it is required to enter the temple?

If asked if I practiced ( I practice all the commandments) the word of wisdom in its entirety the answer would be nfamineo because i eat meat when its not cold nor a famine. When did following the WOW become only coffee, tea, tobacco, drugs, alcohol? There are many people who go to the temple that would

[zangrief]

Run and be weary, walk too far and proably faint

[zangrief]

Run and be weary, walk too far and proably faint

[Bikeemikey]

That's insufficient. I wasn't alive when the declaration was made. There is too little continuity in a conference talk, and usually not even sufficient authority (i.e. we know that there is an established method for accepting new revelation "by common consent"). It appears that common consent was achieved in relation to the Word of Wisdom in order to make its status as a commandment official. If so, this ought to have been canonized and the "clerical" part of section 89 redacted or updated. That's why we have scriptures. Why do we allow them to mislead us when we continually receive additional light and knowledge?

If a commandment is accepted by common consent by one generation does every subsequent generation need to also accept by common consent?

[pmccombs1]

If a commandment is accepted by common consent by one generation does every subsequent generation need to also accept by common consent?

By the act of baptism, and by the recurring renewal of the baptismal covenant through sacrament, the generations consent to the law of the Church as it stands. "Living into" one's baptism has been much on my mind lately.

So, what is the law of the Church? What is it, exactly, that we consent to? What really was that baptismal covenant all about?

Regarding the Word of Wisdom, the writing does not match the modern teaching. Left to oneself, it is difficult to live into a Mormon baptism based on the text alone. Apparently we need authorities and experts to clarify them for us.

For instance, what are hot drinks? D&C 89 says something about them, but It seems that the actual teaching here is more nuanced than the literal words. Apparently the Saints of that time understood "hot drinks" to mean only "coffee and tea." But not herbal tea or hot chocolate or microwaved apple juice. So, in this case it's important to our understanding of this doctrine to know what the Saints of the time understood by "hot drinks," and the authorities point to this particular obscurity when justifying the present law.

When it comes to section 119, on the other hand, we don't seem to care what the Saints of the time understood by the word, "interest." The Church unofficially re-interpreted that word to mean something else, and nobody even raised their hand to it.

Back to the Word of Wisdom: What about the phrase, "not by commandment?" Someone here dismissed it as a "clerical note." It's not part of the actual revelation, we are to understand; never mind that it seems to clarify just what the Lord intended to mean by Wisdom. This is now a Word of Command instead of one of Wisdom. People did raise their hands to that. Well, fine. How about we redact that part, then? No? It's part of a "standard work?" I see. What we actually have here is a de-facto closed canon, because it is now made immutable by the word "standard."

What we mean by "continuing revelation" is that sometimes words mean just what they say, sometimes they do not, sometimes they don't matter at all, and other times they mean exactly opposite what they say.

Did you know that "rest" and "work" mean the same thing? The equation is made thus: Since it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath, it is now imperative to do so. And one "does well" by serving the Lord, which specifically means attending church meetings and fulfilling callings, which is equivalent to "work" in the Lord's service, or building the kingdom of God. It's the New Math. As I recently learned from the Deseret News, "[Rest] is simply a different kind of work... to be in the rest of the Lord means to build the kingdom of God." Does it? Yes, Work = Rest. Who knew? That's what Mormons mean by honoring the Sabbath as a day of "rest."

This bewildering dharma comes down to us through tradition and culture, and through correlated conference talks printed in throw-away magazines. Just like they were in the earliest days of the Church, our scriptures are mere symbols for something else. In many cases it doesn't really matter what is actually written. In this case, scriptures are symbols of continuing revelation but, ironically, seem immune to it.

[Tacenda]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_living_movement

 

 

Jacksonian Era Clean Living Movement (1830–1860)[edit source | editbeta]

During the Jacksonian era and out of the second great awakening a crusade against "Demon rum" and other spirits ensued in states east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mason–Dixon line. This resulted in state wide prohibition of alcohol in this region beginning in the state of Maine in 1851. However, rampant smuggling across the Ohio River and down from Canada soon ended these state laws as they were unenforceable. Various ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities such as Irish immigrants and Roman Catholics were held up as moral examples during the period, thought to be responsible for both excessive drinking and the spread of diseases such as cholera.

During this era a focus on exercise, non-use of tobacco, and the elimination of coffee, tea, sugar, meat and spice from a diet, called "Grahamism," – named after reformer Sylvester Graham – was promoted. Eugenic or "hereditarian" concerns that masturbation would lead to insanity and that choosing sick or feeble spouses would lead to further degeneration was discussed. Out of this era Phrenology – the study of shapes and bumps on the head – used to select a healthy marriage partner was popular. New religions that promoted "pure" lifestyles such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventists emerged.

 

 

 

 

Did Joseph borrow from this for the WoW in the D & C?  The dates line up. 

[thesometimesaint]

Post Hoc ergo Proctor Hoc.

[Tacenda]

Post Hoc ergo Proctor Hoc.

Is that the short answer or the long one? 

 

TSS, JS restored the church and added some wisdom, I'm not freaked about this, not yet anyhow.