Word of Wisdom, Word of Foolishness: Part I

Doctrine and Covenants 89 is the Joseph Smith revelation that defines the law of health that the LDS Church is probably most famous for. One of the problems of investigators of this church is the fact that they have to give up things like coffee and beer.

Joseph Smith says he got this revelation when he was meeting with the brethren and they were using tobacco and other things in the meetings. The result was a dirty room with tobacco spit all over it. No one really wanted to clean it up.

Joseph Smith quickly turned it around by giving the contents of Doctrine and Covenants 89. It is a very interesting document because it seems to contain good ideas, and it seems to me to be completely made up as well.

Let me start with verse one. This Word of Wisdom is given for the benefit of the high priests, the church, and the saints in Zion.

Verses two and three I will quote directly: "To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days--

"Given for a principle with a promise, adapted to the capcity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints."

Joseph Smith is greeting the Church. He is not commanding or constraining. But this is revelation and words of wisdom. It shows what God meant to be the temporal (or physical) salvation of all saints in the days before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

It is adapted to the capacity of the weak and weakest of all those who can be called saints.

Basically, Smith is saying that those who do not follow the restrictions and instructions in this revelation will not be called saints at all. They are not holy or chosen or very good. They are doing things indicative of people without spiritual power. They may be evil people.

This does not make sense to me. I actually do not believe that people who drink coffee are evil. I do not believe a New Year's toast is the act of an evil person.

I also think that some very weak people actually are weak enough that they can't quit their addictions, be they gambling or alcohol or anything else. They try but they don't have all the steps to their personal addiction problem. Calling people unholy or evil because they can't deal with their problems which happen to be too great is excessively harsh and judgmental.

And even trickier is the idea that this is a friendly greeting to the Church. And that it is not given by commandment or constraint. Why would you say that if you just called all people who do not follow this unholy? Isn't the judgmental nature of such language indicative of a strong commandment or constraint? Isn't the will of God something stronger than a friendly greeting or suggestion?

Well, here we go with the next verse. It seems that Smith believed, in verse four, that their are conspiring men in the last days with evils and designs in their hearts. It does seem that verse four has a legitimate ring. Advertising for alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and coffee can be found that lure in people too young to have these substances. And persons who are vulnerable because of immaturity or lack of critical thinking may decide that they indeed do want a Lucky cigarette. This is the part that drew me in as a young person. But was verse four actual revelation? It may be that it described something accurate in Smith's day. I do not know for sure on this one at all.

Verse five says that it is not good in the sight of "your Father" to partake of wine or strong drink. Basically Smith does not feel that God the Father would approve of persons partaking of strong drinks. What are strong drinks according to LDS people? They are alcoholic beverages.

It also states that strong drink is only appropriate for offering up your sacraments before God.

Verse six says that it should be "pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make." Basically, you can make wine to serve during the passing of the sacrament in a church meeting.

This passage is actually outdated. LDS persons in the twenty-first century only partake of water in sacrament meetings, not wine. And any touch of an alcoholic beverage to the lips is considered a sin that you can be disciplined for. Basically no one so much as has one sip of a weaker alcoholic beverage like wine or beer.

Verse seven states that strong drinks are not for the belly but for the washing of your body.

Verse eight states that tobacco is not for the body or for the belly, but it is an herb bruises and an herb for sick cattle. It should be "used with judgment and skill."

Verse nine introduces hot drinks. Smith says they are not for the body or the belly. According to Brigham Young hot drinks are coffee and tea.

I think that verse nine is weak since Smith himself right in his own revelation does not say what hot drinks are. It is so unclear that Brigham Young himself had to teach his parishioners that coffee and tea were what was meant. No true revelation from God would be so vague that people in the same century could not figure out what it meant.

I also object to the use of the term "hot drinks". It seems that Bruce R. McKonkie in Mormon Doctrine thought that this meant that anything too hot or too cold was bad for the stomach. I disagree with this idea to the fullest extent. I also think that it is no sin to drink certain types of teas, as long as you are careful of the ingredients in them. Perhaps plain old black tea and the teas of certain extremely powerful plants are to be avoided. Also, these days, tea that is sold as tea but secretly contains drugs is something I have run across. It also seems to be that addiction to coffee could backfire as well. But I see no reason that someone needing a stimulant in a bad situation should not drink it.

I am going to end this discussion of the Word of Wisdom right here. It is long and contains many implications. I will continue later in Part II.