Lately, I have been thinking more often about the Word of Wisdom and common errors we Latter-day Saints make in our understanding of it. Too often I’ve heard people call it the “Lord’s Law of Health,” express distress that people can drink coffee but not soda, and suggest it is about not becoming addicted to stuff like caffeine or tobacco. While all of these have some kernel of truth to them, they are all fundamental misunderstandings of what the Word of Wisdom is and what its function in Latter-day Saint lives and society is supposed to be. And because we misunderstand the Word of Wisdom it often leads us to incorrect conclusions about how we should live it, mistakes which can even degrade our faith. Here I address these issues and seek to explain why thinking of the Word of Wisdom as a Law of Health is to misunderstand what it is, the blessings promised by it, and its role in Latter-day Saint lives and community. Once properly understood common misunderstandings of it, such as it forbids caffeine, and seeming contradictions, such as not drinking coffee because it is unhealthy but being fine with drinking energy drinks, are cleared up. Hopefully this helps Latter-day Saints better understand the Word of Wisdom, live it as God has commanded, and enjoy the blessing from doing so in their lives.
Category: LDS Church
How To Obey The Word of Wisdom: Alcoholic Drinks
The Word of Wisdom is a modern commandment that the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith designed to bless the physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of the Saints in the modern days. It is a topic which many members know about but the history of which very few seem to understand. As a result many members come to erroneous conclusions about its purpose, place, and enforcement in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This in turn leads them to false conclusions about how it should be interpreted and enforced today. One of the most common errors is the belief that beer and perhaps other weak alcoholic drinks were acceptable as “mild drinks” and were only forbidden in the early 20th century by LDS leaders who were supportive of American Prohibition. To find out the truth of this I will be evaluating the history of the Word of Wisdom in the 19th century as well as placing it in the larger context of common ideas of medicine and health common in the era. This will give us a great basis then to address and confirm or dispel some of the most common misconceptions surrounding the Word of Wisdom.
Why You Shouldn’t Vote
During the 2020 American Presidential Election I authored or shared three articles that explained why people in general, and Latter-day Saints specifically, should never vote, at least not in a statist political system where the victor will be able to use the violence of the government to force his ideas upon the masses. In these articles I address the unethical nature of voting, the effectivity of voting as a means to bring about real change in the world, and the ways that taking part in the system legitimizes and empowers it to do evil and immoral things in your name, encouraging and commanding people obey politicians violates the laws of God as a matter of the government’s standard operation procedure. This page acts as a place where I have collected those articles in one easily accessed source for future reference.
Rejoice That God Is With Us Now And Forever
It being Christmas I wanted to share something short but beautiful. My favorite Christmas hymn is Veni, Veni Emmanuel, or in English, O’ Come, O’ Come, Emmanuel. The song is both a prayer that accurately captures the hopes, if not the actual words, of those who looked forward to the Messiah’s first coming and those of us now who anticipate His Second Coming. But it also testifies to us that we need not wait for Christ to come again to experience the power and peace He promises to bring because God is with us even now in Presence, Person, and Spirit. He is our Emmanuel, our ever present God if we but open our eyes, minds, ears, and hearts to Him.
The Christian History of the Christmas Tree
It is something of a fad among the detractors and critics of Christianity to accuse modern Christians of being hypocrites on some topic because they denounce something as being against God’s commandments, but then celebrate Christmas with Christmas trees and just everyone knows that Christmas trees are pagan in origin. The logic behind this criticism is to suggest that Christians are irrational and do not apply all the parts of their faith equally, with the insinuation being that why Christians do not approved of something is rooted more in their hatred for something or someone than their actual beliefs.
But, is it true? Are Christmas Trees of pagan, non-Christian origins and are Christians participating in pagan rites, or the remnants of them, by erecting Christmas Trees in their homes? In this article, I will answer these questions from two major angles – by evaluating the logic (or lack thereof) behind the argument that doing something remotely similar to how X people may have done it to see if that argument is meaningful at all and seeing if the actual history of Christmas Trees backs up the claim that they are of pagan origin.
The True Meaning of Christmas
Christmas Day is a day replete with meanings. The birth of the child Jesus was also the birth of Christ the Savior and the Nativity cannot be separated from the Crucifixion or the Resurrection in its meaning and purpose. And because it is so connected to the Atonement it is also connected to all the hopes, dreams, and fears that lurk in the minds of men and which they act out in their lives for good and ill. The Nativity is therefore rich and deep in meaning for all people a sit holds the promise of all the light, joy, healing, and eternal exaltation that Christs promises to all the world, not only those who follow Him. It is the promise of life immortal to all and life eternal for all. And that is always worth celebrating.
Christians, Guns, and Killing in Self-Defense
In the United States guns are an inescapable part of everyday life. Depending on what state you live in you could be surrounded by people either carrying a gun secretly or openly. Even outside the USA it is a rare country that doesn’t glorify its military and soldiers as armed heroes of the nation who do the work of fighting and killing which all within the country’s borders. The entertainment of the world is awash with violent heroes whose solutions to the problems of the world is to kill anyone who stands in their way and not even ask questions about it later. They’re just assumed to be right. Everywhere we turn violence is idolized as the ideal and justified in endless ways. But are these ways of the world also the ways of Christ?
The short answer is no, they are not. A Christian should reject killing, even in self-defense, and should instead rely upon the power of God as the only true source of safety one can have in the world. Guns, bullets, and bombs will never keep you safe. They are merely idols whose worship demands human sacrifice – your life or theirs. Instead of of focusing on killing or getting vengeance upon his or her enemy the Christian should be working to forgive and redeem his or her enemy.
The Power of Giving Thanks
Originally I had planned to do a deep dive on the history of American Thanksgiving as a nationalist holiday that perpetuates the myths those in power want because those myth justify their positions of power and exercise of control over the populace. And maybe I will next year. This year though I have decided to do otherwise due to a request put out by the Prophet last week for the members to spend the next week expressing our gratitude to God for His blessings in our lives and to focus on building our relationship with God and Christ.
So instead of digging into Thanksgiving I decided to explore the three things the Prophet has asked us to do and to talk about how each of them individually and together can transform our lives and the world around us. Seemingly simple practices like giving thanks, regular prayer, and building a close relationship with Christ can not only change our lives but they can transform the world. Here I explore each of these in a little more depth to try and tease out some of the richness of these concepts, why they are important, what makes them so powerful, and how we can apply them into our lives to make ourselves better people and the world a better place.
God’s Will and Man’s Law
The following lost LDS Classic is an article I came across recently in my readings of older church writings. Though the author for the article is unknown, the editor of the Deseret News during this era was David O. Calder. What makes it interesting is the way in which it clearly lays out the limits on our obedience to the laws of man and the supremacy of God’s law. Further, it offers fuller, more correct interpretations of scriptures such as D&C 98: 4-6 which are often today used to justify our expected obedience to the State but which, properly understood, command that first and above all, we be loyal to God and His commandments no matter what the orders of the government may be. That man’s laws may make illegal that which God has commanded means nothing to the Saint who has dedicated his or her life to God. We are to obey God in all things, even if it means breaking the laws of men, even if it means suffering trial, hardship, suffering, and death for doing so. As the article points out, this is in fact the very test of life – to see if we follow God in all things no matter how all the powers of Earth and Hell may rage against us for doing so.
When We Should Break The Law
From our earliest days, when the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum suffered in Liberty Jail and died in Carthage Jail, to the Saints spending nearly 30 years resisting Federal anti-polygamy laws, practicing civil disobedience and being willing to go to prison in order to serve God, on down to the modern day we have examples of the lives of great Saints who have repeatedly broken the laws of the land in order to do what is right and to serve God. Latter-day Saint history is full of rebels and rogues, people who would rather be exiled from the nation, who would rather be killed, than disobey the Lord. So how is it that so many of us have become so milquetoast about standing up the government tyranny? Why is it that so many of us think that the Saints should “strictly obey the laws of the government in which they live,” even when such laws aren’t just wrong or immoral, but even when said laws actively compel us either to disobey God or punish us for obeying Him? While there are numerous reasons, one of the largest is because Latter-day Saints have misinterpreted the Twelfth Article of Faith, D&C 58:21, and D&C 134:5 as giving commandments to the Saints to obey the law and to comply even with evil laws. A close examination of these scriptures though, as I attempt here, show that such interpretations are, by the large, gross nonsense.