This is the collection of articles which were written about the Word of Wisdom to address the many issues, misinterpretations, and misunderstandings we have about this revelation head on. By confronting them I hope to help correct the foundational errors in our understanding of the Word of Wisdom, which in turn helps us to explain why some of the apparent hypocrisies and contradictions of it (like why we can have Red Bull but not coffee) are neither contradictions nor hypocritical. I try my best to explore and explain the purpose of the Word of Wisdom by looking at the text itself and what it tells us it is, not what we have said it is, and how it actually tells us to live, not how we say we should live. I address the historical enforcement of the Word of Wisdom, how alcohol mas been treated by the Church, the many errors we make on the issues of drinking coffee and tea as well as eating meat. Finally, I hope to help set us on a better path of following the Word of Wisdom in a spiritually healthy way that will build and strengthen our faith in Christ and the Restoration through a better understanding and living of this great latter-day revelation.
Tag: eat meat all year
How To Obey The Word of Wisdom: Meat & Vegetarianism
There is a lot of confusion over exactly what the Word of Wisdom asks in regard to eating meat. Some, argue that the Word of Wisdom essentially commands that we only eat meat when plants are scare, such as they were in winter in the early 19th century, or during times of famine and therefore we should not be eating meat regularly and should instead have an almost or completely plant-based vegetarian diet. Having studied the Word of Wisdom and the rest of the Doctrine and Covenants on this topic, I have concluded that those arguments are incorrect. In this article I will demonstrate that, while the Lord warns us not to waste animal life because He will hold us accountable for each one we take, there is nothing in the scriptures, once correctly understood, which tells us that we should only eat meat in times of winter or famine. Indeed, repeatedly in the scriptures the Lord announces that He is pleased when we eat meat and that He created animals to be used by humans as sources of food and clothing.