The dietary guidelines were not intended to be a strictly enforced rule among Latter-day Saints. However, today's Latter-day Saints tend to treat a teenager who grabs a coffee on the way to school as a disciple of Jesus who has violated a central tenet of Jesus' Gospel. LDS Parental paranoia stems from the Church's decision to make strict adherence to some tenets of the Word of Wisdom a requisite for baptism and temple ordinances. In the minds of Mormon parents, separation from gospel ordinances means separation from God.
What's more, making some tenets of the Word of Wisdom part of the gateway to gospel ordinances has had the effect of Mormons perceiving non-Mormons as committing a moral sin for consuming tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana; consuming these substances makes them inherently more less good of a person than a person who abstains from them.
Jesus had one barometer for judging whether a person is keeping the law of God:
"Love
one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John
13:34)
Paul
doubled down on Jesus' standard of righteousness saying:
"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2).
In other words, you can strictly abstain from all the foods you want, or voraciously consumer all the foods you want, but if you cannot love others the way Jesus loves you, then you are nothing.
Requiring strict adherence to the Word of Wisdom has made this a focal point of Latter-day Saint efforts to live up to Church Standards, which diverts energy away from more fruitful development such as learning to empathize with people who are different than you.
In other words, you can strictly abstain from all the foods you want, or voraciously consumer all the foods you want, but if you cannot love others the way Jesus loves you, then you are nothing.
Requiring strict adherence to the Word of Wisdom has made this a focal point of Latter-day Saint efforts to live up to Church Standards, which diverts energy away from more fruitful development such as learning to empathize with people who are different than you.
I think we can start reducing focus on this practice by highlighting how Joseph Smith lived the Word of Wisdom, and by understanding some of the economic motives underlying its institutionalization as a requirement for "worthiness".
Joseph Smith's Approach
A historical analysis of how Joseph Smith lived the Word of Wisdom suggests that the Prophet's approach was in line with the revelation's opening versus: Moderation.
It is a well recorded historical fact by BYU historians that Joseph Smith had tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcohol (Peterson, 1972). John Taylor recorded that they all drank wine in Carthage Jail shortly before the Prophet's death:
"Our spirits were generally dull and heavy, and it was sent for to revive us...I believe we all drank of the wine, and gave some to one or two of the guards. We all of us felt unusually dull and languid, with a remarkable depression of spirits" (Smith, History of the Church, VII, 101).
Joseph recorded another even where he was made aware that some of the brethren were drinking. He said of the event:
"It was reported to me that some of the brethren had been drinking whiskey that day in violation of the Word of Wisdom. I called the brethren in and investigated the case, and was satisfied that no evil had been done, and gave them a couple of dollars, with directions to replenish the bottle to stimulate them in the fatigues of their sleepless journey" (The Millennial Star, 1843, XXI, 283).
Joseph did not shame them for drinking, and he even gave them money to buy more. Joseph's focus was on if there was any real evil being done. For Joseph, drinking alcohol was not in and of itself morally wrong.
I think the most poignant illustration of Joseph's approach to the Word of Wisdom was that he drank while in Liberty Jail. Joseph Smith and other prisoners drank liquor and whiskey in Liberty Jail in token of friendship (Jensen, Historical Record, Salt Lake City, VII, 456; Burnett, Recollections and Opinions of an old Pioneer, pp.65-66).
I find it interesting that section 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants were penned during those moments. In 2008, Elder Holland called Liberty Jail a temple for Joseph and his cohort. Elder Holland said the following of the revelations that Joseph wrote while in jail drinking liquor and whiskey:
"How empty our lives as Latter-day Saints would be if we did not have sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants! They are contained in a mere six pages of text, but those six pages touch our hearts with their beauty and power...[God] certainly turned adversity into blessing in giving us those sacred writings and reflections- so pure, noble, and Christian in both tone and content" (Holland, 2008, Lessons from Liberty Jail)
The sections Joseph wrote during a period where he was frequently intoxicated were hailed by a living Church Apostle as some of the most touching, beautiful, and powerful revelations from God that Joseph penned!
Empirical data supports that claim that these sections of Doctrine and Covenants are revered most by general authorities. Analyzing how many times each of the 138 sections is referenced by a general authority in any talk or book since the Church was founded up until the present time reveals that a section is referenced 201 times on average. Averages are not the best measures of centrality because they are especially sensitive to the extreme values in the data set. If you look at the median number of citations, the number drops to 98 citations, and if you look at the mode number of citations, the number is 7 times. Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants is cited 828 times! That is more citations than 98% of the sections in Doctrine and Covenants.
I think it is telling that we Mormons prefer Joseph's drunk revelations to his sober ones.
A conservative conclusion is that consuming tea, coffee, alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco have nothing to do with how good a person we are, and it appears to have no effect on our ability to connect with God and receive beautiful revelation that is "so pure, noble, and Christian in both tone and content".
My lived experience supports that conclusion. Some of the most wise and spiritual people I have met, as I travel the world, consume tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and yes, even marijuana.
The Word of Wisdom was not intended to be a commandment because the revelation was not discussing issues related to moral or ethical sin. The Word of Wisdom was intended to highlight that what was eat influences our health and how we feel. It was a caution to eat all things "with prudence and thanksgiving", which is the way Joseph lived it.
So why did strict adherence to some parts of the Word of Wisdom become required to receive gospel ordinances?
"It's the economy stupid!"
That phrase from Bill Clinton's campaign strategist sums up one of the major factors that drove the decision to make some parts of the Word of Wisdom required to receive gospel ordinances.
According to BYU historians, by 1860 there wasn't any progress made toward requiring strict adherence to parts of the Word of Wisdom. Brigham Young, for example, referred to apostles chewing tobacco saying: "Many of the brethren chew tobacco, and I have advised them to be modest about it" (Brigham Young, Sermon of March 10, JD, VIII, 361).
However, strict enforcement began to increase on certain items within the Word of Wisdom out of the Church's interest in building an independent domestic economy in the Utah Territory. In Leonard Arrington's 1959 article "An Economic Interpretation of the Word of Wisdom", he explained:
"Separated as they were from the United States by over 1500 miles of treeless plains...it was necessary for the Latter-day Saints to develop and maintain a self-sufficient economy in their Rock Mountain retreat...every program of the Church tended toward that end. Economic independence meant developing all the agricultural, mineral, and industrial resources of the community under proper leadership for the purchase of machinery and equipment needed in building a prosperous commonwealth. There must be no waste of liquid assets on imported consumer's goods...Saints who used their cash to purchase imported Bull Burham, Battle-Axe plugs, tea, coffee, and similar 'wasteful' products were taking an action which was opposed to the economic interest of the territory. In view of this situation, President Young came to be unalterably opposed to the expenditure of money by the Saints on imported tea, coffee, and tobacco."
If you have ever wondered why the Church does not require strict adherence to ALL of the Word of Wisdom, but only a few select parts, and if you have ever wondered why "hot drinks" was interpreted as tea and coffee, the answer is: the economic interests of the Utah Territory's governing bodies in the late 1800s.
The economic problem was that Latter-day Saints spent too much of their cash on imported items, and leaders could halt money being spent on imported items by putting "religious tariffs" on them. Which is why no one cares about eating meat sparingly, even though it would really help our natural environment (Milman, 2018, "Eating less meat is the best thing you can do for the earth", The Guardian).
The process of institutionalization happened in the case of the Word of Wisdom as it does in most cases of institutionalization in society: A policy is put in place with economic utility, and then overtime, that policy becomes imbued with value beyond its economic utility. When the factors making the policy economically useful disappear, the policy remains for no rational reason other than tradition.
So today, Latter-day Saints around the world spend much of their personal discipleship focusing in abstaining from Starbucks, and weeping for those that do drink it. When instead, they could be focusing on important aspects of modeling a life after Jesus: loving others as much as you love yourself, and standing up to religious and political leaders who abuse marginalized groups.
"The sabbath was made for man"
I love that declaration from Jesus. What he is highlighting is that we need to make sure that the institutions of our social group are organized in a way that helps us. We should not be in the service of the institution, the institution should be in the service of us.
So, leave interpretation of hot drinks to the individual, and if you encourage anything, encourage more Mormons to pay attention to the "eat meat sparingly" part!
What's more, stop making abstinence from hot drinks, tobacco and alcohol requirements for gospel ordinances. Instead encourage people to stay up to date on the diet recommendations of health experts.
We should require that people follow the law. In cases where a substance is illegal, then we should actively discourage Mormons from consuming those substances. However, if marijuana is legal in your state for recreational use, then it is none of your business if a fellow Mormon consumes it.
In other words, take off your 21st century Pharisee, and spend more time putting on Christ.
Comments
Post a Comment