D&C 89-92: Come Follow Me with Sam - its WoW time!

 Welcome! we have the word of wisdom today! and other wonderful and wonderful things


Section 89

Section 89 can be broken down into 3+1 parts - the intro (+1) then the forbiddens, the recommendeds, and the promises

By way of commandment?

I saw a recent facebook poll asking if the WoW was considered as a commandment or not by the users. Shockingly, for me, the majority of those answering the poll did not see it as a strict commandment. To their credit, we only seem to be interested in the forbiddens as commandment, and disregard more or less the rest of the revelation. On the other hand, this was accepted as commandment by the church in the 1800's and is a temple worthiness question.

God says this is given for a principle with promise adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints who are or can be called saints. I think the above question is somewhat moot, because we should be striving to follow this whether commandment or not. We should be working to be better than the weakest of all saints.

In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men...

The history of the United States food and pharma industry is a decidedly wretched one. From the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and on Hawaii, to the drugs, tobacco, and cigarette lies in the 1900's, to the falsified studies on the benefits of sugar and the detriments of fat, to many deceptions circulating today, vs 4 spelled out hundreds of years of future history and abuse of what we take into our bodies.

The forbiddens

I taught on the mission based off the manual that the forbiddens are

  1. Tea
  2. Coffee
  3. Alcohol
  4. tobacco
  5. illegal drugs

Doubtless there are substances that the saints regularly take today that would also be added to this list if given at that time. But these are the items that come with a principle and a promise as mentioned in the introduction, so avoiding these is what we bind ourselves to.

I'm not going to get into a marijuana debate here :D but that is a great case study in nuances and discussion of this part of the commandment.

The recommendeds

I put 'recommendeds' with some hesitation as this is as much part of the revelation as the forbiddens. There is also some healthy debate on what this means today. why is everyone struggling with grain if it is the staff of life? why so little meat (honestly, hardly any member in the United States follows that part). what about barley and grain drinks?

Well, I'm going to skip the debates on those today too :D but there is your little peek into pandora's box

The promises

I read a witness account of someone who followed a regimen close to the word of wisdom with exactness. He said that he was filled with mental clarity and understanding. 

Remember that health is the least of the promises. The main purpose of the word of wisdom in my mind is, per vs 19, that your temple can become a vessel of revelation and light, guided by God to all knowledge that you can continue to fill the world with the light of truth spoken of in the last section.

Something to think about is that for the first hundred or so years after this, my understanding is that latter-day saints consistently came out as a healthier population than other populations. Now, it seems the difference is negligible. Are we still waiting to discover the meaning of the Word of Wisdom? Or possibly rediscover again?

Section 90

just one verse to point out here

5 And all they who receive the aoracles of God, let them beware how they hold them lest they are accounted as a light thing, and are brought under condemnation thereby, and stumble and fall when the storms descend, and the winds blow, and the brains descend, and beat upon their house.

Section 91


Section 92 

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