- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I know this is a late comment to this thread but I wanted to add a thought. I think many who come here are struggling with the idea of strict obedience to something (the WofW) they likely lost their testimony of or are at least questioning. One of the things that have been very helpful for me at StayLDS is reading different interpretations of WHY doing something or having faith in something can be personally beneficial in ways other than simply being obedient. Regarding the WofW, I now look at it as God’s suggestion that we be as healthy as we possibly can – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Do some things detailed in the WofW seem to have nothing to do with that? YES! Do I think JS likely copied at least partially from the Temperance Society documents of the day? PROBABLY! Are there some things that could be added that would be much more relevant to today (prescription abuse, obesity, exercise, etc.)? YES! But for me it is important to keep our eye on WHY or HOW the WofW or at least the spirit of it can benefit us. I can focus on being as healthy as possible and may find some aspects of the WofW helpful in that pursuit. But I CANNOT obey the WofW just because I am told to.
So possible wording may be along the line of –
“It may be helpful to find ways that the spirit of the Word of Wisdom can benefit you and your family. How can you become more healthy? Some specific aspects of the Word of Wisdom may be beneficial to you in becoming a more healthy individual. Some other things like regular exercise and weight control may also be necessary to helping you better live the spirit of overall improved health.”
Idaho Coug wrote:But for me it is important to keep our eye on WHY or HOW the WofW or at least the spirit of it can benefit us. I can focus on being as healthy as possible and may find some aspects of the WofW helpful in that pursuit.
Well said, I.C.!
At the risk of sounding TBMish (and I don’t like using that expression either!), I can vouch for the health benefits of the WoW. I have been living it for several months now and several recurrent problems have disappeared… Although as someone said, it should probably include prohibitions on overconsumption of processed sugar/foods and all kinds of other things. MSG anyone?
SamBee wrote:I can vouch for the health benefits of the WoW.
SamBee,Do you mind sharing if there is a particular part of the commandment you can testify of?
It seems that perhaps something Brian could also include is this very point…often people refer to the WoW when talking about a part of it (alcohol, tobacco), while ignoring another part (eating meat sparingly, etc).
My point is, since we seem comfortable as a congregation doing this, focusing on certain aspects of it…it emphasizes the point that we
ALLdo the “cafeteria mormon” thing. So the more we get comfortable with that, the easier it is to let go of angst and just embrace the good (like SamBee stated), while letting go of the less important. Cafeteria-style is not BAD or Undevoted…it is human nature to work within your limits of what you can realistically do. So let go of guilt for the rest.
Quote:Do you mind sharing if there is a particular part of the commandment you can testify of?
I can’t say anything about tobacco, because I think that’s bad anyway… and I will issue a couple of disclaimers at the bottom:
* I hardly ever have insomnia and never have headaches now.
* I experience less anxiety and depression. (Drinking and possibly coffee seemed to be involved in these beforehand. I could time to the hour when a bout of depression would hit me after a night out, even without a hangover. Usually around 15 hours later)
* I have less digestive problems (believe me heavy drinking is one way to destroy your gut!)
* I have lost weight, so I’m nearer a healthy weight. I also don’t have a beer gut anymore. I like beer, even now (!), but never liked looking as if I was pregnant. Also I think I was in danger of needing a “training bra” in a year or two. Not anymore.
* After drinking too much strong coffee and tea, I would occasionally get blips of the heart at night, and flashes of light (a precursor of epilepsy I’m told). I don’t get this at all now.
* I actually have more money now, because good coffee is expensive here, and alcohol is going through the roof. As for cigarettes, you don’t want to even know! So the money I’m actually saving by living the WoW balances out my tithing – weird huh?
There is something else, of a more personal nature, which has sorted itself out as well.
Now the disclaimers –
1) I was cutting down these things beforehand, and had in fact been told by my doctor to cut my tea and coffee a year or two before I rejoined the church. Which I did.
2) If I experience depression it is also affected by the season, the weather, how much exercise I’ve been doing, but I certainly do have much less now.
That to me SamBee is a true, personally acquired, testimony of the highest value. Through trial and error, through heading advice and testing, through listening to your body and soul, you have found “truth.” It is a personal truth for you. “Personal” does not devalue it all, even if others find different physical and spiritual truth in their practice of the WofW. What you are doing works for you. What greater proof is there? Thanks Brian. I won’t say my health is perfect, far from it, but I have seen an improvement in it, just as I have also lost weight by walking more. I won’t deny that there are areas of my diet I could improve – could do with more fruit and veg, less processed stuff and sugar, but that’s something I’m working on too. For what it’s worth, I steer clear of taurine now, because of what my body’s told me.
I also won’t deny that I do occasionally crave things. Just today, I found myself wanting a beer, for example. But that’s to be expected. I suppose I’ve even had “cravings” for things I’ve never experienced – occasionally in my life, I have wondered what this illegal drug or another is like, for example.
What I will point out though is that people have varying tolerances to things. If you have Inuit ancestry, you can apparently tolerate a lot of fat in your diet. East Asian or Native American people apparently have low tolerance for alcohol… but that also depends on body mass. Smaller people get drunk quicker – usually. There are some people who also have a gene which makes them impervious to coffee.
Sam – I think that is all fine and dandy, and I have no problem with your testimony and your method of finding it. I’m glad the WofW works for you and I believe following the WofW has been a good thing for you. It hasn’t worked that way for me. I think the danger is that SOME members believe they have a testimony of the WofW and then they try to force their beliefs on the general membership. (Point in case, Heber J Grant – 1922 during prohibition – expressed his personal opinion about the “forbidden four” and decided to make adherence to those four things a commandment from god in order to be “temple worthy.” It’s not about the “revelation” given to JS – otherwise, obese folks and anyone who is not a vegetarian, and anyone who doesn’t follow a strict workout program would be denied a TR. IMO, it was a personal opinion from a guy who disliked the idea of alcohol, tea, coffee and tobacco. And since he was “in charge” of the church, he felt he had the right to make that decision for EVERYONE in the church.) I do have a problem with the church culture as it views the WofW. In my opinion, it is nonsense, and yes, it bothers me that our culture is “forcing” it’s members to obey these strict “dietary rules” because, they claim, it is a health code. IT IS NOT A HEALTH CODE – at least not as it is practiced and taught to today. It is a test of obedience – IMO. The only part of the WofW that is a health code, IMO, as it is taught today, is the part that states, “all things in moderation.” That is what the health code is – and that is the way it was written and originally intended to be practiced. Apply it to anything and everything and one would find their health improving. Beer, tea, wine ARE healthy if used sparingly and with moderation. It’s all about moderation. Beer was allowed in the original text. (D&C 89:17…and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.) WATER! Why is water not banned? WATER can kill if drank in excess. I read a study where if you feed a rat 312 oranges a day for an entire year, they will DIE of some kind of toxicity.
😯 Really? well no…. Okay, I gotta go. I’m starting to get worked up.
Cwald, I think you have read enough of my posts to know that I don’t approach this in the usual manner. As you know, my testimony (if I can call it that) is based on the fact that I used to partake of these things, and now I don’t. Well, maybe not cigarettes much. I’m not coming from the point of never having taken them, because otherwise I couldn’t say what I just did. If that makes sense. The annoying thing is that I enjoy some of them. I think tobacco is a definite no-no for everyone because of its terrible effects on health. But probably not sinful. If people should be forced to give up anything it’s this one, but not for behavioral reasons. Pipe tobacco though has a great smell, and I used to love it when I visited old people in my youth… Cigarettes are the opposite of course.
Alcohol has to be treated as a potential road to sin. In small quantities, it’s okay, but in large ones… boy oh boy! Not everyone knows their limits, unfortunately, and it’s easy to slip into drunkenness. Unfortunately, there are certain individuals (and I’m not one of them) who can’t have any alcohol at all, because they’ll slip into addiction.
As for tea and coffee, I don’t see these as being “sinful”. However, I have come to realize that they are much more unhealthy than I’d previously considered, even in fairly small quantities. I am in two minds over the question of green tea just now though. Haven’t been drinking it, but wonder if its benefits outweigh its negative effects.
I think as a health code, it’s an accidental one, but to be fair to the church it does occasionally pay lip service to other forms of healthy living, although not enough. I think with tea and coffee, the idea of moderation is a difficult one for me. Even one or two cups seemed to be giving me certain problems, which is about as little as you can have.
Probably best taken with the disclaimer “in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle”. Drinking diet whatever won’t make you think (and the aspartame is probably poisoning you anyway!!!) but if you drink it, and make other changes, you’ll lose the weight. Same thing here, IMHO.
Quote:WATER! Why is water not banned? WATER can kill if drank in excess.
Just like oxygen. But unfortunately, we can’t live without it…
SamBee wrote:Cwald, I think you have read enough of my posts to know that I don’t approach this in the usual manner.
Yep, I know.
PS – what does “cheeky” mean?
Quote:PS – what does “cheeky” mean?
Daisy Duke shorts come to mind – but I doubt that’s what Sam meant.
😳 I have mixed but very strong feelings about the WofW. On the positive side, I am so grateful for its help to avoid the evils of alcoholism and lung cancer. I personally am very opposed to anything that is addictive, for those things typically urge you to use ever more. But the more you take, the more you want. It’s a vicious cycle with devastating consequences to body and soul. (BTW, studies have shown great similarities in the brain between alcohol & tobacco addiction, and other addictions like anger, gambling, and sexual addictions.) Also, studies of German POW showed how cigarettes took on the role of money among prisoners. And if a prisoner voluntarily gave up smoking there was no problem, but there were repeated instances of where a smoker was denied cigarettes where he would kill in an effort to get them! The addiction is scary. And illegal drugs go beyond that.
When I went inactive I did experiment with small amounts of alcohol, almost always in social settings. But I never drank enough to get drunk. I also learned about addictive personalities (that one drink can addict some people) Fortunately I was not one of them. The most I ever drunk was after I had returned to Church activity, as I used it for a sleeping aid for a while. I don’t use it for that purpose now but don’t have any compunction for other medicinal purposes. I now feel more comfortable not drinking socially even when I’m with non-members who don’t know about my religion. It’s not a big deal.
I’ve never been into black tea and coffee. But I can get pretty verbal if some TBM tries to tell me caffeinated soft drinks are forbidden. I drink them regularly and don’t try to hide the fact from anyone. You can get a temple recommend while drinking them. I have known bishops, SP, HC and even a Regional Authority who drank them regularly.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheeky “impudent; insolent: a cheeky fellow; cheeky behavior.”
Often gets used of children or pets these days, in a semi-ironic way. Can also mean insubordinate, brazen (probably the definition you’re looking for with the woodpile stuff)
Quote:But I can get pretty verbal if some TBM tries to tell me caffeinated soft drinks are forbidden. I drink them regularly and don’t try to hide the fact from anyone. You can get a temple recommend while drinking them. I have known bishops, SP, HC and even a Regional Authority who drank them regularly.
Well, they’re not, of course. End of story. It’s just an extension of the WoW.
I wouldn’t recommend consuming large amounts of caffienated soft drinks though, because they can cause the same problems with insomnia etc. But forbidden? No!
I recently read Waiting for World’s End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, and ended up typing a bunch of quotations that struck me to keep in a text file. Here is a quotation that stood out in my mind in regards to the WoW. Quote:I met with Brigham Young and High Priest quorum; the word of wisdom was brought up. B. Young says shall I break the world of wisdom if I go home and drink a cup of tea? No. Wisdom is justified of her children. … All concluded that it was wisdom to deal with all such matters according to the wisdom which God gave. That a forced abstinence was not making us free but we should be under bondage with a yoke upon our necks.
(November 1841)
I don’t know what to make of that quote really…
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.