In the past year, Latter-day Saints have been amazed at the changes occurring in the doctrines, practices, and teachings of the Church. Eleven year old boys now pass the Sacrament. The Church has developed a new lesson plan to increase personal and family conversion in the “Home Church.” Over 200 temples are now in operation, under construction or announced. Sisters have more opportunities and power in the priesthood. The list goes on.

Many of the changes are because a review of previous practices has determined that those teachings and practices were based on tradition, and not on doctrine, per se. Three hour Church seemed inviolable, but now we all enjoy more time teaching our own families, while the Church benefits from being able to fit more wards in each chapel (freeing up funds for building temples, missionary work, etc).

So, how inviolable is the current reading of the Word of Wisdom? When the WoW first came out in 1833, it was sent as heavenly advice and counsel, not as a commandment. Even after the WoW was given, Joseph Smith continued drinking alcohol, and both he and Emma drank coffee and tea.

It wasn’t until 1851, almost twenty years later, that Brigham Young made it a commandment. It established who could be baptized, receive the priesthood, serve a mission, and enter a temple.

However, over time, unofficial statements by leading General Authorities seemed to give the WoW a new angle: If you drink caffeinated drinks, while it may/may not (depending on the authority or bishop) be a violation of the WoW, it would be a moral or spiritual violation of the law.

Then, in 2012, while Diet Coke drinking Mitt Romney was running for president, the Church finally gave an official statement that drinking caffeinated drinks is not violating the WoW.

So, a couple issues came to my mind in regards to this. If we are to keep the WoW so we may enter the temple, what of its teaching to “eat meat sparingly” primarily in winter and in times of famine? Isn’t that as important as the no alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee? Or is that part still not a commandment, but a literal “word of wisdom” to follow on an individual basis? If the whole thing is a commandment, why not state we can only eat meat twice a week, or literally only in winter time, making us vegetarian during the spring, summer and fall?

Or, perhaps we need to go the other way? I would like to see the Prophet revisit the WoW, and see how it should apply to us today. Which parts should be commandment? Personally, I can see alcohol, tobacco and dangerous drugs as things to be avoided completely.

But what about coffee and tea? They are forbidden, but why? We can’t blame it on caffeine anymore, so why? Why is it that I can’t drink black/green tea, but I can drink Chamomile, Yerba Mate, or other herbal teas (some have caffeine or other natural drugs in them). Should all these be forbidden? If so, why?

Today’s science shows that both coffee and tea have natural qualities that improve health. Studies have shown coffee to reduce the chance of Alzheimer’s Disease. Tea reduces heart problems.

Perhaps the command is for some spiritual reason? Yet, the WoW explains that we were given this guidance because of the evil workings of men. Does that still apply today in all these cases? I can see serious problems with both alcohol and tobacco. Are there evil men trying to overpower us by having us drink coffee and tea?

I am always a follower of the Prophet of God. And I do live the Word of Wisdom, believing that obedience is best. But I also love it when prophets consider whether tradition needs to be changed or adapted, as President Nelson has done many times in the last year.

Is it time to revisit the Word of Wisdom? Your thoughts are appreciated.

Newest lesson is at my blog: http://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2019/02/come-follow-me-matthew-6-7.html

Amulek’s sermon on procrastination[ref]Alma 34[/ref] was mentioned in a letter from a missionary this past week. This made me curious about the use of the term “procrastination” in scripture.

This week’s study in Come, Follow Me also mentions perfection, with helpful exploration of the Greek etymology from then-Elder Nelson. Specifically, the word used in Greek that we translate “be ye therefore perfect” is not speaking of freedom from error, but arrival at a distant goal.

Procrastinating the Day of Our Repentance

There are three times where this wording arises in the Book of Mormon.

1. Alma preaches to the people of Ammonihah (Alma 13):
   27 And now, my brethren, I ^awish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great ^banxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not ^cprocrastinate the day of your repentance;
2. Amulek (of Ammonihah fame) preaches to the Zoramites (Alma 34):
   35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become ^asubjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth ^bseal you his…; 
3. Samuel the Lamanite preaching to the wicked Nephites (Helaman 13) saying:
   38 But behold, your ^adays of probation are past; ye have ^bprocrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure…;

It is noteworthy that each of these pronouncements is to a people who are considered “ripe in iniquity” in the period immediately before disaster. This is not procrastinating on some personal goal such as weight loss or completing a homework assignment.

The people of Ammonihah were sufficiently depraved that the government conducted a mass immolation of a religious group which included women and children. Following this, the Lamanites (entirely unaware of the immolation) attacked Ammonihah and destroyed it.

LDS.org is featuring an inspiring video message from Elder Ucbtdorf, likening the great migrations of earths species to the human yearning for heaven.

My husband came in towards the end, as I was wiping tears from my eyes. Now, my husband is a lovely and faithful individual who likes to see the world through the eyes of those who might disagree. In this case, he commented that this message would bother him if he were an atheist. His hypothetical atheist would comment that the migrations of great species must be based on a genetic code that has been selected because of some survival factor. Thus a yearning for heaven could be seen as simply a random bit of genetic code.

To this, I responded, “What <synonym for narcissistic pedant> would assume that their modern conjecture invalidates the value of such a yearning for the good of humanity? If this yearning is common to so many, why trivialize it?”

To this the husband nodded and said, “Good point.”

I am also pleased to see that it is becoming easier to share and embed Church videos. As a blogger, I have not liked that it has been hard to do this in the past. So aside from giving you a slice of morning banter at the Stout home, I wanted to celebrate the new way Church videos are being made more shareable.

My blog post on this week’s Come Follow Me

https://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2019/02/come-follow-me-matthew-5-luke-6.html