The Word of Wisdom, backwards

From behavior and moods and relationships to energy and longevity to spirituality, all of life is tied to the health of our bodies. Science and medicine tell us that the healthiest diet consists of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and that the fat from animal foods plugs our arteries and causes heart disease. Food handlers tell us that we must be very careful in the preparation of animals foods because of the many bacteria and viruses they carry. Conservationists tell us that animal foods required many times the expenditure of water to produce, cause waste disposal problems, and contain far more toxic additives than plant foods.

For Latter-day Saints the basic " care and feeding guide " for the human body is Doctrine & Covenants Section 89. Can we measure the scripture against what science has told us? (Or should we measure medical science against the scripture?)

Most Later-day Saints are very familiar with the Word of Wisdom, but is it possible that we are so sure of what it says that when we read it we don't see what is really there? Might new clarity result from reading Section 89 backwards, from the end to the beginning, starting with verse 21, then verse 20, etc., taking time to ponder each verse.

Please do that first, then if you are interested in my testimony and some quotes from LDS Church leaders, read on.

Joyce Kinmont, April 2003

Verse 21 promises that the destroying angel shall pass us by. If he is not passing by the Saints -- and he is not -- why not? (See D&C 130:20-21) Seven years ago I felt that angel hovering ever so close. At that time a kind friend, Tom Rodgers, taught me to live the Word of Wisdom with exactness, and thankfully the destroyer moved on and my health is slowly but surely improving. My desire is to bless my children by dying peacefully in my sleep in my old age. www.tomrodgers.org

Verse 20 promises that we will walk and run without fatigue. I'm much better, but I have a long, long way to go!

Verse 19 promises us wisdom and great, even hidden treasures of knowledge. I used to think that promise was available in the natural course of gospel living and was superfluous in Section 89. As much as I love being healthier, I've appreciated this blessing even more. The promise is true.

Verse 18 promises us health. Are we healthy? We do well on infant mortality and trauma treatment, the great killers of the past, but how about diseases connected to diet -- diabetes, heart disease, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and a host of others?

Verse 17 tells us that all grains, especially wheat, are for man. I partake daily.

Verse 16 tells us that the "fruit of the vine" is for man. Assuming that to be a metaphor for fruits and vegetables, I partake daily.

Verse 15 tells us that we may eat animals in times of famine and excess hunger. For me, that condition does not now exist. I do not partake at this time.

Verse 14 (See also Genesis 1:29-30) tells us that all grain, besides being for man, is ordained for the use of beasts, to be their staff of life. Obviously not all beasts eat grain now, but apparently they will again.

Isaiah gives us these poetically phrased particulars about animal life during the Millennium, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together," he says, "and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock." Implicit in this pronouncement is the fact that man and all forms of life will be vegetarians in the coming day; the eating of meat will cease, because, for one thing, death as we know it ceases. - Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, p. 658

That Millennial condition will come about not by pronouncement from the pulpit, but as men become more peaceful and more kind to animals. I learned this from Brigham Young in Relief Society. (See also JST Genesis 9:21, page 797 in the back of the Bible)

Let the people be holy, and the earth under their feet will be holy. Let the people be holy, and filled with the Spirit of God, and every animal and creeping thing will be filled with peace; the soil of the earth will bring forth in its strength, and the fruits thereof will be meat for man. The more purity that exists, the less is the strife; the more kind we are to our animals, the more will peace increase, and the savage nature of the brute creation vanish away. . . Let the whole people . . . be possessed of that spirit and here is the Millennium, and so will it spread over all the world. - Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, p. 333

Verses 12-13 say we please the Lord when we eat animal flesh only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. Would we turn down an opportunity to please our Shepherd?

Hyrum explained the "famine" part:

And why to be used in time of famine? Because all domesticated animals would naturally die, and might as well be made use of by man as not. - Hyrum Smith, Times and Seasons, Vol. III., p. 799

Verse 11 tells us all vegetables and fruits, in season, are to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

Verse 10 tells us that all wholesome plants are ordained for the constitution and nature of man. I'm comforted to know that the Lord created food especially for my body's constitution, and I trust that He put into it all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. that my constitution requires. As for my nature -- I do want to protect my personal hormonal balance from being influenced by the hormones of animals.

Verses 5-9 tell us not to use stimulants. Hot drinks are prohibited, and we've been told those drinks are tea and coffee. Caffeine drinks are not mentioned, though President Hinckley told the whole world on the Larry King TV show that we don't use them. He also slipped the "c" word into an April 2002 conference address. We might avoid caffeine simply to support our Prophet.

Although milk is not mentioned in the Word of Wisdom and was sometimes life-saving to our pioneers, I personally choose not to drink it. I'm aware of the suffering of today's factory dairy cows who are forced to produce far more milk than their bodies were designed for. Any mother who has nursed a baby knows what that means: the likelihood of mastitis. I don't want to be part of this.

Cow's milk was Divinely formulated to make a baby calf grow into a big cow. It worked for me, unfortunately. I don't want to partake of the viruses, bacteria, added hormones, antibiotics, vaccines, etc. that come with the cheese and ice cream I used to love -- and still wear around my middle, stuck to me like glue -- which it is, casein being the main ingredient in glue, as attested to by the cow pictured on my bottle of Borden's glue.

We are specifically told not to consume tobacco or alcohol. Not mentioned, but worth considering, are street drugs and mind-altering prescription drugs (Ritalin, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.). They all destroy health over time, most cut us off from the spirit, and the side effects of anti-depressants can include violence and suicide. (Never stop taking anti-depressants without EXPERT help. See www.drugawareness.org)

Verse 4 tells us that there are conspiring men in the last days. I recognize them as the ones who sell us food and drugs that they know full well are harmful to our bodies. Their advertising is persuasive and deceptive; they work for a clever, ruthless devil.

Verse 3 tells us that the weakest of Saints can live by this commandment. What, then, do we do to be among the strongest of Saints? Perhaps we add a second meaning to the word sparingly: sparing the lives of the animals by allowing the "dumb animals to live."

Verse 2 says this scripture is the order and will of God for our temporal salvation in the last days. I want to be saved. I also want to live by Alma 32:13-15 which tells us to humble ourselves because of the word rather than waiting to be compelled by circumstances. I indulged my cheese and ice cream addiction long after the spirit was telling me to stop; I hope you'll be smarter!

Verse 1 tells me the scripture is for our benefit. It is a gift. For this I am profoundly grateful.

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Both D&C 49:21, footnote a, and JST Genesis 9:11, p.797, tell me that when I eat animal flesh and have no need, the blood of each dead beast will be required at my hands. It may be that animals get their revenge by passing disease to me. Unlike plants, animal flesh and fluids are full of viruses and bacteria that are harmful to people. The plagues of the last days may well be delivered by the animals. Those plagues may already be here.

A quarter-century ago in a BYU Devotional President Ezra Taft Benson called for a generation that eats like Daniel:

To a great extent we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions, such as no tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol. What needs additional emphasis are the positive aspects--the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state--without over refinement and processing--the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods. I am grateful to know that on the Brigham Young University campus you can get apples from vending machines, that you have in your student center a fine salad bar, and that you produce an excellent loaf of natural whole-grain bread. Keep it up and keep progressing in that direction. We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the "king's meat"--and whose countenances show it (see Daniel 1). - Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 476-7, from "In His Steps," BYU Devotional 1979

And how did Daniel eat?

Now Daniel and his kinsmen had resolved to use a severe diet, and to abstain from those kinds of food which came from the king's table, and entirely to forbear to eat of all living creatures: so he came to Ashpenaz (and asked for) pulse and dates for their food, and anything else, besides the flesh of living creatures, that he pleased, for that their inclinations were to that sort of food, and that they despised the other. - Flavius Josephus

Today many people are feeling the promptings of the Spirit to prepare for Zion in heart and body. Here, in the words of those devoted, inseparable, prophetic brothers, is the vision:

When God first made man upon the earth, he was a different being entirely to what he now is; his body was strong, athletic, robust, and healthy; his days were prolonged upon the earth; he lived nearly one thousand years, his mind was vigorous and active, and his intellectual faculties clear and comprehensive, but he has become degenerated . . . . Man is not now that dignified, noble, majestic, honorable and mighty being that he was when he first proceeded from the hands of his Maker . . . . (the Lord) has appointed the word of wisdom as one of the engines to . . . . remove the beastly appetites, the murderous disposition and the vitiated taste of man; to restore his body to health, and vigour, promote peace between him and the brute creation . . . . - Hyrum Smith, Times and Season, 6-1-1842, pp.799-800

By a proper observance of the Word of Wisdom, man may hope to regain what he has lost by transgression and live to the age of a tree, that as the sun's rays in springtime gladden all nature and awaken life and hope, the Word of Wisdom given of God may remove the thorns and briers from our pathway and strew the same with joy and peace. - Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith as a Prophet, Scrapbook of Mormon Literature, Vol 1, p.118