The Word of Wisdom Doctrine and Covenants 89. Historical Background 6,000 BC – Tobacco grown in the Americas 1497 – First written account of tobacco use.

The Word of Wisdom

Doctrine and Covenants 89

Historical Background

• 6,000 BC – Tobacco grown in the Americas• 1497 – First written account of tobacco use in America• 1773 – John Wesley, founder of Methodism, denounces

distilling alcoholic beverages as sinful and calls for its prohibition.

• 1765 – American doctor Benjamin Rush publishes his Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind.

• 1787 – Percival Pott connects snuff to cancer of the lip.

Historical Background

• 1798 – American physician Benjamin Rush writes on the medical dangers of tobacco and claims that smoking or chewing tobacco leads to drunkenness.

• 1805 – Nicotine identified as the “essence” of tobacco.

• Early America: an “alcoholic” republic• 1826 – Organization of the American Temperance

Society (later American Temperance Union) formed.• 1830s - First organized anti-tobacco movement in

U.S. begins.

Newel K. Whitney Store

School of the Prophets

Background

• When the Prophet entered the room to give the school [of the prophets] instructions he would find himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke. This, and the complaints of his wife at having to clean so filthy a floor, made the Prophet think upon the matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the conduct of the Elders in using tobacco, and the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom was the result of his inquiry.– Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 12:158

“Evils and Designs…of Conspiring Men”

JAMA (280:13), Oct. 7, 1998

Conspiring Men in the Last Days

• In 1997 the Mississippi Attorney General, Michael Moore, visited Church headquarters, where he was hosted by General Authorities W. Eugene Hansen and Marlin K. Jensen

• All lawyers, they discussed the legal action states, including Mississippi and Utah, were taking against tobacco companies

• Moore explained that his legal strategy was to prove a “conspiracy” on the part of tobacco companies using overwhelming evidence

Conspiracy Theory

Elder Jensen drew Moore’s attention to D&C 89:4“We listened attentively as he slowly and deliberately read

that verse out loud in his appealing southern accent: ‘Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you and forewarn you, by giving you this word of wisdom by revelation’”

• “The scriptural reference to ‘conspiring men’ was not lost on Mr. Moore. As he finished reading verse 4, a broad smile came across his face, and with a twinkle in his eye he said, ‘I never dreamed in visiting Utah I might find 10 million people who would agree with my conspiracy theories!’’’

Conspiracy Theory

My heart burned within me that day and has many times since as I have thought about Joseph Smith’s gift as a prophet and seer. There is really no other explanation for the origin of that 1833 revelation. It waited until nearly the end of the twentieth century for an almost literal verification of one of its key passages. In the hearts of the faithful saints who have heeded its message for nearly 170 years, however, there has never been any doubt about its authenticity or relevance– Elder Marlin K. Jensen, “May the Kingdom of God Go Forth,” Out of

Obscurity, 9-10

Miserable Excuses

Some have even used as an alibi the fact that drugs are not mentioned in the Word of Wisdom. What a miserable excuse. There is likewise no mention of the hazards of diving into an empty swimming pool or of jumping from an overpass onto the freeway. But who doubts the deadly consequences of such? Common sense would dictate against such behavior.– “The Scourge of Illicit Drugs,” Ensign (November 1989)

• A year after the Word of Wisdom was given, a question arose that led the Church to make a policy regarding it. Missionaries in Pennsylvania had refused to take the sacrament when they believed that the elder administering it did not obey the Word of Wisdom. When reports reached Kirtland, Ohio, the high council met to decide “whether disobedience to the Word of Wisdom was a transgression sufficient to deprive an official member from holding an office in the Church, after having it sufficiently taught him.” Joseph Smith presided. Six counselors gave their views on the subject, and Joseph decided “that no official member in this Church is worthy to hold an office after having the Words of Wisdom properly taught to him, and he, the official member, neglecting to comply with, or obey them.” The council sustained this decision.

• The decision meant that one could not be an officer of the Church, that is, hold an official calling, who chose to disobey the Word of Wisdom. And obeying in the 1830s meant abstaining generally if not absolutely from alcohol, coffee and tea, and tobacco. The policy did not mean that those who chose to disobey could not belong to the Church, just that they could not represent the Church or officiate in its ordinances if they had been property taught the Word of Wisdom and chose to disobey it. The Saints were free agents. Once they had knowledge to act upon, they were accountable for the choice they made. A choice to disobey resulted in losing the privilege to represent the Savior.– Kirtland Minute Book, February 20, 1834, Church History Library.

D&C 89 Outcomes

Gradual Unfolding

• When did it become a commandment?• Published in 1835 D&C• 1837 – Kirtland Seventies Quorum enforces

Word of Wisdom amongst members• 1838 – David Whitmer excommunicated for,

among other things, violation of the Word of Wisdom

• 1842 – Hyrum Smith gives first recorded discourse on the Word of Wisdom

Gradual Unfolding

• 1851 – Brigham Young encourages Saints to renew commitment to Word of Wisdom

• 1860 – Brigham Young personally gives up tea, alcohol, coffee, and tobacco

• 1898 – President Wilford Woodruff declares the “Word of Wisdom in its entirety as given of the Lord for the Latterday Saints to observe, but he did not think that Bishops should withhold recommends from persons who did not adhere strictly to it.”

Gradual Unfolding

• 1905 – President Joseph F. Smith urges stake presidents and bishops to be lenient toward elderly Saints who used coffee, tea, or tobacco, but to refuse temple recommends to Saints who flagrantly violated the Word of Wisdom.

• 1915 – President Joseph F. Smith declares that middle-age men “who have experience in the Church should not be ordained to the Priesthood nor recommended to the privileges of the House of the Lord unless they will abstain from the use of tobacco and intoxicating drinks.”

• 1933 – Church’s handbook of instructions for stake presidents and bishops explicitly says that Saints desiring to attend the temple “should keep the Word of Wisdom.”

Discussion

• How does the Word of Wisdom relate to the culture in which it was revealed?

• What are the doctrinal underpinnings of the revelation?

• What should the historical unfolding of the Word of Wisdom as a practice tell us about the Word of Wisdom as a principle?