Coffee and Related Questions

About the same time we had the tithing discussions, Jack had been reviewing his life as pertains to the Word of Wisdom. Ever since I'd known him, he'd been fond of diet coke, along with half (maybe more) of the LDS population in the state of Utah. As demands on his time increased throughout our marriage due to family, work, leisure, and church, his consumption increased. He'd tried to cut back at times, but fitting in a good workout at six in the morning and not going to bed until well after the kids took its toll. It wasn't bad priorities, and he felt like he was getting plenty of sleep, but he'd get tired during the day. I'd guess he was consuming 44 - 100 oz. of diet coke on a daily basis.


Which isn't to say that a little diet coke is bad for you, of course, but closing in on 100 ounces?


Jack started investigating his habit. And while he learned that maybe a little isn't bad for you, so many unnatural things in his drink of choice were going into his body at large amounts. That didn't seem like a healthy alternative to the non-Mormon pick-me-up: coffee.


Perhaps wikipedia can explain it better than I, but consuming a cup of coffee per day, or two at most, is a generally healthy habit, perhaps slightly beneficial to your overall health, while there was little to nothing that seemed to be wise in drinking large amounts of diet coke.


Which led him to wonder: what does the Word of Wisdom really say? According to an official Church website, it's a law of health wherein the Lord commands us to abstain from alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and other harmful or habit-forming substances, and promises blessings for obedience. Looking closely at the wording, though, it's not a commandment. It's definitely an advisement, and, according to "BYU historian Thomas G. Alexander...while the original Word of Wisdom as a "principle with promise" was given by revelation, there is no evidence that any church leader has claimed a separate new revelation, or even a spiritual confirmation, of changing the Word of Wisdom from "a principle with promise" to a commandment.^"


Joseph Smith apparently encouraged members to follow the law, though he himself did not. Brigham Young informed the saints they needed to make sure there were tea and coffee in their rations for traveling across the plains, or they would not be able to succeed in the journey. Additionally, Young's concerns with the word of wisdom lay more with purchasing from "gentiles" rather than consuming forbidden goods. Prominent members of the church consumed coffee into the 20th century.


Heber J. Grant, however, chose to clarify the matter and made the "forbidden" aspects of the Word of Wisdom mandatory for temple qualification in 1921, just one year after the United States enacted Prohibition. Heber J. Grant had the privilege of enforcing the Second Manifesto on polygamy during his time as apostle and president, and could possibly have been concerned that the Church was losing its identity as a unique sect. This, at least, was one of Jack's ideas. Setting the members apart from the rest of the world by permanently abandoning alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee could reinstate that identity.


That was the first really confusing aspect, the part about whether or not it's a commandment. Next came the line "wheat for the man, and corn for the ox,  and rye for the fowls..." We'll stop there for now, because rye is not for fowls. It makes them sick. It inhibits growth, and possibly leads to infections in fowls. So. This is slightly confusing, since Joseph Smith received this revelation from God, who would know the health risks of feeding rye to fowls. At least, it surprised me, at a time when I didn't doubt anything I'd been taught.


Lastly, the line continues, "...and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain." Do you know of any mild drinks made from barley? To back up for a moment, let me quote from earlier in the revelation. "That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good.... And again, strong drinks are not for the belly." So strong drinks are wine or liquor, is what I'd assume from that wording. Their alcoholic content is above 10%. So mild drinks made from barley or other grains? That would seem to me (and others) to mean beer. (Not that it tastes good, anyway, but that's beside the point.)


Modern LDS leaders have taught that the Word of Wisdom's counsel to avoid strong drinks includes all alcoholic beverages. It's unclear when exactly this concept was originated, but it was definitely by 1921. 


So this brings us to an important question. Assuming the church is true, Joseph Smith was an amazing prophet who received enough revelations to apparently suffice almost entirely by themselves for the next 200 years in a church led by a prophet. How many revelations since then? At least one of the two polygamy manifestos. The distribution of the priesthood to all worthy men. Nothing else is ever called a revelation, just counsel, right? So should we believe that Joseph Smith's revelations were from God and perfect? If so, why the rye for fowls and the allowance for beer?  If not, then how does that work, for a prophet to receive revelations from God that we still follow and that are 1. harmful to fowls and 2. not the way we follow it?


And so the questions start coming.