“The Lord also counsels us against the use of ‘hot drinks’ (D&C 89:9). The whole situation seemed less than ideal for those who were called of God as these elders were, especially when we remember that the room with the filthy floor was Joseph’s “translation room,” the same place where he received revelations in the name of God. See Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, 328. “The Word of Wisdom is a law of health for the physical and spiritual benefit of God’s children. When the Word of Wisdom was first revealed members struggled with the don'ts. Joseph began inquiring of the Lord about what could be done, and on February 27, scarcely a month after the school started, he received the revelation later canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 89. ed. The guidelines were given "not by commandment or … The Lord has always taught His followers principles of health. Eat the foods at the bottom part of the chart sparingly, if at all. They were to … See “Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38],” in Revelation Book 1, 51, josephsmithpapers.org. Many faiths have dietary laws, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of them. In 1921, observance of the Word of Wisdom became a requirement for admission to the temple. Latter-day Saints who learn of the American health reform movements of the 1820s and 1830s may wonder how these movements relate to the Word of Wisdom. In short terms, it is a health code for the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which we must abide by in order to go to the sacred temple and to have a healthy living. 74 (Mar. Members should not use any substance that contains illegal drugs. By the mid-1830s, the ATS had grown to well over a million members, many of them teetotalers.13, Encouraged by the ATS, local temperance societies popped up by the thousands across the U.S. countryside. Clearly, meat is permitted [see D&C 42:18]. By 1900, regular bathing had become routine for a large portion of the population, especially the middle classes, who had adopted gentility as an ideal.5 Tobacco spitting shifted from being a publicly acceptable practice among most segments of the population to becoming seen as a filthy habit beneath the dignity of polite society. By 1800, tobacco was known to cure a long list of ailments: abdominal pain, snake bites, scurvy, piles, “madness,” and dozens of more ills. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith which types of foods to eat and which to avoid, along with a promise of temporal and spiritual blessings for obeying the Word of Wisdom. 1:8. Church Manuals (part of the correlated curriculum produced officially by the LDS Church) “We must obey the Word of Wisdom to be worthy to enter the temple. LDS Quotations is a resource for quotes on Word of Wisdom and 100s of other … See Norbert Elias, The History of Manners, trans. Susan Easton Black and Andrew C. Skinner (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 165–75. Whoso forbiddeth that man should not eat meats is not ordained of God, D&C 49:18–21. The American Temperance Society adopted a formal pledge of abstinence from all alcoholic beverages in 1831. Such concerns are unwarranted. The Word of Wisdom is a health code included in the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of scripture used by Latter-day Saints. Orson Hyde was the main instructor that first term, but Joseph Smith seems to have had a regular presence. The Mormon dietary or health code is called the "Word of Wisdom." It includes instruction about what foods are good for us and those substances to avoid. Those who wish to be baptised members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must be willing to listen to and obey the prophets- which includes such things as the Law of Chastity, paying our tithing, and the Word of Wisdom, even though these things are not commandments. Frances Trollope, a British novelist, reported disdainfully in 1832 that in all her recent travels in the United States, she hardly ever met a man who was not either a “tobacco chewer or a whisky drinker.”9, Drinking, like tobacco chewing, had clearly gotten out of hand. We find that there is a high degree of variation in Word of Wisdom compliance. She may have complained of being asked to perform this thankless task, but there was also a more practical consideration: “She could not make the floor look decent,” Brigham Young recalled.7 The stains were impossible to get out. It has become commonly referred to as the Word of Wisdom. Same goes for the church’s two-volume handbook, which stake presidents, bishops and other LDS leaders use to guide their congregations. The strategy worked. In the 18th century, coffee was considered a luxury item, and British-manufactured tea was much preferred. A law of health revealed by the Lord for the physical and spiritual benefit of the Saints ( D&C 89 ). Besides rejecting the use of tobacco, the Word of Wisdom also came down against alcoholic beverages: “Inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or Strong drink among you behold it is not good, neither mete in the sight of your Father.”15, Nevertheless, it required time to wind down practices that were so deeply ingrained in family tradition and culture, especially when fermented beverages of all kinds were frequently used for medicinal purposes. Church members believe the "Word of Wisdom" was a revelation from God to church-founder Joseph Smith in 1833. The former sermon is unpublished. In the end, some overlap between the Word of Wisdom and the health reform movement of the 19th century is to be expected. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The, Signs of the Birth and Death of Jesus Christ. As a consequence, the number of distilleries grew rapidly after 1780, boosted by settlement of the corn belt in Kentucky and Ohio and the vast distances to eastern markets. Jean Birrell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1988); Richard L. Bushman and Claudia L. Bushman, “The Early History of Cleanliness in America,” Journal of American History, vol. Kirtland had its own temperance society, as did many small towns.14 Precisely because alcohol reform was so often discussed and debated, the Saints needed a way of adjudicating which opinions were right. Grant to call on all Saints to live the Word of Wisdom to the letter by completely abstaining from all alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco. The term “strong drink” is a biblical phrase applying to wine, but temperance reformers often gave the term a more expansive definition that included distilled spirits. Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. If we do not obey the Word of Wisdom, the Lord’s Spirit withdraws from us” (Gospel Principles, 2009, p.167). See “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 113; “City Marshall’s Department,” City Gazette and Commercial [Charleston, South Carolina], Apr. 18, 1823, 3; “Gaming,” Berks and Schuylkill Journal (Reading, Pennsylvania), Jan. 8, 1825, 3. “Revelation, 27 February 1833 [D&C 89],” in Sidney Gilbert, Notebook, 114; see also “Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49],” in Revelation Book 1, 81, josephsmithpapers.org. They were to cry repentance unto the people and gather in the Lord’s elect. “Members of The Church of … Discussion was so frequent because abuse was so widespread. It includes instruction about what foods are good for us and those substances to avoid. By 1770, per capita consumption of distilled spirits alone—to say nothing of beer or cider—stood at 3.7 gallons per year.10, The American Revolution only exacerbated this reliance on alcohol. Flesh Is to Be Used Sparingly “The Word of Wisdom is not a system of vegetarianism. The prohibition in question is against ‘hot drinks.’ I find it useful to think of the Word of Wisdom as a parable in the sense that it does not convey just one surface truth that every reader is … Coffee fell to 10 cents a pound, making a cup of coffee the same price as a cup of whiskey, marking whiskey’s decline. As valuable as the Word of Wisdom is as a law of health, it may be much more valuable to you spiritually than it is physically.” Boyd K. Packer, November 1979 Ensign . Do not drink wine nor strong drink, Lev. [20] Instead, the revelation encouraged the consumption of basic staples of the kind that had sustained life for millennia. Well, I’m here to tell you that the Word of Wisdom proved to be the b. (London, 1832), 2:101. For a published version of the latter sermon, see Brigham Young, “Remarks,” Deseret News: Semi-Weekly, Feb. 25, 1868, 2. Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it, Isa. He and Emma lived in the Whitney store, and the task of scrubbing the spittle from the hardwood fell upon her. The “Word of Wisdom” is a law of health revealed by the Lord for our physical and spiritual benefit. See Lester E. Bush Jr., “The Word of Wisdom in Early Nineteenth-Century Perspective,” Dialogue, vol. Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants is called the ‘ Word of Wisdom ’. In the 20th century, some Latter-day Saints sought to isolate the offending chemicals in the substances prohibited in the Word of Wisdom, but such analysis was never accepted as Church doctrine and went beyond the reasoning of the revelation itself. By 1840, per capita consumption in America had fallen to about three gallons, the steepest 10-year drop in American history. In the midst of this cultural shift, at the very moment when everyday people started to concern themselves with their own cleanliness and bodily health, the Word of Wisdom arrived to light the way. In some ways, the American health reform movement has faded from view. 24 (Aug. 1990), 230–31; Lyman Beecher, Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance (New York: American Tract Society, 1827), 194; Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 166–68. Did Joseph Smith simply draw upon ideas already existing in his environment and put them forward as revelation? See Milton V. Backman Jr., “School of the Prophets and School of the Elders,” in Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet, ed. See Paul H. Peterson, “An Historical Analysis of the Word of Wisdom” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1972), 32–33; “The Word of Wisdom,” Times and Seasons, vol. See Lender and Martin, Drinking in America, 71–72; Tyrrell, Sobering Up, 225–51. On February 27, 1833, the Lord revealed which foods should we eat and which substances must be avoided. The Word of Wisdom way to weight loss is to embrace the foods the Lord has ordained for our maximum health: the whole foods at the top of the calorie density chart. Herbs, fruits, flesh, and grain are ordained for the use of man and of animals, D&C 89:10–17. See Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 339; Joseph F. Kett, “Temperance and Intemperance as Historical Problems,” Journal of American History, vol. Once the pipes were smoked out, they would then “put in a chew on one side and perhaps on both sides and then it was all over the floor.”3 In this dingy setting, Joseph Smith attempted to teach the men how they and their converts could become holy, “without spot,” and worthy of the presence of God.4. 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