Quentin Cook and the Word of Wisdom Part 1

Unprepared to engage Mormon missionaries when they knock on your door? Perhaps the book Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers and to that I think we can add to what we've discussed in the past. So let's look at what he has to say, Eric, under the subject matter of the Word of Wisdom.

What does Cook say? In the Father's plan, the Word of Wisdom, given because of, quote, Now let's talk about this for a minute because a lot of people tend to think that Joseph Smith was the big originator of this awareness regarding alcohol. And certainly that is not the case. He wasn't even the originator of the awareness regarding tobacco use. But yet I think a lot of Latter-day Saints tend to think that this somehow vindicates Joseph Smith as an insightful prophet of God.

But when you look back at the history, that doesn't seem to really be the case. First of all, when it says here, it sets forth particulars, including that, quote, When I read that, I can't help but think of what the Apostle Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 5-23, where he tells Timothy to use a bit of wine for his stomach's sake. We are not given all the details, but you would think that if Mormonism is in fact a restoration of the way things were believed and practiced in the first century church, why is Paul instructing a young protege, Timothy, a young pastor, to partake in wine, even though it's a little bit? He says a little wine.

He doesn't say a lot. It's more of a medicinal use. But Mormons aren't supposed to drink it at all. And certainly there have been a lot of things that have been discovered over the years regarding the use of wine that has not been negative towards a person who imbibes in drinking wine. We seem to find from various studies that the use of wine occasionally is not all that bad. Now, I should say this at the beginning of this show. We are not at all encouraging anybody to drink or use tobacco products, not by any stretch of the imagination.

If you don't, don't. I'm just trying to get down to the background of what the word of wisdom was all about and why Mormons have this prohibition on these products today. I think you're bringing out a good point that in moderation we find, for instance, that wine is a healthy substance for people. And as you say, we're not wanting people to go out and buy a bottle of wine just to be able to be more healthy. But this is what WebMD.com says regarding wine.

It talks about a healthier heart. It says, Several reports in 2000 confirmed the glad tidings at wine in moderation, of course. And I want to bring out moderation is so important and so much of what Cook does in his article is about the abuse of these substances.

And so moderation is important. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. In the September issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, for instance, Swedish researchers at an institute reported that compared to teetotalers, light drinkers who consumed wine cut their risk of dying prematurely by almost one third. And wine drinkers as a group had significantly lower mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Actually drinking any kind of alcoholic beverage helped, the scientists found, but by far the biggest benefit accrued to wine drinkers. So we see something that doesn't seem to go along with the conclusions that the Mormon Church would want you to believe. Now, it should be known that wine was used in the sacrament in the early years of the Mormon Church, some say as late as the turn of the 20th century. Now they use water, which certainly doesn't seem to reflect any of the symbolism that we find in the New Testament regarding the fruit of the vine or grape juice. But still, this is a big issue with Mormons, because Mormons tend to be known for not partaking in not only wine or any other alcoholic beverage, but also not partaking of tea and coffee. That's kind of like the symbol of Mormonism. We're proud that we don't partake in these. And the question is, of course, I think is fair to ask, why?

Why don't they? And I want to bring out the fact that Joseph Smith was an original on this. There were temperance movements going on in the early years of the Mormon Church, and even abstaining from tobacco was a part of this movement that was going on around the time the Mormon Church was founded. In fact, I just did a cursory examination regarding when did human beings all of a sudden start becoming aware of the negative health effects of using tobacco. And I found, very quickly, there's a website called TheCancerCouncil.com.

It's out of Australia, Cancer Council, New South Wales. They even have an article on this where it says, when was tobacco first considered to be dangerous to health? And it goes back, according to this article, in 1602. It says an anonymous English author published an essay titled, The Work of Chimney Sweepers, which stated that illnesses often seen in chimney sweepers were caused by soot and that tobacco may have similar effects. This was one of the earliest known instances of smoking being linked to ill health.

And then it goes on to list in 1795, Samuel Thomas von Sommering of Maine, Germany, reported that he was becoming more aware of cancers of the lip in pipe smokers. And then we have, in 1798, the US physician Benjamin Rush. Now, if you know your American history, Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the former treasurer of the United States.

He was a physician, a good friend of John Adams. Well, he also wrote on the medical dangers of tobacco. So it's not like all this was unknown at the time Joseph Smith comes on the scene. I have no reason to believe that Smith was totally ignorant of what these other people had come to regarding their findings on the use of tobacco. So if you think that Joseph Smith learns this and he's the first one on the scene because he receives a revelation from God, I think you're ill-informed. And you have the temperance movement, as you mentioned, and the anti-tobacco movement in the United States began as an adjunct to that temperance movement.

In the 1830s. So it was certainly something that was being talked about and known and Joseph Smith would have had access to that. In fact, tobacco use was considered to dry out the mouth, creating a morbid or diseased thirst, which only liquor could quench, is what someone said. So you have this idea that there's issues with the tobacco and he brings out in his article Cook does on page 32, he says the statistics today with respect to cigarette smoking are not in dispute. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. Smoking is estimated to increase the risk of lung cancer by 25 times. Now, we can agree with Cook and with the Mormons on this. We think that cigarette smoking, there's nothing beneficial about it at all. Unlike perhaps moderate use of wine, coffee, we can talk about that as well, this idea that smoking was bad for you is not original to Joseph Smith.

I think that's a point that we're trying to make here. For Latter-day Saints who think that Joseph Smith was given a revelation by God that changed the course of scientific research, that's not the case at all. When you look at the Bible, however, you won't find a blanket condemnation on the use of alcoholic drinks. You will find a condemnation of drunkenness. The Bible very specifically says that you are not to partake in alcohol to the point of drunkenness. But I think what bothers me more about what the Mormon Church has done with this word of wisdom is, first of all, when it comes out, it was not a commandment.

It was a suggestion. It was something that Mormons were supposed to follow, and it would have a benefit for them, but it was not an actual commandment for the Mormon people. In fact, I'm looking at the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. In section 3, which is on page 117, under the word of wisdom, it says, President Joseph Smith Jr. next made a few remarks on the word of wisdom, giving the reason of its coming forth, saying it should be observed.

And the date for this is April 7th, 1838. Now, the word of wisdom was given in 1833, but there's a footnote here that I think is interesting. It says, This statement by the prophet is in accord with the action of the High Council of the Church shortly after its organization in February 1834. At one of the earliest meetings of this council over which the presidency of the Church presided, the following action was taken. The question was asked whether disobedience to the word of wisdom was a transgression sufficient to deprive an official member from holding office in the church after having it sufficiently taught him. After a free and full discussion, Joseph Smith the prophet gave the following decision which was unanimously accepted by the council, and this is what it says. No official member in this church is worthy to hold an office after having the word of wisdom properly taught him, and he the official member neglecting to comply with and obey it.

So, if there was any restriction at all at this time on April 7th, 1838, it was more for officers in the church and not the general membership. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism. You just listened to today's broadcast of Viewpoint on Mormonism, but did you know that you can hear previous shows at your convenience? The Viewpoint on Mormonism podcast is free on the internet and will help you learn more about the LDS religion. Feel free to listen on your computer or download to your favorite listening device. Just go to MRM.org and click on the right side where it says On Air. All of our shows are here, so visit MRM.org today.