Who thinks the Word of Wisdom needs updating?

[SpiritDragon]

I believe that there are no additions or deletions needed for the Word Of Wisdom. It seems to me that it is a principle with promises and operates as a loose guide to health. Altering it (and arguments about it) seem to stem from people either wanting to justify their food preferences or to enforce stricter regulations on others - neither of these motives helps anyone draw nearer to God. Admittedly, I've been in far too many conversations about the Word of Wisdom myself... and while I have my strong opinions about what is in harmony with the intent of the law and what yields the fullest of the blessings the law has to offer - I've also realized that it is simply something for me to abide by and live the law to the extent it has been revealed to me. The Saviour taught that there are to be no disputations among us, and I imagine all of the effort spent spelling out the Word of Wisdom is a saddening affair to Him.

I will suggest the having a temple recommend is only one benefit of the WOW. Keep in mind that perfection is not required to enter the temple, if it were than none of us could attend. It is a benchmark level. If drinking sugary beverages is getting in the way of you being able to feel the spirit, or to run and not be weary, or creating brain fog that interferes with receiving hidden treasures of knowledge than I think it is clear that some changes are in order for you to receive these promises. Therefore you know for yourself areas to improve, but not to enforce them on others. Perhaps if you live the Word of Wisdom to the fullest extent that it has been revealed to you, you will be able to shine as a candle on candlestick, a beacon on a hill, and others will ask what you do to have such vitality and energy. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by SpiritDragon

[priesthoodpower]

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Edited August 10, 2020 by priesthoodpower

[priesthoodpower]

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Edited August 10, 2020 by priesthoodpower

[Colirio]

Seeing as how the word of wisdom was intended for even the weakest of saints to be able to live this principle, I am often amazed at our tendencies to want to make it harder/more complex than it is. (I have also been guilty of this at times.) 

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Colirio

[Just_A_Guy]

12 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

- Sugary drinks/bad diets are legal and kill millions of americans every year, you dont drink a soda and die the next day but the effects over time do kill you
- Alcohol is legal and kills millions
- My brother and sister are meth users and they have never used marijuana, alcohol was their start into that world.
- I have three cousins (3 brothers) who used marijuana in high school, havent touched it since and are now responsible fathers and husbands.
- Pot has not killed one person....ever....there may have been a case or two but those deceased also had other substances in their bodies.

I have heard that marijuana being illegal is what keeps thet9 prison system in business, not sure if that is true or not but I can believe it.

At least in Utah, practically speaking mere possession of small amounts of pot won't lead to incarceration for the first 2 or 3 offenses (unless you don't comply with probation).

If you [generic "you" here, not addressed to any forum member] are going to jail for pot, it's probably the third or fourth time you've been busted with it.  And if three criminal convictions won't persuade you to leave the stuff alone . . . dude, it's your life; but don't tell me you aren't addicted.

[NeuroTypical]

Wow - I can usually find anything on the internet in 5 seconds.  But I can't find a single bit of LDS/World of Warcraft crossover art.  Closest I can come is LDS artist Howard Lyon's Magic the Gathering stuff.

Sorry.

[Guest MormonGator]

2 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

At least in Utah, practically speaking mere possession of small amounts of pot won't lead to incarceration for the first 2 or 3 offenses (unless you don't comply with probation).

 I am not expert but I think in most states it's the same way. A first or second offense will get you a slap on the wrist unless you are caught near a school or with a very large amount. In some cities (Portland Maine or Providence for example) police will look the other way unless you are being really obnoxious about it.  

Edited January 5, 2017 by MormonGator

[Maureen]

11 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

...Ok. now that I have said all I wanted to say...let me retract all that blame and say that there is no one to blame but myself. I know it and accept it. Life and relationships are complicated.

After your huge rant/post, I'm glad you've taken responsibility for your own choices about your health. Blaming others isn't going to help you choose better in the future. Maybe the problem with some LDS members when interpreting the WofW is that they focus on the "don'ts" and ignore the "do's". Going forward, next time you read the WofW, look at the positive advice it gives (the do's) and focus on those and see if it helps you with your will power.

ETA: Have you asked your wife what her incentive was for loosing weight when she left the LDS church? Maybe she can give you some good advice.

M.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Maureen

[anatess2]

11 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

Dont worry man, no offense taken and I actually understand and agree with everything everyone is saying. I guess im playing devils advocate.

On top of dealing with my own terrible unhealthy diet (I am on the road a lot and choose cheap fast foods over healthier options), my kids are also hooked on sugar and have bad eating habits and are over weight. Im going to blame big money corporations for advertising and shoving this lifestyle down our throats but I will also blame my wife. When our kids were born she only wanted to make them happy, her way of doing that was to give them ice creams, chocolates and all kinds of goodies as she was also over weight and had a weakness for goodies too, it made her smile to see them smile. She even attempted to start her own dessert table business which only amounted to a few family and friend events but you can imagine all the baking that was going on and the access my kids had to sweets. Over the first 12 years of marriage I literally witnessed the raising of children with sugar.

Here is the kicker, my wife left the church about 2.5 years ago (the whole time she was a stay-at-home mom). It really caused her to rethink her purpose here on earth. She decided that she wanted a career and so she went back to school to get her masters, she joined a gym and slowly changed her diet. She will graduate next week, she has lost 60lbs looks great and no longer eats sweets. My kids however are stuck with the sweet tooth, while she prepares her healthy paleo meals the kids dont like it so she makes them their frozen dinners aka high carb meals.

What I have observed in my 14 yr marriage was a young, sweet, beautiful, faithful, temple worthy woman who had the mindset that God will take care of everything as long as you follow the commandments and live worthy. God will allow the husband to have employment, God will keep us safe, God will provide a way...as long as we live worthy. In contrast, I on the other hand understood the importance of worthiness and obedience but wasnt so naive to think that God magically provides. Everything we achieved came from our own blood, sweat and tears and we always thanked God in humility for allowing us success.

The mentality to "eat drink and be merry" as long as you are "worthy" has become a sub culture in some parts of mormonism. I am disapointed to see my wife start to take her health serious only after she left the comforts of mormonism. The wow is great and awesome but it is only specific to coffee, tobacco and alcohol. The part about "all things in moderation" cause many mormons to rationalize. Last week at the new years party seeing my uncle (a bishop) and his wife having gained so much weight just reminded me of what I have been observing about the mentality to "eat drink and be merry, as long as we are worthy".

My wife continues to this day to praise the WOW, its the only part of mormonism that she likes and wants for our kids to follow, to her and to many mormons the only part of the wow that is taken seriously is the part about coffee, tobacco and alcohol because that is the only items mentioned specifically. You all may think that is sad but its a reality. After reading many of the responses in this thread I can agree that we dont need to add anything to the wow because it kinda covers everything but we need to find ways to stress the importance of the things not mentioned specifically (if that makes sense).

 

Ok. now that I have said all I wanted to say...let me retract all that blame and say that there is no one to blame but myself. I know it and accept it. Life and relationships are complicated.

 

 

 

PP, I feel for you.  I know how this happens. 

Let me share with you some personal stories... my husband's side of the family are prone to Type I diabetes.  My father-in-law (who was close to 300 lbs at some point) has it, his brother (who couldn't be more than 175 lbs soaking wet) has it, etc.  So, they are all very careful with their nutrition.  One of my husband's cousins was in his teens when he found out he had it too but by that time, his nutritional intake as developed by his parents' lifestyle was like what you described with your kids.  He was 21 years old when the doctor told him if he doesn't change his eating habits he will die.  By this time, even the injection pack that is attached to his waist was not enough to control his diabetes anymore.  He tried to change but it was just too hard for him so he just threw his hands up and gave up and went back to his happy eating... anyway, long story short, he died before he reached age 22.  So yes.  It is very very hard to get out of this habit (sugar high) so much so that some people can't do it even when facing death's door.

Another story.  My husband was a runway model.  All throughout his life to that point, he has always been disciplined in nutrition and exercise.  He was in tip top shape when we got married.  We had 2 boys growing up with my husband's disciplined lifestyle.  And then he herniated 2 of his lumbar discs putting him flat on his back.  It took a month before he could go back to the gym and he lost muscle and got flabby.  The pain meds contributed to his flab.  He kinda got scared of the threat of diabetes that runs in his family so he threw himself back in the gym before he was ready which caused him to go flat on his back for a longer time.  This went on a vicious cycle - of him being flat on his back losing control of his body, then him trying to wrestle it back by doing extreme things which caused him lose even more control... until one late night I walked in on him munching on a family sized bag of chips watching TV.  He never did that... ever.  That was the beginning of the rough road of unhealthy living we embarked on - I've never had good self control myself... I was living healthy because my husband lived healthy.  When he went on his unhealthy time, we both went down the path.  Fortunately, both my kids were already teen-agers by this time and have developed healthy habits so when my husband and I decide we want matching super-sized Big Macs my kids say, "Yuck!  Diabetes food!".  Anyway, we're still on the mend right now trying to claw our way back to healthy.  It is hard to find that balance again especially now that my husband had to figure out another way to maintain health when he can't do much exercising with his back problems.

This is where the problem is... once your body gets used to the sugar (carbs turns to sugar too), reducing it gives you an intense craving.  It's really like coffee in a way - once you get used to coffee, reducing it gives you the "I can't function without my morning coffee!" feeling.  But the trick is, once you overcome that craving, it doesn't take long for you to "uncrave it".  It can be as short as a couple of weeks!  So much so that the excess sugar would start to give you a "yuck!  too sweet!" reaction on the taste buds.  Unfortunately, it is also easy to gain back... I mean, just one soda intake at the theater brings me back to the sugar cravings.  So, it is really all about discipline and a complete lifestyle change - which my husband and I haven't achieved yet.

So, in my opinion, this is really not a physical challenge more than it is a  Mental Challenge.  So yeah, the complete test of free will choosing the right... in my case, I lean heavily on my husband's will to drive my own.

 

 

 

[mordorbund]

20 hours ago, Larry Cotrell said:

I am not arguing that legalization won't happen, just that I wish it didn't. I realize that it is inevitable that it will be legal all across the nation before too long. 

My biggest worry with legalizing marijuana and gay marriage is what's next? Cocaine? Marrying Relatives?

You must have ugly cousins. 

[anatess2]

2 hours ago, Maureen said:

After your huge rant/post, I'm glad you've taken responsibility for your own choices about your health. Blaming others isn't going to help you choose better in the future. Maybe the problem with some LDS members when interpreting the WofW is that they focus on the "don'ts" and ignore the "do's". Going forward, next time you read the WofW, look at the positive advice it gives (the do's) and focus on those and see if it helps you with your will power.

ETA: Have you asked your wife what her incentive was for loosing weight when she left the LDS church? Maybe she can give you some good advice.

M.

I'm wondering if it could be that she doesn't have the option to blame the Church for it anymore so she had to go take the burden upon herself.

[estradling75]

31 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

I'm wondering if it could be that she doesn't have the option to blame the Church for it anymore so she had to go take the burden upon herself.

If so.. she finally got to where the church was try to get her to go all along

 

[Maureen]

38 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

I'm wondering if it could be that she doesn't have the option to blame the Church for it anymore so she had to go take the burden upon herself.

I didn't get the impression that @priesthoodpower's wife blamed the LDS church for anything. But he did confess that he blamed his wife for their children's bad eating habits. Although now he sees the error of his ways and takes responsibility for his own choices, and let's hope that he understands the best way to teach children is through example.

M. 

Edited January 5, 2017 by Maureen

[Just_A_Guy]

6 hours ago, MormonGator said:

 I am not expert . . .

Oh, aren't you?

Tell the truth, Gator Man, or I'll get LadyGator's version.

[Guest MormonGator]

41 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Oh, aren't you?

Tell the truth, Gator Man, or I'll get LadyGator's version.

If @zil or @LadyGator ever say that there is smoke coming from my office and reggae playing around 4:15....they are liars! Vicious liars! 

[zil]

4 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Vicious liars! 

Just call me Sid.

[Guest MormonGator]

2 minutes ago, zil said:

Just call me Sid.

We're moving the compound to Colorado, but that has nothing to do with what @Just_A_Guy is accusing me of. 

[Vort]

12 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Vicious liars!

Viscous lyres!

[Guest]

So, a motivating factor for wanting to update is that heart disease kills more than lung cancer each year...

...

Major contributors to heart disease:  Caffeine and Nicotene.  Interesting.

[Traveler]

My father use to say that few people know how to be happy and his example was always finances and weight.  But I will reference weight and health because this is what is going on with this thread.  He would say most people what to be miserable and unhappy.  That either they eat what they want thinking it will make them happy and find out that whey they look on the mirror they are unhappy with how they look.  Or they diet and exercise (things they dislike and makes them unhappy to do) to be able to look in the mirror and be happy.

So most people demand and make themselves unhappy – either because they are unhappy with how they have to eat and exercise or they are unhappy because they are unhealthy and overweight.

According to my father the secret to happiness is learning to love and enjoy the things and discipline that achieve the long term results someone believes to be good.  This is quite different than learning to love and enjoy the very things that bring about the long term that depresses and makes a person miserable.  I personally believe Satan wants us to be miserable and depressed and temps us to believe we can achieve happiness without discipline and doing whatever we want at the moment.

 

The Traveler

[Vort]

15 hours ago, Carborendum said:

So, a motivating factor for wanting to update is that heart disease kills more than lung cancer each year...

...

Major contributors to heart disease:  Caffeine and Nicotene.  Interesting.

No, but that doesn't count, because it does not substantiate the point being made.

You really need to learn to think logically, Carb.

[Maureen]

15 hours ago, Carborendum said:

...Major contributors to heart disease:  Caffeine and Nicotene.  Interesting.

Actually, whether caffeine is a contributor of heart disease is still under study and many of these studies have conflicting results.

M.

[anatess2]

15 minutes ago, Vort said:

No, but that doesn't count, because it does not substantiate the point being made.

You really need to learn to think logically, Carb.

 

Okay, who stole the popcorn emoticon?

Edited January 6, 2017 by anatess2

[askandanswer]

On 1/6/2017 at 10:25 AM, Just_A_Guy said:

Oh, aren't you?

Tell the truth, Gator Man, or I'll get LadyGator's version.

Lol, Just_A_Guy is asking Momongator to tell the truth! How charmingly naive and unrealistically optimistic of him.

[Starlite]

I would probably favor allowing the Lord to speak to his Prophets to provide any revisions to the revelation on the Word of Wisdom. Certainly, it is possible that the Spirit may teach some, for reasons we don't all need to know, wisdom surrounding "change" but it is, in my opinion, a rather private affair, should that be the case. That being said, the caution might be that we should not be tinkering with changing any current revelation from the prophets just because we think we have insight or wisdom, unless we are sure in our own hearts the truth of the matter. I believe that it would be best to keep that to ourselves for it is not a subject, as far as I understand, to be shared, lest perhaps we be tampering with the idea of changing the Lord's word. Such an action would be in violation of the way God sends revelation meant for the entire body of the church through the mantle; his prophet. I would, myself, call into question my own apparent revelation, if it were different than what was given through the prophet. I would find myself of need to be very humble, to be so sure, that the Spirit, and not some counterfeit, has touched me.

I realize, sadly, that many people are becoming gluten intolerant and therefore, must wonder what's up with wheat being for man, as per the revelation. They can't ingest it and then expect to feel well or healthy, and are in need of personally changing how they handle this knowledge. In that, I have mentioned earlier that the Spirit must be the guide in all things, and I have not the right to say anything about someone's private concerns or treatment of the Word of Wisdom unless they personally invite me into their business.