“The
Lord Has Given Us A Law Of Health”
Compared
to the Bible by Connie Raddon
Color Key:
Quotes from the
Ensign in blue.
Quotes from the
Bible in red.
All my own words
are black.
One
of the monthly sections of the Ensign is called “What We Believe”. In the February 2012 issue, this article is
entitled “The Lord Has Given Us A Law of Health”. It is found on page 8-9.
The
article begins, “One of the great blessings we received
when we came to earth was a physical body.”
This refers to the LDS belief that we all existed in a pre-mortal life
as spirits. They also believe that the
spirits who lived their pre-mortal life worthy
enough, would get the blessing of coming to earth to gain a physical
body. (I want to stay on the topic of a
law of health, so just as a side note: this belief is not consistent with what
the Bible teaches, but I will go further into that in other articles.)
The Ensign
continues, “Our bodies are
holy and so important that the Lord calls them temples of God (see 1
Corinthians 3:16).
So let’s take a
look at 1 Cor. 3:16 “Do you not know that you are a
temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
This verse does
indeed say that we are temples of God and that the Spirit of God lives inside
us. But the LDS Church mistakenly
assumes this applies to everyone. It
does not. 1 Corinthians is a letter
written by Paul, specifically to believers – those who have already accepted
Christ and been born again. You can find
that easily when you turn back to 1 Cor. 1:1-2 where it says: “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of
God… To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by
calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
their Lord and ours.”
So as the Ensign
claimed, yes, our bodies are holy temples – but ONLY after they have been
sanctified in Jesus. I hope that is
understood very clearly: It’s JESUS who
makes us clean – nothing else.
(Especially not what we eat or drink, or refrain from eating or
drinking.)
The Ensign
article continues, “Because
our Heavenly Father wants us to take care of our bodies, He revealed essential
information on how to do so. Much of
this information is found in Doctrine and Covenants 89 and is known as the Word
of Wisdom.
Here
we learn several things we should and should not do to keep our bodies
healthy. The spirit of this law is to
consume nutritious foods and to refrain from anything that is habit forming or
harmful to our bodies.”
So basically the
spirit of this law is to eat things that are healthy, and not eat things that
are harmful. When I read this, I just shook my head with
my forehead in my palms thinking to myself, I
can’t believe I used to be so grateful for this “wisdom” that I was told to be
from God! Our simple common sense
can figure out that eating nutritious foods is good for our bodies, and eating
or drinking harmful substances is bad.
It now seems not
only ridiculous, but insulting to have to be told this as claimed revelation
from God. I can’t think of a louder way
to scream to Mormons that they are not capable of thinking for themselves, and
must look to their leaders to even know what they should and shouldn’t eat.
Just because
something is wise to do or not do, does not mean that it is a revelation or a
commandment from God. Do we really need
to be commanded, or have the LDS prophet receive a revelation for mothers to
not give all their children maximum doses of Benadryl to help the kids fall
asleep – NO! We have common sense. Do we need revelations to tell us to not get
drunk and drive? NO! We have common sense.
“Among the things the Lord commands us not to take into
our bodies are alcohol and tobacco…”
This
is contradicts what Jesus Himself did…
Matt
11:19: The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man
gluttonous, and a winebibber…
Calling someone
a “winebibber” back then was like calling them an alcoholic. They were making exaggerations to falsely
accuse Jesus. We know Jesus ate – But His
accusers called him “gluttonous” as an exaggeration. We also know Jesus drank wine, but his
accusers again exaggerated and called him an alcoholic.
John
2:9-10: When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine,
and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the
governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, ‘Every man at
the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that
which is worse; but thou hast keep the good wine until now.”
That was an
account of the first miracle Jesus performed.
It was turning water into wine.
Not cheap wine, watered down, or anything like just grape juice, but the
“good” wine, which meant the most fermented.
1
Timothy 5:23: No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your
stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
Paul gave this
instruction to Timothy for some kind of stomach problem Timothy was having: to
not drink only water, but to use a little wine.
The
Ensign article also says, “The Lord
counsels us against the use of ‘hot drinks’ (D&C 89:9) Prophets have
explained that this means coffee and tea…”
(Quick question
to consider: Why wouldn’t the Lord
explain to Joseph Smith that “hot
drinks” meant coffee and tea when this supposed revelation took place?)
“Fruits, vegetables, and wholesome herbs are to be used
‘in the season thereof’ and ‘with prudence and thanksgiving’ (D&C
89:10-11)”
“Meat and poultry have been ‘ordained for the use of
man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly. (D&C
89:12)”
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS:
Deuteronomy
14:26 “And you shall spend that money
for whatever your heart desires; for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink,
for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God,
and you shall rejoice, you and your household.”
God is saying to
eat and drink whatever you want – and glorify God in doing it.
In Matthew 15,
Jesus is teaching the people about God’s commandments and man’s traditions:
Matt
15:11, 17-18 “Not what goes into the
mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man…Do you
not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is
eliminated? But those things which
proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.”
Jesus is telling
us that God is concerned and interested in what is in our hearts – not in our
stomachs.
Paul explains it
again in Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
1
Corinthians 8:8 “But food does not
commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not
eat are we the worse.”
See how the
Bible teaches that what we eat or drink does not matter to God? What does matter is that we have given our
heart over to Jesus Christ, our Lord, God, and King. Once we have done that, all our sins are
forgiven – past, present, and future – so what we eat can’t make even a tiny
dent in the surety of our eternal life in heaven.
Actually, the
LDS law of health (Word of Wisdom) is a very good idea in a lot of its points –
eating meat sparingly, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, avoid addictive
substances and other harmful things. But
instead of just being a suggestion, the LDS Church makes your salvation depend
on obedience to it. You cannot go to the
temple if you do not obey the Word of Wisdom.
If you can’t go to the temple, you cannot get sealed to your spouse for
eternity, or perform ordinances that the LDS leaders claim are required for
salvation.
When I was a
teenager, my dad was the bishop of our ward.
He told me that bishops hold a high calling of being “judges in
Israel”. Part of what that meant was
that bishops should interview members at least once a year to make sure they
are still worthy to attend the temple.
After the member answers all the interview questions, the bishop is to
judge the worthiness of the member. One
of these questions is “Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?” Another one is “Do you keep the Sabbath Day
holy?”
With that in
mind, let’s take a look at Colossians 2:16…
“So
let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon
or Sabbaths.”
I think that’s
pretty clear – no man on earth has the right to judge us based on what we eat
or drink. Sorry, bishops, but according
to the Bible, you are out of line.
I would
challenge you, if you are LDS, to study this further. Read Romans 14 – the entire chapter, and ask
yourself – is the Word of Wisdom from God?
Or is it invented by men as another rule you must follow to be a good
Mormon?
The
teachings in the February 2012 issue of the Ensign
are
NOT Biblical, and therefore,
NOT
consistent with Christian beliefs.
Brigham Young issued a challenge on
May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46): “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of
the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”
I have accepted that challenge from
Brigham Young.
In the February 2012 issue of the
Ensign, the LDS religion FAILS
this test.
Resources
used for this article:
The Word of God
(The Bible)- King James Version and New King James Version
The LDS
magazine, “The Ensign”
“Where Mormonism
Meets Biblical Christianity Face to Face” by Shawn Aaron McCraney
My research
parter, Art Haglund.
Thank you also
to my husband, Ken, who sacrifices time with me while I study and write, and provides proofreading and editing
services!
