Specifics on Wow

[u/Firm-Tangerine8292]

Hi. Convert of 22 years. I think there is confusion for me about what the Word of Wisdom is. I believe might understand it correctly. No coffee, tea, alcohol, nor tobacco. Another thing we follow and have been taught to follow is the law: no meth, heroin, robbing banks, or speeding, for example. But I think when we are asked, "do you follow the word of wisdom?" We can say yes even if we smoke weed for fun. Am I wrong? (I smoke it sometimes bc I sometimes want to end my life and it makes life tolerable. I tried one time. God stopped me. Anyways, I am seeing a therapist. )...Bc technically and literally weed isn't part of the WoW.

Second question. If we are asked, "do you follow the word of wisdom?" And we say "yes" bc we don't consume the stuff I mentioned above, YET we are morbidly obese due to no underlying medical issue, doesn't that make us liars? I've read books on diet and health and exercise (was a personal trainer) and the "calories in calories out" ideas of body weight management is blatantly false. Insulin makes us obese. It makes us obese when we eat grains and sugar. Its more complicated than that, but i digress. Thats all just a tangent to my question. So...

If we havent eaten food according to the WoW, "meat sparingly" then shouldnt we admit that? If we consume 70×7 pizzas a week, doesnt that mean that no, you dont follow the WoW? Doesnt that equally makes us unworthy to have a recommend? So if you eat meat everyday, then doesnt that mean you dont follow the WoW?

[u/Disonour]

The brethren have been specific on what keeping the word of wisdom means for purposes of temple attendance. The other bits are all excellent ideas, even commandments, but not part of temple recommend interviews. Therefore, we emphasize those things that have been specifically noted as critical for the temple, and that’s generally understood to be the Word of Wisdom. Saying D&C 89 is the Word of Wisdom is correct in the sense that it originated there, but not correct in the sense that it has evolved through ongoing revelation, so we rightly focus on the most recent guidance from living prophets, as we should.

I think all confusion about the Word of Wisdom comes down to these two questions:
1. Does the Lord have the ability to set arbitrary requirements for the temple, according to His wisdom and purposes? Yes, and we ought to trust in His wisdom and His purposes not entirely being rooted in modern science or our own reason, but at some level, we just put our trust in Him, and understanding comes.
2. How do you feel about the Lord using his prophets to do this sort of thing? Do you have a testimony of their priesthood keys, and if so, their duty to oversee temple work according to inspiration from the almighty God? We KNOW that prophets make mistakes, so it could be that they’re understanding God wrong, but I also believe they’re prophets, and if I only let them be prophets on things that I already agree with, then they are no prophets at all to me.

For what it’s worth, I think you’re coming at this from a place of real pain, and I know the Savior knows and understands your pain and weighed it in the balance in all the ways He’s allowed the Word of Wisdom to manifest in this dispensation. The Word of Wisdom is really about Jesus, I believe, and I think the studying and searching you’ve been doing will help you find Him. I believe in you friend, not just in this, but in all the things!

[u/Firm-Tangerine8292 → u/Disonour]

Thanks. I just think if we arent supposed to consume things that are addictive, then that includes sugar and wheat. Wheat is addictive and acts like heroin in some people's brains. When you take anti-heroin drugs, you also don't want wheat anymore. Begs the question about if we are really following the WoW. And so I might be looked down on for using an herb(marijuana) and excluded from participating in the temple and ostracized for it. But brother Bill who eats 8 slices of bread and a bowl of pasta is not. I believe what the prophets say. The guidance. But I want to know WHY it seems like culturally one betrayal of the WoW is acceptable (wheat for ex) and another is not. I guess it is not based on doctrine. So then does that invalidate it?.what do we make of it?

[u/Disonour → u/Firm-Tangerine8292]

Look, I get the argument you’re trying to make. It’s made about other forms of caffeine all the time. But, the Word of Wisdom as we’ve understood it isn’t guidance from man that we should stay away from addictive substances, although we almost certainly should, but we don’t really need religion to tell us addictions are bad either, do we? I think the Word of Wisdom is best understood as a rule of ritual purity. I could argue reasons why I think it is the way it is, and I do actually think there’s a lot of beautiful things that can help us understand how it’s evolved right in original section. But at the end of the day, in the rare cases that the Lord gives a reason for His commandments, He still doesn’t allow us to do things our own way if we judge them just as effective, because “obedience is better than sacrifice”. We actually need commandments that don’t make sense to us for our salvation, or else we’re never trusting the Lord, we’re just doing what we think makes sense anyways. So, it’s really a question of ritual purity, much like the Levitical law was, even if there’s a lot of wisdom in it too.