| The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #250] |
Thu, 10 March 2011 10:30  |
Seeker
Messages: 244
Registered: June 2010
Location: Las Vegas
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Senior Member |
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This morning I heated up some burritos for breakfast and ran out the door for work. While driving I picked up a burrito and took a decent bite. It became very apparent that while the tortilla outside was warm, the gooey bean concoction in the middle was scalding!
For the next few seconds I did everything I could to stop the burning sensation in my mouth. I spit it out, took a drink blew, everything.
Within 20 minutes I had a dime size blister on the roof of my mouth. I thought, If I only ate hot foods more often my mouth would be callused and it wouldn't have hurt so much or caused a blister. Then I remembered the word of wisdom which tells us to avoid "Hot Drinks".
I thought about what would happen to my mouth and throat if I were constantly pooring hot drinks down them. Like slowly boiling/killing/callusing our mouth, throat and stomach.
The church doesn't preach to avoid hot drinks anymore, it tells us to avoid "harmful substances". Here is a quote from the Gospel Principles manual taken from the Word of Wisdom chapter:
Quote:The Lord also counsels us against the use of "hot drinks" (D&C 89:9). Church leaders have said that this means coffee and tea, which contain harmful substances. We should avoid all drinks that contain harmful substances. - "Chapter 29: The Lord's Law of Health," Gospel Principles, (2009)
As a missionary we would encourage people to get off Coffee and tea by replacing them with postum or other hot drink alternatives. I myself have often enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate on a snowy day.
It seems to me that by interpreting the scripture we may have missed the point. Somehow, "avoid hot drinks" means "avoid all drinks with harmful substances". Although Coffee and Tea are often hot drinks, they are only a subset of the many hot drinks and soups that people tend to sip. (Sipped because they are so hot they burn and can't be taken in gulps.)
If we were reading the scriptures without the interpretations given to us, I think we would have a very different word of wisdom. For example, here is the entire scripture that has been interpreted to mean "all drinks that contain harmful substances":
Quote:And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.- D&C 89:9
This is the only reference for "Hot Drinks" in our canonized scripture. The Interpretive version of this scripture seems to imply that we can readily drink hot drinks and other foods that do not contain harmful substances. However my mouth currently disagrees. And I am sure it will continue to disagree until the blister heals...
~ Seeker
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