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Home » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints » Current Church Doctrine » The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks (My experience that give insight to this wisdom....)
The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #250] Thu, 10 March 2011 10:30 Go to next message
Seeker is currently offline  Seeker
Messages: 244
Registered: June 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Senior Member
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
Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #544 is a reply to message #250] Sun, 24 June 2012 19:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JulesGP
Messages: 357
Registered: May 2012
Location: Davis County, UT
Senior Member

Seeker thanks for posting this! My idea of the WOW is COMPLETELY different from most people in the church. I don't go into the details of it with most people because most would not agree.

For one thing, I think that trash food is served at most every LDS gathering and it frustrates me that since our "health code" is so important that we can't get a temple recommend without following it, why don't we as a church teach how to cook healthy foods, and eliminate unhealthy and toxic foods from our diets? (We do NOT need tons of brownies and jello at every event, we eat too much processed junk, and we certainly don't bother eating things in season or the way we were told to.)

For another thing, I think that we were given herbs and plants for our use and benefit, and it bothers me that nobody in the church knows how to use them anymore. In the early days of the church, they used plants and herbs and even taught about them in church and how to properly use them. Now it seems that everyone turns to Oxycontin or other pain killers and anti-depressants. I know too many people in the church who are addicted to these medications they obtain legally from their doctors, but make no effort to find natural means of controlling ailments, and changing their diets and lifestyle to stay healthy like the Lord intended. I say this as one who used to be on regular doses of pain killers, muscle relaxers, anti-anxiety pills, antidepressants, and sleeping pills. I made all kinds of life changes and learned to manage my illnesses with herbs and essential oils, diet changes, natural healing like chiropractic and massage, and other things God gave us to use for righteous purposes.

I could go on and on... don't even get me started about Monsanto... I will get off my soap box for now... Very Happy

But regarding hot drinks, one thing that I wanted to comment on is that most people don't realize (including those who drink herbal teas like I do), that if you put super-hot or boiling water over the leaves, it actually burns the tea and ruins the medicinal effect and/or the health benefits of the dried leaves or flowers. Then of course Seeker - you discussed the damage to our bodies by using things that are too hot. If warm to mild heat is used, the beneficial properties of the tea will be retained and infused into the liquid, and not burn our mouths. It seems as if the Lord may have been on to something..... Shocked Laughing


~Jules

[Updated on: Sun, 24 June 2012 19:51]

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Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #546 is a reply to message #544] Sun, 24 June 2012 22:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Amonhi is currently offline  Amonhi
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Amen JulesGP!

Yeah, don't open the Monsanto can or all the copyrighted DNA will get out and they'll sue you for everything you own!

Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #653 is a reply to message #546] Sun, 15 July 2012 16:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Dragon is currently offline  Dragon
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If the LDS Church were to come out and declare certain foods unacceptable for human consumption based on nutritional needs or containing harmful substances, it would become part of the Word of Wisdom to raise our own gardens, our own beef and chickens, etc to avoid the chemicals which are in our foods.

But that is NOT the purpose of the Word of Wisdom. The WoW is intended as a covenant between God and Man. God asks us to avoid certain things, and lists blessings for doing so. It does not need to have anything to do with health concerns, but it does cover the worst of the unhealthy habits the world has accepted as normal.

Additionally, we have been told our bodies are temples, and we should treat them as such. But there is not yet a question in the Temple Recommend interview to determine if you have eaten any GMOs or meats injected with growth hormones. They do not ask if we know what has happened to our food before we eat it. The Word of Wisdom is more than what we are asked about in the Temple Recommend interview, but somehow that is the only part people focus on.


- Dragon
Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #1787 is a reply to message #544] Sun, 30 December 2012 14:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rdwhitaker is currently offline  rdwhitaker
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Registered: December 2012
Location: Vancouver, Washington
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At one time in modern church history, the church was preparing to come out with an extensive program and educational system promoting the cultivation, preparation and use of many healing herbs. However, the program was scrapped by church leaders before it was introduced.

It bothers me that so many in the church are single-mindedly dedicated to modern medicine as the only source of their health and physical welfare. I personally believe "Big Medicine" and
"Big Pharmacy" are largely part of and entwined with the Great Babylon in these last days. See "Confessions of a Medical Heretic" by Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn! He points out how modern medicine is anti-family, anti-freedom, anti-healing, and anti-faith. It is a very telling expose against medicine and pharmacology!

When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we called a wise, trusted old aunt of ours who was married to one of the presidents of the quorum of the 70, and asked her if she could recommend a good pediatrician for us. She smiled in her own special way and said, "I don't know -- we have always relied on the Priesthood."

We learned my wife had Multiple Sclerosis just before we were married. She quickly decided the medical community could not offer her a true cure. She chose to follow a regimen of diet, herbs, exercise, and natural holistic approaches that have served her far better than we feel medicine could have. Few people even know she has MS.

It appears I am rambling again. Isn't it interesting that the church announced the Word of Wisdom does not prohibit caffeine! So many members I know firmly believed caffeine was as strictly prohibited as drinking whiskey.

I accept the church's interpretation that the term "hot drinks" does not refer to the temperature of a beverage, but is meant to mean coffee and tea. To me that means iced tea is just as verboten as hot tea, coffee ice cream is just as off limits as a steaming hot cup of Joe. As one of my favorite Bishops pointed out: Isn't it amazing how many people are quick to point a finger at others over supposed violations of questionable interpretations of the Word of Wisdom, but think nothing of their own violation of the commandment not to judge others unrighteously? or not to speak evil of the Lord's anointed?

Ryan


Don't . . . Quit . . . Trying!!
Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #3604 is a reply to message #250] Fri, 09 March 2018 22:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
The Airbender is currently offline  The Airbender
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Registered: March 2018
Location: Blanding
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I agree that modern "healthcare" is quite the opposite. Its goal is to get us all sick and dependent on their aritifical drugs so they can make lots of money.

I found it interesting that no one mentioned how much meat we eat when the word of wisdom basically says we shouldn't eat meat unless we are starving and there isn't much else to choose from.

"Meat's okay but only twice a day" doesn't quite cut it.
Re: The Word of Wisdom - Hot Drinks [message #3606 is a reply to message #3604] Fri, 09 March 2018 22:24 Go to previous message
JulesGP
Messages: 357
Registered: May 2012
Location: Davis County, UT
Senior Member

Since it hasn't been posted here, I'll add this, that Elliaison wrote on the topic:

http://elliaison.org/free-elliaison-books-and-articles/animals-and-meat/

Reading this a few years ago was the thing that made something in me click, and I couldn't look at meat the same way anymore.


~Jules
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