The Word of Wisdom as Practiced Today

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by pelagius

I agree with SIEQ general point about the 20th century development of the Word of Wisdom as a test of full fellowship. However, I did want to add that I believe that it was connected to temple worthiness before 1932, This is from Thomas Alexander's 1981 Dialogue article, The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement:"



I recommend the article if you are interested in the 20th century development of the Word of Wisdom that led to it becoming a test of full fellowship. Our present conception of the Word of Wisdom really starts to become important after the death of Leronzo Snow.

My sources are pretty good on this, but your link won't come up. Can you do a copy and paste?

[Mormon Red Death]

Just curious but what exactly does "adherance to the word of wisdom mean"?

Adherance to the actual scripture or the policy of temple worthiness?

[pelagius]

Also, the Elder Stephen L. Richards talk was very controversial at the time. Here is a footnote about it from The Truth, The Way, The Life (edited by Stan Larson):

This particular conference talk by Richards has a unique history. That same afternoon the First Presidency and twelve apostles met to discuss "the question of allowing the address delivered by Elder Stephen L Richards" to be published. Richards had also suggested that church members have tolerance towards those who violate the Word of Wisdom, and the Brethren were concerned "whether the effect of this address will be that of leading to the thought that the Church is lowering its standards" (Talmage Diary, 9 Apr. 1932). As a result of Richards's liberal attitude about the Word of Wisdom and probably also his statement that "some changes in the ordinances, forms, and methods of the church had been made in recent years and that these changes had disturbed some of the members" (quoted from the Tribune), his entire discourse was omitted from the published conference report without comment. This was done in spite of the statement on the title page of One-hundred and Second Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932) that it contains "a Full Report of All the Discourses." Forty-seven years later this discourse was finally published in Sunstone; see Stephen L Richards, "Bringing Humanity to the Gospel," Sunstone 4 (May-June 1979), 43-46.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

My sources are pretty good on this, but your link won't come up. Can youdo a copy and paste?

The link got garbled, apparently, and just requires a little manual clean-up:

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/doc...6654&REC=13%22

[pelagius]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

My sources are pretty good on this, but your link won't come up. Can youdo a copy and paste?

It should be fixed now.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by pelagius

Also, the Elder Stephen L. Richards talk was very controversial at the time. Here is a footnote about it from The Truth, The Way, The Life (edited by Stan Larson):

Yep.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by pelagius

I agree with SIEQ general point about the 20th century development of the Word of Wisdom as a test of full fellowship. However, I did want to add that I believe that it was connected to temple worthiness before 1932, This is from Thomas Alexander's 1981 Dialogue article, The Word of Wisdom: From Principle to Requirement:"



I recommend the article if you are interested in the 20th century development of the Word of Wisdom that led to it becoming a test of full fellowship. Our present conception of the Word of Wisdom really starts to become important after the death of Leronzo Snow.

I still hold to the 1932 Annual General Conference being a watershed moment in all of this. As Alexander notes, the pressure started coming down with Joseph F. Smith (Brigham Young was a heavy on this in 1851 as well), and some strict council was given in 1921, but the General Conference of 1932 was really "it." President Grant gave a big talk that left no "grandfathering" and no discretion. No more looking the other way for "old men." No more Bishop's making individual exceptions, and it was put to a vote of the Church (I'm going off of memory on this last point, but I'll check when I get home).