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Transcript

Alcohol consumption in the 1830s was a lot higher than it is today. And people would drink alcohol instead of water because there wasn't a lot of clean water available at the time. I'm sure I would've had parents who drank alcohol frequently. I think it was likely that my father could have been drunk a lot, and that could've influenced the way that he treated my mother and my siblings. I think it would've been really casual for me and my siblings to drink alcohol and for my brothers to act like it's really not that big of a deal to go and to consume hard liquor and then come home and be more angry and volatile than they would've been before. We learn of the story of Emma walking into the School of the Prophets and seeing the smoke-filled room and the spit on the floor and being completely frustrated with Joseph and having to clean this up and venting her frustrations to him. But I think that it's interesting learning, as I've studied the history, that it wasn't just Emma's concern that spawned this. This was a larger conversation. I mean, the Revolutionary War was over, right? The government had been founded. And now we're dealing with other challenges. I think the temperance movement came because people started to recognize the consequences of alcohol consumption. And I think it took a lot of courage to say, "OK, something that we're so used to, that's become really commonplace--actually, it isn't OK anymore." And so I think it shows a lot of mercy that Heavenly Father--I feel like He'd heard a lot of prayers, not only of like Emma and Joseph Smith, but of other mothers and sisters and daughters who said, "There's got to be a better way to exist." They were waiting for an answer. They were waiting to know where the Lord stood on the matter. They were waiting for, sort of, the period at the end of the sentence. I mean, this is a huge time of transition for the Saints. They're being asked to do something pretty difficult. But I think the cool thing--and this is in the Word of Wisdom right there--is powerful blessings associated with living the Word of Wisdom. And they're not just physical blessings. I think that's the big difference between the temperance movement and the Word of Wisdom. God wants us to be healthy. But more than that, He wants us to have a connection with Him. The history of the Word of Wisdom teaches us a lot about revelation. It teaches us that revelation starts with a question and that the Lord doesn't just care about the individual question, which is important, but He also cares about kind of the collective question, what's going on as a whole. And He will answer those questions, often, through individuals.

The Word of Wisdom and the Temperance Movement

Description
Students discuss the relationship between the larger anti-alcohol temperance movement and the Word of Wisdom.
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