Word of Wisdom and a Sports Analogy

Word of Wisdom and a Sports Analogy: "In a very realistic dream last night, I was with a missionary who was teaching a highly educated couple about the Word of Wisdom. They sincerely asked how God could be unhappy with them for drinking coffee. It's a fair question, especially with scientific evidence that coffee might have a variety of positive health effects (jury is always out on the impact of any one food or drink: positive effects in one area might be outweighed by harms in others, and much remains to be understood). It reminded me of an investigator I had in Switzerland who loved the Church but loved her coffee just a wee bit more, and stuck with this rhetorical question: 'Why would the Lord reject me over a cup of coffee?'

The answer, of course (IF the Word of Wisdom really was given by revelation), is why would we let our love for coffee come before the Lord? Why would we reject Him for such a trivial thing? It's a matter of faith, of course, that depends on recognizing Joseph Smith as a prophet. Once we suspect that may be the case, it's still fair or at least natural to ask about some of the details of the Word of Wisdom. Most of it is now understood to be very wise. But for all we know, the ban on coffee and tea in the LDS Word of Wisdom could be an arbitrary test of faith. Perhaps it could have been toast and jam, deep-fried fish. or ice cream and chocolate (heaven forbid!). An inconvenient and unpopular dietary restriction as a test of faith, perhaps?

In the dream, I tried to find a way to help the couple understand the role of the Word of Wisdom. There were two disconnected concepts that followed. One was the image of people with a chain hanging from their wrist. It looked like a symbol of slavery, as many may view our dietary restrictions. Then a group of people with the chains stood in a circle and started spinning around, the loose end of the chain extending outward. The chains now were weapons that kept enemies away from the group. Kind of weird, but I guess that's a fair to look at the Word of Wisdom, especially the restrictions on alcohol, tobacco, and harmful drugs, and the emphasis on a healthy diet.

The other concept in the dream, or in a waking moment after it, was that of a coach training his team. There are all sorts of rules that a coach may impose on team members, from 'give me 50 push-ups now!' to numerous details of daily diet and exercise. Some of what he asks may be arbitrary and not all that helpful, but the journey of obedience and discipline is a valuable one aimed at taking his team to a higher level of success. If the Lord is our coach, we don't have to insist that He provide scientific evidence backing each aspect of His recommended dietary regimen. The discipline itself is part of the journey to excellence, not to mention obedience.

Someday we may understand the Word of Wisdom with more clarity. For now, though, it's such a minor thing we're asked to do--what a pity if we let that stand between us and the Lord.

Did either of these concepts help in teaching that couple? I'll let you know after the next installment in my dream series, if the sequel gets played.

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