A new Word of Wisdom

[SeattleUte]

The Word of Wisdom is overall a bad thing because it represents a mechanism of control including a means of separating out Mormons from the world. The Word of Wisdom is shorthand for determining commitment to the community. Alcohol is an important element of social intercourse in our society, and has been forever. I favor liberty and personal accountablility and diverse peoples mixing it up and having a good time absent barriers. If it were just a Word of Wisdom who could argue with it? But it's not. It's like LDS want to put a badge on members.

The Word of Wisdom also represents absence of an eye for nuance and complexity that is so common in LDS culutre. The idea that anyone who touches alcohol is an addict or insipient addict is really quite common among LDS. Personally, I think a lot of joy and "wisdom" is lost in life where sensitivity to nuance and complexity is eliminated. For example, it's tragic 3D doesn't drink; I'm sure he'd be responisible and a font of wisdom about top line scotches and great wines, and even the premier tequillas and vodkas. This would be in keeping with his overall life view and help him to fulfill has calling as the life of any party and people person par excellance.

[PaloAltoCougar]

For example, it's tragic 3D doesn't drink; I'm sure he'd be responsible and a font of wisdom about top line scotches and great wines, and even the premier tequilas and vodkas. This would be in keeping with his overall life view and help him to fulfill has calling as the life of any party and people person par excellence.

I dunno. After he'd had a couple of Shirley Temples at Tucano's, I saw DDD wearing a lampshade and it wasn't pretty. Heaven help us if he taps into a little single malt.

[SeattleUte]

I dunno. After he'd had a couple of Shirley Temples at Tucano's, I saw DDD wearing a lampshade and it wasn't pretty. Heaven help us if he taps into a little single malt.

There should be a Word of Wisdom against Shirley Temples, not wine or scotch.

[TripletDaddy]

The Word of Wisdom is overall a bad thing because it represents a mechanism of control including a means of separating out Mormons from the world. The Word of Wisdom is shorthand for determining commitment to the community. Alcohol is an important element of social intercourse in our society, and has been forever. I favor liberty and personal accountablility and diverse peoples mixing it up and having a good time absent barriers. If it were just a Word of Wisdom who could argue with it? But it's not. It's like LDS want to put a badge on members.

The Word of Wisdom also represents absence of an eye for nuance and complexity that is so common in LDS culutre. The idea that anyone who touches alcohol is an addict or insipient addict is really quite common among LDS. Personally, I think a lot of joy and "wisdom" is lost in life where sensitivity to nuance and complexity is eliminated. For example, it's tragic 3D doesn't drink; I'm sure he'd be responisible and a font of wisdom about top line scotches and great wines, and even the premier tequillas and vodkas. This would be in keeping with his overall life view and help him to fulfill has calling as the life of any party and people person par excellance.

I'd like to think I would be responsible. I have no need for self-medication and I don't go out much with just "the guys," so most of my drinking would be social.....dinners with clients or family, a beer at the football game.

Currently, there is another reason why I would not drink. Alcohol is fattening. Lots of sugar. I am trying to avoid having a fat stomach.

Oenology fascinates me. It really does. I used to work with a guy that was a real aficionado and it was so fun going out to eat with him. Every bottle had a story. It was like hanging out with the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World.

I agree with you that sharing a libation has been a symbol of fellowship for centuries. In fact, most seminal moments in life are generally accompanied by alcohol of some sort. The birth of the first child (often with cigars and champagne); having your first beer with your dad; the champagne toast at the wedding nuptials; taking a client out and celebrating the close of a deal with a nice bottle of wine. Even the original Sacrament was served with wine, so there is definitely religious precedent for alcohol in moderation. If we look at the WoW as being a relatively "new" "christian edict," one could argue that, historically, Christianity has actually embraced alcohol (in moderation) over the centuries and thrived. Not sure why, after hundreds and hundreds of years, we are now asked to avoid wine. But oh well.

[SeattleUte]

Alcohol is fattening. Lots of sugar. I am trying to avoid having a fat stomach.

Lay off the Shirley Temples and you can have a drink of alcohol every now and then.

[TripletDaddy]

Lay off the Shirley Temples and you can have a drink of alcohol every now and then.

I don't drink those, although grenadine is delish!

I have not had a drop of any juice or soda in about 3 months. Mostly water, but I will have milk indirectly (in oatmeal, cereal, etc).

I don't care about soda but I really miss fruit juice. I love that stuff.

S-Temples don't really have much more in terms of caloric content, but they definitely have too much.....160 or so?

One beer has about 150 calories (assuming you aren't drinking syrup like Guinness).

One small glass of wine has about 130 calories.

Champagne.....170 calories or so.

Straight up shots tend to have fewer calories, but then the calories start going through the roof once you add all the fruit juice and other mixers.

If you figure someone goes out and has 3 or so drinks, they are ingesting about 400-600 calories in liquid alone, on top of anything else they are eating while drinking, as well as all the other calories they have ingested during the day. It is not a coincidence that all those fun loving beer drinkers at the bar and in the football stands.....they all have fat guts.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Oenology fascinates me. It really does. I used to work with a guy that was a real aficionado and it was so fun going out to eat with him. Every bottle had a story. It was like hanging out with the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World.

I engaged in a few Animal House-style dalliances in high school, but nothing since, although my ability to generate contact highs at firm parties won me the admiration of my colleagues (or so I believed). I was also adept at mixing drinks, and was chief bartender for Congressman Pete Stark's '75 fundraiser in D.C., concocting libations for Carl Albert and Tip O'Neill, among others. I believe I was given the role, not for my ability to mix potent potables, but rather because I posed little threat to the inventory.

My mentor at Orrick was an oenophile nonpareil, and through countless lunches and dinners I acquired a fascinating, if ultimately utterly impractical, knowledge of the grape. My mentor eventually surrendered his substantial collection following a heart attack and a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy which was attributed, in part, to his winebibbing. He has beaten the odds, living at least 15 years beyond what the docs had predicted originally, and hasn't had a drop since the original diagnosis. He says he doesn't miss it a bit.

[SeattleUte]

I don't drink those, although grenadine is delish!

I have not had a drop of any juice or soda in about 3 months. Mostly water, but I will have milk indirectly (in oatmeal, cereal, etc).

I don't care about soda but I really miss fruit juice. I love that stuff.

S-Temples don't really have much more in terms of caloric content, but they definitely have too much.....160 or so?

One beer has about 150 calories (assuming you aren't drinking syrup like Guinness).

One small glass of wine has about 130 calories.

Champagne.....170 calories or so.

Straight up shots tend to have fewer calories, but then the calories start going through the roof once you add all the fruit juice and other mixers.

If you figure someone goes out and has 3 or so drinks, they are ingesting about 400-600 calories in liquid alone, on top of anything else they are eating while drinking, as well as all the other calories they have ingested during the day. It is not a coincidence that all those fun loving beer drinkers at the bar and in the football stands.....they all have fat guts.

I don't drink mixed drinks and rarely drink juices. When I drink I'm a straight up guy; in fact, one of the best things about alcohol is as a food accompaniment. Other sugary drinks are verboten. I tell myself that juices aren't nearly as good as whole fruits, which is true.

[SeattleUte]

I engaged in a few Animal House-style dalliances in high school, but nothing since, although my ability to generate contact highs at firm parties won me the admiration of my colleagues (or so I believed). I was also adept at mixing drinks, and was chief bartender for Congressman Pete Stark's '75 fundraiser in D.C., concocting libations for Carl Albert and Tip O'Neill, among others. I believe I was given the role, not for my ability to mix potent potables, but rather because I posed little threat to the inventory.

My mentor at Orrick was an oenophile nonpareil, and through countless lunches and dinners I acquired a fascinating, if ultimately utterly impractical, knowledge of the grape. My mentor eventually surrendered his substantial collection following a heart attack and a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy which was attributed, in part, to his winebibbing. He has beaten the odds, living at least 15 years beyond what the docs had predicted originally, and hasn't had a drop since the original diagnosis. He says he doesn't miss it a bit.

I have no doubt PAC and 3D know more about this stuff than I do. I'd like to learn at the feet of masters. How about a wine and spirits category, central committee? It can have at the top a thumb tacked thread with quotations from the Word of Wisdom, Surgeon General Reports, the Koran, etc. How about it?

[il Padrino Ute]

The Word of Wisdom is overall a bad thing because it represents a mechanism of control including a means of separating out Mormons from the world. The Word of Wisdom is shorthand for determining commitment to the community. Alcohol is an important element of social intercourse in our society, and has been forever. I favor liberty and personal accountablility and diverse peoples mixing it up and having a good time absent barriers. If it were just a Word of Wisdom who could argue with it? But it's not. It's like LDS want to put a badge on members.

The Word of Wisdom also represents absence of an eye for nuance and complexity that is so common in LDS culutre. The idea that anyone who touches alcohol is an addict or insipient addict is really quite common among LDS. Personally, I think a lot of joy and "wisdom" is lost in life where sensitivity to nuance and complexity is eliminated. For example, it's tragic 3D doesn't drink; I'm sure he'd be responisible and a font of wisdom about top line scotches and great wines, and even the premier tequillas and vodkas. This would be in keeping with his overall life view and help him to fulfill has calling as the life of any party and people person par excellance.

This is why you defeated Robin in the apostate poll. You use subtlety to try to steal the souls of the believers, by mentioning what society sees as positives of a non-believers way of life.

[byu71]

I don't know about sitting with your kids and sharing the pot experience, however I do know emphatically I would be against a Dad sitting with his son and teaching him how to walk the dog.

[Hallelujah]

Yeah, good points. The overall health of the world would be better without alcoholic beverages, that's for sure. Alcoholism is a major problem. And if somebody is genetically predisposed to be an alcoholic but never ends up touching the stuff due to religion, then that person is very fortunate. But it's also true that the vast majority of people who drink alcohol don't become alcoholics and don't ever have the desire to drink excessively.

As far as the Church goes, I like Lebowski's suggestion of returning the WoW to its original intent of "good advice" rather than having it be a basic worthiness standard.

Would you then give temple patrons a breathalizer test before entering the temple or let an occassional drunk in? I also think that the strong smell of tobacco would add to the spirit in the temple. don't you?

[Sleeping in EQ]

Would you then give temple patrons a breathalizer test before entering the temple or let an occassional drunk in? I also think that the strong smell of tobacco would add to the spirit in the temple. don't you?

I wouldn't find the tobacco smell quite as inspiring as I would have the bullock carcasses in the OT tabernacle.

[byu71]

Would you then give temple patrons a breathalizer test before entering the temple or let an occassional drunk in? I also think that the strong smell of tobacco would add to the spirit in the temple. don't you?

I know for a fact they let in very old people. The men quite often shit their pants. I think they could handle an occasional dope who smells badly of tobacco.

[CardiacCoug]

Would you then give temple patrons a breathalizer test before entering the temple or let an occassional drunk in? I also think that the strong smell of tobacco would add to the spirit in the temple. don't you?

Plenty of people who take benzodiazepines with identical sedative effects to alcohol enter the temple under the influence of these medications. They usually just fall asleep -- I'd expect people who had a couple of beers first to act about the same way.

If someone's clothes smell like tobacco smoke because they live or work in an environment filled with tobacco smoke do we ban them from entering the temple because of how they smell? If you were in charge, I guess we would.