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#{{note|by.1}} {{JDwiki|author=Brigham Young|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_10/Home_Manufactures%E2%80%94the_Necessity_of_Greater_Attention_to_Them%E2%80%94Tithing|vol=10|pages=206}} | #{{note|by.1}} {{JDwiki|author=Brigham Young|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_10/Home_Manufactures%E2%80%94the_Necessity_of_Greater_Attention_to_Them%E2%80%94Tithing|vol=10|pages=206}} | ||
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Revision as of 20:46, 28 June 2009
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
Contents
Criticism
Critics charge that Brigham Young had a whiskey distillery in Utah, thus encouraging others to violate the Word of Wisdom and showing his hypocrisy.
Source(s) of the criticism
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 474.( Index of claims )
Response
Critics count on "presentism"—they hope readers will judge historical figures by the standards of our day, instead of their day.
The Word of Wisdom was enforced differently in the 19th century than today. It was not the strict test of fellowships that it is for the modern member.
Rational purposes
Critics also fail to point out that the fact that some forbidden substances were seen as having a medicinal use, for which the Saints were free to use them. Said Brigham:
- When there was no whisky to be had here, and we needed it for rational purposes, I built a house to make it in. When the distillery was almost completed and in good working order, an army was heard of in our vicinity and I shut up the works I did not make a gallon of whisky at my works, because it came here in great quantities, more than was needed. I could have made thousands of dollars from my still, which has ever since been as dead property.[1]
Whiskey could have legitimate uses—for medication, for the cleaning of wounds, and for the cleaning of the body. Furthermore, the application of the Word of Wisdom did not necessarily require complete abstinence, as Brigham taught on another occasion:
- I have no fellowship for men who are guilty of breaking the Sabbath, of drinking spirituous liquors to excess....[2]
Brigham was prepared to produce a limited amount for such uses—the Saints were isolated in Utah and had to either produce or import everything they needed. He was not pleased, however, at the influx of whiskey and attendant over-use which accompanied the U.S. army.
Conclusion
The Word of Wisdom was not enforced as rigorously, or with the same requirements, in Brigham Young's day. Many speakers emphasized the Lord's patience in this matter, as applied to both leaders and members.
But, some of the events with which the critics wish to shock the modern member probably have nothing to do with the Word of Wisdom at all. They are concerned about medical practice or other legitimate uses, not the social or recreational use of substances. The choices made by the nineteenth century saints and leaders should be seen in their historical context, not ours.
Endnotes
- [note] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:206.
- [note] Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 6:319.