Meat and Mormonism

Katzpur said:

Okay! I'll be ready for 'em.

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I was wondering what your thoughts were on the whole "Are Mormons Christian?" issue. I didn't start a thread on it because I thought it would attract a lot of Scripture-quoting, belief-baiting, and general arguing- seeing as how I'm not Shawn McCraney I decided to avoid that.

HankHill said:

I was wondering what your thoughts were on the whole "Are Mormons Christian?" issue. I didn't start a thread on it because I thought it would attract a lot of Scripture-quoting, belief-baiting, and general arguing- seeing as how I'm not Shawn McCraney I decided to avoid that.

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Thank you.

We are absolutely, positively Christian. We believe everything the Bible has to say about Jesus Christ, including the fact that He is the Only Begotten Son of God and the only means by which we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to our Father in Heaven. He is our Savior. We worship Him and we are committed to living our lives as we believe He would want us to.

Katzpur said:

Thank you.

We are absolutely, positively Christian. We believe everything the Bible has to say about Jesus Christ, including the fact that He is the Only Begotten Son of God and the only means by which we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to our Father in Heaven. He is our Savior. We worship Him and we are committed to living our lives as we believe He would want us to.

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Alright thank you, on an unrelated note I watched both the God's Army movies last night and found them to be pretty insipiring, and good movies too.

HankHill said:

Alright thank you, on an unrelated note I watched both the God's Army movies last night and found them to be pretty insipiring, and good movies too.

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No kidding? I love the God's Armies movies! In the second one (States of Grace), the part near the very end, where everyone is gathered at the live nativity scene, that just tore me up. I'm not particularly prone to crying in movies, but I just bawled in that part. For some reason, it just profoundly affected me.

Katzpur said:

No kidding? I love the God's Armies movies! In the second one (States of Grace), the part near the very end, where everyone is gathered at the live nativity scene, that just tore me up. I'm not particularly prone to crying in movies, but I just bawled in that part. For some reason, it just profoundly affected me.

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Yeah I thought that was quite touching as well, one of the few cases of a sequel being better than the original. Just watched Single's Ward today- not as serious but good I thought. I really had no idea there were so many LDS movies out there.

HankHill said:

Yeah I thought that was quite touching as well, one of the few cases of a sequel being better than the original. Just watched Single's Ward today- not as serious but good I thought. I really had no idea there were so many LDS movies out there.

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Singles Ward? Yeah, probably not worth your time.

By the way, "Saints and Soldiers" is about a Mormon soldier in World War II. It's not overtly Mormon, though. Nice character development and an interesting twist part way through. I'd recommend it.

Alright, I'll check that out.

I'm gonna be out of town with my dad til July 15, so if you don't hear from me til then that's why- peace.

HankHill said:

I'm gonna be out of town with my dad til July 15, so if you don't hear from me til then that's why- peace.

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Thanks for the heads up. I really do appreciate it. Have fun!

To respond to the OP, I wish there was a greater emphasis on eating meat sparingly, but alas, it doesn't get much play in the church today.

My family went vegan at the beginning of this year and it had nothing to do with the Word of Wisdom (although we feel like we are following the Word of Wisdom more than ever because of it). The health benefits have been tremendous (not to mention we are no longer contributing to the "food factories" out there).

I think many LDS find it easier to follow the "don'ts" of the WoW that the "dos" or the "sparingly" stuff.

DeepShadow said:

I think many LDS find it easier to follow the "don'ts" of the WoW that the "dos" or the "sparingly" stuff.

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Holy Cow! Look whose come back from the dead! :bounce

HankHill said:

Mormons are pretty well known for their avoidance of alcohol and often times caffeine and living a generally healthy lifestyle. However, when I tried to read more about this, I came across the fact that leaders in the LDS church have talked about eating meat sparingly though I haven't really heard of this in modern day Mormon practice. Could anyone shed light on this, any information would be appreciated.

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what constitutes "sparingly" is left to the individual. But ya it still gets brought up now and htne at meetings... and generally I hear stuff like "I need to do that better" from people.

Blackmarch said:

what constitutes "sparingly" is left to the individual. But ya it still gets brought up now and htne at meetings... and generally I hear stuff like "I need to do that better" from people.

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Just curious... Are you now or have you ever been a Mormon? Or are you just interested in the religion from an intellectual perspective?

Katzpur said:

Just curious... Are you now or have you ever been a Mormon? Or are you just interested in the religion from an intellectual perspective?

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yes.

I'd like to respond to several parts of this multi-discussion.

The part in the Word of Wisdom about abstaining from tobacco, hot drinks, and strong drinks became commandment when Brigham Young made it the standard of the church. The rest of the Word of Wisdom is not enforced because the Word of Wisdom was originally supposed to be just a suggestion, not a commandment. Before Brigham Young made it a commandment to abstain from tobacco, hot drinks, and strong drinks, abstaining from these things was also just a suggestion not a commandment.

I'm a convert to Mormonism and before I started going back to church recently I had researched Hinduism and believed it was a sin to eat meat. While I don't believe it's a sin anymore, I follow this suggestion to eat meat sparingly. Today, I'm still following my old Catholic practice of not eating read meat because it is a Friday of Lent. (I used to be Catholic.)

I have to say that I loved that show Big Love on HBO about the polygamist family. Polygamy-practicing offshoots of the LDS Church seem very Mormon to me besides being polygamist. At least the ones they show on Big Love do. But not the ones that live on the compound. They seem more Amish to me. I know that Joseph Smith was called to practice polygamy because Mormonism is rooted in restorationism. They had to restore everything -- even Old Testament polygamy. But I also know that God wanted polygamy to stop. The LDS Church has revealed to us that God wants this practice to stop being practiced on the Earth. You're always gonna have these polygamy-practicing schism churches because some people believe polygamy is necessary for salvation.

Of course Mormons are technically Christian but there are many members of older Christian traditions who limit the definition of Christian to exclude Mormons. According to them, in order to be a true Christian you have to believe what many Christians believed hundreds of years after Jesus died. Supposedly, doctrines from later creeds were believed by the original Christians (some of which saw Jesus when he walked the Earth). But yeah, Mormons feel very strongly about being considered Christian because everything we do is in the name of Jesus Christ. The name of our Church bears his name, unlike many older Christian churches. In our opinion, we're the truest Christians because we believe the fulness of Christ's Gospel has been restored through us.

hispanicmormon said:

I'd like to respond to several parts of this multi-discussion.

The part in the Word of Wisdom about abstaining from tobacco, hot drinks, and strong drinks became commandment when Brigham Young made it the standard of the church. The rest of the Word of Wisdom is not enforced because the Word of Wisdom was originally supposed to be just a suggestion, not a commandment. Before Brigham Young made it a commandment to abstain from tobacco, hot drinks, and strong drinks, abstaining from these things was also just a suggestion not a commandment.

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What's your source for the statement that Brigham Young made abstaining from tobacco, hot drinks, and strong drinks a "commandment"? Haven't heard that one before.

The Word of Wisdom is given as healthy diet advice. There are certain portions of it that must be lived with exactness in order to be worthy of a temple recommend or to get baptized. Those specific things are well defined: no alcohol, no coffee, no tea, no illegal drugs, no tobacco. Those things must be followed if you want to get baptized or receive a temple recommend. The rest is a little up to the interpretation of the members. Living in full harmony of the word of wisdom is not well defined, and you will see members eating junk food, tons of meat, lots of sugar and sweets, and anything else outside of those specific don't's that are outlined in the temple recommend interview. Partaking in all of that is clearly not in harmony with the word of wisdom, which preaches moderation in your diet, avoiding harmful substances, and eating wholesome, natural foods.

There is a minimum requirement for a temple recommend or to get baptized, and part of that is to avoid the specific items listed above that the church has defined from the Word of Wisdom.

MJS said:

The Word of Wisdom is given as healthy diet advice. There are certain portions of it that must be lived with exactness in order to be worthy of a temple recommend or to get baptized.

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Excuse me, but the last time I went in for a Temple Recommend, I was asked, "Do you live the Word of Wisdom"? Nobody mentioned "certain portions of it" that had to be lived with exactness. Perhaps your bishop or stake president makes a distinction between those parts and the parts that are "up to the interpretation of the members."