A Mormon friend asked on Facebook “Why do people drink?” I don’t think she was asking rhetorically,
but really wanted to know the motivations behind people who drink alcohol. I think the answers were all pretty
standard: tasted, relaxation, fun. A couple non-drinkers piped in, one of whom
said there’s nothing you can get from booze that you can’t get from
Yoohoo. I thought that was cute.
A more interesting question to me is why don’t Mormon’s
drink? I’ve heard a few answers. If you search online, you’ll quickly discover
the “Word of Wisdom”, a section of one of the LDS scriptures (D&C 89). “Strong drinks” are not for the belly, nor
are “hot drinks”. That’s the literal
reading, at least.
After skimming some commentary, it all gets sort of
fuzzy. These are not “thou shalt not” type
commandments, but just kind of suggestions.
“Hot drinks” doesn’t mean ALL hot drinks, it just means coffee and
tea. This could be interpreted to
actually mean “caffeine”, but that’s not actually called out specifically. So there’s a lot of various ways to read
this, which is probably why different Mormons feel comfortable eating and
drinking different things.
One thing I read in a number of places is that it that
makes them stand apart from everyone else.
I can respect that, I guess, although I'm not sure I understand the
point. Another article said that people
who can deny addictive things will be stronger and more able to deny other
evils, so maybe it’s more an exercise in restraint just for the sake of
resisting something, anything. This makes some sense, I guess.
As I was pondering this, I remembered the story of the great
flood and Noah. God saw the world was
full of wickedness, and he regretted making us.
That’s funny to me. In any case,
he decided to wipe us all out, except for Noah.
Noah was a righteous and blameless man.
You know the story.
Well what’s the first thing in the Bible after the story of
the Flood? The very first thing he does
is plant a vineyard, make wine, and get naked and drunk.
There are a few conclusions we can draw from this:
1) God is ok with
people drinking (since he chose Noah because of how good and righteous he was)
2) Noah used to be a
good guy, but changed his behavior after the flood (which God neglected to
foresee, I guess)
3) Something else:
the stories are metaphorical or allegorical.
4) This is fiction
I don’t really know what to draw from it, but it is an
interesting little intersection of God and a righteous man and alcohol.
