208 - Are Caffeine and Meat Against the Word of Wisdom? I Church History Matters I Word of Wisdom Series

Church History Matters

Scripture Central

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

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Summary

In this episode of Church History Matters, we trace the fascinating and sometimes surprising history of the Word of Wisdom throughout the 1900s. How did a revelation originally framed as “not by commandment or constraint” become one of the defining markers of Latter-day Saint identity? Along the way, we explore the influence of Elder John A. Widtsoe and Leah Widtsoe’s influential book The Word of Wisdom, the leadership of President David O. McKay, and the growing cultural debates surrounding caffeine, chocolate, meat consumption, and other “gray areas” that shaped Mormon life in the twentieth century. We’ll examine how Saints and leaders wrestled with questions the revelation itself does not explicitly answer: Is caffeine against the Word of Wisdom? What about cola drinks? Why did some members avoid chocolate or hot soup while others focused only on coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco? And how did cultural traditions, personal opinions, and local teachings sometimes become confused with doctrine?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Americans eat too much meat.
0:02.9	It was a time when moderation characterized the expectation of the day.
0:07.3	Maybe coffee and tea are prohibited because of caffeine.
0:11.5	Is caffeine against the word of wisdom?
0:13.6	It isn't cultural. It's a revealed truth.
0:17.3	She even advocated an interpretation strict enough to prohibit chocolate. I don't care if
0:23.6	there's coke on the outside as long as there's coke on the inside. The word of wisdom is a
0:27.9	rational system of health. It's not random. It's not outdated. God got there first, and now science
0:35.2	is playing catch-up. If it had been given as a commandment, it would have brought every man addicted to the use
0:41.4	of these noxious things under condemnation.
0:47.0	Hey, Scott.
0:48.9	Hey, Casey.
0:49.8	Great to be back, man.
0:51.4	It's good to be back, and I'm excited because today we get to follow the Word of Wisdom into territory that I think a lot of members don't know very much about. It's kind of a forgotten era. And we're going to talk about some remarkable men, scientists who became apostles and the fascinating and sometimes complicated story of how
1:13.6	they tried to put the word of wisdom onto a scientific foundation.
1:17.8	Yeah. And we're going to ask some honest questions about what happens when that approach
1:22.9	runs into the messiness of life, because there's some poignant stories out there.
1:28.2	And we're going to tell a couple today about those who live the word of wisdom
1:32.5	and yet still face like health crises, right,
1:35.8	which raises questions that we think are worth sitting with.
1:41.3	Yeah.
1:50.0	Yeah. This is the penultimate episode of our series.
	...

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