If the Word of Wisdom is meant to understood as the Divine law of physical health, as purported, then the Lord seems to have neglected commentary on a number of key facets of our physical health. The revelation fails to make any mention of the topics of medicine or exercise, and even neglects two dietary components which have played a staple role in many cultures from the beginning: seafood, and dairy (from various animals).
SEAFOOD AND DAIRY
It is not enough to rationalize that these foods are unmentioned because they are not for consumption, a common vegan and vegetarian assertion. Tobacco is never good for human consumption or bodily use, and yet it gained Divine commentary. Strong drink is not for consumption, and also warranted counsel from the Lord. Not to mention that there is also substantial scriptural evidence that seafood and dairy are acceptable--if not outright endorsed--for our consumption.
Christ lived in a culture bound to the sea. He selected fishermen to join his selected discipleship (Matthew 4:18-22), and uses fishermen as symbols of angels and other servants of the Lord (Jeremiah 16:16; Matthew 13:47-50; Mark 1:17). He ate fish Himself (Luke 24:36, 42-43), and fed fish to others (Matthew 14:15-20). If consumption of fish were unacceptable, why use fishermen to represent His servants? Why eat fish and feed it to others? On what scriptural grounds can it be asserted that the Lord would want us to avoid fish?
Many cultures have some form of animal milk as a common component in their diet, especially cultures lacking sufficient resources or proper circumstances for farming. Any overall discussion of diet should necessarily include this topic, but the Lord didn't. What the Lord does say about milk elsewhere in scripture is all positive:
One, it is foundational to diet, the first thing infants eat before moving onto heartier foods, culminating (interestingly) in meat (1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Corinthians 9:7; Hebrews 5:12-14; 1 Peter 2:2; D&C 19:22). Sure, this is used as an illustration to discuss the easier and more difficult to digest aspects of the gospel. But it would not make sense to use untrue symbols to illustrate truths. If milk or meat were unacceptable to eat, or unintended for that purpose, then it would destroy their use as symbols of the gospel, because the message would then be that the gospel is as unsuitable for consumption as are milk and meat.
Secondly, milk is one of the foods used to describe the Lord's offered blessings (Isaiah 55:1; 2 Nephi 9:50; 2 Nephi 26:25). The blessed and promised lands of scripture are frequently described as flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8; Numbers 13:26-27; Joshua 5:6; 2 Nephi 17:22; D&C 38:18). If we are not to be consuming milk (or honey), what then is the point of the Lord causing them to flow for us as a form of blessing? Ancient cultures all consumed these items when found, so on what grounds could we assert that they are flowing for some purpose other than consumption? If milk is unacceptable in our diet, why are the scriptures not inviting us to buy wine and vegetable juice without money and without price? Why are these lands not flowing in raw, cold-pressed organic grape juice and hummus instead?
MEDICINE
As to medicine, there is no word or discussion of it in section 89 beyond treating sick cows with tobacco. We have no word there as to what is and is not acceptable for use as medicine. Medicine itself and physicians are both mentioned elsewhere in scripture without negative commentary (e.g. the Balm of Gilead; Jeremiah 8:22; Genesis 50:2; D&C 31:10), including affirmative self-reference by the Lord (Matthew 9:12). In a statement by Jeremiah, the ineffectiveness of a medicine is treated as an indictment of the people, not of the medicine (Jeremiah 46:11). The apostle Luke, who had perhaps the most intimate details and contact with the Lord and His family, was a physician (Colossians 4:14). It is noted that there are indeed physicians of no value (Job 13:4), and making this specific distinction requires acknowledgment that there are physicians who are understood to be of value, providing the basis for comparison.
This creates problems for attempts to assume correlation between western medicine and healthcare on the one hand, and condemned practices like sorcery on the other. I’ve seen people go to great lengths to condemn the entirety of western medicine, based on extremely thin cords of questionable reason. Some attempt to say that the evil and conspiring men (D&C 89:4) are specifically those who run healthcare and pharmaceuticals in America and the world. They point at many of the practices which have been engaged by these industries, which indeed include some wickedness and corruption. Or some base it on the pharmaceutical industry’s poor choice of adapting a greek root word for themselves (“pharmakeia”), when that root word is also a word that scriptural translators used for “sorcery,” which thing is condemned in scripture.
But looking up sorcery, witchcraft and the like in scripture, we find that these things are not ever defined. There is no discussion of what things can and cannot be mixed into medicinal compounds, or what medical practices do and do not constitute sorcery or witchcraft. The one feature that is named as a part of these things—the one noted danger—is that they are used to turn people away from God.
This is consistent with stories we find in the scriptures, for example that of Asa, found in 2 Chronicles. Asa suffered from a disease in his feet, which ultimately led to his death. But let’s look at why he died.
“And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.” — 2 Chronicles 16:12-13
Some might assert that it is because he sought the aid of physicians, and therefore seeking the aid of physicians is bad, we should only seek aid from God. However this conflicts with the fact that Luke, chosen by Christ, was a physician. It conflicts with the fact that the Lord was compelled to heal the woman with the blood disease, who had been receiving attempted aid from physicians for years (Luke 8:43-48). if seeking help from physicians was inherently sinful, she would not have had faith sufficient to exact a healing from the Lord.
Asa’s mistake was that he sought aid from the physicians instead of the Lord, rather than in tandem with seeking aid from the Lord, or under direction from the Lord. He placed man above God, succumbing to the stated danger of sorcery. Had he sought to the Lord as well as the physicians, the Lord may have been able to heal Asa, whether through a physician serving Him or through miraculous means. Instead, Asa died.
We also have reference to people using plants as medicines, attributing to God credit for preparing those medicines for the benefit of His children.
“ And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate—“ — Alma 46:40
Ultimately, if a medical practice or medicine is not used to turn people away from God, it becomes difficult to claim that practice is condemned, that it is necessarily sorcery or witchcraft. Indeed, if medicine serves to turn people to God, through the grateful perception that it is a gift of Him to help us, then in such instances the scriptures seem to argue it is necessarily a good thing (Moroni 7:15-16).
What modern instruction we do have concerning temporal treatment of the sick amounts to one verse, D&C 42:43.
"And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy." -- D&C 42:43
This verse tells us that for those who lack sufficient faith for a miraculous healing, we are to administer to their needs with “all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy.” Herbal remedies certainly appear acceptable, but does this preclude the use of non-herbal medicine? Is it impossible that administering drugs for pain or certain conditions, with judgment and with skill, could constitute administering to them with tenderness?
Also worth noting, at the time of this revelation, medicine had not advanced from herbal derivatives and combinations to direct chemical compounds. Yet those herbal medicines were used precisely for the chemical reactions they would bring forth in the body in an effort to heal. Is it possible that an updated revelation might allow for more sophisticated chemical knowledge and application, if still within the bounds of proper judgment and skill? Is it impossible for individuals to receive personal revelation concerning non-herbal, manufactured medicines and procedures to use for themselves or those in their stewardship?
I readily admit that the healthcare and medical fields have been deeply corrupted by men. As have all other fields and practices. Medicine is not unique in its qualifications as wicked, and I am not convinced it has warranted any special attention or condemnation from heaven. The wicked within the field—like any wicked—are surely condemned, but the righteous within the field are righteous, independent of the wickedness found in their field. Blanket condemnation is a dangerous practice, as I believe God is far more offended by a wrongful condemnation of any righteous souls than of giving a wicked soul too much benefit of the doubt.
This is why I believe the understanding of Telestial truths being entirely variable from one person to another is highly relevant. A vaccine, or pharmaceutical, or medical procedure, or dietary outline may be very bad for one person, but very good for another. We rely too much on our similarities and are too lacking in respect for our differences when it comes to topics concerning our bodies.
EXERCISE
Also conspicuously absent from the Word of Wisdom is any mention of matters concerning the need for exercise. When physical labor is mentioned in scripture, it is always to serve some purpose, not for the physical sake of labor itself (2 Nephi 5:17; 2 Nephi 26:31; Mosiah 2:14; Mosiah 18:24). Adam was to bring forth fruit by the sweat of his brow (Moses 4:25). He needed the fruit, and the sweat was merely the price to be exacted to obtain the fruit. This is wholly different than Adam needing to sweat itself for his body’s optimization. Nobody in scripture teaches or practices exercise for its own sake, it is only used as a means to obtain something else that is needed.
What if, instead of physically laboring merely for the sake of our body, we were to labor for a purpose? To serve others? Or to bring forth something valuable in our life, which could be obtained through physical effort? Rather than simply racking up miles of running, or picking up heavy stuff and setting it back down?
This is NOT to condemn exercise, or to say that nobody should exercise. It is merely noting that exercise is not ever taught as a scriptural necessity for its own sake, and perhaps the same results could be achieved while working for some other benefit. But as our world has changed to allowing people to exert themselves mentally or socially or emotionally to obtain fruit and bring things forth, we haven’t received any revealed word from the Lord telling us that we need to make up for the loss of physical strain by exercising. The Lord simply hasn’t given a recorded statement concerning its need or propriety, so in my mind the matter must necessarily be left to an individual basis.
