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Has anybody else read the treatment of WoW in Mormon Enigma? It has a surprising little nugget about coffee and tea. From p. 47:
Thus Emma, faced almost daily with 'having to clean so filthy a floor' as was left by the men chewing tobacco, spoke to Joseph about the matter. David Whitmer's account supports Brigham Young's description. Some of the men were excessive chewers of the filthy weed, and their disgusting slobbering and spitting cursed Mrs. Smith - to make the ironical remark that `It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin, and commanding its suppression.' Emma had support among the women - Whitmer further reports, 'The matter was taken up and joked about one of the brethren suggested that the revelation should also provide for a total abstinence from tea and coffee drinking, intending this as a counter dig at the sisters.' Joseph made the issue the subject of prayer, and the 'Word of Wisdom' was a result.
Endnote 23 for Ch. 3 says the David Whitmer quotations are from the Des Moines Daily News, 16 Oct. 1886, p. 20.
I don't know enough about Whitmer's memory, but if his account is true, then I can't help wonder whether the prohibition on coffee and tea was just tit for tat, or even-steven so Joseph could sell WoW's ban on strong drinks and tobacco to the men. And WoW's suggestion-level status also makes me wonder whether he (Joseph) really meant it. What with his continued alcohol consumption and sales. The revelation must have placated Emma somewhat while reserving party-boy wiggle room. Here we are 186 years later festooned with guilt or potential guilt over whether coffee makes it into our ice cream, or over drinking a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day. I wonder whether the Lord cares at all about moderate consumption of coffee or tea. (See Matt. 15:11.) Science hasn't really bolstered this component of WoW.
Obedience in ignorance can be a legitimate test, but incoherence is a real mind-bender. Dug's steak-eating 300-pounder can drink buckets of caffeinated soda on the way to the Temple while a thimble full of ice tea will block my ticket in. Maybe there's truly a divine reason? I've obeyed the coffee/tea thing all my life. But I do question whether God or Joseph ever intended it to become the thing it's become. It just feels pharisaical. And I wonder whether God or the Prophet, or littler prophets ever banned or demanded common consent to ban 'coffee based products.' Why don't we use AOF 9 more often? It doesn't get out much.— Unknown
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