I had to opportunity to teach in gospel essentials/principles (whatever the class is called now) and had a great "ah ha!" moment. I love when those happen. You know, a principle or concept that suddenly clicks and makes sense. Well, that happened and it inspired a great lesson.
This week we were studying the Word of Wisdom, chapter 29 out of the gospel essentials manual. After reading the material and also researching the topic, I felt I was pretty well prepared on factual part of the lesson. Many points I had already known but now I was able to back up with sources and dates to keep on my own instead of memorized. I felt that I was prepared for the typical questions that my class members would have.
A few days before the lesson I had a great talk with my mom. A quote from Brigham Young totally and completely validated our love of water. It was too funny and I wanted to share with my mom. It was suppose to be a 15 minute conversation. 3 hours later, I had learned a great lesson.
Scientific fact does change. Look at poor Pluto. Everyone is still sorry and kinda fighting back against demoting that, should be, planet. Also look at George Washington's time. They fully believed Hot Chocolate was an adult drink. So, at parties, adults would drink the hot chocolate and the children would drink a beer, weakened, but beer nonetheless. Yes, while George Washington passed away prior to the organization of the church, many of the people were still around and were of the same opinion at the time the Word of Wisdom was given. Also, look at all the papers and research given that states wine is good for you and all the papers that refute that. Or take for instance smoking. The book The Father of Spin fully shows how they manipulated and changed data to present a totally different view of smoking, the need for books, etc. (It's a great book and I highly recommend it, by the way.) I got to thinking - why is it so easy for me to accept something like the Word of Wisdom much more easily for the early church than it is for me. (And the cool part about studying and learning about the scriptures so they come back to you....) I thought about Adam, just after he left the Garden of Eden. In Moses 5:6 I learned a powerful lesson. An angel comes and asks Adam why he is making sacrifices. And here is the kicker in the verse, ..."And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me."
It is so easy for me to dismiss this very important principle. And I dismiss it because I think that they, the people in the scriptures or early church history, did not have the knowledge or the technology that we do today. We know so much more than they did. However, look at how our scientific knowledge, presented as fact, changes. Pluto and beer. And I realized, do I actually have the faith as Adam? In many ways, I do not. In many ways, with the difference in knowledge that they had, it is a greater blessing for their faith. That they would "go and do". Many mysteries and miracles could and rightfully be attributed back to God. Whereas today, with our knowledge we now see theories and facts to explain away the miracle. The blessing of knowledge is wonderful, but it distracts from the blessing of faith. And I realized, this is where the Lord's warning in Matthew 6:24 comes straight back to me. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." This is the exact scenario I am in. Do I kinda laugh at the simplicity of former times and give them the pass or do I stay with Adam and say, "I might not know or understand why the Lord requires this commandment. But I have prayed and have a testimony that it is correct. So, I may 'know not, save the Lord commanded me' and that is enough."
I have witnessed time and time again how the person who prepares the talk or lesson claim they learned more than they could ever present or teach. I thought that it was a simple and sweet way of thanking for the opportunity to teach. However, this class and the ability to teach the simple and basic doctrines of our gospel has really grown my testimony in ways that I could not. While the lesson and the knowledge that I gained were not specific to the actual Word of Wisdom, the knowledge that I did gain is again, more than what I could have taught or presented to the class. I am more grateful than my clumsy words can express for the calling that I have and for what it does for my life.
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