Why Did It Take Me So Many Years? — A Partial Explanation: Status Quo Bias

status-quo
Posted on May 7, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

I wrote previously about “confirmation bias” as it pertains to how we all make  choices.  There are other pressures on all of us when faced with a decision.

I read a letter this week from another older person who had finally decided that continuing to profess belief  in a fundamentalist religion that he finally decided that he could no longer believe in.   After  serious study, deciding a new course was not an easy way to face the winter years of his life, but it IS the honest way.  WOW, did I empathize with him!  It is a very difficult and courageous thing to do — to admit that what you have believed in, hoped for, and had faith to be “true” simply has no longer credibility in your belief system.  Most people,in my experience, would just sigh, “Oh well, I’ve stuck it out this long, why change?”

Staying “put” in your membership and professed belief is by far the easiest thing to do.  This is true if you are a life-long member of Orthodox Judaism, fundamentalist Christian, Catholic,  Sunni Muslim or traditional LDS.    It takes a lot to overcome the inertia of NOT leaving (or not joining, for that matter) — to start a new journey of discovery in religious dogma.    There are several concepts that act on a person to NOT make drastic changes in his/her life-long religion.  One of the reasons why I have been hesitant to make significant changes in my life (particularly as it pertains to the fundamentalist religion of my birth) is the psychological decision-making concept known as “Status Quo Bias“.  Doing nothing is the easiest thing to do.  It hurts no one.  It doesn’t require much thought.  All you need to do is to repeat the well-worn talking points of dogma that you have done your entire life.

A series of decision-making experiments shows that individuals disproportionately stick with the status quo, even when it is clearly in their best interests to change.  The status quo bias is a cognitive bias which leads people to prefer that things remain the same, or that things change as little as possible, if they absolutely must be altered.   In economics, the status quo bias explains why many people make very conservative financial choices, such as keeping their deposits at one bank even when they are offered a better rate of interest by a bank which is essentially identical in all other respects. The strong desire to keep things the same can cause people to lose out by making conservative decisions.  Whether it’s moving house or changing TV channel, there is a considerable tendency to stick with the current situation and choose not to act.

Imagine the following true scenario:

Harry Truman had run a lodge on Spirit Lake in Washington since 1928.  He was age 84 when he was warned about the extremely probable eruption of Mt. St. Helens and ordered to evacuate to safer ground.  He refused.  In spite of the evidence that was literally shaking his feet and venting ash and steam near his cabin, he refused to think that he was in any serious danger — after all, he had lived safely in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens nearly all his life without any significant problems.  His body was never found after the volcano erupted on May 18, 1980.

In spite of all the evidence that helped others to decide to leave the area, the status quo bias worked on his mind to keep him from leaving what he was familiar with.

Niels Andersen’s Family

Allow me to give a more personal example:  My Father’s Father’s Father (my great-grandfather) lived in Denmark.  He was born in 1823.  His name was Niels Andersen.   He was converted by the Mormon missionaries in Denmark at the age of 33.   After 24 years of trying unsuccessfully to convince his wife and children to go with him to Utah, he finally decided to go by himself without them.  His wife, however, did not want to leave what she was familiar with in Denmark, nor did she even want to join the Mormon church.  What if there were storms on the way over the Atlantic Ocean?  What if she got sick?  What if she didn’t like living in the American West?   What if she wanted to return to Denmark?   Great-Grandfather Niels told her that he was determined to emigrate to be with the Saints.  He told her that he would go and after he got settled, he would send money for her to THEN come to the USA.

He got settled.  He sent her money.  She still refused to come.  One of her sons (my grandfather, Martin Andersen)  used the money to immigrate to Utah.  She never did.  The idea of leaving what she was familiar with was too great.  She did not want to leave her beloved Denmark.  She did not want to leave her home and everything that she was familiar with.  She did not want to leave her religion.    She did not want to change the status quo.  You can read his own account of his life by clicking HERE.

(If you are interested in Martin Andersen’s story, click HERE.)

I have visited Denmark — and England (and many other countries from where emigrants came to the USA) — and those visits gave me an appreciation that I never had prior to those visits for the difficult decisions that faced anyone who thought of leaving Europe in the mid or early 1800′s to consider coming to America.  It must have been a gut-wrenching decision to make — particularly when the decision split up marriages and families.

———

One other situation that I read about while living in Germany was the effort to save the lives of Jewish children just prior to and during World War II called Kindertransport.  Parents of Jewish children allowed their children to be taken (often by Catholic nuns) from the threats of Nazi police and the possible extermination in refugee camps and ghettos.  The children were sent by train to England, never to see their parents again — and inevitably to be raised as non-Jewish in order to save their lives.  What a difficult decision for any parent to make!!

Parents who did NOT make up their minds with this painful choice did not get a second chance for their children.

Kindertransport memorial

NOTE:  I am discussing here the concept of making up your mind what to believe and how to make that belief known, not whether or not you have made the RIGHT decision.  The Status Quo bias works on all of us about HOW we make decisions, not whether the decisions we make are right.

Categories: Credo, family, fear, mormon lds skeptic, Personal history and life story, Religion, superstition ritual | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Living in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1986-1988 Without A Job

fairbanks snow
Posted on May 5, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

I had, like Julius Cesar, literally “crossed the Rubicon” by quitting my secure job with the US Public Health Service in Sitka, Alaska and moved my family to Fairbanks.  At first, we moved into University of Alaska student housing at “Yak Estates”.

The main thing I remember about these tiny apartments was that they had bathrooms that were REALLY TINY — I had to climb over the toilet just to close the door.

All our neighbors were very young student families — occasionally having infant children.  Ann was now an undergraduate student in music performance.  She LOVED the chance at age 40 to learn about music performance and music history.  She was good at it, too.  She has “perfect pitch” and was used extensively for choirs to set the starting pitch for music that the choirs perform.  For the first time in my life I was living where I not only had to plug my car into a heater, but I had to have at least THREE heaters on the car — one for the battery, one for the cylinder block and one for the oil pan.  It got COLD in Fairbanks!

My family was older and we were all used to the income that I had been bringing in while working in Sitka.

Kyle was now a handsome teenager with typical acne problems.  But he was happy.  In Sitka (I learned afterwards), he was having a very difficult time with bullies who picked on him at every opportunity.  In Fairbanks, he was the oldest and biggest kid in the housing area.  No more bullies.  Kyle had a personality that immediately showed that he cared for and wanted to help younger kids.  He did that whenever he could.

One of the responsibilities of a father while in Fairbanks was to teach Kyle how to safely drive a car.  I undertook this task in the parking lot of Yak Estates — and it scared me to death!  My car was a compact car with a manual transmission (a clutch) and to have to sit in the passenger seat while teaching him the basics of starting and stopping left me a nervous wreck — but the car survived.  Kyle was a fast learner — and back then there were no cell phones, so I had no worries about that.

We immediately again got involved with the LDS ward for the University area — The Fairbanks First Ward.  I was “called” to be the Young Men’s President and Ann was the choir director.  She did a wonderful job in bringing musical culture to the LDS ward in Northern Alaska.   We both loved the members of the church who lived in Fairbanks.  It is an interesting city in an interesting state.

One of the first things that I did after moving to Fairbanks was to finish getting my book published.  It took the help of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Office on Alcoholism, but it came out that summer in a small printing.  It was immediately placed in schools and libraries all over Alaska.  I had gained a degree of notoriety by publishing this book and used it to land a part-time position with the University of Alaska teaching Alaska history of alcohol — using my own book as a text.

If you would like to download the entire book in PDF format for free, just click HERE.  There are other source materials and articles that I have written that are available for free public download.  Click HERE to see what they are and to download to your computer or reader.

Ann immediately got involved with the Fairbanks Light Opera Theater [FLOT].  One of the musical theater productions they were soon going to put on was, “Annie“.  I tried out for the role of Daddy Warbucks again.  I had the shaved head, I might as well put it to good use.  I got the part and was again on stage in a musical production.  It was a great success for FLOT financially and helped fund other productions that soon were to be performed.

Being out of a job was not my cup of tea.   I applied all over to try to find work.  Nothing.  Finally, I took an entry-level job driving tourists on big buses for the firm Gray Line of Alaska.  It hardly paid anything.  I drove tourists to sights near Fairbanks and then started to drive to and from Anchorage as well as to Skagway — a 5-day round trip.  I got my CDL and enjoyed sharing stories about Alaska and its history as I drove long stretches of remote highways.  Stopping at Denali Park on the way to and from Anchorage was great.

My experience in writing about Alaska’s history — combined with my ability to memorize a lot of lines for musical productions soon got me to memorizing old Robert Service poetry about the gold rush in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon.  I  memorized 10 or 12 rather long poems, giving me 2-3 HOURS of memorized dialog that I could share with bored tourists who often did not see all the animals that they had hoped to see on long drives.  I added exaggerated emphasis as I drove.

I had to overnight once in a while (sometimes in Anchorage and other times in Beavercreek, Yukon Territory or Whitehorse) but it was interesting to get to know the other drivers who also had to overnight with me, wash the coaches and do maintenance in the few hours we had free from driving.  I particularly liked driving the 1/2 day drive to and from Skagway, Alaska from Whitehorse.  That drive is quite beautiful.

Categories: Credo | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Superstition and the LDS Mind — Well at least My Mind and Superstition

lourdes-grotte
Posted on May 2, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

I posted a very brief post last year about Superstitions.  (See it here)

I now am going to try to share some of my thoughts about magical thinking, superstition, talismans, occultism and LDS thinking.

I’m first going to go out on a limb here and claim that most people at least understand magical thinking — the idea that somehow if you can THINK of something — and then think of it changing into something else — that somehow your thoughts CAUSED the change.  It might be because you prayed to a higher power or God.  It might be because you followed a series of events that worked before, so it just might have worked this time because of having a thought in your head.  It might be because you followed a “tradition” or a promise made long ago.  For whatever reason, you not only communicated the desire or request for a change, but a change happened – AND IT WAS CAUSED BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN  THOUGHTS OR WISHES.

The song by Walt Disney goes:

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Since then, I have done a lot of thinking about this topic and how it fits or doesn’t fit into fundamentalist LDS religion (I only use the LDS religion because that is what I was brought up with).

It may not be just a thought, but you might experience something you think is related to bad (or good) luck, but obviously is not related at all.  It could be a broken mirror, knocking on wood, walking under a ladder, having a black cat cross your path or any of hundreds of other events.

We live in an age of enlightenment.  We try to have a well-oiled feeling of common sense.  Few of us would now blame misfortune of a black cat crossing our path [although admittedly many millions will get nervous that something just might happen].  You only have to watch a baseball game or a football game to see how some players do repetitive actions while pitching or hitting — thinking that if they deviate the very small bit that misfortune will happen.  Some carry a “lucky” charm, talisman or amulet that supposedly has supernatural powers.

Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events.  It can be a religious concept, but does not necessarily have to be religious.

I have carried small trinkets of one kind or another at different times throughout my life because they make me feel better.  This does not prove that I give any of them magical qualities, however.  One of my favorites is a simple pocket knife.  You never know when it will come in handy.  One of the most likely effects is that when I really NEED a pocket knife, however,  I never have it in my pocket.

 Childhood Teachings About Superstitions, Folklore, Visions & Magic

I was raised in a very strict fundamentalist home.  My parents were intelligent and educated.  They knew that there was no such thing as “magic” power — except as it pertains to the true [LDS] religion.  “Tricks” were just that — tricks that fooled the eye, but had no reality behind them, even if they “appeared” to be magical.  In particular, I remember Dad teaching me that there was no power at all in talismans and superstitions.  Crucifixes in particular bore no spiritual powers and worshiping idols and crosses was ineffective and useless — and forbidden by the Ten Commandments.

Horoscopes and astrology were taught as being “silly” as well as Ouija boards — and maybe even dangerous.  One story that was circulated in my mission was of  a couple missionaries who were using a Ouija board and Satanic influences nearly killed the young men.  These stories were actually “folklore” (bullshit) that was shared to keep us innocent missionaries towing the line and following mission rules — a fact that I didn’t learn till many years AFTER my mission.  I believed nearly every one of these stories when I heard them (and those I didn’t immediately believe, I accepted as possibly true).  Satanic forces, I believed were nothing to tinker with!  (I am STILL angry and embarrassed that I believed all this stuff.)

On the other hand, my parents believed strongly in the Bible and The Book of Mormon (as well as other LDS scripture) where supernatural things CAN and DO happen.

Supernatural Events In LDS And Biblical History

VISIONS: I was taught and believed that Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” was the only authentic vision of God.  Certainly other people “thought” that they had visions that were real, but the Prophet Joseph Smith’s vision was better somehow because those in the vision actually talked to him — rather than simply “appear”.  Similar visions are recorded in the Bible and Book of Mormon.  There was the vision of the Apostle Paul (from the New Testament); The Bible claims that visions and visitations are basically available to “Prophets” but not ordinary people.  You have to be careful, however, because some “visions” can come from Satan and the dark side.  [See: I Samuel 28:3-20]

But, there is a BIG problem with visions:   There are MANY instances in modern history where even common people have visions — some of who were claimed to have talked to the person receiving the vision, while others accompanied the vision by healing or other claimed miraculous events.  Joseph Smith’s vision of a holy personage three times was outdone by events that happened in France in 1858 (about 30 years after Joseph Smith’s vision) when a 14-year-old girl had the Virgin Mary appear to her eighteen times – and she spoke with the girl.

Many people have visions.  In Catholic tradition, The Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul appeared to St. Thomas Aquinas and talked with him.  He also claimed that Christ had visited and talked with him in Italy.

The psychologist William James wrote a series of lectures and published them in a volume about the Varieties of Religious Experience in 1902 in Edinburgh.    He claimed that nearly 30 percent of humans have personal experiences of visions.

The Mormon prophet also faces some serious scrutiny due to changes in his accounts of his vision, not even mentioning it for many years or so and due to other irregularities.  [NOTE: the previous reference is basically from a loyal LDS apologist about problems in Joseph Smith's vision.  I am hesitant to use ANY "anti-Mormon" references on my blog].  The LDS official  version of Joseph Smith’s first vision can be read here.  I memorized it word-for-word while on my mission.

The Bible documents many visions from supernatural beings, one even talking to Paul through a donkey.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and have been most my life.  Many of my patients regularly have visions.  I call them hallucinations.  To them, these are real events.  Why it took nearly 40 years for me to comprehend the relation between hallucinations and the religion I was brought up believing, I have no idea.  I WANTED to believe.  I did not want to be in the position of saying that a vision was really a hallucination.

DREAMS:  One of the first supernatural events described in the Book of Mormon was a dream.

Young LDS children are taught that THIS dream came from God and not only teaches us a lot of true principles, but demonstrates the power that Prophets have.  The unstated, but implied teaching is that common people cannot have dreams or visions from God, nor can witches, sorcerers or pagan religious leaders.

There are numerous instances documented in the Bible of dreams that are claimed to have come from God as well.

This is not particularly unusual, however, because many people have dreams that foreshadow worries of the future, death, resurrection, evil vs righteousness, judgment and other religious concepts.  People also have erotic dreams.  [The Bible has rules for what to do even when men have wet dreams -- Deut 23:10-11]  Some people have dreams about the future.  If this kind of dream happens and it does not come to pass, these dreamers are to be killed. [Deut 13:1-5]

Sometimes, even absurd visions happen that are claimed by the Bible to be real — for example the commandments from God to Abraham in Genesis 21022 to murder his son Isaac.

Modern understanding of dreams obtained a breakthrough in 1895 when Sigmund Freud published his book, Interpretation of Dreams in Germany.  While many other books have been written on this subject, it is pretty well understood that dreams are a unique aspect of human experience, but are unlikely to be messages from God.

PRAYERS:  I need to postpone comments about this aspect of a paranormal experience for a different post.

SPIRITUAL OBJECTS:   One of the ways that anthropologists have of understanding human experience with religion and superstition is through objects and symbols that are found with human remains.  Some objects are thought to be used to find valuable objects (like gold) while others are used to find lost items of treasure.  Some were used to find practical items — like water or lost persons.  One of the most familiar objects that are thought to have supernatural qualities is a crystal or an unusual rock or stone that is used to discern what our normal senses cannot feel.   One of the most famous scryers (people who use objects to see into the future — a “seer”) in history lived in the 16th century and was known as Nostradamus. He used a bowl of water or a “magic mirror” to “see” the future in it, while he was in trance.  We have many fables about the use of a crystal ball to perform “magic“.

In LDS traditions, Joseph Smith Jr. used “seer stones” to help him find treasure and to “interpret” the Hebrew or Egyptian writings that he saw on plates that he claims to have found.  These were to become the basis of the Book of Mormon.  According to his first wife, Emma — who helped him in this “translation”, he would put his face into a hat that had a seer stone in it and would read to a scribe or secretary the words that formed in his mind.

“Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.) This was quoted on the official LDS website article and was published in The Ensign in 1993.  The author of the article was apostle Russell M. Nelson.

The “seer stone” that was most frequently alluded to as belonging to Joseph Smith Jr. is pictured below.

I personally have no problems with the idea that unusual or beautiful stones are sometimes kept as good luck keepsakes.  I have found a few over the course of my own life, and have dropped them into my pockets.  I have used them to contemplate the beauties of the world and the marvel of creation.  I do not give them any special “power” or spiritual significance, however.  Allegations that Joseph Smith used various stones of this kind to see into the future, and to translate the Book of Mormon, however, leave me considerable amount of skepticism to play with.

I will close this post with a personal observation:  I find that the popular use of the entertainment media to use “magic” and inexplicable paranormal events to be personally insulting.  The interest in paranormal activities may be good entertainment, but it is unscientific and misleading — and in the final analysis is a lie.  Especially, the media arm of Brigham Young University should be criticized for using so much magic in their programming.  On any given week, I can turn on BYU cable channel to find “Bed-nobs and Broomsticks” and “Darby O’Gill and The Little People” and other movies that play up the magical roots of LDS culture.

Is anyone but me concerned about the use of paranormal events in Religion or entertainment?

Categories: hell death, judgment hell vatican, mormon lds skeptic, obedience | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Woman’s Place Is In The Home – II — 1985 in Sitka, Alaska

University of Alaska Fairbanks
Posted on April 21, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

In my last post, I said that we were at another crossroads.  I had a good job and was reasonably happy at work, but Ann was feeling that she was dead-ended in using her musical abilities.  We were living on an Island in Southeastern Alaska that had a small college [Sheldon Jackson Community College], but had absolutely no way to get her a college degree in music — at least while living in Sitka.

The LDS church STRONGLY advised its married women members to stay at home, take care of their husbands and children and not pursue their own career.  At the same time, nothing was said about men who voluntarily swapped roles by doing household chores, cooking and leaving employment to encourage their wives to get education or fulfill their dreams.

But Ann wanted more.   I supported her in getting the education that would have to get done to make this happen.  She had been playing piano for church since she was age ten (Her mother, Ruth Saunders Kapp had personally taught her how to play the piano.)  Besides, she helped ME in getting my education completed and I thought that it was only fair that I help her if she wanted to get a college degree.  Ann particularly loved LDS religious music, but felt that she was inadequate and less talented than others who wrote and played music — specifically because she lacked the education and marketing skills that others had.

She was now age 40.  She had a husband and two teenage children and had done volunteer musical positions in churches as well as played piano for local musical productions for the communities wherever we had lived.  She had an innate sense of music, rhythm and had perfect pitch — but no special schooling.  She began to look all over for a university she could apply to that could get her the musical degree she wanted and possibly get a teacher’s certificate as well.

She had taken a short trip to Fairbanks and had visited the University of Alaska in 1984 as a training event for a part time job she was working at.   She liked what she saw.  I told her that she should consider going for one semester on her own and leave me with the kids for a semester.  This would allow her to make up her mind what to do on her own.  If she still wanted to go on to get her bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, I would then quit my job and move everyone to Fairbanks and try to find some work up there while she went to school.  But she had not done ANY schoolwork for twenty years and she was not at all sure that she could handle it.  I also expressed my concern about quitting a job — only to have her find out that she did not like school or couldn’t handle the pressure.

She had a party send-off by her friends in Sitka and only one admonished and criticized her for leaving her husband and children in going directly against the advice of the church leaders to stay at home.   She told Ann in no uncertain terms that she should be satisfied being a mother and housewife (it seems that others seem to always have an opinion about people that they have to share).

During the church meetings that I took the kids to immediately after she left, the Alaska Mission President called me on the phone  and said, “I hear that you and your wife have separated.  You didn’t say anything about you two having marital problems.  Would you explain to me what is going on?“  Although I didn’t particularly feel that it was his business to know about my personal life, I explained that I encouraged her to go to college one semester  while I take care of the kids.  If it works out, we will all move to Fairbanks.  And, No, we are NOT having marriage problems, thank you.  I can cook, clean the house, wash the clothes and do other things around the house for the kids.

Ann stayed in married student housing for her first semester and immediately got the support and fellowship of the Fairbanks LDS church members who picked her up for meetings and occasionally contacted her.  In particular were friends we met named Diane and Merlan Ellis, who are still friends of ours to this day.

Ann LOVED going to college!  She loved learning music history.  Her undergraduate work focused on piano performance.  The instructors were extremely helpful to her and she learned quickly.   After returning to Sitka at around Christmastime, we decided to move to Fairbanks, the coldest place we ever could have thought to live.

I quit my job with the US Public Health Service and was now unemployed.  I would be unemployed for the next two years — getting only low-wage jobs here and there as a tourist bus driver.  I had to cash in my retirement savings so we would have money to live on but received little other welfare.  Only once did I run totally out of money and had to ask for help.  I went to the Bishop in Fairbanks and told him that I needed about $600 to pay utilities and groceries.  He simply wrote out a check and handed it to me.    I loved him for that.   We stayed in student housing for the first year, then managed to rent a house of a professor (Glenn Shaw) who was taking a sabbatical and going to Arizona to defrost for a year.

It was difficult on all of us to have me out of work for two long years and living on a shoestring budget again.  I used some of the time to finish work on the book I was writing — and finally got it published in 1988 — but it barely paid for the money I had put into it.

At least Ann was happy going to school and getting involved in the music scene in Fairbanks, Alaska.

 

Categories: Credo, family, music, Religion | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

A Mormon Woman’s Place Is In The Home!

bruce r mcconkie
Posted on April 20, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

The year is 1985.  I am living in Sitka, Alaska with my wife, Ann, and two children (my son is a teenager and my daughter is close to being one).  I have a very good job.  I love the area.  I’m “active” in church (this means that I go to church regularly, accept church callings, pay “tithing”, have a temple recommend, and do everything I am asked to do).  I am President of the Baranof Theater Guild and have played in several community plays.  I support my wife’s interests in music, singing in choirs that the has started in the community.  My wife, Ann, is President of the local community’s Arts organization, the Sitka Arts Council.  We occasionally meet famous musicians who visit Sitka, under sponsorship of grants through the city of  Sitka or the state of Alaska.

I have both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from college and have a secure job where I am respected and liked by my employer (the US Public Health Service, Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, Alaska) and by my co-workers.

My wife, Ann, however is very musically talented but is feeling (in 1985) at a dead end with her music.  She plays piano and has written a little music — and directed a few small choirs, but just found that the local school district won’t even accept a job application from her as a music teacher because she does not have either a college degree or a teacher’s certificate.  The problem is that, although she is super-talented, she has less than one semester of college studies completed.

She has depended on my education and earning power and experience instead of her own.  I have let her know that I think she is more talented than most musicians I have ever met and I support her in anything that she wants to do.  Our dilemma is not whether we NEED an additional income, it is whether or not Ann can get the education she needs to fulfill herself in addition to being a wife and mother.

I not only have a good job, but I can cook pretty well and often do the shopping for our meals as well.  I am fully capable of taking care of two children who do not need a babysitter during the daytime in addition to holding down a full-time job.

BUT…….  We are living on the virtual edge of nowhere — in Sitka Alaska, hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from any university where she could possibly get a music degree.

….. And I am happy with my job, my personal activities and don’t particularly want to move anywhere, at least for no good reason.

Besides, LDS church leaders continually preach that “A woman’s place is in the home”.  For example, Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th President and Prophet of the  LDS church said in 1981, “contrary to conventional wisdom, a woman’s place is in the home.”  “Beguiling voices in the world cry out for ‘alternative lifestyles’ for women.  They maintain that some women are better suited for careers than for marriage and motherhood.  These individuals spread their discontent by the propaganda that there are more exciting and self-fulfilling roles for women than homemaking.“

One of the most vocal and doctrinal leaders of the LDS church, Bruce R. McConkie, said in 1979

“A married woman’s place is in the home, where she sustains and supports her husband; a woman’s place is in the Church, where she expounds scripture, writes wise documents, and learns much; a woman’s place is out rendering compassionate service to her fellow beings, in and out of the Church; a woman’s place is in preaching the gospel and doing missionary work; her calling is to do good and work righteousness in every place and under all circumstances.”

Ann had already written some music — and I thought she had a musical talent far beyond what little official music education that she had received.   I included in an earlier blog one of Ann’s songs that she wrote while in Sitka.

Mitt and Ann Romney’s “Choice” to have Ann not have a career

I have to comment here about the current 2012 political situation as it relates to a Mormon woman (the wife of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney) “choosing” to stay at home to be a homemaker.  In the 1970′s and 1980′s, an LDS woman’s choice was to get married and then follow her husband in righteousness — or not get married and “have” to find a career while she continually searches for a worthy Mormon male to take care of her.  That was the only reasonable choice for most LDS women back then.

A few LDS women would try to get a college education prior to getting married, but the “ultimate” situation would be to either find a wife who would work cheap part time jobs while her husband is getting his education, or who just “chose” to stay at home and have babies and be a homemaker.

I find Mitt and Ann Romney’s protestations about their support of a woman’s “choice” to have her own career in addition to or instead of being a homemaker to be misleading at best, and downright lying at worst.  Even in LDS populations, the divorce rate is approximately 50% and any woman who thinks she can rely on charity of the church or charity of the country to take care of her if she loses her husband is delusional.

In my next post, I will share what Ann and I did in addressing this awkward problem.

[PS: The photo of Bruce R. McConkie sends shivers of distaste through me -- even as I include it in this post]

Categories: Cooking, Credo, family, mormon lds skeptic, music, obedience, Personal history and life story, Religion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Silent Spring” Revisited in 2012 — an election year

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

Fifty years ago, in 1962  (when I was age 19), a book was published about the effects of commercial toxins on our environment.  The book was “Silent Spring” and was written by Rachel Carson.

I read the book back then.  The pesticide DDT was soon banned and President Kennedy ordered that a new federal agency, The Environmental Protection Agency, be created.  It cause me a lot of contemplation.  What were we doing to ourselves?  Our water?  Our air?  Our food?  I thought, “Why, if God created such a perfect system, were we trashing and changing everything with such flippant abandonment?”  “Why doesn’t Jesus return NOW — to stop this?”

The doubt flashed into my mind — “What if Jesus NEVER comes to save us from ourselves?”  “What if we have to take care of our environment by ourselves?”  It was a thought that seared into my mind — and then got pushed out as quickly as I could manage it.  The ramifications would change everything I had been taught.

Carson delivers a stinging rebuke to our conception of mankind as the dominant force in the universe. If humanity truly rules the roost, so to speak, why are we such idiots about sustaining the very environment that feeds us? The ignorance of man in this book is astounding. Repeatedly, we destroy and destroy again even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the damage we are causing. Local governments kept spraying even when evidence showed it was a failure. Birds literally fell out of the sky while the trucks went out for another pass through the neighborhood. Dumb, dumb, dumb!

Man has lost the ability to foresee and to forestall.
He will end by destroying the earth.
-Albert Schweitzer

There is a lot of discussion — coinciding with Republican Primary elections — about the “ENVIRONMENT“.  Often it is talk about “radical environmentalists” or the “phony religion” of those who think that our use of earth’s resources will lead to any kinds of serious problems in the future.

One candidate, named Rick Santorum, thinks that those who have expressed concerns about our environment are elevating the earth above man.  He has said that he believes that current concerns about our environment or population or pollution are either politically motivated worries or simple wrong thinking (or wrong worshiping).  This is especially true because before any significant harm can be done, Christ will return and the earth will be changed.

Several Republican candidates have expressed their disgust with “environmentalists” == often called “radical environmentalists” — as if there was never any other KIND of environmentalist.   They seem to be united in applying a philosophy that allows businesses and individuals the right to do pretty much what they want with earth’s resources — in the expectation that economic growth can never outpace our exploitation of our environment.  They deny that businesses or individuals would be able to do any significant harm to earth’s resources if they were allowed more freedom to create jobs unrestrained by governmental regulations.  These are laws that are designed to help us all live together without unavoidable pollution.

Those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible teach that the earth was “destroyed” in the times of Noah by a flood that covered the entire earth.  After God had seen what he had done, he decided never to destroy the earth and its creatures again.  A sign of this covenant is the rainbow that can be seen in the sky.  Presumably, if you believe in the Bible,  the refraction of light through raindrops had never before happened.

The next destruction of the earth will be in conjunction with the Second coming of Christ, so we don’t have to worry about the earth and its resources, as Christ will take care of everything.  To some, it seems sacrilegious to be concerned about how healthy our environment is — when this is God‘s job — particularly when Christ will return any day now.

The subtlety that pollution and chemical manipulation of our environment has on all life is not deniable.

Effects of radiation took a long time to detect — whether it was on victims of the nuclear bombs of WW II or on the first discoverer of radiation, Madam Marie Curie — who died herself of the chronic effects of radiation.   I shutter when I recall as a child being taken to a shoe store where the fit on a new pair of shoes was seen immediately by poking my feet into an x-ray machine where I could view my feet as they were being bombarded with (what I later learned were dangerous levels of x-rays) something that allowed me to view the shoes and the bones of my feet right there.

Similarly, the effects of asbestos take a long time to detect.  If you don’t quite understand this, explore articles about the health problems of those who mined and worked with asbestos in the building and ship-building industries.

Other examples in monitoring lead, mercury, selenium and other toxic substances in our environment could be mentioned here as well.

Some would-be politicians want to eliminate the EPA or greatly reduce the effectiveness and cost of this consumer protection agency — in the search for ways to cut costs and eliminate government’s reach in our lives.

I have to take a stand — after living a fairly long life — to state that dropping our guard against business interests that want to avoid governmental oversight will only result in disaster.

Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.   Schweitzer, Albert

I welcome your thoughts and comments…….

Categories: family, judgment hell vatican, Religion | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Blogging — My First Year On The Internet

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

I have been blogging now for a little over one year.  It seems to me that I ought to reflect back a little to evaluate what I’ve done, then make a comment or two about how I feel about writing down some more of my thoughts.

Many of my first posts had to do with my feelings while coming out of my fundamentalist religious shell.   I had to more honestly face MY own thoughts about life, death and religion — not the thoughts that I thought that I should have.  Not even the thoughts that I WANTED to have.  As I look back, I think, “I wish I could believe that all the evidence of a survival of the fittest world were wrong.”

One year ago, one of my brothers died.  His name was Dick and he was one year younger than myself.  His death (at age 66) — along with only a few of my recollections of him  that remain caused me to take a serious look at the phenomenon of death and what kind of legacy we will leave when it become our own turn at this transition.

Since we were separated in life by only one year, we lived similar lives and experienced similar world events.

Believing In Total Equality

LDS teachings of my youth held that everyone is equal — but in different ways.  For example, the differences that we are born into are explained by achievements in a pre-mortal existence.  In a way it was like reincarnation — our mortal life here on earth is the accumulation of everything we were in a pre-mortal existence.  Our skin color, our health, our susceptibility to disease, our being born of good parents or in a war-free country is explained by our “pre-existence” [as the Mormons call it].

I was taught that I was among the most blessed of the children of God, because I was born into a family in America; had fair skin; had access to the best schools; had been born a “Mormon Boy”; had a family that taught me the “Gospel”; had no serious health problems; had two heterosexual parents; had the Bible as well as the “Book of Mormon”, etc. etc. etc.

There was so much to be grateful for — and it was all due to the “Plan of Salvation” that was given by Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and other leaders of the church.  It was a racist and snobbish doctrine, but it was never taught that it actually WAS racist [that word was not used -- and even today, the LDS church leaders bristle at the allegation of being a racist church].  It was simply “true” that we were better off than the rest of the world because we were not just better people, but because other people were not given the blessings that we got as members of the “true church” who were living the true religion.  Maybe racist is not the right word — SMUG or SELF-SATISFIED or SUPERIOR is probably more close to the right meaning that I want to convey.

We were taught that we were God’s “Chosen” people.

This is best demonstrated by the song that Dad had us sing in Family Home Evening:  A Mormon Boy.

The LDS doctrine that was taught was that we should all treat each other as being equal in the sight of Christ — while knowing that our choices and faith make us more favored of God and promise us blessings that others will never have.

Blessings from God were BOTH the result of being “earned” by our choices of being good and being given freely by Christ because of our faith in Him.  [this is how BOTH "faith" and "works" really operates, I was taught.]

Leaving The Church Alone

LDS Apostle Neil Maxwell reflected the frustration that many governing church leaders (of most fundamentalist churches, not just LDS) when, in one of his talks he said, “they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone“.  (Ensign, Nov. 1980, 14)  He would like to have us believe that all morality comes from the LDS church — and when a member finds that there are problems that are not corrected, that they are simply bitter about leaving the only true church — not that anything at all is wrong with the Church.

This is a statement that is used frequently by my older brother (Roger) as proof that LDS leaders are prophetic.  Apostates and church enemies constantly bring up problems they find in LDS theology and practice.  If they would only be quiet, somehow, the world would be a better place.

My life – since living in the LDS church can no more simply turn off issues that come from being raised in the church than I can turn off my childhood love of sweets simply because I know that sugar is bad for me.

Explaining How Bad Things Will Be Corrected

One of the concepts of the LDS theology (and  Hinduism’s reincarnation as well) that gives order to life is their explanation of an eternal perspective for how children’s deformities, early death and suffering endured by innocent can be explained as being caused by a loving God with an eternal perspective.

In LDS theology, children who die before their time simply get to live their lives in the resurrection.  People who suffer life-long deformities — like Down Syndrome, mongolism and cretinism — are still “normal” inside and they will also be resurrected with perfect bodies and minds.  At LDS funerals, the concept that these children  ”are now enjoying perfect bodies and minds” is a common thread to try to comfort the mourning friends and relatives.

One of my struggles throughout life was how to face up to the fact that some things in life simply cannot be explained — by religion or anyone else.  At the same time, I had to come to grips with being happy with “life” instead of being consoled by the promises of a resurrection.  It is so much easier to pray for someone who is suffering than to actually go to their aid.

In my opinion, too many people miss out on blessings by taking the symbolic route of praying on the behalf of someone instead of getting their hands involved by actually visiting the sick or caring for and helping those that suffer.

My Credo

About 1/3 of the posts I have written are simply about my life.  This is for those who might find my life interesting, as well as for my friends and relatives who are not interested in my thoughts and ideas about religion, politics or other potentially controversial posts.

Categories: being good, blacks, family, mormon lds skeptic, Religion, temple SLC mormon creation adam, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Word of Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Living in Sitka, Alaska – 1980-1986

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

Enjoying The Area

Amy wanted me to take her on a special Father / Daughter date.  She was by then about age 10.  She loved hiking and camping, so I came up with the perfect trip for us.  I made arrangements to rent a coastal cabin with a view of the Pacific Ocean.  The reservation was through the US Forest Service.  The trip I came up with required us to get a boat ride across the bay from Sitka, hike seven miles on an old logging road and end up on a beautiful beach with a rustic (no electricity or water and just an outhouse) isolated view of a beautiful beach.

There are about one hundred fifty public use cabins in Southeast Alaska.  Most are affordable (about $35/night) and are maintained by one or another government agencies.  You can schedule them in advance through ReserveAmerica.

Amy looks a bit disgusted at the red snapper fish that I caught above in Sitka, but she really loved such events.  She always did her share and on this trip to Shelikof bay even carried a backpack filled with her own stuff the entire seven miles from our drop-off point to the cabin.

We stayed at the cabin for three days, then hiked back to our drop-off point together.  It was a wonderful trip that millionaires could not have done better.

The Stormin’ Grief

No human male can live in Sitka without at some time getting the desire at some point to get a boat and use it to explore around the bays nearby.  I tried my hand at this by buying a small 19-ft skiff called the Stormin’ Grief.  It had a gasoline inboard/outboard engine and looked like it could take me anywhere — at least in good weather.  I owned it for only  one summer before I realized that a boat is not much more than a hole in the water into which you throw money.

I don’t have a photo of it that has survived the years to share.  It was always breaking down and/or not running right.  I took it on a few fishing and exploration trips — one, when my friend, Ron came to Sitka to hang out for a week or so.  I took it out once when heavy seas and bad weather settled in on me and turned a pleasure trip into a white-knuckle not-so-fun (meaning scared to death) trip.  I sold the boat soon after that trip.

Motorcycle

My next activity was to buy a Honda 405 cc motorcycle.  Since the distances in Sitka are always rather short, and I didn’t want to buy two cars, I got a motorcycle instead.  Even though it seems like it is ALWAYS raining, I had a lot of fun riding that motorcycle around town – often getting wet-to-the-gills in the process.  All the roads are posted at 35 mph or less.   I had two years of being a motorcycle guy — often wearing my all-weather insulated bright orange zip-up body suit.

 Baranof Theater Guild

I was President of the Baranof Theater Guild and was chosen to be in an unusual play called “The Four Poster“.  It was only a two-person play (meaning that I had to memorize about 90 minutes of lines and my actress/partner had to do the same).    Being in this play gave me confidence that I could memorize things [I had never been known for a good memory].  The play was focused around a large four-poster bed and covered a 35-year span of a young couple’s marriage.  I loved that Tony-award winning play.

The fact that I now knew that I could memorize things would have a big influence several years later when I worked with Ann about doing a 1-man musical show about Alaska and Alaska poetry.

My Mother-In-Law paid us a visit while we lived here in Sitka.  She was a talented, beautiful, nice spirit and had a gift for music that pervaded everything.  She was devoted to the LDS church and even served a mission after becoming a widow.  She seemed to love [and be loved] by everyone she knew.

It was always interesting — when returning from Anchorage or Seattle — to land at the airport in Sitka.  It was constructed out of rocks dumped into the ocean and was a lot like I would imagine landing a passenger jet on an aircraft carrier.

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World Events At This Time

I have compressed a lot of my history into just a few posts here.  I was not unaware of happenings in the world, even though I was living in Alaska on the edge of the North American continent.  The following is a list of happenings that occurred while I lived in Sitka:

  • 1981 — Aids is identified in the USA [I was totally unaware of homosexual disease, but within only a few short years, the AIDS epidemic came into the public view.  It was a death sentence.  You might not think it would affect the villages of Alaska very quickly, but the frolicking sexual freedoms of Nevada and California -- not to mention international travel -- are just an airplane ride away from anywhere.]
  • 1985 — Hoffman murders in Salt Lake.  Mark Hoffman, a master forger, murdered two people in Utah with pipe bombs in Salt Lake.  The murders were related to forged documents that were sold to leaders of the LDS church.  The news was pervasive throughout the Western US because it showed that Hoffman duped the leaders of the LDS church as well as the FBI, the Library of Congress and other notable entities.  The case never went to trial because of several influences on the case — and the prosecution offered a plea agreement in lieu of trial.  At least his avoided the embarrassment of calling LDS church leaders to testify at a murder trial.  Depending on what you read and believe, it was a total embarrassment to several people — but particularly to leaders of the LDS church.  References:  Wikipedia;   Utah Media Summary; 4Witness.org;  Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts, Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders (1988); and Richard E. Turley, Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case (1992)
  • Probably the most memorable moment of the 80s occurred on January 28, 1986. At about 73 seconds into it’s ninth launch, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in full view of the people watching on the ground and on TV. The O-rings, a set of gaskets that sealed the joints between the rocket booster sections failed due to being exposed to cold weather. The twin booster rockets separated and flew off, the shuttle cabin separated and fell ten miles into the ocean. All seven members of the shuttle crew died. After the explosion, shuttle flights were delayed until 1988.
  • Worst nuclear disaster ever in Chernobyl, USSR, April, 1986.
  • Jessica Hahn is implicated in the Jimmy Bakker scandal

Categories: family, Owning a boat, Personal history and life story | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Writing A Book About Alaskan History

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

I started writing a historical book in 1977 describing Alaska’s long history with beverage alcohol.  I was living in Palmer, Alaska at the time.  I realized that a lot of the alcohol and substance abuse problems that I was seeing as a social worker was a logical outcome of the experiences, laws and religions that Alaskans had for 200 years.  They were not just something that came as the result of being exposed to alcohol sales.

I used every opportunity I had to use the local and regional libraries of Alaska.  In 1986, I was awarded recognition as one of the Outstanding Employees of the US Public Health Service.  My hospital director at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, Art Willman, nominated me for the award.  Part of the award was a ticket to fly to Washington DC to accept it from the National Director of the US Public Health Service.  I used the opportunity to stay a couple days extra to poke around the US National Archives.

The National Archives is a fortress of a building in the center of Washington DC.  I wanted to research some original documents of the US Army having to do with courts martial in early Alaska that are alcohol related.  I was also treated to the opportunity to see the original documents of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence, that are displayed there in special helium-filled display cases.  I was amazed both at what I saw and what I was able to do.

On a different trip to Utah, I was also able to stay in Seattle for a couple days to review the US Archives north of Seattle — where the Alaska Territorial documents and papers are preserved.

Meeting a Famous American Author

While we were living in Sitka, a famous author took up residence in a log cabin on the campus of Sheldon Jackson College.  It was 81-year-old James A. Michener and his wife.

At the time, he was himself working on a novel about Alaska and was here doing research on his own book.  I decided that I would like to meet him personally and discuss writing about Alaska history together.  I walked one evening over to the cabin and knocked on the door.  He answered it himself and before I could tell him who I was or why I was there, he invited me inside, had me sit down and asked if he could get me anything.  I was shocked, awed and amazed.  My visit lasted about 90 minutes.  I left determined to finish the manuscript that I had been working on for nearly eight years — during which time, he had researched and written four complete best-selling novels that were about 500 pages each!

So, with a fire under me — and determination renewed, I worked every chance I could to complete the research and try to find a way to get it published.

Within two more years — with the help of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Office On Alcoholism, I had published my book, “Alaska Hooch: The History of Alcohol In Early Alaska“.

I have since put the book in the public domain and it is freely viewable in PDF format to anyone who wants to read it.

If you would like to download the entire book for your electronic reader [or any of about twenty other documents related to the research that I did on this book] just click on the top menu of my blog, or click HERE.

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ASIDE ABOUT THE HEADER PHOTO OF MCHAELANGELO’S FLORENCE PIETA:

I took this photo myself in the Duomo museum in Florence when Ann and I visited it.  It is one of THREE Pieta [Lamentation over the Dead Christ] statues that Michaelangelo made.  Though lesser known that the one in St. Peter’s in Rome, I found that viewing it brought a stream of thoughts and feelings that left me awe-struck and humbled.   Michaelangelo began the work in 1547 and 8 years later destroyed parts of it with his chisel before giving up on it.  The hooded man behind Christ and looming over Mary is reported to be a likeness of Michaelangelo.  You can read more about this event HERE.

 

Categories: Addictions, alcohol, alcoholism, Credo, Personal history and life story, Word of Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The LDS Word of Wisdom & Alcohol — Belief of LDS Prophet Joseph Smith About Following It

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Thayne Andersen

By the end of the 18th century, in the years just prior to the birth of Joseph Smith Jr (the Mormon prophet was born in 1805) the world seemed to be awash in problems with health, behavior and spiritual problems.  In America, drinking alcoholic beverages had reached the highest point than at any time before — roughly annual per capita consumption twice what it would be be about 100 years later.  In England, Scotland and Ireland (where many Mormon converts would flood from), drinking primarily took the form of spirituous alcohol.  Gin was the favorite drink there and London particularly was widely known as a drunken city [William Hogarth's etchings of "Gin Lane" is one example].

In America, the situation was little, if any, better than in Europe.  Here, however, whiskey and rum [that were locally made] were the most popular drinks.  The first to object about the drinking binge going on were ministers and doctors who voiced objections — not about drinking anything alcoholic — but who complained about the obvious effects only of spirituous alcohol.

The call for “temperance” [the word referred to "habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions"] initially was just that — i.e., a call to stop the lack of moderation in eating and drinking.

The early Quakers in the US — under the vocal leadership of Dr. Benjamin Rush — believed that “temperance” and “health” required that we go a bit further and use spirituous alcohol ONLY when needed for medical purposes.  This meant that we ABSTAIN from spirituous alcohol except in the rare cases when it was absolutely indicated for medical purposes.  In the place of spirituous alcohol, Dr. Rush recommended mild drinks like water, beer and wine. [see the illustration below of his "temperance thermometer"]

Notice here that cider, beer, wine and even strong beer promote health and cheerfulness, when taken in moderate quantities, while all the forms of spirituous alcohol mixtures result in vices, disease and punishments.  Notice also, that “temperance” drinks for him included wine and beer.

NOTE:  When young Joseph Smith Jr. was offered spirituous alcohol when a lad to help deal with the pain of a surgical operation on his leg to remove an infection, the alcohol that was offered was spirituous alcohol that he had most likely been taught by his mother was poisonous.  His refusal to drink was not because it had alcohol in it, or because God thought that it was wrong, but because it was [to him and his Mother] poisonous.

Temperance Societies And Organizations

Right around 1820, a few organizations started to spring into existence that discouraged spirituous drinks.  Their intent originally was to prevent the use of spirituous alcohol and promote moderation in all other alcohol and non-alcohol beverages.  They were called “Temperance Societies“.  Admission to the society often required that the person PLEDGE [or promise] not to drink spirituous alcohol or hard drinks and only to drink moderately of  beer, wine and other beverages.

Names for Temperance Societies varied from one location to another.  There were the Rachabites [who were generally women following Biblical abstinence from wine as did the daughters of Rechab].  There was The Kirkland Temperance Society, of Kirkland, Ohio (where Joseph Smith lived and taught in the School of the Prophets).  This society was organized in 1830 [three years prior to the revelation of the Word of Wisdom -- and successfully closed down the city's only distillery in the month before the Word of Wisdom revelation.  Most the early members were said to be non-Mormon.].  NOTE: There were also anti-temperance societies who objected to the social pressures and come-uppityness of the temperance groups as well as their association with mainstream Protestant religions.

Another Temperance Society in Philadelphia was called:  The Pennsylvania Society For Discouraging The Use Of Ardent Spirits.  Their aim was ardent spirits and liquors, NOT beer and wine.

In 1826 [seven years before the Word of Wisdom], a Congregationalist minister named Lyman Beecher published a series of essays against ardent spirits and distributed it throughout the region.  It was “Six Sermons On Intemperance“.  He claimed that “The Daily use of ardent spirits, in any form, is intemperance.”  While Beecher did not actually recommend wine and beer in the way that Benjamin Rush did, he nevertheless agreed that “men do not become intemperate of wine.” and that beer does “not create intemperate habits.”  [I would suggest to the reader that this opinion was also held by Joseph Smith Jr.]

There were not only Temperance Societies that promoted social activities, but there were also temperance stores [those that sold no liquor] and temperance hotels [where no liquor could be consumer].  Some of these hotels were also organized by owners who supported vegetarian diets — and these were often referred to as “Graham” boardinghouses or hotels.  Many of these were quasi-religious hotels that refused to accept guests who traveled on the Sabbath, handed out religious tracts and held religious services on Sunday.

The exact nature of “The Pledge” varied from one organization to another and [initially, at least] did not require more than an effort to avoid spirits.  Some pledges stated that the member is to refrain from the “daily use” of spirits.  This allowed the drinker considerable latitude to drink — so long as it was not on a daily basis.

In Kentucky, where farmers were always hostile to foreign ideas, or foreign spirits, promoted liberty by pledging “to drink no other strong liquor than whiskey.”

After all, Dr. Benjamin Rush, in his essays on liquor even RECOMMENDED beer and wine as healthy alternatives to spirituous liquor.

Many Americans believed that whiskey was healthful because it was made of a nutritive grain, that it was patriotic to drink because it was native and that it was wholesome — at least in small amounts.  The same could be applied to beer, as it is a mild drink made out of wholesome barley.  Wine also, was used by Jesus to symbolize his blood — how could following his example and command be unhealthful?

It wasn’t at least for another ten years after the Word of Wisdom revelation that taking a pledge to abstain from ALL alcohol [ A T-total pledge] became fashionable in the US and much longer than that to become widespread in its acceptance.

How Did Joseph Smith Understand And Live the Alcohol Part of the Word Of Wisdom?

This part of today’s post involves guesswork on my part.  I admit that I am no expert on either Joseph Smith Jr. or the early 19th century for that matter.  To me, the following assumptions and conclusions make sense.  Maybe this will convince no one, but hear me out.  Maybe part of it, at least is close to being accurate.  My motivation in writing this rather long post is to discuss the issues of alcohol as understood in 1833 — not to either defend or denigrate Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith Jr. is described with regard to drinking alcohol in two, separate and seemingly irreconcilable ways:

  • A prophet who embraced abstinence from alcohol early on in his life and who led an exemplary life of sobriety, temperance and purity up till his death at the hands of anti-Mormons at a jail in Carthage, Illinois in June 27, 1844.
  • A fraud and hypocrite who gave members of the LDS faith the “Word of Wisdom” and then proceeded to continue to drink alcohol  openly in violation of his own edict until he died at a jail in Carthage, Illinois on June 27, 1844.

First, in an effort to find some degree of “middle ground”, let’s review what we thought was obvious:  What does the revelation of the “Word of Wisdom” actually say about alcoholic beverages?  It is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 89, verse 4-7:

4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—

5 That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.

6 And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.

 7 And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

To find out what Joseph Smith Jr. said was the INTENT of this revelation, you have to read the first three verses, which, according to the introduction to this section were were  originally written as an inspired introduction and description by the Prophet.

1 A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—

 2 To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—

 3 Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.

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The first thing I notice, is that this was not by commandment or constraint.  It was a suggestion — maybe a strong piece of advice, but it did not even require a promise or “pledge”.    That was left to the the approach that was being used by “so-called” Temperance Societies of the day.    Although it was accepted by the LDS leaders and members as “revelation“, it was clear that the actual words for the first three verses came from Joseph Smith Jr., not from a higher power.

Did Joseph Smith misunderstand the revelation?  Could he give an “inspired” explanation that was wrong?  Could an inspired explanation be less than inspired?

Assuming, that Joseph Smith misunderstood the purpose of the Word of Wisdom — that it really was MEANT to have parts of it, at least,  be a COMMANDMENT or LAW, then we have to explain WHY Joseph Smith thought  and taught that it was only a good suggestion.

Partial Explanation #1;

A partial answer comes from the Protestant influence of the Temperance Societies and their apparent desire to take a radical stand to force everyone to their way of thinking with regard to wine and other alcoholic beverages.  Joseph Smith was enough of an understanding of scripture to know that wine — even strong wine — was drunk by Christ and was pronounced as a gift to man to make glad his heart.  Psalms 104: 15   And [He causeth] wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. 

Partial Explanation #2;

He knew that “strong drink” [in 1833, this referred ONLY to spirituous alcohol]  was being condemned from knowledgeable sources as being poisonous and harmful to long-term health, but wine was an intrinsic part of partaking of Christ’s sacramental emblems and these were already commanded to be used by God in the emblems of communion [sacrament].

Partial Explanation #3;

He knew that voluntary compliance with laws and principles  is far better than simply following a rulebook.  Real temperance and moderation in using the gifts of God is better than blind obedience.

Partial Explanation #4;

He knew that some of the most conspiring men on the earth were the preachers of what he thought were false religions.  It was this very kind of minister that were now coming out for TOTAL [or T-Total] abstinence from everything that contains alcohol.  [see verse 4 of Section 89 above]

Partial Explanation #5;

He knew that if the food and drink ideas of the Word of Wisdom were codified into rigid dogma, many would assume that they had done all that was required to be healthy and strong in this mortal life.  They will then neglect other health principles that factor into a completely healthy individual.

Partial Explanation #6;

Joseph Smith knew that taking care of one’s physical health was more than just “Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that.”  It required more than just reading something.  It had to be taught and discussed to be understood.  He wrote on the first anniversary of the original revelation in 1834: ” “No official member in this Church is worthy to hold an office after having the word of wisdom properly taught him; and he, the official member, neglecting to comply with and obey it.“  But even this was not considered to be a “worthiness” question that required compliance of all members until nearly 80 years later — and even then, it was not by commandment, but by common consent.  This teaching and learning had to be part of being healthy, not just having a list of “do’s” and “don’t's”.  [Most 20th century Mormons believe that this statement of Joseph Smith made the Word of Wisdom as binding on members as chastity or honesty or supporting the local leaders of the church].

Partial Explanation #7;

I believe that Joseph Smith understood and lived the Word of Wisdom with regard to “hard drinks” [spirituous liquor like whiskey, rum, gin, etc.] in much the same way that the early Temperance Societies did — that it was not to be used except in emergencies as a medicine.  However, the example he set demonstrated that he felt the moderate, temperate use of wine and “mild drinks” made from barley were all right.  I have come across NO instance where Joseph Smith Jr. used spirituous liquor except as a medication.  There are several examples, however, where Joseph Smith drank wine and/or beer after the revelation in 1833 AND after the statement above in 1834.  This suggests that, as far as alcohol is concerned, that he believed the Word of Wisdom applied in much the same way that the ORIGINAL Temperance societies did — to abstain from liquor and to use with judgment and moderation all other beverages that contain alcohol.

This probably did not set well with radical members of the local Temperance societies — or with LDS members and disaffected members who attended those societies.  It is easy — even today — to accuse someone — anyone — of being alcoholic or on the way to becoming alcoholic simply because he is seen with a beer or a glass of wine in his hand.

Allow me to use just one example (there are many available — even a book was written about the allegations of drinking by Joseph Smith).

While languishing in the Carthage jail, Joseph Smith sent out to procure some wine.  “Sometime after dinner we sent for some wine. It has been reported by some that this was taken as a sacrament. It was no such thing,; our spirits were generally dull and heavy, and it was sent for to revive us…. I believe we all drank of the wine, and gave some to one or two of the prison guards.” (John Taylor, in History of the Church, Vol. 7, page 101)  This example could easily be misunderstood as going against the letter and spirit of the Word of Wisdom.  It was no such thing.  It was an example of how Joseph Smith instructed the members in observing it — that it was not to be rigidly enforced, but to be taken with moderation and “temperance”.  [see explanation #6 above]

Partial Explanation #8;

Joseph Smith believed that “mild drinks” made out of barley — specifically BEER — were specifically authorized by the Word of Wisdom.  D&C 89:17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.  He did NOT believe nor teach that beer was against the Word of Wisdom.  It is incorrect to claim that “The Word of Wisdom prohibits all alcoholic drinks.” because it does NOT.  This interpretation was applied to it many years  later.  The use of the two words, “strong drinks” did NOT apply to either wine or beer — at least as Joseph Smith understood it.  They referred specifically to spirituous drinks that were made using the technique of distillation.  [Many of the LDS Apostles believed that beer up through the turn of the 20th century could not intoxicate -- particularly Danish beer.]  This understanding was not only reflected by other ministers and doctors in Joseph Smith’s day, but I personally interviewed many people in Germany between 1999 and 2006 who STILL had the belief that good beer is NOT intoxicating and cannot intoxicate.

Partial Explanation #9;

Whenever Joseph drank wine, it was, as far as I can tell, generally done moderately, although his enemies often pointed out that he appeared to be violating his own Word of Wisdom.  The trouble came when public opinion — and the opinion of competing ministers — soon changed so that it was believed that anyone who drinks wine is on the slippery slope to drunkenness.  They could see “intemperance” in every glass of wine that was drunk [much like today's LDS church].  They claimed that moderate drinking is drunkenness just waiting to happen.  They assumed that if Joseph Smith drank any wine or beer that this was evidence of his fallen state.  NOTE:  Many research results today show that the moderate, even daily,  use of wine is more healthy than we once thought it to be.  It is very easy to believe that EVERY person drinking a glass of wine is drunk, or about to become drunk.  It is especially easy to accuse that person of hypocrisy as well.

NOTE”  I am not trying to do anything more than to make an explanation  for the difference in extremes in explaining Joseph Smith’s drinking.

Categories: Addictions, alcohol, alcoholism, beer, drinking, obedience | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment