Question
Dear Gramps,
I am a convert, just recently, but I have been attending services for a year. My husband, who has been inactive for at least the last ten years, started coming with me and has now been ordained a priest. In fact he baptized me, and we are working on our requirements this next year to go to the temple. He has changed so many things in his life and is trying really hard. Alcohol was a hard one for him to give up, but I am so proud of him for doing that. HOWEVER, last month he started drinking non-alcoholic beer. Non-alcoholic beer still has .5%, much better than 7-9% alcohol, but it is still there. He told me that they can’t possibly get out all the alcohol but he really enjoys that taste. The Elders that come over know that he has been drinking it, but didn’t say anything for or against it. If beer says non-alcohol on the bottle, is it against the Word of Wisdom and will it prohibit him from getting a temple recommend?
Kim
Answer
Dear Kim,
Whether such activities as drinking “non-alcoholic” beer will keep your husband out of the temple or not, is a matter for his bishop and stake president to decide. However, there is the letter of the law and there is the spirit of the law to consider. The entire purpose of this life is to learn to overcome the carnal with the spiritual. And curbing one’s appetite for anything that could be construed to be contrary to the will of God is our daily task. Let me tell you two brief accounts to illustrate the point.
Several years ago I was having dinner in a hotel restaurant in Mendoza, Argentina with Elders Bruce R. McConkie and Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve. At the end of the meal I asked them if they would like to finish the meal with an herbal tea that was served in the restaurant. Elder Hunter responded, “I think that would be nice. What do they serve it in?” I replied, “Just a regular tea cup.” Elder Hunter said, “No thanks.” and the subject was dropped. About five minutes later a person seated on the other side of the restaurant got up, walked over to the table and said, “Elder McConkie, how are you? A haven’t seen you for such a long time.” If these brethren had been seen by this member drinking from a tea cup at the end of their meal, what an easy erroneous conclusion he could have drawn, and how he could has spread the word about how the Lord’s servants act when away from Church headquarters!
On another occasion one of the Brethren was attending a scout jamboree back in one of the eastern States. It was a rather cold, rainy day. At noon the visiting authority had to travel from one location to another, and while driving down the highway, and being a bit hungry, stopped at a roadside restaurant where a number of trucks were also parked. He went into the restaurant, sat down at the counter and ordered a hamburger and a cup of hot chocolate. The hot chocolate came with a marshmallow floating in the chocolate. The authority glanced down the counter and saw all the truckers with their cups of coffee in the same type mug as the one containing his chocolate. Recounting his stopping at the restaurant he said, “When I looked down the counter and saw all those cups of coffee I didn’t dare drink my hot chocolate for fear that the marshmallow would sink out of sight.” Again, the unlikely event could occur that some member of the Church or some non-member who knew this general authority could have walked in the restaurant, drawn a wrong conclusion about what he was drinking because it was in a coffee cup, and the spread the word.
We all have the same responsibility to avoid the very appearance of evil. In Thessalonians we admonished by Paul to Abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thes 5:22). Elder L. Tom Perry of the Council of the Twelve in our day has given us the same counsel—
“We learn a great lesson from Joseph. When he was presented with a temptation, he immediately separated himself from even the appearance of evil. All of us have events in our lives which find us in challenging situations. When we are confronted with that which is evil and degrading whether it be the wrong kind of music, a television program, or the Internet which places us in the wrong environment, how strengthening it is to remember the story of Joseph: And he fled, and got him out (Gen. 39:12). He removed himself from the temptation (Elder L. Tom Perry, “Becoming Men in Whom the Spirit of God Is”, Ensign, May 2002, p.39).
Gramps
