DiscussMormonism.com

Believe it or not, I’ve occasionally encountered an argument against Mormonism that rests on the notion that moderate wine consumption would be better for us than following the Word of Wisdom as it’s currently interpreted.

And, in fact, there have been studies suggesting that red wine, imbibed in reasonable quantities, confers cardiovascular benefits.

But is this really the case?

Maybe. Maybe not. The argument continues:

http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... -you-or-it

And, anyway, there are a whole host of reasons for avoiding alcohol that have little direct connection with heart and circulatory health. For example, I’ve personally lost friends to accidents caused by drunk drivers. And there is a history of occasional problems with the bottle in my non-LDS extended family. Alcoholism damages lives. Finally, of course, for Latter-day Saints the most powerful reason of all is (and should be) the belief that the Lord says “No.”

Too much food today

And I can feel it.

But it gives me a chance to mention two good Wasatch Front restaurants.

A couple of my brothers-in-law have been visiting, one from Arizona (with his wife) and the other (without his wife) from Washington. So a sizable chunk of the extended family who’re in Utah at the moment got together for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Sandy called Joy Luck. My wife and I had never been there before. They need to update their website, but they served up some of the best Chinese food that I’ve had in quite a while. (We still also love the Mandarin, in Bountiful.)

And then, for dinner, we met our friends Royal and Sirkku Skousen at an old favorite, Magleby’s — now located in Springville. I had macadamia-encrusted orange roughy. Really, really good.

Now I have to go stretch out for a while.

And, anyway, there are a whole host of reasons for avoiding alcohol that have little direct connection with heart and circulatory health. For example, I’ve personally lost friends to accidents caused by drunk drivers. And there is a history of occasional problems with the bottle in my non-LDS extended family. Alcoholism damages lives. Finally, of course, for Latter-day Saints the most powerful reason of all is (and should be) the belief that the Lord says “No.”

DarkHelmet wrote:
I think the problem here is the black and white thinking of DCP. We all agree with him that drunk driving is bad. Drunkenness and alcoholism are also bad. The health benefits come from moderate consumption of red wine, not drunkenness or drunk driving. Does DCP have any anecdotal stories of terrible things happening to friends that drink a glass of wine with dinner?

EAllusion wrote:

DarkHelmet wrote:
I think the problem here is the black and white thinking of DCP. We all agree with him that drunk driving is bad. Drunkenness and alcoholism are also bad. The health benefits come from moderate consumption of red wine, not drunkenness or drunk driving. Does DCP have any anecdotal stories of terrible things happening to friends that drink a glass of wine with dinner?

The problem is that alcohol is addictive. And, for a certain % of people who use it even occasionally, the risk of addiction will be realized. What's worse is that one of alcohol's other effects is disinhibition. So while you will find zero people who have had an immediate catastrophe happen as a consequence of having just that one glass of wine with dinner, you will find an unbroken chain of events from someone who thought they could be the person who has just one glass of wine to the person who ended up killing people while drinking and driving. I don't think this is enough to say alcohol is all bad, but simply asserting that if you use it in the recommended moderate amount you're fine is naïve to what the real risks of the substance are. Crack can be enjoyed in moderation too, yet you don't here many people saying, "What's the big deal with crack? If you stop after a few hits once or twice a month, you'll be fine."

Indeed, there are many drugs that have a dark aura about them in our society that are less damaging than alcohol. Heroin can, and more often than not, is done in a responsible, recreational manner. You just don't want to be one of the 15-20% or so of users who develop an addiction.

For example, I’ve personally lost friends to accidents caused by drunk drivers. And there is a history of occasional problems with the bottle in my non-LDS extended family. Alcoholism damages lives. Finally, of course, for Latter-day Saints the most powerful reason of all is (and should be) the belief that the Lord says “No.”

DarkHelmet wrote:
We all agree that alcoholism is bad, and for a certain % of the population, they should abstain from alcohol consumption because they are alcoholics. Addictions of any kind are bad. The health benefits of red wine are for the majority of wine drinkers, the ones who drink in moderation. Excessive drinking is very bad for the body, and no doctor will say "the more red wine the better."

EAllusion wrote:You just can't tell a person "don't be an alcoholic" and whalaa, problem solved. It's also not obvious in advance who is going to develop alcoholism from attempting moderate drinking and who isn't. It isn't obvious who is going to become disinhibited and overdo it one night and who isn't. That's the risk. A doctor who recommended moderate wine drinking for health benefits would be egregiously irresponsible.

To be clear, I'm not saying alcohol is a bottle of sorrow. It's a complex risk/benefit decision. I am saying that, "It's perfectly fine if you just do it in moderation," is a naïve statement.

So a sizable chunk of the extended family who’re in Utah at the moment got together for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Sandy called Joy Luck. My wife and I had never been there before. They need to update their website, but they served up some of the best Chinese food that I’ve had in quite a while.