Run And Not Be Weary

[Guest]

I discussed with my daughter a very common question.  She asked:

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So, if a person does get sick, does that mean that they're not following the word of wisdom correctly?

  Recognizing this as the common question it was, I was about to give a very common answer.  But something stopped me.  Instead I said we ought to read the scripture more in depth and see what we could find.

As soon as she opened her scriptures to section 89, she noticed that she had marked "chiasmus" on the sidebars.  Examining the chiastic structure of the Word of Wisdom indicated the phrase "Run and not be weary, walk and not faint" was parallel to the phrase "adapted to the weak and weakest of all the saints."

The reason I found this an interesting parallel is that I usually thought of the "weak and weakest" phrase to be a spiritual one, and the "run and not be weary" to refer to the physical.  But this tends to link the two in a parallel.  I would have naturally concluded there was no reason to not consider them as to referring to both (spiritual and physical).  But then I saw the footnotes.  

The word "weak" in verse 3 as well as "run" in verse 20 all had reference to verses that taken out of context may seem like they are one or the other (physical or spiritual).  But in context and in their own way, they all seem to primarily refer to spiritual things -- only passingly referring to the physical (if at all).  I concluded to my Princess that the meaning of the promise in the D&C was primarily a spiritual one.  When you don't subject yourself to mind-altering substances or addictions, then you are more in control and less likely to stumble spiritually.

Oh, but what about "weary"?  That also has a few cross references which indicate a spiritual wearying.  

The word "faint" was interesting as well.  In the context of the discussion we were having, I found them to refer to "be faint with hunger."  I pointed out that many poor people (even in poor countries) smoke.  They smoke a LOT.  They also drink a lot.  There aren't really many wealthy people who smoke.  What does that have to do with hunger?  

Well, commonly people will smoke from half a pack to 2-packs a day.  Take the guy who smoked a pack a day.  He's spending about $10/day nowadays on cigarettes.  That's $300/month!!  That's how much people spend on groceries -- and lavishly so.  And that doesn't even include the healthcare costs.  In a family like ours where we can buy in bulk and make food from scratch, we spend about $100/month per person.  Do you think that if a poor person stopped smoking, maybe he'd be able to buy food and maybe even save money to get ahead? How about alcohol? And if he had food, he wouldn't be faint with hunger.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Guest