Verse by Verse D&C 89:3

D&C 89:3

“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.“

“Given for a principle with promise,“

-In the early 1800’s the word “principle” was defined as: a fundamental truth, source or guiding law. It was used to define a standard of conduct. As we study the Word of Wisdom we will find that the guidance given for our dietary choices truly can be understood as truth and law. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”

The principle taught in the verse above is similar to the same principle taught throughout much of the Word of Wisdom. God has established many guiding laws of nature.

Genesis 1:14

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”

God has given us the sun and moon to show us the pattern in which we are to pattern our own lives off of. The fundamental truth is that the sun offers us a daily pattern that we can follow to realign our bodies each day with the Lord and with the Earth. As the sun rises so does the body. Our minds awaken and our hormones rise. Placing our bodies in the sunlight each day allows our cells and our spirits to align with the, “SUN” of God, leading all of our hormones and regulatory systems to be synchronized and aligned for the day. Receiving sunlight into the body impacts our health in multiple ways, including: 

–Melatonin and cortisol signaling which improves our energy levels throughout the day and sleep quality at night

–Serotonin levels. Serotonin is also known as the happy hormone. Simply getting morning sunlight can boost your mood in a powerful way. It can also help to regulate your focus and reduce your chances of suffering with seasonal depression. 

–Getting sunlight on the skin (especially morning sunlight) helps your body to produce Vitamin D. Vitamin D allows your bones to absorb calcium, leading to increased bone density. Vitamin D also boosts your immune system and your muscle and nerve function. 

–Lowers blood pressure because nitric oxide is released into the skin causing blood vessel dilation.

–Reducing weight gain. Morning sunlight increases your insulin sensitivity. Insulin is a hormone released by your pancreas every time you consume any sort of sugar, it tells it where to go and what to do. Your body then uses this sugar for energy. However, if you consume too much sugar and don’t use it for energy, your body will then store it as fat. Unfortunately, with the modern-day levels of sugar consumption, our bodies are overwhelmed with insulin and start to become less sensitive to it, leaving all of the excess sugar in the blood, rather than having the ability to use the sugar for energy. Leaving us fatter, sicker and more tired than ever before. Having a body that is sensitive to insulin is essential for good metabolic health. Otherwise you will become diabetic, which leads to a lot of other health issues. 

–Exposing the skin to morning sunlight can also improve the skin’s appearance. It has natural healing effects on skin conditions like psoriasis, acne, vitiligo and eczema and so many others. 

The sun truly is a healer. It is the ruler of our circadian rhythms. It is also the main driver of how all the hormones work in the human body. For men specifically, morning sunlight can boost testosterone (an important hormone for women too!) 

The moon is often seen as the more feminine “great light” that the Lord created. The moon cycle is 28 days. This is the exact length of the average menstrual cycle that a woman has. The word Menstruation literally shares the same root for the latin form of the word month mensis. Some research has shown that a woman’s cycle naturally aligns with the phases of the moon, with ovulation landing on the full moon and menstruation landing on the new moon. However, because of modern technology, drugs and blue light from screens and overhead lights, this cycle has been disrupted causing women everywhere to have dysregulated cycles and disharmony with her own body and with the moon. 

Because of the moon’s effects on the menstrual cycle of a woman, it also has a great effect on the reproduction habits of wild life. This would also mean that harvesting an animal to eat would be better in some seasons than others. Allowing each animal to live its full life cycle and naturally using it when the seasons allow. 

The moon also controls the tides and in addition it can control the moisture in the soil, allowing for different crop sowing outcomes based off of which phase of the moon a seed is planted in. If farmers were to use a lunar calendar and better understand the tools that God has created for us to tell the times and seasons, they could yield better natural crops and find less opportunities to use man-made poisonous chemicals to deter pests and yield larger crop harvests. This will ultimately lead to greater food quality and health outcomes for all of God’s children who consume the fruits of their labors.

The patterns taught and given to us by God are natural and are based off of fundamental truths and guiding laws that God has created. They emphasize the seasons that the Earth and her inhabitants pass through as part of the cycle of life. We will see that there is an emphasis on seasonality, gratitude and prudence throughout each direction given from the Lord in the Word of Wisdom. As we continue on throughout more verses, try and remember God’s principles relating to the sun and moon that we just discussed. 

“adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.”

-We are reminded in this verse that the Word of Wisdom was given so that even the WEAKEST followers of Christ would be able to keep it. The Word of Wisdom was never meant to be complicated or something that only wealthy people could keep up with. It was not designed to be something that only the “super mormon” saints follow. This dietary guideline was meant to be something that EVERYONE can keep in order to help their temporal salvation to be realized. 

This statement really leaves no room for excuse for someone to say that they can not keep the Word of Wisdom because it is ”too hard” or that it is “asking too much of them.” 

Alma 7:15

 “Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins…”

Anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ should be able to cast anything or any habit aside to better align their life with His will. We all have weaknesses that can be made strong in Jesus Christ. 

Ether 12:27 

“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

It is through our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement that we are able to do all things. The Lord gives us weaknesses so that we will turn to him. In this modern time that we live in, the food and drinks we consume have consumed us! They make us weak! They are taking away our ability to fight off temptation and slothfulness. We have to hold on to Christ and believe that His infinite Atonement covers even this. It covers our food and drink addictions, our sugar addictions and our media addictions. Through Him, we can receive strength and power to overcome all of our weaknesses. This verse (D&C 89:3) invites all of us to come unto Him in our weaknesses and to live the principles he is about to introduce to us, and in doing so, we will be stronger.