 | Greetings Gramps, It is 12:30 a.m so this
will be short and crude; I just stumbled onto the site Mormontown, looked around a
few minutes and found it quite interesting. I found myself searching for any commentary or
discussion on the Word of Wisdom and came across your lesson discussion, found it very
interesting -- thank you. My question relates to the statement (new to me by the way)
about the "spurious" comma between 'used' and 'only'. That does seem to change
the intended meaning somewhat -- sorry for rambling -- like I said, it's 12:30 am. My question is -- what do you make of the verse in the Joseph Smith translation of Genesis that says "and the blood of every animal will I require at your hand."? Also, I believe that in D&C 49 some place it says something about pleasing God by only using meat "to save your life." Thank you for letting me ramble -- any insight or provocative comment would be most appreciated. Thanks again Guy Hendriksen, South Jordan, Utah |
Dear Guy,
You are apparently referring to JST Genesis 9:10-11, which reads as follows:
"But, the blood of all flesh which I have given you for meat, shall be shed upon the
ground, which taketh life thereof, and the blood ye shall not eat. And surely, blood shall
not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I
require at your hands."
It seems that the Lord's instructions here are that the blood of animals should not be
eaten, and that animals should not be killed except for food. The phrase "to save
your lives" could possibly also be rendered "to sustain life." The last
phrase, "and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands," seems to
have the same implication as the verse in D&C 49:21, to which you apparently refer,
"And wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need."
Gramps