Lust. Instagram. Shopping. Candy Crush. Food. Heroin. What do all these have in common?

I think most of us miss the main point of the Word of Wisdom. While the incident that initiated the revelation may have involved sacred meetings held on spittle-stained floors in choking clouds of smoke, the revelation itself doesn't list warnings about unhealthy substances as the Lord's primary purpose. He doesn't immediately dive into the evils of alcohol, hot drinks, or tobacco. Instead He warns that:

"In consequence... of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I... forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom..."

The warning is about conspiracy not physiology. The Lord is warning that in the last days men will conspire in various ways to seduce us into surrendering our agency. Substances will be one of the vehicles of conspiracy.

If we define addictions too narrowly, we replace "wisdom" with smugness. We reason that our "little" habits are nothing like those dirty drug addicts or disgusting porn users. I've come to believe that while our various addictions may differ in degree, they exact precisely the same kind of costs.

Soft cover.