Teaching About Tobacco

RETRACTION: Since writing this blog post, it has come to my attention that I could well have been mistaken in my assumption that Joseph Smith smoked and chewed tobacco. I still think it's likely, but I cannot say for sure. This blog post labors under the potentially-false assumption that Joseph Smith smoked and chewed tobacco, which, I repeat, he may not have. Any claim in this blog post that he did smoke and chew are pure speculation on my part, and it's entirely possible that my speculation was incorrect.



This Sunday, I will have the honor and obligation of trying to explain tobacco to Primary kids. Here's the setup: Before the Word of Wisdom was revealed, and well before scientists figured out how harmful tobacco could be, chewing and pipe tobacco were so popular that even the early saints, including the Prophet Joseph Smith, were doing it. I think what I'm most concerned about is the risk of either ruining the image of Joseph Smith as a role model for my Primary class or allowing him to set a bad example for them. I don't want want my class to stop looking up to him, but I don't want them to follow his tobacco-smoking example, either.


I can think of two solutions to this problem. The first is to teach the children that nobody is perfect and that we can learn from both what people do right and what they do wrong. We can follow people's good examples while deliberately not following their bad examples. Joseph Smith had many admirable traits, qualities, and habits. Smoking and chewing tobacco are not among them. Yet, we can learn to follow in his footsteps for the most part and still avoid the pitfalls he fell into before he learned better. If the 116 pages didn't teach the children that's it's okay to ignore God's answers because He'll change His mind eventually if you keep asking Him to, hopefully this lesson won't teach them that it's okay to use tobacco.

The second solution is to spin this story in a positive, repentance-based light. Before receiving the Word of Wisdom, Joseph Smith was sinning in ignorance. He didn't know he was doing anything wrong. But as soon as he learned that chewing and smoking tobacco was against God's wishes, I'm sure he repented of his behavior and tried to quit. Of course, I'll want to do more research to confirm that suspicion, if I can, and find any information I can on whether he was successful or not (either to provide encouragement or a cautionary tale), but the information might not be readily available, so I might be better of going with the first solution.

Either way I do it, I hope to be able to teach those Primary kids the history of Joseph Smith's tobacco use without having the whole lesson go completely off the rails. I can see this potentially going badly, especially when a portion of my audience is generally only half-listening. I just have to pray and hope that they don't pick up the wrong half.