Can Latter-day Saints play with face cards? Ep. 181

Many past Latter-day Saint leaders discouraged (quite strongly, sometimes) members from playing with face cards. Why did they give that counsel? Does it still apply today? Was this only a Latter-day Saint thing? David Snell addressed these questions and more in this episode of Faith and Beliefs.

Video Transcript: https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-and-beliefs/living-the-gospel/can-latter-day-saints-play-with-face-cards/

“Playing Cards: What the prophets have actually said,” via LDSLiving: https://bit.ly/3zhUxLt

Newspaper example of what one non-Latter-day Saint community was saying about card-playing in the early 1900s: https://bit.ly/3Q6ia0B

Here are four short articles written by Joseph F. Smith in 1903 about the dangers of card-playing in the early 20th century: https://bit.ly/3zgJTVD / https://bit.ly/3vk2tej / https://bit.ly/3PHeHWe / https://bit.ly/3Je5YbY

Notes:

— For the record: I’m not aware of any formal ecclesiastical discipline that has ever been administered due to members playing cards. Perhaps that might have happened 100+ years ago (I seriously doubt it, but I haven’t done a comprehensive search), but nowadays, nobody seems to bat an eye at face-cards. Personally, I’ve played games with face-cards my entire life and haven’t run into any problems.

— Some might point out that leaders have never rescinded the counsel against playing with face cards. This seems accurate, but I’m not sure I would expect them to do otherwise. It would be odd for a leader to stand at the pulpit and *encourage* people to play card games. It has no eternal value. Instead, I think the silence on the topic makes it clear that using face cards really isn’t the issue it used to be.

— I have found two references to this topic in official Church publications since President Kimball’s 1974 statement.

First: There’s one statement referencing cards from Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Quorum of the 70 in a youth magazine from 1977. Source: https://bit.ly/3Jdqo4U

Second: There’s another brief mention from a member (a former stake president) in a 1984 youth magazine. Source: https://bit.ly/3oEJBCI

— Speaking of how widespread the taboo on playing cards was, even before our church was organized, in some Methodist congregations, for example, “Drinking liquor, playing cards, [and] racing horses … were punishable offenses.” Source: https://bit.ly/3Q14x2M

— Heber J. Grant in 1929 GC: “ We want them to tell the people that they are expected to obey the Word of Wisdom, to be honest tithe-payers, to remember the covenants that they make in the temples of God, and not mutilate their garments: that we expect them to quit playing cards; and that we expect them to do their duty as saints, and to preach the Gospel by living it.”

Here’s another one from Heber J. Grant (1914): “We, as a people have been told not to play cards. Ever since I can remember, the Presidency of the Church and others have been writing and talking against card playing.”

— Here’s a quote from Ezra Taft Benson (1950): “We should refrain from the habit of card playing against which we have been counseled by the leaders of the Church.”

SUBSCRIBE:
http://saintsunscripted/subscribe

Follow Us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaintsUnscripted/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saintsunscripted/
Website: https://saintsunscripted.com/

Follow the Hosts:
Justin: https://www.instagram.com/justin_wintch/
David: https://www.instagram.com/davidesnell/
Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/tsyorg/
Allex: https://www.instagram.com/allex_lennon/
Kaitlyn: https://www.instagram.com/kait_fotheringham/
Sabrina: https://www.instagram.com/srhymasfuller/