Mormons and Caffeine

[BigDaddy4]

It is not true. Our word of wisdom prohibits coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco specifically. Avoiding other harmful substances is also in keeping with the Word of Wisdom.

But your WoW permits the sale of such items. Mr. Smith even sold coffee and tea himself in his Nauvoo store and authorized himself, as mayor, to sell liquor. How nice to capitalize on something God supposedly tells you not to consume.

 

[Moodshadow]

But your WoW permits the sale of such items. Mr. Smith even sold coffee and tea himself in his Nauvoo store and authorized himself, as mayor, to sell liquor. How nice to capitalize on something God supposedly tells you not to consume.

The WoW didn't address the sale of these substances, BD, and this was before it was considered a commandment (in spite of the fact that it specifically says in the revelation that it is NOT given by commandment), anyway. But yes, the church-owned Hotel Utah, where some of the elderly LDS presidents have had their residences, certainly offers these prohibited substances for sale in its restaurants, bars and...ahem, coffee shops. As incongruous as it may sound, that's the way the church does busine$$ - quite literally.

 

[Vanhin]

Too bad for you guys, that you take the word of Mr. Smith over theWord of Jesus Christ, it Is Jesus who says "it aint what goes in the mouth that defiles ya, but what comes out that does that job" (paraphrase)

Jesus tells us one thing, Smith tells you another.

Sure the Mopologists will try to explaiin it away, but then again people have been trying to explain Jesus away for a long time now. Too bad for them

Who do yo choose to believe?

Sorry curleom, I somehow missed responding to your post.

We believe it is Jesus who has give us the Word of Wisdom, for a wise purpose. The reason I believe it, is because God has made it known to me that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. The revelation on the word of wisdom includes the following:

Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation— (D&C 89:4)
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The word of wisdom is for the saints in the last days, to keep us safe from certain perils unique to our time. Joseph Smith had no idea about what a plague the tobacco industry would be under the guidance of "conspiring men", for example. But we now know what they have done, and to what extent they would go to market their addictive products (see YouTube - The Seven Dwarves: I believe that nicotine is not addictive and truth's FACTory).

The word of wisdom turned out to be quite prophetic.

Though the Lord has not revealed the exact reasons for the prohibition against coffee and tea, we now know what they did not know then, that out of the over 1000 chemicals in coffee, over half are rodent carcinogens ( Ames, Bruce N; Gold, Lois Swirsky (1998). "The causes and prevention of cancer: the role of environment". Biotherapy 11 (2–3): 205–20). That is why the caffeine content is troublesome in coffee, because you can get severely hooked on drinking rodent carcinogens.

Like Coffee, Tea has other bad chemicals in it besides caffeine, like tannins (see the Toxicity section in Tannin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

People all over the world are hooked on the above drinks, and the companies producing them are making money off selling poisons for public consumption.

In keeping with the spirit of the word of wisdom, there are many things that we should examine and cut out of our diets in order to remain healthy, but God does not command us in all things. He leaves some things for us to decide.

Our bodies are gifts from God, and they are the temple of our spirits. Jesus is pleased when we take care of them.

Regards,
Vanhin

 

[Moodshadow]

Joseph Smith was indeed far ahead of his time with much of his thinking, and the Word of Wisdom is a great example of that. It has been proven beyond question that the use of tobacco has contributed to countless tragic and unnecessary deaths. Alcohol abuse is rampant in the world and is another cause of so many tragedies. The WoW says to use meat sparingly and fruits and vegetables in season - always great counsel!

The history behind Section 89 is intriguing. The following is a carefully copied, verbatim quote from Mormon Enigma, the biography of Emma Smith. The passages in quotation marks, where not otherwise identified, are the words of David Whitmer.

Thus Emma, faced almost daily with "having to clean so filthy a floor" as was left by the men chewing tobacco [at the so-called School of the Elders, who met in a room in the Smiths' home], spoke to Joseph about the matter. David Whitmer's account supports Brigham Young's description. "Some of the men were excessive chewers of the filthy weed, and their disgusting slobbering and spitting caused Mrs. Smith...to make the ironical remark that 'It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin, and commanding its suppression.' " Emma had support among the women. Whitmer further reports, "The matter was taken up and joked about, one of the brethren suggested that the revelation should also provide for a total abstinence from tea and coffee drinking, intending this as a counter dig at the sisters." Joseph made the issue the subject of prayer, and the "Word of Wisdom" was the result. (From page 47)

So ever since 1851, when the Word of Wisdom was adopted as a commandment, the entire body of the LDS church membership has been required to abstain from the use of coffee and tea because of Emma's irritation at having to clean that nasty floor.

 

[Vanhin]

Joseph Smith was indeed far ahead of his time with much of his thinking, and the Word of Wisdom is a great example of that. It has been proven beyond question that the use of tobacco has contributed to countless tragic and unnecessary deaths. Alcohol abuse is rampant in the world and is another cause of so many tragedies. The WoW says to use meat sparingly and fruits and vegetables in season - always great counsel!

The history behind Section 89 is intriguing. The following is a carefully copied, verbatim quote from Mormon Enigma, the biography of Emma Smith. The passages in quotation marks, where not otherwise identified, are the words of David Whitmer.

Thus Emma, faced almost daily with "having to clean so filthy a floor" as was left by the men chewing tobacco [at the so-called School of the Elders, who met in a room in the Smiths' home], spoke to Joseph about the matter. David Whitmer's account supports Brigham Young's description. "Some of the men were excessive chewers of the filthy weed, and their disgusting slobbering and spitting caused Mrs. Smith...to make the ironical remark that 'It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin, and commanding its suppression.' " Emma had support among the women. Whitmer further reports, "The matter was taken up and joked about, one of the brethren suggested that the revelation should also provide for a total abstinence from tea and coffee drinking, intending this as a counter dig at the sisters." Joseph made the issue the subject of prayer, and the "Word of Wisdom" was the result. (From page 47)

So ever since 1851, when the Word of Wisdom was adopted as a commandment, the entire body of the LDS church membership has been required to abstain from the use of coffee and tea because of Emma's irritation at having to clean that nasty floor.

Good post Moodshadow, thank you.

Vanhin

 

[BigDaddy4]

People all over the world are hooked on the above drinks, and the companies producing them are making money off selling poisons for public consumption.

Including lds companies. Any hypocrisy there??

 

[BigDaddy4]

So ever since 1851, when the Word of Wisdom was adopted as a commandment, the entire body of the LDS church membership has been required to abstain from the use of coffee and tea because of Emma's irritation at having to clean that nasty floor.

The first "revelation", according to the lds website, says this was revealed on February 27, 1833. It took 18 years for the membership to vote on one of God's commandments and make it official, that it actually came from God?? And I thought our Congress moved slowly on some things...

 

[Moodshadow]

Good post Moodshadow, thank you.

Vanhin

Thank you very much, Sir.

 

[Blackmarch]

Why is it that Mormans aren't allowed to consume caffeine? Or perhaps I should first ask - it it true Mormans aren't allowed to drink caffeine?

well mostly that is up to personal revelation... but there have been definite commands to not drink/consume , coffee, alcohol, tea, and harmful drugs.

I view caffiene as a drug (and a fairly potent one at that), and I don't believe in using drugs for recreational purposes.

 

[Cassiopeia]

Yikes.... Seems silly to me. Scary too.

Scary? Hardly. Ask any doctor, they'll tell you that people benefit from avoiding caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. Nothing scary about it. Unless of course you TRY to take away coffee from someone who is addicted to and happens to be a Mormon (whispers such as I was). But that's just a joke. LOL. BAd one too.

You can find super-devout Mormons who will tell you that since chocolate contains caffeine, using foods made with it is violating the WoW. However, once again, coffee and tea are the only things specifically proscribed, even though hot chocolate is both a hot drink and contains caffeine. There are zillions of cookbooks published by and for Mormons, and probably all of them have recipes containing chocolate. Some ward bishops strongly suggest to their ward members that they be more circumspect about keeping the WoW more strictly, but technically the temple recommend cannot be denied unless the the member confesses to drinking coffee and/or tea and/or alcoholic beverages - or, of course, using tobacco or illegal drugs.

And of course we have our good ole NOT so favorite LDS author Bruce R who said it was because of the stimulants.

I've heard of people going as far as to say that you break the word of wisdom if you eat too much meat or don't eat fruits and veggies in their season. People are nuts man. LOL

 

[Cassiopeia]

Joseph Smith was indeed far ahead of his time with much of his thinking, and the Word of Wisdom is a great example of that. It has been proven beyond question that the use of tobacco has contributed to countless tragic and unnecessary deaths. Alcohol abuse is rampant in the world and is another cause of so many tragedies. The WoW says to use meat sparingly and fruits and vegetables in season - always great counsel!

The history behind Section 89 is intriguing. The following is a carefully copied, verbatim quote from Mormon Enigma, the biography of Emma Smith. The passages in quotation marks, where not otherwise identified, are the words of David Whitmer.

Thus Emma, faced almost daily with "having to clean so filthy a floor" as was left by the men chewing tobacco [at the so-called School of the Elders, who met in a room in the Smiths' home], spoke to Joseph about the matter. David Whitmer's account supports Brigham Young's description. "Some of the men were excessive chewers of the filthy weed, and their disgusting slobbering and spitting caused Mrs. Smith...to make the ironical remark that 'It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin, and commanding its suppression.' " Emma had support among the women. Whitmer further reports, "The matter was taken up and joked about, one of the brethren suggested that the revelation should also provide for a total abstinence from tea and coffee drinking, intending this as a counter dig at the sisters." Joseph made the issue the subject of prayer, and the "Word of Wisdom" was the result. (From page 47)

So ever since 1851, when the Word of Wisdom was adopted as a commandment, the entire body of the LDS church membership has been required to abstain from the use of coffee and tea because of Emma's irritation at having to clean that nasty floor.

EXCELLENT! You done good!

 

[Cassiopeia]

Including lds companies. Any hypocrisy there??

Oh give it a rest. Go dig in the backyards of several other large religious organizations and have a look at their investments. pfft.

If we are so not the true church why do you hold us to standards that you don't other churches you claim are truly christian?

 

[Vanhin]

Including lds companies. Any hypocrisy there??

Which companies owned by the LDS Church are you referring to?

Regards,
Vanhin

 

[Cassiopeia]

Which companies owned by the LDS Church are you referring to?

Regards,
Vanhin

Probably the old, *whisper whisper* The LDS church owns stock in Pepsi.

My son (who refuses to go to church and claims he isn't Mormon and then cracks me up by asking me what WE believe when it comes to Christ) came home with that the other day. I heard that back in 1976.

And so what???

 

[BigDaddy4]

Oh give it a rest. Go dig in the backyards of several other large religious organizations and have a look at their investments. pfft.

Cassie, if you will read the post I was responding to, perhaps you would understand my comment. Here it is for your review:

Originally Posted by Vanhin

People all over the world are hooked on the above drinks, and the companies producing them are making money off selling poisons for public consumption.


​

An lds poster made the inferrence that companies that sell poisons and make money were bad. I merely pointed out that the lds were not innocent of "selling poisons" either, and there was some hypocrisy in his statement. In fact, Joseph Smith sold "poisons" in his store during the 18 years when the lds bretheren couldn't figure out whether the WoW was from God or not.

My father-in-law worked as a distributor for Pepsi and Coke for 26 years combined. I can only imagine how much "poison" he sold.

If we are so not the true church why do you hold us to standards that you don't other churches you claim are truly christian?

Because other churches don't consider the consumers of coffee, tea, hot drinks, etc to be unworthy of fully participating in the goings on in those churches.

Truly Christian churches know that we are all unworthy, but are made righteous only by the blood of Jesus.