Many religions spend much time following rules. It is typical across religions for some things to be forbidden (foods, certain actions, etc.) and others to be required (sacraments, prayer times, confession, etc.). The specifics vary from one religion to the next, but no religion should be discarded strictly because they do things that we may consider odd, weird, etc.

Some (most?) religions, however do have problems in that their actions and prohibitions are contradictory to themselves or to their own teachings. For example, there are Christian religions that prohibit drinking of alcoholic beverages despite the fact that no such prohibition exists in Christian scriptures and that Jesus himself certainly drank wine and is credited with converting water into wine as one of his miracles. I'm not blasting the Christian faith (I am a Christian) but I'm saying that some Christian religions (as opposed to the Christian faith) have rules that have no foundation in scripture. The same can be said for many (most?) religions, that they follow some rules that have no basis in their own scriptures.

I think it is important for followers of any religion to understand what that religion teaches and what the scriptural foundation for those teachings are including any prohibitions or requirements. No follower of any religion should be unable to answer such questions, and if they find an apparent contradiction, they should certainly attempt to get an answer as to why the contradiction exists.

I think tongyun did a fair job of explaining his take on the LDS practices regarding caffeine and other substances and I'm assuming he could relate the scriptural basis for these practices. I respect that even if my own religion doesn't hold the same view.

-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan