I remember when my mother was joining the “Mormons”. I have to entertain them too because of our customs. One day, one of the ministers that come to our house said “Ask anything to him that we want to know.” I ask him why does they don’t drink coffee. He said that anything that would harm our body must not be taken and I ask them again why they drink chocolate. He can’t answer my question and thus he become angry of me.

Well, since I am a member of the LDS Church (Mormons), let me state that drinking coffee is indeed off limits because of ingredients that are harmful to our bodies, e.g., tannic acid, among other things. However many of my fellow church members will drink Coke, Pepsi and yes, hot chocolate. There are certain things we are directed not to put into our bodies and other things where we have to make that decision for ourselves. Just as there are many church members who will drink the products I've mentioned, there are just as many who will not.

Just like no one has to tell you not to jump into an empty pool, we are provided guidance in some things but are asked to think for ourselves about other things. I hope that helps.

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

I forgot to mention something very important. The original wording prohibiting coffee and tea was that we should not put "hot drinks" into our body. It was later in our church history that "hot drinks" was defined as tea and coffee.

As for Jeff's comments, I agree that every individual who is a member of a church or searching for a church needs to find answers to questions that they may have. Sometimes the answers come from individuals while other times, answers come through prayers.