Is Caffeine Really Covered in the HC?

See...this stupid debate even makes its way on a sports forum. Argument always ends the same way.



The caffeine drinkers/supporters point to nothing being specifically said against caffeine and stress the importance living gospel principles. The non-caffeine drinkers cross their arms, mention the principle of obedience and start dropping passive comments about listening to the brethren.



How come there isn't a thread 5 pages deep on this forum about loving our neighbors, the eternal nature of the atonement, how to stop world hunger or not be envious? All much bigger, more important issues that come judgment time God is going to care much more about than whether you drank caffeine-free Pepsi or not.



Props to you non-caffeine drinkers for being more obedient and doing a better of heeding the council of the brethren then the caffeine drinkers. You can hold your head high, you're more righteous than your neighbor. You're winning!



Props to you caffeine drinkers for not losing sight of the bigger picture and your devotion to following principles. You can hold your head high, you're more enlightened than your neighbor. You're winning!

Gunk wrote:
Props to you non-caffeine drinkers for being more obedient and doing a better of heeding the council of the brethren then the caffeine drinkers. You can hold your head high, you're more righteous than your neighbor. You're winning!



Props to you caffeine drinkers for not losing sight of the bigger picture and your devotion to following principles. You can hold your head high, you're more enlightened than your neighbor. You're winning!

Dang Gunk, whenever I try holding my head high, people start yelling and screaming to make it go away. What am I do to?

urroner wrote:

Props to you non-caffeine drinkers for being more obedient and doing a better of heeding the council of the brethren then the caffeine drinkers. You can hold your head high, you're more righteous than your neighbor. You're winning!



Props to you caffeine drinkers for not losing sight of the bigger picture and your devotion to following principles. You can hold your head high, you're more enlightened than your neighbor. You're winning!

Dang Gunk, whenever I try holding my head high, people start yelling and screaming to make it go away. What am I do to?

Ear plugs?

I'm sure there are still grocery stores that have paper bags, then you just need scissors to cut two holes.

AmmonCougar1 wrote:



And I said, "Would you get your Priesthood Bulletin? Let's read it together." And so we found under the heading "Cola Drinks": "… the leaders of the Church have advised, and we do now specifically advise, against use of any drink containing harmful habit-forming drugs. …" (The Priesthood Bulletin, Feb. 1972, p. 4.)

I wonder why the whol sentence wasn't quoted; especially the part after the ...

The issue here is is caffeine a harmful, habit forming drug. I think that is debatable, especially with the science on effects of caffeine. Can it be habit forming? For some. Can it be harmful? Depends on the amount taken. But compared to other 'harmful' drugs, not even close in the negative impacts. In other words, moderation in all things, and you should be just fine. WoW wins again.

Schmoe wrote:

AmmonCougar1 wrote:
The only 'official' document I know of regarding caffeine is a Priesthood Bulletin (the kind usually read by the Bishopric member over the pulpit) that states:



"With reference to cola drinks, the Church has never officially taken a position on the matter, but the leaders of the Church have advised, and we do now specifically advise, against the use of any drink containing harmful habit-forming drugs under circumstances that would result in acquiring the habit. Any beverage that contains ingredients harmful to the body should be avoided."

There is that elusive definitive statement.. "Any beverage the contains ingredients harmful to the body should be avoided".. problem is, I'm pretty sure that BYU creamery ice cream with a caffeine-free coke chaser will kill us much faster than 50 mg/day of caffeine. When we start splitting hairs here it gets silly. Pretty soon we're living on an IV of wheat grass juice and metamucil.

Obviously you want moderation in all things, but the fact is that ice cream is almost exclusively things that our bodies need and can naturally and effectively use (fats, carbs, and proteins) whereas caffeine is not.

Ha! Is the pectin in green jello something our bodies really need? (TIC) No, I get you're point.. moderation in all things. Maybe BYU creamery should set a personal purchase limit then.. like drinks at bars.. When someone gets out of control, the scooper steps in to put a stop to it.

Moderation in all things -- even moderation. :whistle:

loonmj wrote:
Moderation in all things -- even moderation. :whistle:

I let this thread go for a while...I figured someone would post the HC text to answer the OP question (the answer is "no," BTW) and that would be that. Now that we are approaching page 6 rapidly, I will send this thread off to the Lounge so the letter of the law can continue to debate the spirit of the law.

snoscythe wrote:

Moderation in all things -- even moderation. :whistle:

I let this thread go for a while...I figured someone would post the HC text to answer the OP question (the answer is "no," BTW) and that would be that. Now that we are approaching page 6 rapidly, I will send this thread off to the Lounge so the letter of the law can continue to debate the spirit of the law.

I'll drink to that! I just won't tell you what ;)

BoiseBYU wrote:

loonmj wrote:
Moderation in all things -- even moderation. :whistle:

I let this thread go for a while...I figured someone would post the HC text to answer the OP question (the answer is "no," BTW) and that would be that. Now that we are approaching page 6 rapidly, I will send this thread off to the Lounge so the letter of the law can continue to debate the spirit of the law.

I'll drink to that! I just won't tell you what ;)

And I'll drink to you drinking to that. :whistle:

snoscythe wrote:

Moderation in all things -- even moderation. :whistle:

I let this thread go for a while...I figured someone would post the HC text to answer the OP question (the answer is "no," BTW) and that would be that. Now that we are approaching page 6 rapidly, I will send this thread off to the Lounge so the letter of the law can continue to debate the spirit of the law.

Yeah, BYUROCKS answered it with the first response of the thread, but its been kinda fun discussing it and I think things have been very civil. At the time it seemed relevant to put in the BBall forum because it was somewhat related to the whole Davies debacle.

NCPUMA wrote:
Ha! Is the pectin in green jello something our bodies really need? (TIC) No, I get you're point.. moderation in all things. Maybe BYU creamery should set a personal purchase limit then.. like drinks at bars.. When someone gets out of control, the scooper steps in to put a stop to it.

I can see it now: "Gimme another cookies n' cream cone"

"I think you've had enough"

"I'll tell you when I've had enough, just scoop the cream!"



I just get tired of the argument from smokers "well, so-n-so eats burgers everyday and is fat, that's unhealthy too."

Yeah, but so-n-so HAS to eat, he could make better choices, but he has to consume food, you don't have to smoke anything ever...Anyway, it can be tough to get away from caffeine these days, even some lemon-lime drinks have them now, so I don't worry too much about it, just try to be aware of drinking too much I guess.