TV's Frink said:

darth_ender said:

In response to Frink's inquiry, I'm sure I will take flak for this, but sometimes a person of faith acts on faith, even if they are not sure why. Sometimes God simply wishes to test our obedience. Looking at the kosher laws of the Old Testament, God did not mention how much cholesterol or the various parasites you might find in pork. They simply obeyed because God wanted them to. "Oh no! Blind faith!"

God testing our obedience is not something we can really discuss. Either you believe that or you don't - I don't see that there can be a logical discussion about if that is correct or not, so I'll just have to let it go.

So if God simply said "tea is bad, don't drink it," I'll have to just drop it.

But let's extrapolate this out to alcohol. Is tea as bad as alcohol? Obviously, from a secular point of view, alcohol is potentially much worse. The effects of binging on tea are nothing compared to doing the same with alcohol. So...is the reasoning for no alcohol the same as for no tea? Or is it due to the potential effects? Or is it God's word for tea and both God's word AND effects for alcohol?

Incidentally, God didn't mention the bad things about pork, but (s)he also didn't mention that eating a reasonable portion of well-cooked and inspected pork won't do you any harm.

No, we certainly don't hold tea and alcohol on the same level. But as a matter of principle, we strive to obey both.

You are correct about the pork thing. My point is that to the people of the Old Testament, he expected obedience. He expects the same of us. I promise not to judge you too much for drinking your Nestea ;)