Tyrphanax said:
Whatever.gs sounds like some obscure foreign website.
Anyway, Ender, I wasn't implying religious people are stupid; I know plenty of intelligent people from most of the major religions. I just don't understand why critical, free-thinking people would choose that route when you could go another route and be able to drink tea, too. The British have been drinking it for literally a billion years and they're alright chaps, mostly. It's just such an inconsequential thing to me; I mean, is God really going to be THAT mad at you for having a nice, hot cup of tea on a cold day? If he isn't, then why bother with the rule? If he is, then he sounds like a dick; because who gets mad over a cuppa?
Also: Could you take some tea leaves and chew on them?
It just seems odd to me for someone who is intelligent and critical to stop their line of critical questioning at, "Well, because that's what the book says." How would, say, a by-the-book Christian scientist reconcile their latent desire to know things about the Earth with the proven fact that the Earth is much older then the Bible says? And why would they even want or try to reconcile the two opposite lines of thought when one is obviously wrong? Why would someone deny the proven deliciousness of pork products when, in general, they have caused no spiritual harm to anyone over the centuries just because a book says so for really no reason? Doesn't God have better things to do than worry about who ate pork when he supposedly put it here in the first place? Isn't it kind of an un-God-like dick move (yes, I realize he is famous for dick moves) to do that?
I guess my point here is that tea ain't never hurt nobody. Give Tea A Chance.
Once again, quick replies, as I have lots to do today. Probably can't answer them all right now. As I've stated, Mormons believe in the scriptures, but are also quite open to the science of things. Many of us are quite literal in our scriptural interpretation, but many of us are open to more broad interpretations, and are not so "by-the book," as you put it. But let me posit a simple question: If the whole aforementioned health revelation was given before the negative effects of many of the mentioned substances were known, and you were a Mormon following that revelation in spite of then-current knowledge that there is no negative health effect, how would you feel when scientists discovered that those substances do indeed have bad effects? Would it strengthen your belief in the revelation, even if the whole had not yet been proved? In other words, we are learning new health-related information all the time. Some things thought healthy yesterday are now known to be bad. For instance, the recent belief that a glass of red wine a day is good for you is now starting to look less and less correct. Is it possible that such is the same for tea? Furthermore, perhaps caffeine is the reason God would not want us to drink tea. We haven't been told thus far, but while I do drink caffeinated beverages now and then, I certainly don't go for six Monsters and a Red Bull every day. It is still a drug which can cause health issues in large quantities. Perhaps God wants us to obey the letter and spirit of the law, and simply avoid it. He hasn't specified caffeinated soft drinks as yet, but maybe he will.