Can you lose temple recommend over too much diet coke?


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Hey everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has ever lost their temple recommend over too much diet coke. A fellow member told me I drink too much diet coke. I probably drink about 3 or 4 cans a day because I really really like the way it tastes (and no decaf coke does not do it for me). I admit I also like the way it wakes me up. I would give it up for The Lord or if there is any real significance to drinking lots of diet coke but I would not give it up if it is just culturally prohibited or even if it is merely unhealthy. What do you think?

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I think that (a) no one would ever lose his temple recommend over drinking Diet Coke, and (b) if we honestly strove to live the Word of Wisdom in spirit and not merely in letter, we would give up sugared or caffeinated soda pop completely, whether or not it affected our temple recommend status.

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I think that (a) no one would ever lose his temple recommend over drinking Diet Coke, and (b) if we honestly strove to live the Word of Wisdom in spirit and not merely in letter, we would give up sugared or caffeinated soda pop completely, whether or not it affected our temple recommend status.

 

I'm not sure I agree with "completely". 

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I think that (a) no one would ever lose his temple recommend over drinking Diet Coke, and (b) if we honestly strove to live the Word of Wisdom in spirit and not merely in letter, we would give up sugared or caffeinated soda pop completely, whether or not it affected our temple recommend status.

 

I actually do agree with this.  We know one of the reasons for the Word of Wisdom is for the health of our bodies.  We also know that sugary/caffeinated drinks are not the healthiest thing for us.  As well as many other things.  So if you're living the spirit of the law instead of just the letter....there would be a lot of things about the way we consume food we should probably change.

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Oh for crying out loud - how often does this stuff have to come up? Didn't the Church put out a press statement about a year ago about this? When I was an investigator, one of my first questions to the elders was could I continue to drink diet Pepsi - with the response being a resounding 'yes.' If you drink soda by the liter every day, you might have an addiction issue that you need to address. Otherwise, can we put this topic to rest?

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Guest MormonGator

Oh for crying out loud - how often does this stuff have to come up? Didn't the Church put out a press statement about a year ago about this? When I was an investigator, one of my first questions to the elders was could I continue to drink diet Pepsi - with the response being a resounding 'yes.' If you drink soda by the liter every day, you might have an addiction issue that you need to address. Otherwise, can we put this topic to rest?

 :: starts a slow clap :: 

Thank you Dahlia! 

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I actually do agree with this.  We know one of the reasons for the Word of Wisdom is for the health of our bodies.  We also know that sugary/caffeinated drinks are not the healthiest thing for us.  As well as many other things.  So if you're living the spirit of the law instead of just the letter....there would be a lot of things about the way we consume food we should probably change.

This type of discussion always leads to a lively debate in a Pristhood class or Sunday School class when talking about the Word of Wisdom. Especially on the topic of hot drinks and what that means.

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I drink hot, black coffee each morning while smoking a cigarette. Than for lunch I drink hot tea while smoking a cigar. For dinner I light up a corn cob pipe while sipping Jack Daniels. I'm totally temple worthy. 

 

(kidding, kidding, I do none of that!) 

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No alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, or harmful drugs.

If you look really, really close you might be able to see the microscopic words "diet coke" between the "a" and "r" of "harmful drugs".....oh wait....no. It's not there, so the short answer is no.

It is a personal choice. Caffeine is a drug. It is addictive, but so are Krispy Kreme donuts. If you are addicted, I would say you are violating the Word of Wisdom, but on a personal level. In a recommend interview, I would not bring it up during the WoW question, but during the last question about if you consider yourself worthy.

Here is the kicker- A lot of addicts feel that they are not addicted and they can quit whenever they want.

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Oh for crying out loud - how often does this stuff have to come up? Didn't the Church put out a press statement about a year ago about this? When I was an investigator, one of my first questions to the elders was could I continue to drink diet Pepsi - with the response being a resounding 'yes.' If you drink soda by the liter every day, you might have an addiction issue that you need to address. Otherwise, can we put this topic to rest?

 

No, we can't. The Church membership has an irritating habit of growing up, growing old, dying, and leaving new, ignorant people in its place. Further exacerbating the situation is the constant influx of convert baptisms. But perhaps the most constant aspect of this never-ending cycle is that middle-aged men still don't understand it all, and they keep modifying their opinions even into their dotage.

 

As a convert, your concern was with whether or not you were "allowed" to do something you wanted to do. You wondered if it was a "sin", and the answer you were given was "No". But others are far less concerned with whether or not something technically counts as "sin", and much more interested in whether it negatively impacts their spirit (or The Spirit) in their lives.

 

Some longtime members (or even short-time members!) may intuit that, while you can still qualify for a temple recommend while doing Activity X, that's not good enough. Qualifying for a temple recommend is not the last word in righteousness, but merely the first step. Maybe Activity X impairs your ability to feel the Spirit, even if it doesn't make you "unclean" to the point you can't go to the temple. Maybe it's better that you simply avoid Activity X. This might be true whether Activity X is listening to certain types of music, drinking certain kinds of soda pop, viewing certain classes of movies, or a thousand other seemingly innocuous activities.

 

Some get really bothered when such members voice an opinion or viewpoint that disagrees with their own understanding of a certain issue, such as soda pop drinking. Maybe such individuals should practice a bit of patience and charity, and possibly even enough humility to grant that there may actually be some truth to what those members are suggesting, however hidebound or shallow it might seem to them.

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Is it possible, after much sincere prayer, for...

-Person 1 to be prompted to not drink caffeinated soda,

-Person 2 to be prompted to not drink ANY soda, and,

-Person 3 to be prompted that soda, caffeinated or otherwise, is fine, but only in moderation,

 

...and for all of them to be right?  :huh:

 

I think it is.

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Is it possible, after much sincere prayer, for...

-Person 1 to be prompted to not drink caffeinated soda,

-Person 2 to be prompted to not drink ANY soda, and,

-Person 3 to be prompted that soda, caffeinated or otherwise, is fine, but only in moderation,

 

...and for all of them to be right?  :huh:

 

I think it is.

 

I think this is obviously the case -- even promptings aside and relying upon wisdom alone. When I was 20, even drinking a can of sugary soda a day wouldn't have affected my health one iota. Nowadays a can of that stuff would be very, very bad. My metabolism has slowed, I have heartburn issues, joint issues, etc., (I don't really know if sugar affects the joints, but....)  At 20, only a can a few times a week or so would have been in moderation. Now it would be excessive and very, very bad for me.

 

This is, of course, true of all eating. There are people who can eat "normally" and be perfectly healthy. If I do not carefully control my eating, keeping my calories in check and my macro-nutrients in order I pay for it in a variety of weight. If I simply ate "normally" (particularly American diet "normal), I would be in very, very bad health.

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It's possible, but it is not obvious to me that this is the case.

 

Interesting. Care to elaborate on what doesn't seem quite right to you about it? At this point I honestly don't understand any other viewpoints on this type of issue, but I would like to.

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Hey everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has ever lost their temple recommend over too much diet coke. A fellow member told me I drink too much diet coke. I probably drink about 3 or 4 cans a day because I really really like the way it tastes (and no decaf coke does not do it for me). I admit I also like the way it wakes me up. I would give it up for The Lord or if there is any real significance to drinking lots of diet coke but I would not give it up if it is just culturally prohibited or even if it is merely unhealthy. What do you think?

You should give it up for you.

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It's not obvious that someone with bad health needs to eat differently than someone with good health?

 

Interesting. Care to elaborate on what doesn't seem quite right to you about it? At this point I honestly don't understand any other viewpoints on this type of issue, but I would like to.

 

It is not obvious to me that the Spirit would ever tell anyone that drinking caffeinated soda pop is A-OK.

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Guest MormonGator

It is not obvious to me that the Spirit would ever tell anyone that drinking caffeinated soda pop is A-OK.

I like it when people use regional dialects and call soda "pop" or something. My mom calls it "tonic" a very New England French Canadian thing. 

Edited by MormonGator
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It is not obvious to me that the Spirit would ever tell anyone that drinking caffeinated soda pop is A-OK.

 

I should throw a tizzy fit like some do and respond with, "How dare you put limits on what the Spirit might tell us!?" *

 

:banana:

 

On a serious note, it does strike me that it is obviously a possibility, which is, afterall, what was said. A possibility. ;)

 

* And, perhaps infer/imply that you're obviously lacking in faith? :doh:

 

 

 

 

Over emoticoned response!

 

:saint:

Edited by The Folk Prophet
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On a serious note, it does strike me that it is obviously a possibility, which is, afterall, what was said. A possibility. ;)

 

(Emoticonfest duly noted.)

 

I guess I could invent a situation where the Spirit would surely move you to drink such soda pop, such as if you were stranded in a remote location and a two-liter bottle of Jolt Cola were your only source of water.

 

I guess I was thinking along more mundane lines. Would the Spirit ever direct someone in a non-extreme situation that drinking Mountain Death is an okay thing to do? Like, "Here's the Dew and here is a glass of pure water. You're okay in drinking that Dew." Again, I could make up a situation about, I don't know, driving on too little sleep, where maybe I could believe that that might happen. But maybe not. I don't know. As I wrote, it is not at all obvious to me.

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(Emoticonfest duly noted.)

 

I guess I could invent a situation where the Spirit would surely move you to drink such soda pop, such as if you were stranded in a remote location and a two-liter bottle of Jolt Cola were your only source of water.

 

I guess I was thinking along more mundane lines. Would the Spirit ever direct someone in a non-extreme situation that drinking Mountain Death is an okay thing to do? Like, "Here's the Dew and here is a glass of pure water. You're okay in drinking that Dew." Again, I could make up a situation about, I don't know, driving on too little sleep, where maybe I could believe that that might happen. But maybe not. I don't know. As I wrote, it is not at all obvious to me.

 

Right. But as I read it, the suggestion was not that the Spirit would necessarily prompt someone that they "should" drink it -- a fairly outlandish idea (which, of course, even then, as you point out...extreme situations...), but rather that one might be given an answer that it's acceptable to do so in moderation.

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