It appears that even with the Church’s clarification on caffeine last week, there are some who still struggle with the interpretation of the term “Hot Drinks.”
Case in point:
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How many times do we have to say it? Hot chocolate doesn’t count!
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HAHA! Ohhh, this video is CLASSIC.
I’ve always thought that what Joseph Smith was referring to were drinks like whiskey and Vodka that are “hot” when they go down your throat. Regardless it has been interpreted to refer to “hot” coffee and tea. To me it’s more of an observance, the Prophet says stay away from hot coffee and tea so we do. Sort of like how Catholics are supposed to not eat meat on Fridays, its an observance eating meat on Friday won’t kill you…this is a very confusing part of our religion though to a lot of people. Iced coffee, Iced Tea, are they ok? Hot chocolate is a hot beverage we drink it…confusing!
Adding further clarification: herb is the term used for any plant without a woody stem, not what we usually consider to be the herbs used in flavoring dishes (or making herbal teas). If we understand that plants, fruits, and grains are to form the bulk of our diet, why are we usually asked only “do you keep the Word of Wisdom?” in temple recommend interviews, instead of “do you avoid tea, coffee, liquor, and tobacco”, so that we aren’t accountable for the part that says to “eat meat sparingly”, which is a huge problem in the Western world . . .
It’s the sleep (or lack thereof) that usually gets me.
Ok, here’s one that may stump you. What about crio bru? It is cocoa beans that are brewed like coffee, and can be served hot or iced. It’s beginning to be quite popular here in good ole Utah County and has Mormons running out to buy themselves a coffee maker.
To me it seems wrong to be brewing something so similarly to coffee, but it’s cocoa beans, so is it more like hot chocolate??
Um . . . huh?!? I must have missed a memo . . . What clarification?
I was interested to see clarification on the hot drinks category of the Word of Wisdom and I look forward to your post about it! I love the taste of Pepsi, but stopped drinking it some years ago after one very long nightshift when I was drinking Pepsi to stay awake and alert. I thought my use had moved from just having a refreshing drink to using it more as a stimulant. Personally I feel that everything we consume can be evaluated in light of the Word of Wisdom in a spirit vs letter of the law way, but that this evaluation is very much an individual thing. After all one person’s excess is another person’s moderation…..
I like how you’ve expressed this.
I really like your comment. I think an important aspect of the Word of Wisdom has to do with moderation. When we find ourselves eating or drinking anything in excess I think it is not good. Does it mean one is not following the Word of Wisdom and thus not worthy, not necessarily but definitely should give one reason to reflect.
Chai is away of spicing tea, not tea itself. I have made very tasty chai steamed milk in my time. However, the real problem is that this gets us all arguing over whose interpretation of the details is correct. I think the church leaders have been pretty clear that we should interpret this according to our own conscience, and then quit judging others? Maybe it’s a test of more than just what we choose to drink.
It sounds like you’re referring to masala chai, which is a traditional Indian way of spicing black tea. I’m glad you serve virgin chai at your house, but 99.9% of the time, if you order chai somewhere, it will have camellia sinensis in it. Chai is the direct translation of tea in a number of languages. I’m not saying someone is bad for not following the Word of Wisdom; I’m just saying that we need to be aware of what we’re consuming.
The tea prohibited by the word of wisdom is Camellia sinensis. Herbal teas not containing this ingredient are generally ok. Chamomille, ginger, rosehip, mint, and fruit “teas” are fine, although they are technically infusions, not teas. And remember what Section 89 says about herbs: “Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.”
Thank you for that clarification. I have always understood that herbal teas are okay, but when I was asked what the difference was a while back I couldn’t explain the difference very well.
Where is this reference from exactly?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea If you mean a Church reference, there isn’t one, but you won’t be able to find one contradicting my statement either.
I have been trying to find clarification about non caffeinated herbal teas like chamomile.
Poor Wendy’s hasn’t seen the clarification or else they would have modified the video. Hot chocolate is not a hot drink!
I actually thought your post about the recent WofW clarification would center around your fondness for the Dew which you can drink with your head held high now!
The truly cheesy training video is a lost art. I’d take cheesy over boring any day. But seriously, I’m more concerned that many members of the church don’t consider tea and coffee wrong if they aren’t in “hot” form. Coffee and tea served cold are still against the word of wisdom. We shouldn’t ingest those substances in any form. BTW Chai is still tea, and white, green, and black tea are all the same WofW-prohibited plant, just harvested or processed differently.
What clarification of caffien did the church put out? I missed it.
So by all of this logic, iced tea is ok … and taking it one step further, the most recent phenomenon of iced coffee.
Also curious about that….
So is it true that you can get a temple recommend if you drink de-caf? That’s the one that doesn’t make sense to me. Interested to see your thought tomorrow.
-Michael D.
The question is, “Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?” If you say yes (and get the other questions right), you can get a temple recommend.
So the surprise to me was the whole need for clarification. Not quite sure what has changed in the last seven days of news coverage.
(BTW, I was glad to see that Wendys employees are instructed to use a clean spoon to stir my hot chocolate!)
Personally, I wish the church would also warn against cold drinks…in particular the McDonald’s Chiller this summer has blown my brain multiple times. It should have a warning that the deliciously sugary frigid drink it guaranteed to give you at leave five brain-freezes per cup. No joke. Every time. And I often share it with my kids, so we ALL get brain freezes.
I think the scriptures do deal with brain freeze in the teachings about patience.
Due to popular demand – I will write about this tomorrow.
Hot drinks really get me going. Yes, they do. I guess we could argue the point ad infinitum – but coffee and tea are forbidden because they are hot – if caffeine were forbidden, we would have to eliminate chocolate. I still don’t get it. This is one of the first questions I am going to ask when I get the chance.
If it’s helpful, under Word of Wisdom on lds.org it reads
“Tea and coffee (see D&C 89:9; latter-day prophets have taught that the term “hot drinks,” as written in this verse, refers to tea and coffee).”
And thank goodness! What would drink every evening instead? 🙂
I really feel for those Wendy’s employees. It’s like a throwback to the early 90’s. Gag! Thanks for the laugh!
Why don’t they make those types of “jingles” anymore?? Also – I was gone for a while – did I miss a post about a new clarification on the W of W?
I like cold brown drinks.
oh. my. wow.
Too funny!