# Mormons and Coca-Cola **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 16, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292 "2002-07-16T20:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/21 "2002-07-17T19:00:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Because the church leadership already determined that the particular phrase as used in D&C 89 meant only tea and coffee. That still doesn’t answer the question, just passes the buck. Once again, if the heat isn’t the problem and the caffine isn’t the problem, then what’s the problem? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/22 "2002-07-17T19:11:28Z")
Ooooh no-I’ll have to try it! I LOVE mixing different kinds of pop together! I still do that at places where you have fountain soda! [hijack] I knew a customer at the grocery store who used to mix together gourmet coffee at random. Just for kicks. The really expensive stuff. He’d always laugh about it. I thought that was the coolest thing. He said it was usually pretty good. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/23 "2002-07-17T19:14:51Z")
It’s not passing the buck. The LDS, unlike many other churches, teach that the church leadership continues to receive revelation. The problem with tea and coffess is that said leadership determined that the expression in the scriptures (seeing that the D&C are considered scripture by the LDS church) means tea and coffee. The problem with them is that, according to the church leadership’s interpretation, tea and coffee (“hot drinks,” as defined by the leadership) are not meet for human consumption. Why are you having such a big problem with accepting that? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/24 "2002-07-17T19:21:14Z")
But if you live in Atlanta, you _must_ drink Coca-Cola. Which is where their plant is. But…where is the Pepsi factory? Anyone ever try hot Dr. Pepper? hmmm.how about mixing something like dr. pepper and 7-up? Shoshana, sorry, your topic just seems to lend itself to hijacks. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/25 "2002-07-17T20:32:10Z")
Sqweels, we’ve been told that coffee and tea are bad for us. On the list are also several other things that are bad for us and we’re told to avoid. Over the past 150 years, we’ve found out that alcohol, tobacco, and too much meat are indeed unhealthy–so I’m willing to take God’s word for it that coffee and tea are too. Exactly which ingredient (be it the caffeine, the tannins, the near-boiling temparature, the dependency some people develop, or a combination of several things) is not healthy for us is not included in the list. The ancient Jews weren’t told exactly why they should not eat pork, either–but it was a commandment and they were supposed to obey it. Likewise, for us, it’s a commandment, and we’re supposed to obey it–whether we know exactly why or not.\* \*Possibly God likes us to use our brains to figure these things out. Who knows? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/26 "2002-07-17T20:37:41Z")
I guess **sqweels** is having the same trouble I am: Trying to figure out WHY coffee and tea are prohibited. Did a Mormon invent iced tea to get around the proscription? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/27 "2002-07-17T21:17:48Z")
Jab, see my note above. Mormons don’t drink iced tea, either. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/28 "2002-07-17T23:45:37Z")
I once heard this story in…seminary I believe. It doesn’t sound like something I would hear in Sunday School. Anywho… Joseph Smith had a large meeting with other male members of the Church, and they were all sitting around in his living room, talking, etc. By the end of the night, the floor was ruined due to the tobacco, ashes, spilt coffee, etc and Emma Smith (Joe’s wife) was _furious_. After that, the Word of Wisdom was revealed. This very well could be one of the Church’s many ULs, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would tell us this story, because actually, it was this story that planted the seed of doubt. Always made me wonder… ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/29 "2002-07-17T23:58:21Z")
Just to clarify Monty’s point: I am not LDS but was raised in an area where many people were, and the explanation I received about why “hot drinks” = coffee and tea only, was because at the time that prohibition was made, coffee and tea were pretty much the _only_ hot drinks people consumed. If you were offered a “hot drink,” you were being offered either coffee or tea – not hot milk or hot lemonade or anything else. Since, back then, “hot drink” was understood to mean either coffee or tea, the prohibition has not since been expanded to include other drinks that just happen to be served hot. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/30 "2002-07-18T00:02:08Z")
Or the Onion story: [Mormon Teen Loses Inhibitions After Third Benadryl](http://www.theonion.com/onion3624/mormon_loses_inhibitions.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/31 "2002-07-18T00:21:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\* > > I do that, i call it “Poke”. My favorite is Pepsi and Mt. Dew combined in 96 oz. cups for road trips. \*\* Okay. I’ve waited as long as I could stand it, HOPING against hope that some other vulgar individual would give in to temptation and extrapolate from the above, but I guess the cup just won’t pass me by. If Pepsi + Coke = “Poke” Then Coke + Mountain Dew = “Pew”? (Pronounced “poo”) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/32 "2002-07-18T04:50:16Z")
Um, wouldn’t that be Cew ( **C** oke and D **ew** )? ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/33 "2002-07-18T17:22:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shoshana \* > \*\*I’d always thought that LDS didn’t drink caffeinated beverages. recently I heard that they were allowed to drink Coca-Cola. It was further stated that this change occurred when the LDS church became financially involved with Coca-Cola. What’s the story? \*\* [Here](http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/89) is a link to the relevant passages in the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 5, 6, 7 and 9 and 10 are relevant to the OP. As you can see there is no prohibition agains Coca-Cola or other caffienated products. Although not doctrine, there is leadership who have taught that the “spirit” of the law includes avoiding caffiene and other addictive substances. So the bottom line is that depending on the members personal study and convictions some members will avoid caffienated soda’s and others will drink and enjoy unapologetically. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/34 "2002-07-18T17:44:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > \*\*I once heard this story in…seminary I believe. It doesn’t sound like something I would hear in Sunday School. Anywho… > Joseph Smith had a large meeting with other male members of the Church, and they were all sitting around in his living room, talking, etc. By the end of the night, the floor was ruined due to the tobacco, ashes, spilt coffee, etc and Emma Smith (Joe’s wife) was _furious_. After that, the Word of Wisdom was revealed. > This very well could be one of the Church’s many ULs, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would tell us this story, because actually, it was this story that planted the seed of doubt. Always made me wonder… \*\* The story is recorded in Journal of Discourses 12:158 “… the first school of the prophets was held in a small room situated over the Prophet Joseph’s kitchen, in a house which belonged to Bishop Whitney… The brethren came to that place for hundreds of miles to attend school in a little room probably no larger than eleven by fourteen. When they assembled together in this room after breakfast, the first they did was to light their pipes and, while smoking talk about the great things of the kingdom and spit all over the room, and as soon as the pipe was out of their mouths a large chew of tobacco would then be taken. Ofter when the Prophet entered the room to give the school instructions he would find himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke. This and the complaints of his wife at having to clean so filthy a floor, made the Prophet think upon the matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the conduct of the Elders in using tobacco, and the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom was the result of his inquiry.” As I understand it, this revelation as most others was the result of Joseph having a question or a problem and then turning to the Lord in prayer. An interesting note though is that the revelation was received on 27 February in 1833, but it’s acceptance by the members of the church was not immediate. It was almost twenty years later that Brigham Young proposed to a general conference that all Saints formally covenant to abstain from tea, coffee, tobacco, whiskey, and " all things mentioned in the Word of Wisdom". The motion was accepted and became binding as a commandment for all church members then. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/35 "2002-07-20T20:34:14Z")
What about the tobacco? I got a patient last night who told me she doesn’t drink coffee or tea because she’s a Mormon, but she smokes two packs a day. Would it be un-doctorly of me to show her that passage in the copy of the D&C next to her bed about how tobacco isn’t for the body? (She’s also on about 18 prescription meds she doesn’t need to be on, but that’s another story.) Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/36 "2002-07-20T21:40:50Z")
It would be undoctorly of you to present her with the scriptures, but doctorly of you to tell her that she’s killing herself with tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/37 "2002-07-20T23:03:19Z")
Agreed. Trouble is, that approach never seems to work. Is there an “official” Mormon stance on tobacco? (I’m just curious.) Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/38 "2002-07-21T00:06:43Z")
Yep. The official stance is tobacco is not good for inside the body. That includes the so-called smokeless tobacco. So smoking and chewing and dipping is out. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/39 "2002-07-21T00:24:19Z")
I wonder why the Lord didn’t just tell Smith, “Tell your slobby Elders to use a spitoon?” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292/40 "2002-07-21T00:45:12Z")
Maybe he did, but then they kept missing it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-and-coca-cola/119292.md?page=3)