The Caffeine Double-Standard

CaptainSchmideo

Reading an earlier post about the caffeine "intervention" reminded me of this:


Remember Lynn Newton's online glossary of "Theocratese"? I remember this entry under "Coffee"


coffee: Stimulating hot black liquid, consumed in great quantity by most hard-working Christians in the USA; the drug of choice for most any occasion. One CO calls it ``the elixer of life''. Perhaps an overstatement. A few Christians conscientiously abstain from coffee because it contains the drug caffeine.

Most of the friends at my hall wouldn't be able to function at midpoint in the morning without the almighty "coffee break"!

One of the worst "users" was an elder who said that we wouldn't be eating meat in the new system, because it wasn't good for you. (Only good for the sacrifices to Yahuwah, with the leftovers going to the priests, huh?)

Elders_Kid

My dad used to drink coffee all the time, I'm quite sure that he was addicted. He would go out of his way to make sure that he had a cup of coffee.

...an elder who said that we wouldn't be eating meat in the new system, because it wasn't good for you.

Another funny double standard. My dad would say "I'm gonna walk into the paradise with a steak hanging from my mouth". Seems that he didn't think it would be right to take away meat.

I think it is wrong how there can be so many double standards in the religion. It hurts so many people, and only those with high ranking positions can get away with it.

EK

DanTheMan

I knew a few bros who would work the midnight shift at UPS, catch a couple hours of sleep and then out into the pioneer work. They consumed coffee by the gallon. It would have been easier for them to take No-Doze or something, but that would have been frowned upon I suppose. You know, the whole appearances thing is so important...

pomegranate

Java is VERY GOOD. We like um.

Swan

Back in the 70's articles in the WT came out linking tobacco / nicotine to the druggery practiced by members of the occult (the pharmakia argument). They banned smoking/chewing tobacco, making it a disfellowshipping offense. The same rule applied to betel nuts, which are common in many places of the third world.

Yet they said nothing about coffee and caffiene, which is clearly a drug too.

For years I kept expecting them to lower the boom on coffee drinking, but it never happened. It seemed to me that the whole argument was rather flimsy to begin with, but why some drugs were selected and not all seemed funny to me. Then I realized that it was probably because many JWs only had a few outlets for allowable vices (coffee, food, alcohol) and if you took coffee away, there would probably be a big rebellion. They probably lost a lot of folks over the tobacco thing. Besides, the GB and Bethel probably runs on their coffee every morning.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Tammy