Why Mormonism FORBIDS Coffee (And Why It Shouldn't)

Ah, the forbidden fruit of Mormonism, coffee. Did you know that this little beverage here could keep a Latter-day Saint out of the celestial kingdom? For most of the world, it's an innocuous breakfast drink, but for Latter-day Saints, it could very well ruin their eternity. But why? Why don't Latter-day Saints drink coffee or tea or alcohol? And did you know that Christians actually think that this kind of restriction is proof that the LDS church is led by false teachers? Latter-day Saints are instructed to keep a set of dietary restrictions that are laid out by LDS apostles and prophets. These restrictions are summarized in something called the word of wisdom.

The word of wisdom actually comes from a text in Latter-day Saint scriptures, specifically Doctrine and Covenants section 89. It gives these guidelines not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom. Though since it was first given, it really has become a commandment and a kind of litmus test for faithfulness and obedience amongst Latter-day Saints. It says not to drink wine unless it's for sacrament and made by Latter-day Saints. not to drink strong drinks, hot drinks, or use tobacco, and even to eat meat sparingly. It really was initially a kind of wisdom thing. And it stayed that way until right around the 1900s and especially 1921 when 7th LDS President Heber J.

Grant made keeping the word of wisdom a prerequisite for entrance into LDS temples. Since that time, all Latter-day Saints have been completely restricted from drinking any tea, coffee, or alcohol. Because temple works and temple ordinances are a necessary part of our entrance into the celestial kingdom. And because our ability to enter into a temple, to get a temple recommend hinges on whether or not we keep the word of wisdom, I would argue that these things have essentially become prerequisites for eternal life. Christians completely disagree not just about the temple and requirements part, but about restrictions to food and diet at all.

Adding extra biblical restrictions is exactly what the Bible tells us to watch out for regarding false teachers. Let's start by taking a look at the words of Jesus. Jesus taught that it isn't what we eat or drink that makes us clean, but rather what comes out of our hearts. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And he said to them, then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled?

Thus he declared all foods clean. He taught that all foods were clean for us to eat. Now Jesus is specifically referring to the Old Testament laws about clean and unclean foods. It is true that there used to be dietary restrictions in the Bible. Under the law of Moses, God declared that his people ought to abstain from any foods that he said were unclean as an illustration of their separateness from the surrounding pagan nations and of their need for holiness. After Jesus's resurrection, the old covenant was replaced by a new and better one. The point of all these food restrictions found their fulfillment in the perfect separateness and holiness and righteousness of Jesus.

That's why he declared all foods now clean. In the early days of the Christian church, Peter was given a vision that told him that these dietary restrictions no longer applied. And there came a voice to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." It's because of Jesus that all foods are now deemed clean. Now, the New Testament does acknowledge that certain individuals may have sensitive conscience convictions regarding certain foods, but a personal conviction is not the same as a legalistic demand.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him." Paul makes very clear that such issues are personal conscience issues. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Because of the freedom that we have in Christ, no Christian is bound by any extra biblical restrictions on what we eat or drink. Now, this isn't to say that there are no restrictions at all.

A person could commit the sin of drunkenness by indulging in too much alcohol or gluttony by eating too much food. These things are sins. That's why they're forbidden. But the moderate consumption of these things is permitted and sometimes even encouraged. God gives wine to gladden the heart of man. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. There is nothing inherently sinful about coffee, tea, or alcohol. God has given these things as good gifts to be enjoyed. In our new covenant age, one of the marks of a false teacher is that they add restrictions to what a person can eat or drink.

We should expect that false teachers try to convince us to renounce certain foods because that's exactly what we're warned that they'll do. Some false teachers will forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. False teachers create new commands that God never gave and then demand that we obey these things. This is what LDS leaders are doing when they forbid certain drinks.

What's even more condemning is that these false teachers then distort the gospel by requiring abstinence from certain drinks in order to receive the fullness of eternal life. The LDS manual, Gospel Principles, says that one of the requirements for exaltation is keeping the word of wisdom. That's not just inventing new commandments. That's distorting the gospel. Please understand this. What we eat or drink has no bearing on our worthiness because none of us are worthy to begin with. Only by trusting in Jesus alone for righteousness and worthiness can we be justified and granted entrance into God's kingdom.

Not by obedience, not by keeping an arbitrary set of rules and laws and commandments, but by faith in Jesus. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.