jon wrote:Has the control group been relieved of their temple recommends? It stands to reason that if they aren't living it fully then they aren't entitled to a recommend. If they are living it fully then you have no experiment.
CSA, I'm bumping this because you appear to have 'missed' answering the question...
I have no control over who gets or does not get temple recommends. If I were the Bishop or Stake President I would ask the question and that is it. If I were asked how one should define the Word of Wisdom, I would say that it primarily means to refrain from tobacco, coffee and tea. If asked if someone could drink green tea I would say that it was between them and God, but I would not refuse a temple recommend to someone who drank green tea or cola. As for the whole temple day experiment, I emailed the stake president and told him I am not interested in proceeding with the survey.
We had a bad experience in the 70's, at least in my stake. When I and my female friends went in for our interviews, we were asked if we'd ever had oral sex. I said none that was any good. My father was incensed when I told him what they'd asked me. I said I knew it came from the stake pres., because I was friends with his wife. So he must have gotten it from somebody else.
Been thanked by two individuals who gave up caffeine this past week. Told me that not only do they feel better physically, they took my advice and worked on gaining greater spirituality without caffeine and achieved something much more than what they expected.
YES, I KNOW, not scientific, no real proof, they simply invented a greater spirituality because that's all anyone has to do to get it. Your pessimistic responses will be exactly what I had predicted.
Been thanked by two individuals who gave up caffeine this past week. Told me that not only do they feel better physically, they took my advice and worked on gaining greater spirituality without caffeine and achieved something much more than what they expected.
YES, I KNOW, not scientific, no real proof, they simply invented a greater spirituality because that's all anyone has to do to get it. Your pessimistic responses will be exactly what I had predicted.
I think this might be more responsible than the removal of caffeine from their diet.
What happened to the spirituality of those people who worked on it without giving up caffeine?
'Church pictures are not always accurate' (The Nehor May 4th 2011)
Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.
This thread is ludicrous. I worked hospice for 14 years, taking care of patients of morphine and a plethora of other drugs, and their spirituality wasn't in question because of medication, or substances in their bodies. Family members frequently told me of the sufferer's spiritual strength through out their lifetime, and how it had not changed with all the substances ingested with treatment. If spirituality can be affected by the withdrawl of caffeine, then I'd go a step further and say can it be affected by losing 100 pounds? Or working out in a gym? Or properly spacing pregnancies? Or cutting out a favorite t.v. show?
CSA wrote: Your pessimistic responses will be exactly what I had predicted.
Maybe because deep down you know your hypothesis to be made up. Like I have said to you before, you will have to define spirituality in a way that can be detected or measured amongst many other things you have not done before you could even really begin. Why complain when others bringing up the obvious problems with your idea here, and it is going to include many active members.
CSA wrote: Your pessimistic responses will be exactly what I had predicted.
Maybe because deep down you know your hypothesis to be made up. Like I have said to you before, you will have to define spirituality in a way that can be detected or measured amongst many other things you have not done before you could even really begin. Why complain when others bringing up the obvious problems with your idea here, and it is going to include many active members.
I get it, spirituality can not be defined or measured against someone else's spirituality. It can only be measured by the person in regards to what they feel possibly before and after. I suggested to the Stake High Counsel and the Stake Presidency that I noticed with some of the people I have worked with in regards to their own perceived spirituality that those who have learned to follow the Word of Wisdom more precisely seem to describe a greater sense of spirituality for doing it. We were going to provide web based surveys and invite our Stake to participate in an experiment to see if some of my assumptions were correct. The Stake President delivered a modified letter read in each ward this past Sunday about an upcoming Stake Temple day. This letter did not include the survey information but included the advice to read certain things, to clean the inner vessel in things both mentally, physically and spiritually. A paragraph of the letter was specific to the Word of Wisdom. It included the advice that members look over the Word of Wisdom and determine how best to make improvements in the way a person can live it. His letter mentioned how members have become reliant upon energy drinks and sodas to get them through their day and to reflect upon what good things the Lord has provided to eat and drink.