Living as a Mormon

"I'm not sure... what the theme of my homily of today ought to be. Do I want to speak of the miracle of our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about His divinity. I'd rather talk of His humanity. I mean, you know, how He lived His life here on Earth. His kindness, His tolerance. Listen, here's what I think: We can't go around measuring our goodness on what we don't do. On what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."
- Pere Henri (played by Hugh O'Conor), "Chocolat" (2000).

For a month or two, I've had meetings and conversations with a group of Mormons about Mormonism. I met two American missionaries - sister Burton and sister Stevens - on my way home to my mom's and stepdad's place; they asked for a little help with an announcement in the train, and shortly after we met at the station after getting off of the train. They offered me a copy of Book of Mormon - and being the old softie for religion and free books that I am, I accepted.

Now, the plan hasn't really been to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, but to hear what they have to tell me about their religion. I mean, why judge a religion before knowing what it contains?

One of the things this one contains is Word of Wisdom, which is basically diet guidelines, really. I was a bit in schock when I first realized every single thing it contained (which was when I found out about tea and coffee!!), but have had a few things cleared up since then. Through the Word of Wisdom, God asks (as revealed partially to the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, partially to later prophets) to avoid:

• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Coffee and tea
• Illegal drugs
• Other harmful or addictive substances.

The Word of Wisdom also teaches that we should eat meat sparingly and eat grains, fruits and veggies.

To start with, I had no idea, thus having the nerve to ask the missionaries if they had ever had glögg (which is made from red wine, so it's alcoholic!). Singing in a church that forbids alcohol on church grounds - not in one's private life! - due to their work with people with alcohol problems, I could understand avoiding alcohol and tobacco due to their harmful and somewhat addictive nature. Illegal and harmful drugs I can understand, too, since they're - well, they're illegal and harmful! But then I stumbled upon a problem; tea and coffee - which, I did realize at that point, clashes with "other addictive substances": caffeine.

I was pondering the tea for the longest time. Because I had had no specific explanation for that from the missionaries. I knew that not all teas contain caffeine, and not all teas are harmful - on the contrary! Green tea and herbal tea have actually been proven to be good for the body. Later one of the missionaries explained to me that it was only tea from the tea plant they can't drink, i.e. green tea, black tea, and fermented tea (e.g. Oolong).
Another thing I thought of was the caffeine. Because the number one reason why I'm addicted to caffeine today is cola (the soda - Coca Cola and the likes - personally I'm on the Coke side of life and the war between Coke and Pepsi, but that's another blog entry). It was explained to me last night: Because soda is not included in the original Word of Wisdom, it's up to the individual to include or exclude it from one's diet - but cola containing caffeine was the reason why the family of one of the missionaries don't drink it.

Looking at my own diet, I can tell that my intake of alcohol and tobacco is ridiculously little. I drink coffee slightly more often, although it's not a daily must for me - but tea and cola have been a must among the things I have daily access to for the longest time. And the teas in my kitchen are dominantly black teas.

This is the reason why I've had such a hard time digesting the avoidance of tea and addictive substances (a.k.a. caffeine). What will I be drinking when I meet a friend in a café or coffee shop? How will I wake up on those mornings where I really need that cup of coffee or that morning break in school where that cola was my "savior" on Earth? Which way is the quickest to get into the Christmas spirit if i can't drink the Christmas teas of Perch's and Fredsted (which are both based on black teas)? What will I do without my best warm and/or caffeinated "friends"?

I have no idea!!!

But when I met with the girls missionaries last night, sister Burton asked me if I could live after the Word of Wisdom. I don't know - but I ended up promising to try. Again, not necessarily because I'm converting, but a few other things:

• Oprah/Dr. Oz In an Oprah-show with Dr. Oz, the viewers were challenged to stop drinking soft drinks for two weeks. I'd like to do that to see how it works for me.
• Health It's been proven that alcohol, tobacco, and various drugs and substances are harmful to the body. Plus, I've heard it's also proven that vegan products are healthier than animal products. And having to dump cola, coffee, and most teas might just mean that I'll actually drink water on a daily basis.
• The challenge There is always something about having to restrain yourself, right? ;D
• Friends as an example I remember sending a Muslim schoolmate a message to show support during the Ramadan, telling him how I admire his self control. And something he wrote back to me made an impression on me:

  It is our duty as human beings to strive for the Merciful and seek His forgiveness for out mistakes... our Creator is incredibly caring and He loves His creatures in a way that is unknown to us...

  My schoolmate has made such an impression on me, being the believer he is, always having reasons and things like that to tell me when I asked him. I've never had that kind of self control that he has had (except for sexual relations), so I think it's time for me to try.
• Try before condemning This is also one of the reasons why I wanted to hear about Mormonism - I didn't want to wipe it off without knowing anything about it. Same principle here; not saying no until I tried it.
  I drink so little alcohol and smoke so little (only the occasional shisha) as it is, and fact is that I haven't smoked and only had alcohol once while I've known the missionaries. So I might as well wipe it completely.

So this weekend I've been drinking the last cans of cola in the fridge, and while I was at it, drank som black tea (the only non-teaplant tea I had on the shelf was camomile/lavender tea, and let's face it, that's just boring). And for the next couple of weeks, I'll be trying to live as close to the Word of Wisdom as I possibly can, seeing what it's like. This means:

• Water, juice, and soft drinks instead of alcohol
• Other soft drinks instead of cola
• Herbal tea, rooibus, and EterniTea Classic instead of teaplant-based teas
• If I'm going that far, contacting Perch's to ask for a Christmas blend based on Rooibus Vanilla instead of Keemun.

Now, the reason why I started this entry with the quote from Chocolat is that I see the items in the Word of Wisdom as such small things when looking at my life. I don't drink that much alcohol, and I don't really smoke that much, either - so that doesn't really disturb my life as much as someone who drinks or smokes regularly. I often prefer something non-alcoholic, clean air and the ability to sing at the top of my lungs instead. I don't do drugs. Caffeine disturbs me so little (all it does is keeping me awake when I need it - I have no trouble sleeping when I go to bed). I don't eat a lot of meat. But I do spend my time working with charity and the likes and trying in several ways to make the world (around me and as far abroad as I can reach) a positive place to be. So I don't think it's important what I don't eat, drink, or do - but the opposite. So who knows how far I'll go with this!

Now, I have to stop before I start quoting the entire start of Anden's "Tal for dig selv".

I have spoken.