More on the ills of caffeine from John MacArthur
I was not even looking for this, but rather stumbled upon it during my reading.
The following quote is from Arnold Fox, M.D. as cited as a footnote by Wayne Mack in Chapter 10 of John MacArthur's book, Counseling.
"Simply put, caffeine is nothing more than a cruel hoax you play on yourself. You take in caffeine to give yourself a 'lift.' You get the lift - but you also set yourself up for fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Fatigue, followed closely by anxiety and depression, is the most common complaint we physicians hear from our patients. Although there are many causes of fatigue, one of the most common, and most often overlooked cause is 'caffeinism' - the consumption of caffeine"
MacArthur and Mack then state, "for more information on the effects caffeie, see Bob Smith, "Caffeine," The Journal of Pastoral Practice, 1, no.1 (1977): 95-96."
Caffeine - why do we drink it? How has it worked its way into a bastion of acceptability? Unlike food, sleep, and water, it is not necessary for survival. However, society does not like one bashing their caffeine.
The following quote is from Arnold Fox, M.D. as cited as a footnote by Wayne Mack in Chapter 10 of John MacArthur's book, Counseling.
"Simply put, caffeine is nothing more than a cruel hoax you play on yourself. You take in caffeine to give yourself a 'lift.' You get the lift - but you also set yourself up for fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Fatigue, followed closely by anxiety and depression, is the most common complaint we physicians hear from our patients. Although there are many causes of fatigue, one of the most common, and most often overlooked cause is 'caffeinism' - the consumption of caffeine"
MacArthur and Mack then state, "for more information on the effects caffeie, see Bob Smith, "Caffeine," The Journal of Pastoral Practice, 1, no.1 (1977): 95-96."
Caffeine - why do we drink it? How has it worked its way into a bastion of acceptability? Unlike food, sleep, and water, it is not necessary for survival. However, society does not like one bashing their caffeine.
posted by Charlie Wallace at
10:24 PM
8 Comments:
Is it intrinsically wrong to seek the effect of a stimulant?
I would not go as far as to say that to seek the effect is intrinsically wrong. I would however, question one's motive of why they feel like they need/want the effect of a stimulant when it isn't natural. God created us to function perfectly fine without stimulants. Also, stimulants are not necessary for survival.
The big issue here is dependency. Are we depending on God to meet our needs, or are we depending on something else?
If one just likes the tast of coke, pepsi, etc., there are caffeine versions of those that taste just the same.
Again, the main reason I bring this topic up is not because I am on a mission to destroy caffeine intake. I feel it is somewhat hypocrtical of the Christian community to abhor alcohol and tobacco, but not caffeine. I say either scorn all three or do not scorn any of them.
Charlie, I just want to make this clear in my mind, so I'm not misunderstanding you or creating any type of charicature of your reasoning. Are you advocating complete abstinence from caffeine? This is my interpretation, and, just in case you were wondering, the motivation behind the bra post on my blog. My apologies for any personal offense it may have given.
I am not advocating complete abstinence. I am merely bringing the question into public debate. If God convicts your heart of complete abstinence then that's fine. I find it odd that given the scientific evidence of the harmfulness of caffeine usage, the drug is not more readily discussed among Chrisians. I suspect the main reason for this lack of conversation is because either a) Christians don't see anything wrong with the intake or b) they do not want to break their habit.
I think Charlie's two options are reasonable. Either the intake of caffeine is fine or there is a habit in need of correction. Just from personal experience, my heart rate dropped from an average of about 80-85 beats per minute to about 65-70 beats per minute when I gave up caffeine. With that being said, I find it very difficult to argue for total abstinence from alcohol or caffeine (tobacco is a completely different issue in my opinion). Scripture does not speak explicitly to either issue. I believe that it is the consistent statement of Scripture to partake of these types of things in moderation. The question then becomes what is the moderating line which should not be crossed.
agreed. And i would say that the moderating line would be somewhere near the realm of when one's personality "changes;" i.e., when one is considered "under the influence." When this happens, of course, is different with every person's body. Therefore, rather then walking the line and trying to figure out how close I can get to the boiling pot without getting burned, I just abstain. Again, I'm not saying everyone should abstain, but it works quite well with me.
Last night, I almost continued to move in the direction you just did Charlie. There is a need to err on the side of caution. I think this debate brings up another topic, which has not been discussed (at least not that I'm aware of). Glutony effects our denomination (SB) in particular. As you have stated very clearly, food in and of itself is not bad or evil, but too much of it is. I would argue that we can be under the influence of food just as we are under the influence of a substance. As far as personality changes go, overweight people or gluttons are proven to be less happy and have less energy than the average person.
Agreed. The idea of gluttony is one to bring up. Gluttony is such an outward sin, in that, when one is obese, his sin shows. However, I do not struggle with the sin of gluttony. I've heard that like depression, it is like being in a prison and can be hard to break.
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