Heritage Coffee

“For I am the Lord, I do not change" Malachi 3:6

 

Ah, coffee. Some people don't care for it, but, seeing as it's currently a $100+ billion industry, a lot of people like it including yours truly. It's a money-making business, so it's not surprising that Homestead Heritage would abandon their decades-long proscription against coffee for a piece of that pie. 

"So what if they change their mind," you might ask. Because Homestead considered it "rebellion" to drink coffee in violation of their dietary patterns, and they could minister to members for violating that pattern. They have not apologized to all of the people who they harassed over coffee now that they have deemed it profitable acceptable.

In their book, Diet, Law and the New Testament, they write:

Ultimately, it is a person's decision whether he eats healthily or not, and he will bear the consequences. But if situations emerge in the course of fellowship and community life that bring spiritual problems of heart and attitude to light, then the ministry has an obligation to deal with these problems, whatever the context in which they arise, including the context of patterns of diet that God has established for the health and sustenance of the physical body. If the church has chosen a Biblical pattern of diet as part of its identity and a member boldly flaunts (at least to his private coterie of friends in the church) his scorn and disobedience and mockery of the pattern, then the ministry of the church has a responsibility  to deal with the root causes of such rebellion. For, at root, this is a spiritual problem and, as such, one that the discipling authority in the Body has an obligation to minister to. [pp.123-24]

What form might such ministry take? I am personally unaware of members who were disfellowshipped over coffee. The situations I am aware of (members spotted at Starbucks, for instance) resulted in a stern rebuke. But their book has this to say:

Can the breach of such patterns lead to disfellowshipping? [p.132]. . . Having said all this, however, we must remember that willful disobedience and a carnal spirit of arrogant rebellion and subversion in regard to diet, as in any other area of life, can indicate a condition that cannot help but jeopardize the spiritual standing of the individual concerned and of others influenced by him as well, and that such situations  would require spiritual ministry through the constituted authority of the church. So the church reserves the right, as repeatedly happened in Biblical writings, to insist that for some individuals in some circumstances, their submission to these church guidelines may indeed reveal their spiritual standing both with God and the church. [p. 134]

They include coffee in a section titled Foods Not Specifically Referred To In The Bible, and give this reason for it's inclusion in their "Biblical pattern"

It was more a matter of separation from a system that on principle transformed what God has given simply because it assumed that anything God-given would become better if human beings tampered with it in an industrial system plexus feeding a mass market and the coveting of unlimited financial gain, which was always accompanied by the further need to endlessly manipulate consumers to buy certain products. [p.60]

So I was surprised to learn that they now run a coffee shop. I assume they now think it's acceptable to covet "unlimited financial gain" and "endlessly manipulate consumers to buy certain products." Or perhaps they don't care that they are serving their customers something they believe has such negative consequences.

But it is known for sure that coffee causes the body to store fat; "increases stress; causes insomnia, anxiety, and irritability; causes heartburn and indigestion; increases cholesterol" in some people. It also "contributes to an increased risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women"; "reduces fertility" in some women; "increases blood pressure"; raises blood sugars; slows down metabolism" and leads to higher levels of inflammatory substances that have been linked to heart attacks and stroke." Finally, it depletes vitamin C in the body and is highly addictive. [p.65] 

Whew! Why would they serve something they feel so strongly about --strongly enough to discipline members who drink it-- to people outside the community as well as their own members? Especially since they insist that ". . . in order for any event, activity or project, such as a food co-op, grocery store or restaurant to have the endorsement and blessing of the fellowship, it must operate in keeping with the vision God has given us for health and fellowship."[p. 134, emphasis added]

They state that God gave them this pattern. If this truly came from God, it would not change. (Malachi 3:6) I $u$pect other po$$ible motive$.

Quoted Material From: 

Adams, Blair with Howard Wheeler, Regina Adams, Amy McKinley, and Nathan Tittley. Diet, Law and the New Testament. Elm Mott, TX: Colloquium Press, 2011.