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wildtimes
I know, I could spend hours looking it up, but I'm asking YOU, ATSers...
as I was slowly awakening this morning... WHAT IS FASTING supposed to prove or do for a person's soul?
What is the point? Why is fasting an important ritual for the faithful? And by "fasting" I mean ALL traditions that call for withholding of nourishment at certain times, or certain foods on certain days (no meat on Friday, for example) or for certain days or seasons. (Lent and Ramadan come to mind).
I can't understand what it's supposed to accomplish. I honestly don't think any "God" would want people to go hungry on purpose. Does this have to do with some Bible/Torah/Kuranic passages?
I CAN understand how it can help to "cleanse" the system - the body - physiologically; prepare it for surgical proceedings, etc. - but I don't quite get the "crossover." Is it perhaps to test oneself? To show reverse appreciation for food? (God is Great, God is Good, Let us thank him for our Food - by his hand we all are Fed - Give us, Lord, our Daily Bread = our childhood at-table prayer)
So - in lieu of looking it up to find my own answers and "challenge" your beliefs; I want to hear from YOU, what it means to YOU, and if you choose, or not, to practice it...why? What have been your results in terms of outcomes?
Thanks for anyone who'd like to take the time to 'splain' me (explain it) what it's all about.
(I will have to be away for most of the morning after about an hour from now, but will check in when I get back home this afternoon)edit on 9/17/13 by wildtimes because: change title for brevity
Fasting is a biblical discipline that can be defended from both the Old and the New Testament. Christ expected his disciples to fast (Mt 9:14-15) and issued instructions for how they should do so (Mt 6:16-18). Catholics follow this pattern by holding a partial fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Abstinence from certain foods is also a biblical discipline. In Daniel 10:2-3 we read, "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." Catholics use a practice similar to Daniel's when, as a way of commemorating Christ's Crucifixion on a Friday, they abstain from eating meat on that day of the week during Lent. The only kind of flesh they eat on Friday is fish, which is a symbol of Christ.
There is nothing, dearly-beloved, in which the Divine Providence does not assist the devotions of the faithful. For the very elements of the world1210 also minister to the exercise of mind and body in holiness, seeing that the distinctly varied revolution of days and months opens for us the different pages of the commands, and thus the seasons also in some sense speak to us of that which the sacred institutions enjoin. And hence, since the year’s course has brought back the seventh month to us, I feel certain that your minds are spiritually aroused to keep the solemn fast; since you have learnt by experience how well this preparation purifies both the outer and the inner parts of men, so that by abstaining from the lawful, resistance becomes easier to the unlawful. But do not limit your plan of abstinence, dearly-beloved, to the mortifying of the body, or to the lessening of food alone. For the greater advantages of this virtue belong to that chastity of the soul, which not only crushes the lusts of the flesh, but also despises the vanities of worldly wisdom, as the Apostle says, “take heed that no one deceive you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men.
That is why fasting is usually mentioned along with prayer and almsgiving (or charity). By controlling the passions of the body, we free our souls for prayer. And by refraining from eating, we free up food or money.
wildtimes
Do you "dread" the days you know you are to "fast"?
wildtimes
reply to post by FlyersFan
Example - favorite TV show.
South Park....right??
Akragon
I blame southpark for my previous Warcraft addiction!
Have you seen that episode? One of the best!
Somehow I think they're running out of material