Fasting

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flick427

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I was looking trough the forums and couldn’t find anything on this subject. As I see it, we have the Fridays of Lent, but people always just eat fish, and that is not really too much of a sacrafice, just abstinence from meat. Fasting is Why doesn’t the church start encouraging more self sacrafice and promote this more? I think it is a good practice that should be brought back more. It would be a huge help with all that our Church and world are going through Prayer and fasting go together like Hydrogen and oxygen…and yields a fruitful outcome.
I am looking for opinions/views on this.

Fasting:(www.dictionary.com)

  1. *]To abstain from food.
    *]To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.
 
Fasting absolutely needs to be re-established in the Catholic church. I am Orthodox, and I find the regular fasting of Wednesdays and Fridays plus the many other periods of fasting extremely beneficial. It was difficult at first, but it gets easier and most importantly it strengthens our ability to resist other temptations. My wife and I actually look forward to Lent every year now. Fifty days of no meat, eggs, milk, cheese, yoghurt, alcohol, olive oil and sex. Easter is already a joyous occasion but the fasting beforehand makes it all the more wonderful.

I pray that fasting will be re-established in the Catholic church. You guys are missing out on one of the major benefits towards growing in holiness.

John.
 
I think it does need to be reestablished, it can help with many things that can’t normally be overcome. I think Jesus commented that certain demons can only be overcome by fasting, but I’ll have to find that. I am not sure what those demons are though it would be nice to know.
It can be difficult to do at times and I like the Wed. and Fri. schedule…it is just really a matter of discipline (getting in the right fram of mind and sticking to it).
Most of us just practice the abstinence during lent and end up eating a seafood buffet on Fridays which is not really the point. I heard a quote that said “prayer without fasting is like a man with one leg”. That doesn’t mean you have to fast every time you pray, but you just nead to learn to use both legs.
 
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flick427:
I was looking trough the forums and couldn’t find anything on this subject. As I see it, we have the Fridays of Lent, but people always just eat fish, and that is not really too much of a sacrafice, just abstinence from meat. Fasting is Why doesn’t the church start encouraging more self sacrafice and promote this more? I think it is a good practice that should be brought back more. It would be a huge help with all that our Church and world are going through Prayer and fasting go together like Hydrogen and oxygen…and yields a fruitful outcome.
I am looking for opinions/views on this.

Fasting:(www.dictionary.com)

  1. *]To abstain from food.
    *]To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.
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  1. a gluttony of information on fasting… 👍

    catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0184.html

    don’t over do it… :eek:
 
I think some people are confusing fasting with abstinence. I am wondering more about just going the whole day or even a couple of days on just bread and water alone. I think that abstinence is good, but there is more to it that is just giving up one thing…I think the whole fish on Friday is kinda strange…people still eat their fill, just of fish instead of beef or chicken.
 
flick, I can put together some Scripture for you if you like. There are basically three types of fasts found in the Bible.
  1. Total fast-no food no water. Moses did this for 40 days, but remember he was in the direct presence of God. Pray about this.
  2. No meat, but taking in water, fruits, etc. Very common fast.
  3. Water only. Also very common fast found in Scripture.
There have been individual fasting, and corporate fasting. Its a time of self denial, of very basic petetition to God. You could fast 1 day every week. You could fast 2 days. It could be irregular, like say your going to fast one week, and then you go six months and then fast three days, so on and so forth.

I recommend fasting, becuase it is a Scritpural practice. If you begin, and you find that you ‘mess’ up, dont stop, continue. Use this time during the fast to seek the LORD in this humble way. Don’t celebrate the fact that your fasting to other people. This is between you and God alone.

There are tons of resources on this area. Find an online bible, say www.biblegateway.com and do a search for ‘fast’, and dive into what the LORD has said about this matter. It is very important to our walk. Then check out your local Christian book store for more resources. But as always have your Bible handy to check out what is being taught.

Peace
 
tcj:
I question whether true fasting is a good or helpful thing.
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prodromos:
Why is that?
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yeah, this strikes me odd, too. J fasted before starting His ministry. He also said that the reason His disciples weren’t fasting while He was with them was that you don’t fast at a wedding feast, but that we would be fasting after He left. and He wouldn’t have wanted us to do a bad, unhelpful thing.
would He?
as far as bringing the practice back or enhancing its acceptance- if we who fast will show others how beneficial it has been to us, then they will try it more themselves.
thanks for listening, love and peace, terry
 
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