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Benjamin8o8
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Thank you Pam that’s very kind of you.
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Booklover
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First, I don’t see why you, a Catholic, should honor Ramadan at all. Muslims don’t observe our traditions and even call them “evil” as happens every year during Easter and Christmas.they are not allowed to eat anything during bright day. Once its dark they can eat anything they want. But that’s not the point, the point is they are fasting for the Good Lord. So prayers would be appreciated.
By the way, what do you guys think of the picture I found on the internet?
Second, I see nothing commendable in starving yourself during the day and then more than making up for it at night! That is not what real fasting is.
Vickie
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Benjamin8o8
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I honor it because its something they offer to God the Creator of all things. I don´t pay to attention to Muslims and try to see if they observe our traditions, I do it because its the Catholic thing to do and because John Paul II himself once encouraged us to join them with fasting. So don´t mind me but that’s what I am doing.
ps- one more day and Im done. Gotta admit, its quite difficult what they’re doing
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jakasaki
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Ben, in all honesty, I agree with Booklover.
You as a Catholic can fast anytime you want and not just for Lent and whatever other fasting traditions your family holds.
Do your muslim friends fast during Christian Fasting days “to honor it”
Booklover is right, muslims couldn’t care less about it.
I’ve read several news articles about non-muslim people in the middle east who would be eating during ramadan and they “upset” the muslims and the “ramadan police” would come around to the non-muslim folk.
Yeah, I know someone will want the news articles but frankly, I’m tired of this.
Tit-for-tat garbage.
Gee Ben, it seems I missed that!
OKYou know Ben, ramadan is more to a muslim than fasting.ps- one more day and Im done. Gotta admit, its quite difficult what they’re doing
It starts at dawn.
They get up early in the morning 4-5am and pray/recite the koran
And then there is:
It’s reading the koran all day long
It’s praying/reciting the koran all day long
It’s not putting any food & water in the mouth all day long
And if you brush your teeth to get rid of “ramadan breath” as they call it, you cannot get any on your tongue due to it my wash down your throat.
There are many things that can break the “ramadan fast”.
And then at night, at a certain time they feast…
Anyway Ben, I agree with Booklover.
You as a Catholic can fast anytime you want… , and I quote you…
Just change the “they” to “I”
Be well my friend.
Peace and Blessings, in the Name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
May Jesus continue to guide us, Amen
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staffsgt7
Guest
Ramadan isn’t the problematic holiday - it is EID.
EID is based on the celebration of Muhammed after the Battle of Badr. During a Ramadan time, Muhammed and his band of ‘merry’ men won this battle and took loot and slaves after killing all the men. And when Ramadan was over they were able to celebrate this win, and they called it EID. They felt that ‘Allah was on their side’.
I don’t find all of these holidays in Islam very ‘heart warming’. I would guess that many Muslims don’t know all the facts around their holidays though.
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wwolverine
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Dear Benjamin,I honor it because its something they offer to God the Creator of all things. I don´t pay to attention to Muslims and try to see if they observe our traditions, I do it because its the Catholic thing to do and because John Paul II himself once encouraged us to join them with fasting. So don´t mind me but that’s what I am doing.
ps- one more day and Im done. Gotta admit, its quite difficult what they’re doing
I liked what Pam said regarding replacement of I with they, And I hope that was your prime motive in this fasting.
Secondly as you said you kept it for the brotherhood, Good for you hope something good does come out of it, but my question is, as Pam said too, that they read quran, I hope you thought of reading the Holy Bible as muslims read quran, as much as possible. You know the Muslims finish the entire quran in the 30 days of fasting, some very more religious read it more than once. Would you share with us also if you read the Whole Holy Bible, or just a part of it?
God Bless your thoughts and encourage you to make Muslims realize who Jesus really was.
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Benjamin8o8
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dear wwolverine
considering I only fasted during the last week of Ramadan (except for today for its Holy Sabbath) I didn´t read the Holy Bible. To be honest with you, I never read the entire Bible
During Lent I did finish for the first time the New Testament, though I didn´t begin at the Gospels because I already read them before.I don´t have the Old Testament in English
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Benjamin8o8
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Thank you Pam.Ben, in all honesty, I agree with Booklover.
You as a Catholic can fast anytime you want and not just for Lent and whatever other fasting traditions your family holds.
Hey Pam, you´re Orthodox, can you tell me other fasting traditions there is besides Lent. I do recall the link that has been given to me, but I didnt really understand what the “Great lent” or fast was really about.
Do your muslim friends fast during Christian Fasting days “to honor it”
I don´t think so.
Booklover is right, muslims couldn’t care less about it.
I know.
I’ve read several news articles about non-muslim people in the middle east who would be eating during ramadan and they “upset” the muslims and the “ramadan police” would come around to the non-muslim folk.
By their fruits you should know them…
Gee Ben, it seems I missed that!
You know Ben, ramadan is more to a muslim than fasting.
It starts at dawn.
They get up early in the morning 4-5am and pray/recite the koran
And then there is:
It’s reading the koran all day long
It’s praying/reciting the koran all day long
It’s not putting any food & water in the mouth all day long
And if you brush your teeth to get rid of “ramadan breath” as they call it, you cannot get any on your tongue due to it my wash down your throat.
There are many things that can break the “ramadan fast”.
And then at night, at a certain time they feast…
Anyway Ben, I agree with Booklover.
You as a Catholic can fast anytime you want… , and I quote you…
Just change the “they” to “I”
Be well my friend.
Peace and Blessings, in the Name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
May Jesus continue to guide us, Amen
May Christ the King of all Nations be with you.
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Benjamin8o8
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At least there is no complains on Lent. Jesus fasted for 40 days without food nor water. Its pretty heart warming to me.
ps- is it just me, or don´t you guys think it is odd that an army who abstracted themselves from food and water won a fighting battle. If you ask me, I do believe God was on the Muslims sides. Islam did conquer paganism, and we all know how much God hates paganism.
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Booklover
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Oh pleeeese! No, it’s not the Catholic thing to do! Gorging yourself at the end of the day is not fasting no matter what you call it. All they do is combine all their meals into a feast. Muslims actually gain weight during Ramadan.I honor it because its something they offer to God the Creator of all things. I don´t pay to attention to Muslims and try to see if they observe our traditions, I do it because its the Catholic thing to do and because John Paul II himself once encouraged us to join them with fasting. So don´t mind me but that’s what I am doing.
ps- one more day and Im done. Gotta admit, its quite difficult what they’re doing
Vickie
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Benjamin8o8
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Actually it is the Catholic thing to do. If it wasn´t John Paul II wouldn’t have encouraged Catholics to fast during Ramadans last day. And about your last comment, that is quite hurtful. But from somebody who hates Islam and carries no love towards their neighbor what do you expect? I have somebody in my family who eats nothing for 24 hours, and he does this 3 days a week. Yet he is quite on the chubby side and nobody would think he does such a thing if you didn’t know him personally. So whatever booklover. You have problem that you need to sort out.
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staffsgt7
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I find this note disturbing. For God to be on the side of a bunch of men attacking people just because they disagreed with Muhammed and to just think it is all ok is disturbing. It is like you are putting rose colored glasses on and forgetting all the bloodshed that these people went through. 270 million people died in the last 1400 years for Muhammed and Allah. Untold millions were enslaved and subjugated, with many of them ending out converting just to live without being persecuted daily.
I don’t even agree with you that Islam conquered paganism. Islam IS paganism. Allah is from Muhammed’s pagan religion, mixed with Muhammed himself, and Muhammed only threw in the Bible stories to try to draw the Jews into his new religion. Those Bible stories are not even accurate. All of the rites of Islam are also of the pagan religion of Muhammed. The only thintg different is that Muhammed discarded all the other gods and goddesses, and they wear white robes instead of dancing around it in the nude.
What Muhammed and his followers did to those people was atrocious - beheaded, enslaved, stole, and destroyed. That is what they celebrate on EID after Ramadan - a slaughter and enslavement.
And I don’ t understand what you are trying to say about lent. Lent and EID are completely different things. I was not talking about Ramadan - that was invented by Muhammed to copy the Jews holy day of fasting. There is no background other than that.
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dzheremi
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My thought on Benjamin’s afterthought is this:
God no doubt hated paganism as much in the pre-Islamic era as He did at any other point, including any point after Islam’s rise on the world stage. Given that, where were Jesus’ (who is God) instructions to enter into military battle and slaughter non-believers as Muhammad was supposedly given and in turn gave? It is NOT at all a sign of God’s favor upon the Muslims that they won the Battle of Badr or any subsequent battle. Do you believe that God was also guiding Muhammad when he drove out the Christians of Arabia from all but Najran? Or his sucessors as they devoured one Christian territory after another in their lust for the lands that lay to their East, and eventually to their West?
Any spirit that rewards his believers by blessing their thievery and murder is NOT to be worshipped. God allows many bad things, but this idea that God was “on their side” as they slaughtered their way across Arabia in this or that battle is profoundly insulting.
God no doubt hated paganism as much in the pre-Islamic era as He did at any other point, including any point after Islam’s rise on the world stage. Given that, where were Jesus’ (who is God) instructions to enter into military battle and slaughter non-believers as Muhammad was supposedly given and in turn gave? It is NOT at all a sign of God’s favor upon the Muslims that they won the Battle of Badr or any subsequent battle. Do you believe that God was also guiding Muhammad when he drove out the Christians of Arabia from all but Najran? Or his sucessors as they devoured one Christian territory after another in their lust for the lands that lay to their East, and eventually to their West?
Any spirit that rewards his believers by blessing their thievery and murder is NOT to be worshipped. God allows many bad things, but this idea that God was “on their side” as they slaughtered their way across Arabia in this or that battle is profoundly insulting.
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Booklover
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Ben, when you started this thread you must have anticipated answers that would not agree with it. That is what discussion forums are all about. You’ve been flirting with Islam for some time now and this is not the first thread you’ve posted regarding things that you admire about it. Okay, that is your prerogative. Islamic fast is not equivalent to a Christian fast. Find out about the differences.
What do you really know about Ramadan? Are you looking at it under from a Christian perspective or seeing it as it really is? I did not make any bad statement when I said that Muslims gain weight during the celebration. They do. I’ve seen this stated in several articles dealing with it. I’m going to post several links you can check out if you want.
Ramadan: A Pure Islamic Deception
(That is the name of the article)
Muslims practice month-long fasting called Ramadan. Ramadan’s main purpose is to practice economic bail-tightening, and self-struggling, and self-purifying—in order to make economical savings and also by eating less amount of foods (fasting) to realize the painful condition of a starving hungry human. In other words, fasting is for reducing economical expenditure or economical pressure by practicing self-restrain or reducing personal luxury, lusts, or comfort etc. But in reality—Muslims do the opposite! Muslims those who are fasting during this month of Ramadan, practice a total orgy of eating more delicacies and drinking, of course during night instead of day time. A typical fasting Muslim consumes double the amount of most nourishing and delicious and luxurious food items compared to his regular eating habits during other times. Monthly expenditures for a typical family duly increased 2-3 times during Ramadan than the expenditure of other single month during the entire year. That means, Muslims are engaged in much bigger spending spree than other months of the year. Instead of sacrificing self-comfort and self-interest and luxuries—Muslims began a big and gorgeous month-long celebration of vigorous spending and eating orgies.
Making Sense of Ramadan
Another averse side effect of Ramadan fasting is weight gain. Gain, not loss. If one thinks about it, it is quite logical. Going through the whole day without eating or drinking, one naturally looks forward to the evening and the satisfaction of ones’ desires. The efforts of fasting are usually celebrated with special foods, sweets and general indulgence after having spent the day in such a spiritual way, and the festive activities tend to continue long into the night.
Ramadan: The toughest time for the poor
Buying into Chrislam?
answering-islam.org/Responses/Shabir-Ally/fasting.htm
You must also remember that Islam denies Jesus’ divinity and his crucifixion. That alone should give you pause before adopting any of its practices.
Though this has nothing to do with Ramadan, this may help you. It’s the reply given by Fr. Vincent Serpa to a girl who asked whether she should leave the Church to marry a Muslim man.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=362672
Vickie
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Booklover
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Lapell
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If one is attracted to STUDYING Islamic traditions in order to UNDERSTAND what his Muslim neighbour is doing and why, I think it’s good. Provided that we are firmly rooted in our own faith.Do not be attracted to Islam’s traditions when your own are far better, and your faith the TRUE faith. When you fast, you do so as a means of turning inward to strengthen and explore YOUR OWN faith, not someone else’s. Or at least this is my understanding of why Christians fast.
If I do fast at this time or any other, it will be with that in mind. That’s what I meant when I wrote about the right mindset, not anything about overdoing it. You can’t “over do” a proper fast, in my experience. I’ve only ever “under done” them, shamefully.
For me, even though there ARE beautiful things in Islam, I won’t go as far as joining it because I see Jesus not only as a prophet and a good man, but also as my Saviour and my… God! This belief of ours is not shared by the Muslims, so it’s enough for me not to convert to Islam…
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Lapell
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In writing this I had only read the post quoted and all those preceding it… I’m afraid I may have missed some developments. Sorry!
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staffsgt7
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I don’t think Benjamin is rooted in anything. (that is why anything is ok with him) You know the old saying - When you don’t believe in something you will fall for anything (or something like that). That is what Benjamin sounds like to me - falling for anything because he doesn’t believe in something. It sounds like he thinks Islam is ‘cool’. Islam is anything but cool, but I am sure that peer pressure is intense for some.
If I am wrong, I am wrong. But, his posts are just weird to me.
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Lapell
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I take it that it could be called partial fasting maybe… for at least you did fast some part of the day.
I don’t have a problem if someone prays and fasts for an intention brought to him by a Muslim, for instance for a brother or sister of his who is sick or going on the wrong side, as far as it’s about doing something considered wrong to us Christians, too, such as being involved in organized crime, prostitution, murders, and things of the kind.
If it’s about that bro or sis considering converting to Catholicism, though, I’d pray that God’s will for him or her be done, period.
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Lapell
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I am quite sure that Benjamin does want to believe in the True God who does care for everybody, not just those of your faith or religion!
As for Islam being “cool”, I certainly would have thought that for a while as a teenager if I sensed good things. We like to “travel” at that age and have new experiences, remember. Also, at that age we used to question the things told us, we wanted to check that out for ourselves if we could. Yes, I agree they have to be careful. We can pray for them that God guide them during their teenage period. And trust Him.
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