Fasting and Lifting?

[quote]grey wrote:
I also remember the routine George Carlin had on religion. I laughed my ass off.

I also read the Joe Pesci one somewhere but I don’t remember where?

[/quote]

They’re both from his “You are All Diseased” 1999 HBO special. One of the best stand-ups of all time–his most recent “Life is Worth Losing” is impressive too–his wit is as sharp as ever though he looks much closer to the precipice these days–like he’s been fasting or something…
There will be a special place in heaven for heathens like Carlin.

[/quote]

[quote]BigPaul wrote:
djnleffler-

I find it quite ironic that you take such a hostile tone with respect to christianity yet have The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah as your avatar, do you realize its symbolism?

Just an observation
[/quote]

I thought I was being funny not hostile. At least not “organized religion” hostile. I do know the significance of the conquering lion of the tribe of judah–the house I am born under and my middle name (judah). The red gold and green in the background represents something too. Red for the blood christian colonists spilled in the genocide of millions of native peoples in the new worlds, gold for treasures that were stolen from these non-religious “heathens” for centuries on end and green for new life and redemption.

Rastafarianism, like Christianity and all other faiths, is another religion made up by man to make sense of the infinite–but more recent and accessible–not taking a tame and conquer philosophy toward nature and peoples like Christianity–namely Protestantism but more of a living with nature and love approach. I like it becasue it’s just as kooky as Christianity (Rastas believe King Sellassie of Ethiopia was the true first messiah and son of God and religious scholars have actually traced his roots back to the grandfather of King Solomon–suggesting the Black Ethiopians of Africa are God’s chosen people and not the Jews–suprise) but you get to smoke weed, eat really good food, enjoy sex without the guilt and dance to the best music on the planet. Beats out Scientology and Fruitarianism too.

[quote]djnleffler wrote:
grey wrote: I personally hope that you are so wrong…otherwise we live a pretty shallow and useless life. Like ants or bees. Doomed to die and dissapear into the shadow of oblivion.

Very depressing indead–and the roots of existentialism. Guess what–we are like ants and bees and doomed to die and dissappear into the shadow of oblivion (very poetic) at any moment–that’s what makes us human (of course I have all the answers too–it makes me feel less lonely and doomed).
Praying is fun too. I pray to Joe Pesci (Don’t you m f’ers dare decry me for my personal ridiculous beliefs–don’t you dare). I did a test and figured something out: When I pray to God my prayers are answered at about a 50% rate. Then I prayed to Joe Pesci for a while and got the same result. Thing is, Pesci knows how to get shit done.

[/quote]

What–we don’t get to decry you for yours, but you can of ours. Interesting.

I’ll say it again, everyone-EVERYONE- is entitled to believe how they see fit. I just don’t understand the anger, then venom, that spews forth from those that want to ridicule those who have faith. Why would you even take the time to respond so negatively, when you offer nothing to discuss.

We will never reach an agreement, but at least show some maturity and a willingness to appreciate anothers point of view even though you disagree.

[quote]sasquatch wrote:

What–we don’t get to decry you for yours, but you can of ours. Interesting.

I’ll say it again, everyone-EVERYONE- is entitled to believe how they see fit. I just don’t understand the anger, then venom, that spews forth from those that want to ridicule those who have faith. Why would you even take the time to respond so negatively, when you offer nothing to discuss.

We will never reach an agreement, but at least show some maturity and a willingness to appreciate anothers point of view even though you disagree.

[/quote]
If I offered nothing to discuss what are we discussing? There’s an existential mind f**k for you. The meaning (lessness) of it all? Fear and loathing in cyber space? Nothingness? This is getting a little too Buddhist for me.

As for the decrying–I guess it’s hard to convey sarcasm with a keyboard. Decry all you want. Personally I think de crying on here is a bit much. I do feel bad for that poor ridculed 99% of the country minority with “faith” though–they are so under-represented and marginalilzed (this is sarcasm).
My attacks on fundamentalist thought are purely defensive. It is the religious fanatics that want to impart their world view on the rest of us–through legislation, education and the public space.

I say live and let live. If you want to believe in the devil or ghosts or the tooth fairy go ahead–just keep your self-righteous moral indignation tucked under your pants, by your hip, next to your gun, if you know what I mean.
I’m gonna go work out
-peace and love m-f’ers

[quote]harris447 wrote:
rawda wrote:
harris447 wrote:
stellar_horizon wrote:
A lot of really wacky shit.

  1. There is no such thing as “sin”. It’s a man-made concept to keep people in line.

  2. There is no comparison whatsoever to reducing carbs because of dietary concerns and not eating because an invisible superhero in the sky told you to.

thank you so much for your profound words of wisdom mr. post-modern. the next time you want to lecture us like little kids and convert us to your limited world-view of anything goes, go to another site.

Amusing that a bartender has the balls to pass judgement on anyone, but…

Show me where I said “anything goes”. When I said there is no such thing as sin, I meat that there are no acts that will annoy the Superhero, or keep you from going to the Dreamy Palace full of light and white people.

All actions are either constructive to society or destructive to society. People committing actions that are destrcuctive to the cohesion and progress of society must be shithammered with the force of a thousand exploding suns.

But, they won’t go to Hell. Cuz, it’s fictional.

[/quote]

amusing that a “dance machine” that says there is no such thing as sin has the balls to pass judgement on anyone.
anything goes is what is implied by the statement that there is no such thing as sin.
actions not constructive to society aren’t the same as sin? semantics.

Hi all, I am very encouraged to have seen this thread. I hope to get the chance to talk to some of you through IM about fasting.

I am also encouraged to see others in the world of iron that love the Lord.

[quote]rawda wrote:
harris447 wrote:
rawda wrote:
harris447 wrote:
stellar_horizon wrote:
A lot of really wacky shit.

  1. There is no such thing as “sin”. It’s a man-made concept to keep people in line.

  2. There is no comparison whatsoever to reducing carbs because of dietary concerns and not eating because an invisible superhero in the sky told you to.

thank you so much for your profound words of wisdom mr. post-modern. the next time you want to lecture us like little kids and convert us to your limited world-view of anything goes, go to another site.

Amusing that a bartender has the balls to pass judgement on anyone, but…

Show me where I said “anything goes”. When I said there is no such thing as sin, I meat that there are no acts that will annoy the Superhero, or keep you from going to the Dreamy Palace full of light and white people.

All actions are either constructive to society or destructive to society. People committing actions that are destrcuctive to the cohesion and progress of society must be shithammered with the force of a thousand exploding suns.

But, they won’t go to Hell. Cuz, it’s fictional.

amusing that a “dance machine” that says there is no such thing as sin has the balls to pass judgement on anyone.
anything goes is what is implied by the statement that there is no such thing as sin.
actions not constructive to society aren’t the same as sin? semantics.[/quote]

Anything goes is NOT implied by the absence of sin. At all. Community college?

sin1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sn)
n.
A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.
Theology.
Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God.
A condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience.

If you eliminate the concept of the Invisible Superhero in the Sky, then the concept of sin goes with it.

Nothing is wrong because it irritates “god”. Things are wrong because they hurt others, either specifically or generally.

[quote]harris447 wrote:
Wow, you made me laugh. Aren’t you a grown-up? Don’t you have better things to do with your precious mind than believe in fairy tales?
[/quote]

Your rationalization sucks oh mighty defender of the homosexual community.

How can you belittle anyone in the manner you have because of their beliefs? yet as soon as someone throws out the word “fag” you need heavy flow tampons.

It takes some fuckin balls to question someones faith, whether you agree with it or not.

For the record, I don’t think the homosexual community needs you as their official Political Correctness Patrol Officer.

[quote]stellar_horizon wrote:
I’m also an Orthodox Christian.[/quote]

And I took 3 shits today. I eat a lot of fiber.

No, you fast because that is your own little thing. Like taking a lot shits is my thing. We don’t actually know what Jesus “commanded and taught” because we don’t even know if said fellow actually existed.

You believe it, that’s swell. Scientologists believe that aliens enslaved mankind and control our minds. Whatever gets you through the day. But everyone ought to preface things with: “the fiction that I subscribe to is…”

Try to sell that line in most of Africa or North Korea.

No, it just shuts your body down. Our bodies were pretty much designed to deal with fasting–but out of necessity. Bodies don’t like not eating.

Negative. Asceticism is a Greek word and concept. Not ancient Christian. Though the Hindus were into it even before the Greeks I believe.

I guess. I fasted once for four days. I focused on my whole field of vision turning different shades of purple and basically having a sober acid trip. I guess that could be the soul. I think what was actually happening was my body was catabolizing my brain.

No, I’m like damn dude, I’m fucking hungry.

Maybe. We don’t actually have anything that Jesus wrote himself. Hard to say what he emphasized when you’re going by something a dude wrote down 7 decades after the fact. I think he probably said fast for Passover because, well, that’s what Jews do because of their own fictions.

No, its not over. The worms and fungi and bacteria go to town on your corpse. Then they shit it out, then its over.

Hells yeah.

[quote]Foods that fall within the ancient Christian fasting guidelines include but are not limited to:
FAT
walnuts, olives, peanut butter, almonds[/quote]

Dude, peanuts are from South America. Where the fuck did ancient Christians get them from? I don’t think peanut butter falls into ancient guidelines because they didn’t know what the fuck a peanut was.

[quote]CARBS
sweet potatoes[/quote]

From South America. Yams, maybe. Those are from Africa.

Negative. They didn’t know what the fuck a pasta was until the Chinese taught them.

I guess, but I think rice wasn’t actually a very important crop back in those days. It was kind of a speciality item grown and eaten in the Nile Valley, no?

Durian even?

[quote]PROTEIN
octopus[/quote]

Octopus is a mollusk–not Kosher. Jesus wouldn’t touch that shit.

Oh yeah, the holy trinity of un-Kosher shellfish. Again, negative. You want to drop the Jesus said this and Jesus said that, I’m going to drop that the Kosher diety did not dig on the shellfish. Next thing you’re going to be telling us that he had pork for the last supper or something.

So, basically you’re saying its ok to eat everything, including non-Kosher stuff Jesus would never touch, shit they never even knew about, and modern processed protein powders. Ummm, where’s the sacrifice man?

I don’t know dude, I’m pretty sure getting BIGGER is gluttonous. I mean those extra calories are calories you could have shared with the needy. You don’t need the extra muscle–some starving kid needs to eat something.

Shouldn’t you be worrying about praying and not feeding schedules?

Now you’re making a mockery of it. Oh, I’ll sacrifice, except for yummy seafood, protein shakes, and steroids. Woot.

Dude, all that lobster is an aphrodisiac. So its a wash.

I’m not exactly sure how no meat means lower testosterone. The first premise is flawed. I don’t understand the bit about mortal sin, so we’ll skip that.

Living in God’s image…so, God eats lobster, drinks protein shakes, eat sweet potatos, and takes steroids? What the fuck Orthodox Christianity is this?

Word.

Why did God wait so long before deciding to reveal the true way to everyone? Sounds kind of arbitrary to me.

The hell they did. I mean, yeah, there’s always been some nutter cults. The Galli, Christian followers of Origen, Heaven’s Gate. But, by and large, the majority of eunuchs in history were made. The Chinese would forcibly castrate young boys (usually the kids of defeated peoples in war) to make their legions of eunuch beauracrats and soldiers. Then there’s the eunuch harem guards in the Islamic world. Again, forced nutting.

Or bitch boys.

I’m pretty sure there’s no direct quotes in the Bible from Jesus regarding cutting your own sack.

Can you then explain the Inquisition which specialized in the descrating and mangling of bodies?

Huh? Like masturbation or what?

It sounds like you’re starving God’s temple.

What’s simple with these fictions you believe in? A goddamn Borges novel makes more sense compared to the magical realism you’re peddling.

Didn’t Jesus say some shit about not calling people names or something?

I guess. But you’re a mirror image of God right? So God has lust too. And if that’s a bad thing, and he’s all omnipotent and shit, then why didn’t he just get rid of lust in himself and humans? And why make lust necessary to procreate? I don’t get it. That’s some weird shit.

Or he can jerk off. Works for me.

There wasn’t even an Orthodox Christian Church then. There wasn’t even anything around that could be called Christian until at least a full century after the guy supposedly lived. I guess the Egyptian Orthodox claim to have started like 40 AD, but that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since many of the canonical books of the New Testament hadn’t even been written yet. Anyway, the history is murky, we can admit that. So the OCC practiced whatever its been practicing (like lobster and protein shakes for Lent) for a long time, but not since, oh 100 A.D.

And many people with no food who’d love for you to feed them instead of willfully not eating food to prove some religious point.

I thought the problem was that people don’t avoid any food.

Some of them.

Most.

Might be uneccessary.

[quote], those with certain allergies avoid peanuts[/quote],

Don’t eat shit from South America.

We should all avoid those.

I wasn’t aware there was a pressing need to.

Fuck yeah.

Nope. You might be going on the space ship with Heaven’s Gate.

Whatever, you don’t seem like you’ve got a good grip on it yourself.

Do you promise?

Yeah, again, pretty sure Jesus doesn’t approve of name calling, especially such puerile trash talk as you’re laying down.

Kind of fucked to make a butt-ugly virgin who can never get laid, then tell him to not lust, then punish him when he does because he can never consumate a relationship. Sick fuckers.

No, you just need to become one in order to not reproduce.

Eunuchs get action too.

Start by not acting like a know it all and calling people names.

They sure do.

Alrighty then.

Do I have to?

Do they though? Not the average American. Okinawans maybe.

God said straight up not to eat lobster. So don’t go there until you’re ready to get down with the Kosher.

Yes, that’s what the schizos always say, isn’t it? I mean if you replaced your whole story that you believe with Ozzotron for Jesus and Morgotron for God, they’d lock you up. Ozzotron said not to eat meat for 40 days. Right. Morgotron does not want me to beat my meat. Right. Meet the men in the white coats. Mass delusion is still delusion, you know?

Anyway, enjoy your Lent orgy of protein shakes and lobster.

[quote]rg73 wrote:
Actually, thousands of years ago and before even Christianity arose

Why did God wait so long before deciding to reveal the true way to everyone? Sounds kind of arbitrary to me.

people voluntarily underwent castration so as to avoid sexual immorality.

The hell they did. I mean, yeah, there’s always been some nutter cults. The Galli, Christian followers of Origen, Heaven’s Gate. But, by and large, the majority of eunuchs in history were made. The Chinese would forcibly castrate young boys (usually the kids of defeated peoples in war) to make their legions of eunuch beauracrats and soldiers. Then there’s the eunuch harem guards in the Islamic world. Again, forced nutting.

These people were called eunuchs.

Or bitch boys.

Their intentions were good but their means of attaining physical purity was shunned by Jesus Christ.

I’m pretty sure there’s no direct quotes in the Bible from Jesus regarding cutting your own sack.

The body is the temple of the soul - it is not meant to be desecrated or mangled.

Can you then explain the Inquisition which specialized in the descrating and mangling of bodies?

Humans experience the world with sensory perception through their God-designed physical organs, but to delve with the physical organs in practices that estrange the soul from God swiftly leads to spritual decay.

Huh? Like masturbation or what?

Fasting (when practiced for spiritual purification) ignites the flame of God within.

It sounds like you’re starving God’s temple.

You took a simple concept and magnified it to the extreme.

What’s simple with these fictions you believe in? A goddamn Borges novel makes more sense compared to the magical realism you’re peddling.

Quit being such a drama queen.

Didn’t Jesus say some shit about not calling people names or something?

A man spiritually-centered on God with a diligent will to fight temptation does well by keeping his lust under control.

I guess. But you’re a mirror image of God right? So God has lust too. And if that’s a bad thing, and he’s all omnipotent and shit, then why didn’t he just get rid of lust in himself and humans? And why make lust necessary to procreate? I don’t get it. That’s some weird shit.

Should he sin, he repents to fight with greater ferocity during future successive waves of temptation…

Or he can jerk off. Works for me.

Fasting is a therapeutic tool that the Orthodox Christian Church has maintained since the time of Jesus Christ

There wasn’t even an Orthodox Christian Church then. There wasn’t even anything around that could be called Christian until at least a full century after the guy supposedly lived. I guess the Egyptian Orthodox claim to have started like 40 AD, but that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since many of the canonical books of the New Testament hadn’t even been written yet. Anyway, the history is murky, we can admit that. So the OCC practiced whatever its been practicing (like lobster and protein shakes for Lent) for a long time, but not since, oh 100 A.D.

Needless to say, fasting is also practiced in many other religions for similar purposes.

And many people with no food who’d love for you to feed them instead of willfully not eating food to prove some religious point.

Excuse any simplification, but avoiding certain foods for brief periods of time is a natural phenomenon in our day & age.

I thought the problem was that people don’t avoid any food.

The obese avoid carbs for fat loss,

Some of them.

diabetics avoid sugar to regulate insulin,

Most.

those with high blood pressure avoid certain fats

Might be uneccessary.

, those with certain allergies avoid peanuts,

Don’t eat shit from South America.

those with liver malfunctions avoid synthetic/processed foods,

We should all avoid those.

How do you classify these individuals?

I wasn’t aware there was a pressing need to.

Do you think those who participate in juice-vegetable fasts for detoxification purposes are lunatics also?

Fuck yeah.

Anyways, avoiding sex because you don’t have testes doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to heaven.

Nope. You might be going on the space ship with Heaven’s Gate.

You strike me as a theological neophyte

Whatever, you don’t seem like you’ve got a good grip on it yourself.

so I won’t carry on much longer.

Do you promise?

Someone (perhaps you)

Yeah, again, pretty sure Jesus doesn’t approve of name calling, especially such puerile trash talk as you’re laying down.

might be a butt-ugly virgin who never got laid in life but always lusted over the act. Not being able to fulfill an act because an opportunity never existed does not qualify as meaning that the person is spiritually disciplined or pure or focused on God and the afterlife…

Kind of fucked to make a butt-ugly virgin who can never get laid, then tell him to not lust, then punish him when he does because he can never consumate a relationship. Sick fuckers.

I don’t need to become a eunuch to abstain from sexual immorality.

No, you just need to become one in order to not reproduce.

I know if I had been a eunuch, there are sins I would’ve been rendered incapable of committing.

Eunuchs get action too.

Nevertheless, I can repent and continue fighting hard to keep a clean slate from the point of sin onwards.

Start by not acting like a know it all and calling people names.

As noted above, people struggle by account of various conditions under the guidance of physicians in adhering to specific diets so as to maintain their physical welfare.

They sure do.

Likewise, Orthodox Christians struggle on account of the sinful condition of our souls in adhering to specific fasts under the guidance of Jesus Christ and our Church so as to maintain our spiritual welfare.

Alrighty then.

And consider this

Do I have to?

  • if people go to such great lengths to save their bodies from that inevitable grave,

Do they though? Not the average American. Okinawans maybe.

it only makes sense that obedient & faithful Christians will go to great lengths to either b[/b] save their souls from eternal damnation, or b[/b] fulfill that which is commanded by God so as to enter into Paradise.

God said straight up not to eat lobster. So don’t go there until you’re ready to get down with the Kosher.

P.S. you appear to be the looney to me…

Yes, that’s what the schizos always say, isn’t it? I mean if you replaced your whole story that you believe with Ozzotron for Jesus and Morgotron for God, they’d lock you up. Ozzotron said not to eat meat for 40 days. Right. Morgotron does not want me to beat my meat. Right. Meet the men in the white coats. Mass delusion is still delusion, you know?

Anyway, enjoy your Lent orgy of protein shakes and lobster.[/quote]

Damn dude…what’s with the hard on for religion…
You must have spent a day researching and replying. (never mind the formatting)

Did you get diddled by the diocese?
Did a monk touch your monkey?
Tsk. Tsk. So much hate.
I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you only hate Christians and probably believe in something else. An athiest wouldn’t have so much anger.
Get a grip. Captain Kirk was a fictional character…there is no federation!

“Bones you have to save rg73.”

“Damnit Jim…I’m a doctor not a psychiatrist.”

I can sit here all day long and defend my posts ad naseum to rg73, but what’s the point? He’s already hostile towards the concept of fasting, let alone the Christian Faith. I won’t steer the conversation towards religion, since the author of this thread didn’t intend to dabble into that.

However, for those that are curious, here’s a nice site to explore one style of fasting (which also agrees with the guidelines of the ancient Christian fasting protocol of Lent):

http://www.healingdaily.com/juicing-for-health/fasting.htm

As a weightlifter who consumes a fair share of synthetic compounds, I believe that fasting, even for short periods of time, keeps me healthier in the long run because of the detoxifying effects and the fact that my liver can take a small break from synthesizing all that protein, various oils, and various chemicals found in my diet.

If someone eats the right foods, they can definitely get bigger. Usually people who fast aren’t striving to cram junkfood down their stomachs because they know they need quality nutrition to maintain homeostasis and that fasting parameters force them to analyze the nutrients in packaged goods.

And for the record, the fasting protocol of the ancient Christian Church specifically mentions the foods that are to be avoided rather than those which are to be consumed - just like in the Garden of Eden; the fruits of ALL other trees could be consumed except of those derived from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.

Same aspect with fasting. If it wasn’t specifically prohibited, it remained ok.

Hope my posts provided some positive feedback. Peace be with all.

[quote]AverageJay wrote:
This probably won’t work for you but it’s a suggestion. Why does fasting have to specifically be from food. Why couldn’t you deny yourself social interaction, television, or other things that bring you pleasure. Spend the time in solitude with no outside influences except your bible for hours during the day. Medidate during that time focusing on God only.

This would probably be much more usefull spriritually instead of constantly thinking about the muscle you are loosing and lifting on an empty stomach.

And seriously, if you are fasting from food and worrying about what that’s doing to you, then you are not focusing on the purpose of the fast. And that’s probably worse then not fasting at all.[/quote]

A great post, mate. If you came up with this yourself, then I congratulate you; it makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks!

rg

just one thing, because once I read the shit thing I couldn’t take anything else with any sincerity

It was about your 3rd or so line of the first post–fasting does not equate with starvation of thirld world countries.

Your hatred and immaturity shine through like a great beacon. Keep it up. You are most definately showing me the way. I’ll just keep you in my rearview mirror.

I know it sounds crazy to fast and become better, but if you buy the book called “The Warrior Diet” by Ori Hofmeker, you would become a believer in a certain kind of fasting. Not only does he back up his theory with the lifestyles of ancient hunters and the Romans and Spartans, but he also backs it up scientifically.

The basic concept is: you fast during the day,(only eating raw fruit sparingly) and when it gets dark, you pig out. Believe me, if you try it, you will become addicted to it.

Check out the website: www.warriordiet.com and buy the book. It’s the best 30 bucks you could ever spend. Seriously, don’t be like my mom, and say something stupid like “Oh no, fasting duing the day? How can you get any energy w/ that? You will only become weaker if you do something like that!”

Before you critisize anything, be sure to here both sides, not just the one your in favor of. There is much evidence and scientific backup in this book on how controlled undereating and overeating can will make you a much better person.

I started this diet almost a month ago, and for the first two or three days, I felt like Hell, then suddenly, everything boosted inside of me! I am now much more energized and mentally alert than I ever was. I hardly even get hungry during the day anymore(I do eat a homemade fruit smoothie every morning, and usually have some fruit again around lunch time.

Again, check out the site. Don’t judge something before you listen to both sides.

AverageJay wrote:[quote]
This probably won’t work for you but it’s a suggestion. Why does fasting have to specifically be from food. Why couldn’t you deny yourself social interaction, television, or other things that bring you pleasure. Spend the time in solitude with no outside influences except your bible for hours during the day. Medidate during that time focusing on God only.

This would probably be much more usefull spriritually instead of constantly thinking about the muscle you are loosing and lifting on an empty stomach.

And seriously, if you are fasting from food and worrying about what that’s doing to you, then you are not focusing on the purpose of the fast. And that’s probably worse then not fasting at all.[/quote]

Miserere wrote:

Aside from the fasting-from-foods aspect of Lent, finding solitude, refraining from festivites, fighting the will to indulge in entertainment (such as television/radio/video games), reading the scriptures and praying are also conducive to a spiritual catharsis during this time.

Lent is specifically about the mortification of our passions and medititating upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. The therapies mentioned above are tools in the sense that we can learn for ourselves how deeply we’re chained within the material aspects of this transient realm.

Someone mentioned third world countries not having food. Fasting from certain (if not all) foods for a brief period re-iterates a sense of thankfulness towards God for that which we have on our dinner table. It reminds us, "Hey, it could be much worse. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for this simple, warm bowl of lentil soup. May Thy will be done!

He who can not conquer the passions of his body will never overcome the passions of his soul. Fasting, as well as the other ascetic practices mentioned above, not only teach us about our inner strengths & weaknesses, but also help us struggle concurrently in obeying the rest of God’s commands.

I speak from personal experience when I write this; that when the body and mind are focused in fulfilling a small command, they rarely fall victim to larger offenses.

I may be generalizing by writing this, and pardon me for that, but people who genuinely remain focused on fulfilling the Lenten fast are less prone to committing heavier sins like fornication, adultery, theft, gossip, and other evil deeds.

And no, I don’t have scientific data to prove that, just a psychological hunch and from conversing with other Orthodox Christians.

Peace be with all!