LDS

Status
Not open for further replies.
Janadele said:
Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights in the wilderness

Moses fasted twice on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights during his journey through the desert.
Click to expand...
Do you have anyone that isn't fictional that you could base this decision on? How about someone a bit more contemporary than, say, two thousand years ago?
 
RoboTimbo said:
Is extreme fasting an LDS thing?
Click to expand...

No. They're supposed to fast one day a month and donate the money they would spend on food to the church instead (called a fast offering). They have a special church service that day (1st Sunday of the month) called Fast and Testimony Meeting (which was always the worst service ever, imo) but for all their faults, they certainly don't advocate starvation.
 
Janadele -

It is interesting you popped in here with the info about your fast.

I must admit, I thought you might be fasting, so that heavenly father would "soften the hearts" of all of us here at JREF, who have so much evidence of the inconsistencies in the book of mormon.
 
deaman said:
Janadele -

It is interesting you popped in here with the info about your fast.

I must admit, I thought you might be fasting, so that heavenly father would "soften the hearts" of all of us here at JREF, who have so much evidence of the inconsistencies in the book of mormon.
Click to expand...


:D
 
deaman said:
Janadele -

It is interesting you popped in here with the info about your fast.

I must admit, I thought you might be fasting, so that heavenly father would "soften the hearts" of all of us here at JREF, who have so much evidence of the inconsistencies in the book of mormon.
Click to expand...
Janadele has been participating in a fasting thread for some time. Zooterkin introduced it here.
 
Whoever. Let's unintroduce it.

Janadele, do you have the evidence we have requested of you? Do you, skyrider44?
 
Last edited:
Janadele said:
Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights in the wilderness

Moses fasted twice on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights during his journey through the desert.
Click to expand...

You might want to backtrack a few comments. The fact that the Bible says these events lasted 40 days and 40 nights does not mean they literally lasted that long. The term was a convention to indicate a prolonged period. This would have been understood by the Jews contemporary with the writing of the passages. Your adherence to the claim that these events literally lasted 40 days and 40 nights is not an article of faith, but of overt ignorance. More to the point, accepting the fact that "40 days and 40 nights" is a figure of speech and not a literal time frame does not in any way challenged the claims of the Bible having divine origins.

To make matters worse, you are now endangering your health for the sake of an incorrect and theologically unnecessary interpretation of scripture.
 
halleyscomet said:
You might want to backtrack a few comments. The fact that the Bible says these events lasted 40 days and 40 nights does not mean they literally lasted that long. The term was a convention to indicate a prolonged period. This would have been understood by the Jews contemporary with the writing of the passages. Your adherence to the claim that these events literally lasted 40 days and 40 nights is not an article of faith, but of overt ignorance. More to the point, accepting the fact that "40 days and 40 nights" is a figure of speech and not a literal time frame does not in any way challenged the claims of the Bible having divine origins.

To make matters worse, you are now endangering your health for the sake of an incorrect and theologically unnecessary interpretation of scripture.
Click to expand...

Once again, we are again seeing the problem with the LDS having a lay ministry. No theologically aware person would think that the common Jewish phrase "40 days and 40 nights" was meant to be taken literally, but the Mormons I know do take it literally.

Just as the ones I know believe that the Gospels were actually written by the apostles for whom they are named. For some reason my sister and I were discussing something about religion (which is something I usually refuse to do, as I find it highly frustrating) and I said something about Mark having been the first of the Gospels, and probably written not long after the fall of the second temple, by a Gentile. She was very confused by my statement and disagreed completely. I had forgotten that we were taught such nonsense as the Gospels were actually written by people who knew and followed Jesus.

I'm sure that there are Mormons that are aware of common theology such as the age of the Gospels, or the use of common Jewish phrases. It's probably not actually Mormon doctrine, simply a problem of the uninformed leading the more uninformed.

As for Janadele risking her health, well, that would mean she was actually fasting for as long as she says the way she says. So...well...my money goes on her coming through her "fast" just fine.
 
Empress said:
As for Janadele risking her health, well, that would mean she was actually fasting for as long as she says the way she says. So...well...my money goes on her coming through her "fast" just fine.
Click to expand...


It's always a relief to discover that one isn't alone in seeing what one assumes to be the bleeding obvious.

Thank you.

:)
 
A couple of factoids on the LDS church and fasting.

From the Family Home Evening Resource Book at LDS.org:

“Sometimes Latter-day Saints think that if it is good to fast for 24 hours, it is three times as good to fast for 72 hours. Healthwise nothing could be farther from the truth. Missionaries, especially, must have strength to carry out their work and should not over-indulge in fasting anymore than in food-faddism. Let’s follow the counsel of our leaders ‘that food and drink are not to be partaken of for twenty-four hours. …’ If longer fasting is required of us, they will so direct us.” (Lindsay R. Curtis, M.D., “Questions and Answers,” New Era, Apr. 1977, p. 49.)
Click to expand...

From the Gospel Principles book, which is the Sunday School manual for potential converts who are attending services to see what the church is like:

Our purpose in fasting should not be to impress others.

The Lord counseled:

“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.

“Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

“But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast” (Matthew 6:16–18).

We should be cheerful when we fast and not advertise our fasting to others.
Click to expand...
 
I never understood the point of fasting to begin with. The Lord is supposed to be flattered when His children voluntarily elect to abuse their bodies in His name?

That's some "father".
 
Last edited:
desertgal said:
I never understood the point of fasting to begin with. The Lord is supposed to be flattered when His children voluntarily elect to abuse their bodies in His name?

That's some "father".
Click to expand...

Well, this is Yahweh, so we all know he's a creep of the first water to begin with. He also expects people to ignore their sex drives, despite having given them to us in the first place, and he loves us so much that if we don't do what he says he'll torture us for eternity. Delightful chap.

I think fasting is supposed to bring you closer to god, or make you aware of your blessings, or something, but it sure never worked for me. I just got crabby and obsessed with how long it was until I could eat again. I like my foodstuffs as much as the original Empress of Blandings Castle from whom I stole my nick.
 
There are a lot safer ways to hallucinate and "get closer to god", all while consuming large quantities of munchies.:)

Are there any documented cases of a 40 day fast?

Lots of videos on YouTube of, most often women for some reason, people claiming they are doing/have done so. I watched two of them, and I see mental impairment, clear evidence of unclear thinking and rambling repetitive speech. Of course, who knows whether they were always that way?
 
Olowkow said:
Lots of videos on YouTube of, most often women for some reason, people claiming they are doing/have done so. I watched two of them, and I see mental impairment, clear evidence of unclear thinking and rambling repetitive speech.
Click to expand...


What an amazing coincidence.


Olowkow said:
Of course, who knows whether they were always that way?
Click to expand...


People with rocks in their hats.
 
RoboTimbo said:
Is extreme fasting an LDS thing?
Click to expand...
I don't know about now but in the 80's it was a once a month thing that was to last two meals. Mormons at the time were encouraged to not fast longer than 24 hours as it can have long term negative health effects.
 
Last edited:
Olowkow said:
There are a lot safer ways to hallucinate and "get closer to god", all while consuming large quantities of munchies.:)

Are there any documented cases of a 40 day fast?

Lots of videos on YouTube of, most often women for some reason, people claiming they are doing/have done so. I watched two of them, and I see mental impairment, clear evidence of unclear thinking and rambling repetitive speech. Of course, who knows whether they were always that way?
Click to expand...

Women and dieting. I think there is a connection.

Many men are just as guilty on this point.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top Bottom