Friday, January 23, 2015

But I can just fast for it, right?

The most influential understanding of fasting today is the instrumental theory. In the simplest of terms, this theory teaches that we fast in order to gain some benefit. …

But instrumental fasting is all but impossible to find in the pages of the Bible and is rarely reflected in ancient Judaism or the rabbis. Instead of an instrumental approach, the genius of the Bible is its focus on the whole-body response of a human being to grievous, severe conditions. Fasting means a human being refrains from food or water, or both, for a limited period of time in response to some sacred, grievous moment.— Sermon on the Mount, pages 193, 194

<idle musing>
Scot wrote a whole book on fasting, developing this thought even further. Do yourself a favor and read it!
</idle musing>

No comments: