Has anyone honestly felt like they were blessed by fasting?

[non sequitur]

I remember growing up and fasting every Fast Sunday, but I never remember feeling like I received any particular blessings for doing so. Is fast Sunday just a mundane ritual or does it really serve a purpose?

[ChinoCoug]

Yes. Seldom have I done it right (i.e., mind focused on a particular goal the entire time). But yes, I was able to obtain my goal.

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I remember growing up and fasting every Fast Sunday, but I never remember feeling like I received any particular blessings for doing so. Is fast Sunday just a mundane ritual or does it really serve a purpose?

Several times I can recall right off hand. One in particular was a family fast for my sister. Was it a coincedence that right after that, things changed dramatically for the better for her. I guess one could argue that, but I feel it was a direct result of the fast.

I still can't answer why some fasts don't work though.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by BYU71

I still can't answer why some fasts don't work though.

Fasting is much like prayer in that regard. I think you could take the corresponding Bible Dictionary entry and replace the word prayer with fasting, and still get the same concept:

"Fasting is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of fasting is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Fasting is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

More than prayer, fasting embodies the existensial dissonance we experience everyday--the union of things eternal (spirit) with things temporal (body)--and reminds us to choose the eternal.

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by Tex

Fasting is much like prayer in that regard. I think you could take the corresponding Bible Dictionary entry and replace the word prayer with fasting, and still get the same concept:

"Fasting is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of fasting is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Fasting is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

More than prayer, fasting embodies the existensial dissonance we experience everyday--the union of things eternal (spirit) with things temporal (body)--and reminds us to choose the eternal.

I don't want to be argumentative on the subject as I do believe fasting works. However, I don't think the Bible Dictionary answers the question as to why at times it doesn't.

To say the object is not to change the will of God I understand, however are you (the dictionary) saying the will of God can be changed by not fasting?

If God means to have someone recover from an illness, does a family not fasting mean God won't cure them.

For me this is a faith issue on which if someone challenged me I would just say, it is something I believe and yet can't explain.

[jay santos]

yes

[Tex]

Originally Posted by BYU71

To say the object is not to change the will of God I understand, however are you (the dictionary) saying the will of God can be changed by not fasting?

If God means to have someone recover from an illness, does a family not fasting mean God won't cure them.

The phrases "made conditional on our asking" and "require some work or effort on our part" seem to suggest that, but I don't know that I would phrase it that way. I can think of few things more pernicious to tell the family of a deceased person than that God would have saved their loved one "had they only fasted" or "had they only had enough faith."

As you say, one cannot always clearly see why God intervenes in some instances and not in others. Sometimes it may have to do with the faith of those involved and sometimes it may not. The best we can do when in such circumstances is try to seek out the will of the Father, and submit to it.

I remember Elder Maxwell relating a very touching story about a little girl praying for her terminally ill father, begging the Lord to heal him, but asking for help not to be angry if He didn't.

The spiritual submissiveness which is central to the blessings of the Atonement was well exemplified by Melissa Howes as she led her family in prayer a short while before her father died of cancer. Melissa was only 9 and her father 43. Consider unselfish Melissa Howes’s pleading, in her own words as reported to me by her mother: “Heavenly Father, bless my daddy, and if you need to take him and need him more than us, you can have him. We want him, but Thy will be done. And please help us not to be mad at you” (letter from Christie Howes, 25 Feb. 1998).

http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOr...004d82620a____

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by Tex

The phrases "made conditional on our asking" and "require some work or effort on our part" seem to suggest that, but I don't know that I would phrase it that way. I can think of few things more pernicious to tell the family of a deceased person than that God would have saved their loved one "had they only fasted" or "had they only had enough faith."

As you say, one cannot always clearly see why God intervenes in some instances and not in others. Sometimes it may have to do with the faith of those involved and sometimes it may not. The best we can do when in such circumstances is try to seek out the will of the Father, and submit to it.

I remember Elder Maxwell relating a very touching story about a little girl praying for her terminally ill father, begging the Lord to heal him, but asking for help not to be angry if He didn't.



http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOr...004d82620a____

Good thoughts.


There are just some things that can't be explained. I had a friend tell me once that someone during testimony meeting explained how their son had been saved from a horrible accident and death on his mission. They went on about how the Mission President told him he was saved because he was obeying mission rules and no harm comes to Elders to obey mission rules.

That must be not so comforting to people who have lost relatives on missions. I think it best that people try not to explain some things, even mission Presidents.

Someone who doesn't believe in prayers being answered isn't going to be convinced through reason.

[Archaea]

Fasting is not peculiar to Mormons, as we know Jews, Muslims and many other cultures encourages going without food for a time.

During Ramadan, Muslims fast for forty days or so.

Buddhists fast for various reasons, and physicians see benefits for food deprivation.

The short answer is I believe fasting can provide benefits and on occasion I have experienced those benefits.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by non sequitur

I remember growing up and fasting every Fast Sunday, but I never remember feeling like I received any particular blessings for doing so. Is fast Sunday just a mundane ritual or does it really serve a purpose?

IMO, if fasting makes people feel closer to god, then they should do it. Personally, I've always thought it was silly to think that an action on my part completely unrelated to the problem (such as abstaining from food) could somehow influence god to intervene. If fasting puts someone in a more prayerful, humble, or meditative state of mind, then it's this state of mind that's influencing the outcome, not necessarily the going-without-food.

The idea of bargaining with god (I'll go without food if you'll heal Mr. X) is a slippery proposition.

But I have no problem accepting that it works for others.