what is fasting really? I mean I understand it to be no food or drink for a period of time? wouldnt this put?

Question

you in the hospital? or make you really sick anyway?

I have knowm catholics to fast for two weeks

Answer 1

LOL. It's not crash dieting. It's just praying when you would usually be eating. In the Catholic church fasting is abstaining from food or drink other than water until dinner (but you may have 2 small meals that when added together do not equal dinner). Remember, it's about prayer.

Answer 2

You are not supposed to fast till you get sick. You just fast for a time so that you can devote yourself to prayer upon a certain subject. It can be hours or a day or two. If you are thinking about the 40 day fast that Jesus did, He was an unusual case. He had much to pray about and was to be tempted by satan at the end of the fast. People don't usually fast that long. You can fast by not eating solid food and just having liquids, or fast from a certain food. It really depends on what is on your mind and how long you want to give as sacrifice. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Fasting has many different meanings according to various religions. Roman Catholics used to abstain from eating red meat on Fridays and, I believe, during the 40-day period of Lent (but Sundays are not considered a part of Lent, so they could eat meat from Midnight, Sat. - Midnight, Sun) and to this day they give up something like candy, or a bad habit, or some other ridiculous thing, during Lent (which "good" Catholics emphasize *much* more than Protestants) and that is all considered a form of "fasting"! Muslims "fast" daily, from dawn to sunset, during their Islamic calendar month of Ramadan (but apparently they can eat anything but pork [from which they always abstain] from sunset to dawn)!

Some Christians I know of consider it to be "fasting" (and the dictionary's second definition concurs) if they eat sparingly or abstain from some foods. Most Christians - myself included -primarily consider a *true* fast to be the abstention from *all* nutrition, *completely* (calories, protein, carbs, sugars, fats, etc.), for a period of time. This usually does not exclude water, or even some other liquids, as long as they contain no form of nutrition. The longest fasts in the Bible were the 40 day fasts of Moses and Jesus.

A person can go for perhaps as long as two weeks without water. Because of medical conditions, a lot of people can only fast for a day or two at a time or they need juice of some kind. One of the main reasons Christians fast is for the purpose of drawing spiritually closer to God for a time, by praying and reading the Scriptures, usually for a few days or a few weeks at a time. We usually try not to break our fast until we feel we have received the direction from God which we were seeking. The word, "breakfast" derives its name from the fact that the first meal of the day was a breaking of the "fast" one was engaged in while sleeping!

Answer 4

well fasting for a long period of time can be very dangerous but a day or so isnt, the point of fasting is to sacrafice something that you depend on such as food, and when you would usually eat for example you would pray for the cause you are fasting for. also fasting doesnt always have to be with food, you can fast from the tv for a week or even the computer, whatever is somehting that you are willing to give up for the cause.

Answer 5

Actually there are different types of fasts in the Bible so if one wouldn't work for physical or other reasons you could use another. Also, fasting has been proven to be beneficial to a person's health.

Here's a couple of sites that might be helpful :-D

http://www.allaboutprayer.org/types-of-fasting-faq.htm

http://www.pureinsideout.com/fasting-for-detox.html

Answer 6

My husband fasts when something is happening, or revivals are coming up ect. He fasts for 24 hours usually, and no, he doesnt die. He can drink water, but nothing else. Fasting isnt good for diabetics, pregnant women, ect. But for a person is good health abstaining from food and flavored drinks is not going to kill ya!

Answer 7

when you fast it's a commitment you make to God. It could be for 2 hours, 2 days or 2 weeks. You can go without food and still drink liquid and be fine.

Answer 8

God said, "When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you" (Jeremiah 29:13,14). When a man or woman is willing to set aside the legitimate appetites of the body to concentrate on the work of praying, they are demonstrating that they mean business, that they are seeking God with all their heart.

Fasting is an expression of wholeheartedness. This is clear from Joel's call to the nation of Israel: "Yet even now," says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting. . ." (Joel 2:12).

Andrew Murray said, "Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything - to sacrifice ourselves - to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."

How do you know when to pray and fast and when to just pray? That is not a question that someone else can always answer for you. But here is a principle: In God's word we always find fasting connected with a very troubled spirit or a very anxious heart before the Lord. So a reason for fasting is not something you choose on the spur of the moment. Rather the reason is a consuming one. In a sense, it's not something you choose, so much as something that chooses you, because it's that important.

So why fast? To demonstrate that we are seeking God "with all our heart." Fasting puts things in proper focus. It is a physical way of saying, "Food and the things of this life are not as important to me now as (fill in the blank) ."

Of course, denying yourself food to focus on God and His program shows humility. That is why fasting is also the equivalent of the phrase "to humble oneself before the Lord" (Psalm 35:13; 1 Kings 21:29; Ezra 8:21). When a person is really concerned about the things of God, he will humble himself. There will be times when he will abstain from the enjoyment of food to continue concentration and focus on that which is important to God.

Answer 9

there are different types of fasting: no food or water, no food with water being allowed, juice fasts, etc, etc. the reason one would want to fast is so he can get his egoic self out of the way and allow god to work through him. most of the time we have identified ourselves as these bodies, which we are not. so fasting helps us to sort of slap our minds into reality by helping us to die to this idea of who we think we are. it's challenging, because it is hard to let go of these self concepts.

Answer 10

Plenty of people fast purely for health reasons, even without any religious reasons. Fasting is good for you physicallly, emotionally, and spiritually.