fasting for 40 days?

[beh]

I have read about christians claiming to have fasted for 40 days, can our bodies even handle this? Why would they deteriorate their health for God, that's not what he wants us to do right?

[lav-chan]

A person can survive without food for quite some time. You'll die without water in less than a week, but you can live without food for 4 or 5 months, probably, depending on your health and size. (Eventually your body will start using up its own fat and nutrients, so if you've got some extra baggage you're obviously at a decent advantage.)

It's pretty dangerous to do this for more than a week or two, though, especially if you're not already in good health or if you've got a small frame. Whenever it is done, it should be supervised by someone who knows what they're doing.

I'm not sure exactly what Christians consider 'fasting', so i can't tell you how they do it. Maybe it's a 'sun rise to sun set' thing, kind of like it is in Islam. Or maybe they limit their diet to water and fruit juices (which will provide some of the nutrients your body needs to stay sorta healthy, while still depriving you of the satisfaction of eating). They could fast for 40 days on water alone, but i don't know. :shrug:

As far as the reasoning, fasting is mentioned in the Bible several times, in both the Old and New Testaments. Stuff like repentance for sin and all that jazz, i dunno.

[Soham]

I have read about christians claiming to have fasted for 40 days, can our bodies even handle this? Why would they deteriorate their health for God, that's not what he wants us to do right?

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25 max

[SaLiVa]

25 max

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Guinness Book of Records is it?

Gandhi could do it, but you need water. It's called a hunger strike. Quite popular.

[padisah]

I have read about christians claiming to have fasted for 40 days

I believe Christian fasting is different than the way Muslims do it.

I have an Orthodox friend. When they fast, they can only eat fish.

So they wouldn't be starving to death or anything.

[Chad]

If you actually fast, you are only drinking water. Some will go on a juice fast...meaning they'll drink juice and water. 40 days is doable and has been done.

[Fighter-X]

I have read about christians claiming to have fasted for 40 days, can our bodies even handle this? Why would they deteriorate their health for God, that's not what he wants us to do right?

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I dont see the point of fasting at all. Its completely useless. If you wanted to be in the guiness world records to be famous, yea maybe its not pointless. :no:

[GoodOlClint]

I dont see the point of fasting at all. Its completely useless. If you wanted to be in the guiness world records to be famous, yea maybe its not pointless. :no:

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You gotta be a christian for it to make sense, I didn't understand it untill a few months ago.

part of it's not just fasting, it's fasting and prayer, you try to draw closer to God by abstaning from food and most drinks.

I've done a day fast and that's hard enough on a teenager. I about killed myself at the end of it by eating like 6 - yes 6 - tacos from Taco Bell.

Clint

[Hani]

I fast a month each year. But, my fasting starts at 5 am and ends in 7 pm (not accurate times though they change each year). This month is called Ramadan.. Most muslims fast in this month.

[LispyGlitter2]

I will be fasting for the first time during Ramadan this year, so this thread sorta peaked my interest. The insight has been helpful. Thank you :)

[hAsin]

heh fasting isnt a problem. If you get through the first day, you can keep it going for as long as you want. :)

[ninjakarl]

I dont see the point of fasting at all. Its completely useless. If you wanted to be in the guiness world records to be famous, yea maybe its not pointless. :no:

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Yeah, it's part of the religion. They fast to show their devotion to Christ by copying him. I can't for the life of me remember what the name of that is called though. It had a special name.

[Dave Veteran]

I dont see the point of fasting at all. Its completely useless. If you wanted to be in the guiness world records to be famous, yea maybe its not pointless.

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It is about will, the power of the mind and spirit over the flesh and even themselves. If you can't see the point in purposely and intentionally forgoing something you enjoy I can't really explain.

The best I could come up with is, it is a test of will, a test of virtue. Because untested virtue is no virtue at all.

[redFX]

There are different ways to fast. Catholics stay away from meat during the lental period. My buddy who was christian from the oriental church fasts 40 days and they don't eat anything from animals for 40 days. No meat, eggs, milk, or anything that has sometime from an animal, etc.

I know some catholics who just choose an item and don't eat/drink it for 40 days. Like one guy I know who drinks a lot of liquor gives up liquor for 40 days.

It's about self sacrifice and prayer. If you look at the theology of all of the fasting religions, theirs a specific reason why fasting is done.

[incedx]

try fasting 40 days be a mute man.

can eat and drink but don't speak with anybody as if you are mute.

[Tran]

I have a friend who is Muslim and he does this every year, 40 days (I think). Anyway, he's allowed to eat before the sun rises and after the sun sets. During that time... well I don't know what happens, but I guess he doesn't eat. I'm not sure what he does during the day because he never shows up for lunch. :p

[giga Veteran]

try fasting 40 days be a mute man.

can eat and drink but don't speak with anybody as if you are mute.

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Write/Type. :p

[daoutlawz]

Christian wise, fasting is a method to draw you closer to God (communication wise). You deny your flesh what it craves (flesh in the bible is symbolic of sin), so that also includes sex, and depending on the person, it can be abstaining from all food and water, or only abstain from what your body desires. For eg. myself, I dislike fish alot, so if I were to fast for 40 days, I would probably eat only fish and drink water. Fasting cannot be done without prayer. I believe it can be done for 40 days or more. There is no set period of how long or how short you should fast, in the bible it was common to fast from either sunset to sunrise or sunrise to sunrise. I have personally done sunrise to sunrise with only water, and my wife has done sunset to sunrise with only water, so it all depends on the person, their body, and how much they think they can handle. And fasting is usually done for a reason, for eg. if you really needed to know an answer to something you are asking God about, fasting is a good way to make sure you clearly get the message, reason being, your body is more in tune with God while fasting then normally, so the answer(if there is one) should be loud and clear.

So it's not about punishing your body, or doing harm to yourself in the name of God, because everyone knows their limits, its about clearing your mind and heart of all other things except for God. That being said, half-way through a fast, people shouldn't be constantly thinking about the food they are going to eat once they are finished, that IMHO is punishment, if you see yourself doing that, you might as well stop the fast and eat properly.

[Boiling Ice]

I have a friend who is Muslim and he does this every year, 40 days (I think). Anyway, he's allowed to eat before the sun rises and after the sun sets. During that time... well I don't know what happens, but I guess he doesn't eat. I'm not sure what he does during the day because he never shows up for lunch. :p

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Muslims Fast for 29 or 30 days every year. We have islamic year, which has 12 months as well, but the number of days in each month depends on the life cycle of the moon, so each month will vary between 29 to 30 days.

the fasting month is called "Ramadhan" we don't eat or drink anything -yes no drinking as well- between sun rise till sun set, so the timing of fasting will depend on which area you are. We do more praying in Ramadhan than the normal days.

fasting has alot of good values - at least for us as muslim- and as others said that you have to go deep in the religion to understand the points behind it. but one simple point is to make you feel how poor people with no food feel, and will make you help them as much as possible.

[n3wt]

I don't know much about fasting, but if you really want to get closer to god I'd suggest going without sleep for a few days.

Well, I guess that was really closeness to a wizard, and I was hallucinating, but I'm sure somebody religious would see jesus or something.

[ACTIONpack]

When people fasting does not mean they can't eat anything for the period of the time. It just means that they can't eat anything when the sun is up. They can eat at night.

[Cash-Boss]

i cant go 5 hours. with out eating lol fastings for freaks.

[emel]

i cant go 5 hours. with out eating lol fastings for freaks.

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billions of people are freaks then :blink: One of my freind ( I dont knwo if he's catholic or not).. used to fast, it wanst complete fasting .. he could only drink water/juice during day or only vegetable products at diner.. no meat at all.. As for muslims, Ramadan started yesterday, you can only eat during night and theres no restriction of eating. but in us daytime is about 12 hours and in november it goes to about 10-11 hours so it isnt that bad..