Sunday, May 18, 2008

Thoughts on Fasting Part 2

Fasting as refraining from food didn't work so well for me. I lacked judgment on the particulars, such as when and how. Both times pizza was involved, but that's just coincidence.

Shortly after my second fasting experience I went home for the summer to work at a credit card company and hang out with the family. My dad was on an anti-rock music kick and challenged me to go a couple of weeks without my music. Since I strictly listened to Christian rock at the time, I figured it was better for me than movies and TV, which were all secular. (Needless to say, I was going through a self-righteous phase.) So I cut it all out.

For two weeks I went straight from work to my room in the basement and read books. Everyone else was watching TV, and I was trying to avoid that. So I became a monk.

Looking back, I can say fasting from entertainment, regardless of the reasons at the time, was a good idea. Reading made for a good substitute. I think it would be more advisable if friends or family members were in on it. The isolation part was not so cool.

After that, I prayed for advisement on whether something was fast-worthy. Years passed, and I found nothing.

Recently I read about a church that fasted from music for a while. They didn't call it that, but that's what they did. They wanted the emphasis of worship to be about more than just music. So they cut it out for a while.

Ironically, a song came from that experience. Nevertheless, it seems a good idea.

I'll keep you posted if I decide to do it.

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