Then may I make a gentle suggestion? The thread topic, in this religion forum, is gluttony, the forgotten sin.
So, may we discuss gluttony, rather than some other extraneous argument? That would seem to be the original point.
For some reason, people find it hard to discuss gluttony, particularly as a sin. As a person who has fasted for religious reasons, including the “Black Fast” I can attest that gluttony will separate one from the Savior.
OK, if you insist, but I don’t think you’ll like it.
The premiere reference WRT fasting in the Bible is Isaiah Chapter 58:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Isa&c=58&v=1&t=KJV#top
Are you sure you want to stand up in a public forum like this and announce that you’ve “fasted for religious reasons”, when the “Black Fast” you mention you’ve done does not seem to qualify as a fast God recognizes, as detailed in Isaiah 58?
Now a confession: When I replied to SJSAMPLE, I did not notice that this thread is in the Religion Forum. I have FR set to display Comments with text, and I scrub through them on that page. When I see a comment that interests me, I click on it and comment. I don’t take notice of what forum the thread is in.
FR used to give us the capability to disable different forums, such as the Religion Forum. We can’t do that any more. I try to stay out of religious discussions, as a general rule.
There, now I’ve properly offended you, so you know I’m just out to get SJSAMPLE.
Have you ever seen the cartoon of a man on the Internet and his wife asking him ‘what have you been doing all this time?’ And he replies ‘someone on the Internet was WRONG!’ (or something like that) LOL
I think we’re seeing a prime example of that here on this thread.