Posted on 03/05/2019 7:27:04 AM PST by fishtank
Repent of Lent: How Spiritual Disciplines Can Be Bad for Your Soul
Christ fasted for forty days in the wilderness on our behalf, so we wouldnt have to; not as a model, but as a substitute
Written by Brian Lee | Monday, February 27, 2017
His passion was not a discipline that made his heart pure in its love for his Father, it was the price to be paid for our sins, and he paid it in full. Christians are called to suffer as Christ suffered, that is, with the same purpose. We are called to suffer not for ourselves, but for others. When we engage in fasting in his image, but for the purpose of purifying ourselves, we invert that image. Such penitence is ultimately focused on self, not on the other.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
The grand prize winning post.
I'm only pointing out that there is an important distinction to be made when the Lord is talking about the Bride, the Groom and the Friends of the Groom.
Yup.
That’s right.
As someone pointed out upthread.
The Bride is not the guests of the bridegroom.
So you are free to reject that interpretation if you want, but it still works.
Church demanded fasting is legalism and is not done for the right motives. That puts it in the category of fulfilling a religious obligation, not a true spiritual discipline that actually brings one into closer relationship with God.
20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations 21Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch 22(referring to things that all perish as they are used)according to human precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but THEY ARE OF NO VALUE in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.Colossians 2
NO VALUE. So why submit to them?
Distinctions that will be ignored to support church practice.
Jesus did not require fasting of us.
It’s presumed that people will do it. *When you fast*, like *when you pray*, but we are not under the obligations of performing religious rituals for someone appease, please, or somehow connect to God.
Well said.
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