How to Fast?
November 3rd, 2008I am not an Authority
I am encouraging people to fast and pray for McCain, or at least for an Obama loss. Democrats are praying for Obama to win; don’t worry about that. You can’t expect God to pay attention to prayers for a pro-abortion victory or a far-left, anti-Israel, anti-Christian administration. Just pray for McCain to win, and that he and his Vice President and administration will rule in a way that pleases God.
People are asking how to fast. I used to think a fast meant bedtime to bedtime, 24 hours minimum, no calories. Then I learned that a lot of people fast differently. Jews often begin fasting one evening and break the fast the following evening. I think. Some people will skip one meal. Some will eat only fruit. It’s up to you, I suppose.
As for me, I won’t be having any calories until an hour after sundown. Today that’s 6:38 p.m. Hmm…that’s pretty easy. And as luck would have it, I have a nice rib roast aging.
I am taking Communion every morning now, early. I did that today; it’s too important to skip. But it doesn’t amount to much, as food goes. And I took vitamins and fish oil.
Incidentally, I got up at 5:30 today! Amazing! You will never fully understand what an achievement this is for me. I am not a natural morning person. When I was in college, sometimes my roommates would get me up at 1:00 for lunch. And in the past, when I got up early (or late), I felt miserable for at least an hour afterward. I’m not having that problem now. I get up, and I’m ready to go. I look forward to it.
Here is something Christians are very familiar with. Circumstances arise that seem to be unfavorable or inconvenient. And you feel as if things are going wrong. Then you find out that these circumstances lead to a pleasant surprise. That’s what happened to me, with regard to getting up in the morning.
The funny thing is, no matter how long you believe, and no matter how many times things like this happen, it’s always a big surprise.
My TV’s clock has been failing to work, so I’ve been relying on a backup clock radio set to go off five minutes later. On Sunday, I forgot about Daylight Saving Time, and I also forgot the backup, which I had set to 6:20 because I got to bed late on Friday. So the TV was set for 6:00 (which was actually 5:00), and the clock radio was set for 6:20. The TV failed again. I woke up at “6:20” and felt like I had blown it. Later I realized it was an hour earlier than I had realized. So I had actually gotten up at 5:20.
I have been trying to force myself to get up at 5:30 for quite a while, but it has been hard getting to bed early enough. Thanks to DST and my mistakes, I ended up doing it unintentionally. So here I am, on the schedule I wanted to begin with.
I already mentioned this, but no one reads anything I write on Sunday, so I thought I’d mention it again.
I got a comment from Carl the pagan, on yesterday’s post. I wanted to publish it, but there was so much pagan content, I didn’t feel right about it. Sorry, Carl. Like Hebrew National, I have a higher authority to answer to. I don’t want people reading my comments and thinking, “Wow, paganism looks swell.”
A year or two ago, I went to see furious atheist Christopher Hitchens speak, at a reformed Jewish synagogue. I was disgusted with the rabbi, for bringing an atheist in to proselytize and to condemn God, in a house of worship. I was fairly disrespectful to the rabbi in my post; that was wrong. Anyway, I can’t allow myself to make the same mistake the rabbi did. Does this make me close-minded? Yes, absolutely. On this issue. I’m proud of it; it’s the right position to take. G.K. Chesterton said, “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” I am open-minded by nature, but continuing to entertain clear error once you know the truth is the worst kind of foolishness.
I am close-minded on many issues, such as whether the sky is blue and whether two plus two equals four. This only proves I’m not an idiot.
I guess now I’ll get comments from people who think two plus two equals five, calling me Eurocentric and intolerant.
Believe it or not, there are people who actually feel that way. Read Robert Bork’s book. There are far-left wackos who believe logic is a Eurocentric, patriarchal construct used to…I don’t know…legitimize rape or something. I know many of you will think I’m kidding.
Get out there and fast. God decides who wins elections.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Why is it so many Christians forget that God gave us two great gifts, of course one gift was His only Son, but before Jesus, God gave us the Gift of Free Will. It is only through Free Will that Man falls from His Grace. So, no, God does not decide our Elections. And no, it all won’t necessarily work out. Free Will implies the ability to CHOOSE to do something totally stupid, like electing a God-hating fool like Obama. It amazes me that so-called Christians forget what the fundamental truth that the Bible teachs – that God loves us unconditionally and completely and that He gave us Free Will because love without choice is not love at all. Does God have a Plan for Us? Of course He does, but we have to choose to listen, and if we don’t we face the consequences of our choices.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Romans 13:1:
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
It’s too bad the Apostle Paul died before you could straighten him out!
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Eurocentric is the least of your worries – add patriarchal, phallocentric, hetero-normaative and misogynisic.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I have no idea why you might feel badly about your treatment of the rabbi, unless lines or boundaries were crossed. I don’t get the sense you did that.
I have no idea why clergy deserve any sort of dispensation from criticism, however pointed, as long as its reasoned and grounded in fact.
You had a principled disagreement with the man and that’s that. You never seemed like a guy who would go all Kos-Like anyhow.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:42 PM
That’s a pretty weak cherry picking verse. Shows you know the Bible, but don’t Know the Bible! Here you go:
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command”.
II Tim 2: 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
I could easily pick a dozen quotes from the Bible showing that at the core of our Humanity is Free Will. So do you not believe in Free Will? You don’t believe that it is a choice to turn away from what is God’s plan? It amazes me how people always want to cherry-pick quotes to ‘prove’ something or another about religion. You have to take the Bible as a whole you can’t choose bits and pieces to make a point. And when taken as a whole there are two main themes, God loves us and wants us to Love Him. It isn’t mandated, nor does it say that God will deliver us from every stupid situation we manage to get ourselves into. There are consequences for choosing to turn from His Grace. And, if like the polls show, 49% or so of us have strayed from the path then there will be consequences. God is not in the business of saving us from ourselves every time we do something stupid.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 PM
The Bible consistently demonstrates that God chooses leaders, from the books of Kings and Chronicles to the verse I just cited. Your citations don’t address the issue.
If free will somehow negated the influence of God, it would be impossible to explain Pharaoh’s actions in his dealings with Moses, or the many, many other examples of God’s influence over others.
You should read the story of Balaam some day.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Steve, as you keep getting up early in the morning, your body should eventually adjust to the new schedule. It took me a long time, but I have my alarm set for 5:45 on weekdays now, and if I’m rested up enough, I frequently wake up as much as 20 minutes before the alarm goes off.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 PM
As I slipped into geezerhood (recently hitting 50) – I flipped from getting home at sunrise to getting up before sunrise. It is weird.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Hmm, I think it’s more like this. God chooses who has the gift/possibility of leadership and man chooses from among them.
God knows who will lead in the end…but we still have to go through the motions.
Free will does not negate the actions of God, as God knows you better than you know yourself. Thus, God knows how anyone will react to any given stimulus and can instruct his chosen, point them in the right direction, or just place them in a given situation within which they would (according to their nature) cause a productive reaction.
That’s as far as I’m willing to postulate for now, especially since I’m not really an uber christian. 😛