The Boca Burger

andrew8345

I do not know about you guys, but during the fast, especially the Great Lent, I substitute for a lot  of "fitari" foods. I eat veggie burgers and imitation this and that, I drink soymillk, etc. I feel like something is wrong with this. Some say there is nothing wrong with it, the imitation foods don't taste as good as the real thing. Others say it represents the the "fitari" food and that is enough. What is right? Or is it just subjective?

hardyakka

Hey

I think God really doesnt sit there and say he ate this or that

I think he is more interested in the heart and its purity!

Food is just a part of fasting, when we fast let us fast from the impurities of our senses, from evil thoughts, from evil actions, from anything that takes us away from our Beloved!

As St Paul says let us not forget that we are ministers of the new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit;for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2cor3:6)

When we fast let us aim to achieve this spirit and not fall into the trap of thinking about trivial things such as the food we eat!

The Body will become Dust One day, no matter what we feed it! The Spirit is for eternity lets aim to feed it with spiritual means.

Your Brother in Christ

Bish
www.stnoufer.wordpress.com

little moseeba

The whole point behind fasting, is not to show God our strength and physical endurance, but to resist temptation and humble ourselves before Him that He may strengthen us. When we fast, we do not fast for God but for ourselves; because God will benefit nothing if we do or do not fast. Unfortunately, when people speak of fasting, their main focus is on change of diet. Nowadays with the new dietary foods in the market and the growing industry of non-dairy products, fasting is becoming just substitution of dairy by non-dairy cheese, ice cream, even meatless meat. This is total hypocrisy and is exactly like what the Pharisees used to do by following the laws by the letter leaving the real essence of worship and fasting.  If you find joy in eating these products, you should not eat them. Along with cutting down on food intake, fasting should entail cutting down on food expenses and giving the money saved to the poor. This would be outside the regular tithing.

It is a good idea to give up something else, but as the Lord said "These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (Mt 23:23). Do not substitute the fasting organized by the church for something else for we as Christians are all one body; and if the body is fasting, all the members of this body should be fasting.

HGBY

andrew8345

That type of reasoning and logic is exactly why people do not fast seriously. If we tell ourselves that food has nothing to do with fasting and it is all about the heart and fasting from temptation, than why do we have this strict diet during the fast? Why should we fast from meat if we do not care for meat? Why should i switch from real milk to soy milk if it tastes the same? If God does not care about the food than why do we focus so much on it? It is hypocritical to say the food doesn't matter and than make a big fuss about the food we eat. Should we than only give up food we love no matter if it is vegan or not!?

God Bless

hardyakka

To Unworthy 1

I take your point on board, however let us examine Fasting!

Our human body, consists of 3 entities, the mind, the spirit and the body.

To meet Christ we must fill our mind with his words, link with his spirit, and sanctify our bodies to him.

In Sanctifying our bodies - we have, actions and senses etc. Food is just a small category under sanctifying our bodies.

My aim in the above post, was to show that Fasting from food is just a small part of the Fast! It should not be our main focus.

And silly things like is the cheese fasting good or bad, is just empty thoughts, that take our mind from the true aim of Lent! It is not to say that Fasting from food should be taken carelessly.

Yours in Christ

Bish
www.stnoufer.wordpress.com