What is Fasting? Cure for the United States Moral Decay?

What is fasting? Religious fasting has been a roller coaster practice throughout the centuries. What was once a common practice has become a cursed word among those who don't offer such sacrifice or deem it totally unnecessary. It is practiced yet today in various forms but fast becoming seen as only a dangerous act solely for the zealot bent on the downfall and destruction of others. Religion is in danger and in particular Christianity. What is fasting and what does it mean?

Fasting in it's purest sense is the purposed proactive free agency of man to draw nearer to God. It is that time when the individual identifies his own fallen nature by his own past actions and thoughts and resolves to make recompense with God that his spirit may be renewed and find new strength. For those who practice devoutly it is seen not as being starved of food sustenance but rather a self cleansing of all impurities that the exercise of true faith will uphold him. Fasting should always have a purpose for which end requires personal sacrifice.

Catholics and Mormons are among the Christian theologies that still regularly practice fasting. Though they both instill the practice differently the purpose and outcome are still often the same. To draw nearer unto God.

Fasting for the Catholics involves the holy time of Lenten. Beginning on Ash Wednesday Lenten holds the fast for forty days leading up to Easter. Lent or Lenten is Anglo-Saxon for “spring” or “springtide”, but also means “March.” March, of course, is the month for the start of Lent. Throughout the many years Lenten observance of the fast varied as far as how long to fast and what should or shouldn't be taken in as food.

Lent today carries simple observances. The fast is observed except for one meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday in conjunction with abstaining from meat. Meat is abstained on the other Lent Fridays. Now, during Lent a sacrifice is encouraged as a sign of one's faith. However, these sacrifices can technically be partaken of on Sundays and solemnities such as St. Joseph's Day and the Annunciation. Lent is an excellent time to purify and sanctify oneself. There is great personal agency to choose how diligently to observe the fast during Lent.

For the Latter-day Saints, or the Mormons, fasting is also very important and an essential part of devoted faith. It is a cleansing act for the self in it's drawing closer to God. Mormon teachings express that one can fast when they choose as it is with the Catholic faith. Latter-day Saints have a regular practice to devote each first Sunday of the month to the Fast. On that day the membership is encouraged to forego two consecutive meals. In addition to that it is asked that they offer the monetary value of those two meals to the Fast Offering Fund. This fund is what priesthood leaders use to aid the poor and the needy in their local congregation boundaries. Other opportunities for mass fasting occur during times of disaster or special petitions before the Lord.

Whatever your religious affiliation you often return from a fast much more devoted, renewed and with an increased clarity of thought. You've achieved the goal of the fast – to draw nearer unto God.

So why bring this up? What does fasting have to do with me? The change in world affairs mutates by the day. We can hardly recognize a few years ago let alone yesterday. Values once held dear to our hearts just a few decades ago are now viewed as outdated and discriminatory. To counter this trend traditionally-minded people proposed initiatives before state and federal congresses. On occasion valued principles have won out only to see it overturned by judges a few month later.

The Constitution of the United States is in jeopardy. Our leaders have been corrupted by veils of darkness propagated by forces set on defeating the inspired Constitution. Our very liberties and freedoms are being sold away as our dependence on foreign countries grows. How are we to maintain this great nation and the promise of prosperity for our children? Perhaps the time has come to fast.

Let us petition the Lord as individuals, families and even churches. Petition that our hearts will remain resolute and firm in the foundation of truth. Firm that we won't be swayed by ill-influenced mindsets of the few yet powerful. Firm that mercy will prevail and that the veil will be lifted from those whom are willing to restore this great nation as one who acknowledges it under God.

Perhaps the lesson we are all to learn is that the power is within us to change the world around us. There is power in numbers. Perhaps a unified fast among the people of the United States will clasp hands with the will of the Father in restoring integrity and independence not only to our leaders but also to the general public.

Correction starts at the individual and family level. The basic unit of society must be justified in their petition. Whatever your faith give the laws of the fast a leap of faith. You may just learn a thing or two about yourself.