The point you are making is the very point Scot makes in the book. We don’t fast in order to get something. We fast as a response to something. The review lists some of the reasons we fast.

Fasting is not an instrument to get something (even growing in godliness).

I think you’d benefit from Scot’s book. It turns fasting around in a way that avoids the extremes and sees it in a biblical framework.

furthermore … the sermon on the mount issue regarding fasting simply addressed the practice of fasting — didn’t command it “WHEN YOU FAST…” no different than paul respecting the “ways of the synagogue” during the time of transition to the one church.

if fasting is an ordained “means of grace” why does it so quickly inflame the pride of the practitioner. what is there about fasting that wants us to let others know we are doing it? i still see little biblical mandate for fasting now in the days of our full justification by the merits of Christ alone.

it is very difficult to separate the “discipline of fasting” from being perceived as some meritorious work (the very thing warned against) — if fasting is an evidential work then what prompts its practice. is it a fruit of the spirit or does it add something to us that Christ does not already supply. ie: clearly the discipline of prayer is mandated and issues in submission to Christ — if fasting is mandated in some sense — then what is its fruit that some other clearly mandated discipline does not already provide?

After withdrawing from over 16 years on prednisone in January 2007, it became possible for me to do without my breakfast in the morning, so I became quite enthusiastic about fasting. In June-July 2008 I spent several weeks fasting on-and-off, and when I wasn’t doing that I was only eating one meal a day. I lost 8 kg (15 lb) and was warned by doctors that the osteoporosis for which I’d been treated could worsen. I then called a moratorium on fasting, and went home from my student flat so my mother could oversee my eating habits. A few months later I read the literature on men with eating disorders, and discovered that I already faced numerous risk factors, before even considering fasting as a spiritual discipline.

Since returning home last September, I have recovered the weight I lost (which I really couldn’t afford to lose anyway), and have joined a support group for men with EDs. Although there is much benefit to be gained from fasting, and the New Testament recommends it too (without specifically commanding it), longer-term fasts should always be initiated in consultation with a doctor.

Jim,

Why did Jesus say that once the bridegroom will be taken away, his disciples will fast?

Why leave us with instructions about how to fast (not for show) if he didn’t intend for us to continue the practice?

I agree that it is wrong to force people to fast. That kind of idea goes against Scot’s book, which shows fasting to be a response to a grievous moment.