Thoughts from Simon Southerton Regarding the Worldwide Fast

[AdmiralHoldo]

Is the idea of fasting FOR someone an entirely Mormon thing? It has never made much sense to me. I thought the whole purpose of fasting was to purify yourself and to gain some personal perspective about spiritual nourishment vs. physical nourishment. How to you do that FOR someone else?

But then it kinda makes sense in the Mormon context if you consider that sacrifice and obedience are important landmarks for making sure you're on the right track. Going hungry is a sacrifice, a form of self-punishment to show God that you really are serious about Him being merciful to someone else. God isn't merciful enough on his own, He apparently needs to see some people suffer before He is persuaded to take action. Taken too far you could starve to death because ultimately you might be personally responsible for the deaths and misfortunes of everybody else because of your unwillingness to go without food.

I developed an eating disorder as an adult because I was trying SO DAMN HARD to get God to care about me. It didn't work. I lost around 40 pounds and I've only been able to gain about half of it back. I still can't shake the idea that we have to torture ourselves to get God to care.

[Hagoth]

I developed an eating disorder as an adult because I was trying SO DAMN HARD to get God to care about me. It didn't work. I lost around 40 pounds and I've only been able to gain about half of it back. I still can't shake the idea that we have to torture ourselves to get God to care.

Yikes! sorry to hear that, Admiral. Please take care of yourself!