to wonder why Lent fasting has become so diluted?

[Wonderingwhyyy]

I was talking to a Christian who told me she fasts the traditional way in Lent. No food or water from sunrise to sunset. She was the first I had met who actually abstains from food and drink for a significant period of time.

Other Christians I know choose to give up one food e.g. chocolate, wine, tea, coffee. One Christian told me she gave up Facebook for Lent.

The Christian who said she fasted the traditional way told me she gained many benefits such as spiritual closeness to God, self discipline, greater self control.

It did make sense. Giving up Facebook doesn't seem likely to bring many benefits although may it did for that one person.

I wonder why it became diluted and whether Christianity has lost its followers by allowing most things it did not used to.

That seems to be the case. The rules around fasting do not change for Muslims, Jews and Mormons. They have done it the same way consistently where it seems very different to Christianity.

I don't know if Christianity lost many of its followers when things become less strict, as you say. But I know that lots of Anglicans 'went over' as Barbara Pym used to say, when they started going against the Bible in ordaining women, and blessing same sex marriages. I have never heard (until I read your op) that Christians fasted from dawn till dusk - news to me, but I am poorly educated theologically. I give up things for Lent.

Because quadruple strength squash has unsettled the balance of the world, dilution needs to happen elsewhere.

Many aspects of traditional Christianity (especially Old Testament stuff) are now ‘diluted’, e.g. attitudes towards abstinence from sex before marriage. I believe they don’t tend to stone people to death for sins any more, either.

If organised religion were to die out completely, the world would be a much better place.

Given that many examples of people fasting for Lent in the Bible allege they did so for 40 days and nights I would imagine the practice (and the practitioners) died out pretty early...

Fasting has always varied. Some would eat no meat, but plenty of everything else including fish.

Others would eat nothing during daylight, but everything as soon as it’s dusk.

Who’s to say eating nothing between 8am and 8pm but then eating a feast is ‘better’ than doing without a favourite food for 6weeks, or breaking a bad habit?

I don't think people are bothered about hiding comments that christianity is in decline.
Hopefully the other religions will follow once they have come to their senses and out of medieval thinking

This

In my traditional catholic household shrove Tuesday was the start of lent, and I had a sweet pancake and then no more sweets/choc until my giant Easter egg on Easter Sunday. I actually felt I deserved it when I fasted chocolates, now it’s just because I’m geeedy!

My parents still don’t eat meat on a Friday and various religious days throughout the year.

This

Would you say that to a Muslim doing Ramadan?

Ex Catholic, never heard of this type of fasting . It used to be all Fridays were meat free then just Ash Wednesday and good Friday the church can chop and change the rules and prayers . The fasting was just eating the 3 meals no treats . Back in my grandmother's time no eggs were eaten during lent , they saved them for Easter.

You say you’ve researched this OP- can you share some citations?

personally i would say it to anyone who believes in such nonsense.
Why are you specifying muslims?
Do you think they are more likely to react badly?

Is that fasting Muslim buttonholing me and being weirdly insistent that true Christians observe a Ramadan-style fast, and Christian Lents have become disgracefully ‘diluted’, on the basis of having met one Christian who claims to abstain from food and water during daylight hours?

Because I’d be suggesting they found someone else to talk at in either case.

@Wonderingwhyyy thank you for your post. Lent is observed very differently by many demoninations. I don't really understand the accusations of confusion etc. from other posters.

Fasting days as you describe are undertaken by people of all faiths. I know that it's been suggested by my church (CoE) on some occasions as a way to pray in solidarity with those that are suffering, such as victims of the war in Ukraine.

I've never had the guts personally. I love that you're highlighting Christianity though. Personally I've actually seen an increase in people becoming observant Christians around me. It's lovely to see; I think there's a lot to be gained by faith.

Many people dismiss faith, religion, a relationship with God, as having a sky-daddy that is watching your every move and will punish you. I don't think there's much to be gained by that view. For me it's someone to voice my thanks for all the things that are easily taken for granted, and someone to voice my anxieties and concerns that I don't have any control over to.

As for church; I love the old fashioned Common Book of Prayer (might have the words in the wrong order there) service with the Book of Hymns. The language is archaic but feels like something that is special just for that purpose. And it's lovely to be with people who feel grateful for life and it's joys in a similar way to you.

My 2 pence anyway.

I'll never forget my devout Catholic grandmother dropping in on her niece on Good Friday without warning or invitation, sitting waiting until she was offered something to eat, then taking one look at the hastily-assembled ham sandwiches and exclaiming 'it's a holy day of fasting and abstinence Teresa!'.

Happy days. But probably not for the niece.

It also used to be customary to fast before mass, but I've never heard of anyone fasting in the way you describe OP.

All meanings included!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent

Because originally everyone HAD TO fast in spring because there wasn't any food. Winter stores were finished, nothing that had been planted was ready, and spring lambs etc were still too small to eat. The Church was giving people a good community and religious feeling and support for the fasting that they had to do anyway. We have plenty of food and don't need to abstain, so we basically don't.

It depends what branch of Christianity you follow and where in the world you live. Some fast for 50 days, some exclude Sundays, Eastern orthodox Christians still follow the Julian calendar so their lent is different times. Meat, dairy and other rich foods are more traditional to give up (this was common in the middle ages) rather than complete fasting.

It is a time for charity, self-examination and and working on being a better Christian so maybe judgy comments about others fasting is a bit out of place.

In fairness, depending on the time of day, and the level of their blood sugars and/or thirst, they might well respond ‘badly’ because they’re exhausted, hungry and thirsty, and, depending on which country they’re in and when Ramadan falls, they may have been up at 3 or 4 am to eat before dawn.

When I lived in the UAE, you learned to avoid the roads when possible when hungry, thirsty, tired fasting people were rushing to iftar. Lots of bad driving, not surprisingly.

Yes we used to have to fast before receiving the host, when i think of the strictness of it now it seems pure daft . And you could not get out of mass unless you were seriously ill .

Some sects may do extreme fasting, the Coptic Orthodox Church has done according to wikipedia. But as everyone's saying, the vast vast majority don't, never have, and it's got nothing to do with wider societal issues and religion. Your chat with one Christian could just as easily have had her telling you they're banned from listening to the radio. Some sects have done that. Doesn't mean it's a thing overall. Jesus (allegedly) fasted for those 40 days in the desert, but mere humans just try (and fail at) the giving up a vice for a few days at best.

Because there's been a huge deChristianisation generally in the West since the 19th century, @Wonderingwhyyy . So it stands to reason that Christian traditions are not being practised as robustly as they may have been in former times.

It'd be interesting to see how fasting practices are interpreted in areas where there's been a huge revival/upsurge of Christianity - eg, some Latin American and African country.

As a child (1980s), I was not allowed to eat before taking the sacrament. Funny how I'd forgotten all about that.