{"id":422,"date":"2014-10-20T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T12:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=422"},"modified":"2014-09-30T04:41:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T04:41:52","slug":"matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 6:16-18; Fasting (Factual Info)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus\u2019 instruction about fasting assumes that it is a normal part of a life devoted to God\u2026but why fast? Why did (and do) people go without food and\/or water as a religious observance?<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few reasons from Scripture:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Once a year, as a commemorative action on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This annual observance was a solemn moment when a high priest offered a symbolic sacrifice for the collective sins of the entire nation of Israel. (See Leviticus 16:29 and Jeremiah 36:6.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 During calls for national repentance. (See Nehemiah 9:1.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 In times of public or personal crisis. (See Judges 20:26 and 2 Samuel 12:15-18).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Four times a year as a commemorative action to remind of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (See Zechariah 7:2-5, 8:19.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 As an expression of mourning. (See Matthew 9:14-15)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 As a mysterious weapon in spiritual warfare. (See Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 As a means of humbling oneself before God. (See Isaiah 58:3-5.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 As an expression of worship. (See Acts 13:2.)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 As a ritual of commissioning others into leadership within the church. (See Acts 13:2-3 and 14:23<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[RBD, 111, 373; MAC, 1384]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus\u2019 instruction about fasting assumes that it is a normal part of a life devoted to God\u2026but why fast? Why did (and do) people go without food and\/or water as a religious observance? Here are a few reasons from Scripture: \u2022 Once a year, as a commemorative action on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[184,16,111],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-factualinfo","category-matthew","tag-fasting","tag-jesus","tag-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 6:16-18; Fasting (Factual Info) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 6:16-18; Fasting (Factual Info) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus\u2019 instruction about fasting assumes that it is a normal part of a life devoted to God\u2026but why fast? Why did (and do) people go without food and\/or water as a religious observance? 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Why did (and do) people go without food and\/or water as a religious observance? Here are a few reasons from Scripture: \u2022 Once a year, as a commemorative action on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-10-20T12:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-09-30T04:41:52+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html","name":"Matthew 6:16-18; Fasting (Factual Info) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-20T12:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-30T04:41:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/10\/matthew-616-18-fasting-factual-info.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 6:16-18; Fasting (Factual Info)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. 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