Actually I am a Hindu from India and I use to offer fasting for Monday to Bhagwan SHiv Shankarji and yesterday I just had a piece of meat after 12 am and it was Monday!! This is the first time that this has happeend to me!! I have been keeping this fast for about more than an year!! In this fast I am not suppose to have aything that has salt in it!! SO please help me what should I do so that God forgives me!! PLEASE SERIOUS SUGGESTIONS ONLY PLEASE!!
204837
I'm Hindu. I've been taught that God appreciates the effort to please rather than the actual physical fast. You didn't mean to eat the meat, and God, being all forgiving, will forgive you for it. In any case, you are making much more of an effort than those of us who don't try at all to please God. Don't worry so much about this small mistake, just continue your fast as you did and know that because God is just it will not be held against you.\n\nI'm sure this was not the kind of answer you were looking for but I hope it helped a little to reassure you.
465174
Religion doesn't want you to know what it was really like back in biblical days. Food always was a problem. Meat was a luxury. After the growing season (there was no refrigeration) if you didn't have enough food to last, or if there was a bad crop or flood or insect damage, the people had to forage for food in order to survive. Which means , pick up anything that was edible, any leaf, plant  or root that could be chewed & swallowed was food. When that was depleated people actually picked up a handful of dirt and swallowed it in order to to take away hunger. If you ate the wrong plant or root you could halucinate. The root of the Payote Cactus, Mugwort,  etc are plants that contain halucinagins. The people didn't know. Eat it and you could see a staff turn into a snake like in the Bible. When Jesus went into the desert for 40 days did he bring a hundred pounds of food? When prophets claim that  they heard God it's never asked. "What did they eat before?" Religion always gives you a cleansed version of what went on in Biblical times (for obvious reasons).  If you would study the History of Civilization on this planet at a university (not from a religion) you will gain a better understanding of what really went on. And you would question a lot of things they tell you to believe. Religion is always much more popular with uneducated people (no offense intended).
665426
It's still against tradition to eat red meat on Fridays during Lent.\n\nI doubt something that small would doom anyone to hell. I don't think God really cares about the small things, but about the goodness of your soul.
215342
Wow, and do they also say you can't eat meat on Friday's...\nNo, I don't think anyone can tell you what you can bring to work for you lunch/supper it's controlling and inappropriate. Shame on them.\n\nI'm sure if you contacted a Human Rights Office in you area they'll be able to help you further.
638577
We've been taught by Jesus that God listens to us through "Prayer AND Fasting." Try that sometime. \n\nFasting is merely a discipline that one observes in consecrating one's self to God. You can easily get by with a liquid diet [water, soda, etc.] for one day. Then work your way gradually to extra days the next attempts you make.\n\nAnd make sure when you do pray and fast, always do it in your own privacy or in secret, i.e., without telling others at all.\n\nPeace be with you!
455022
wow... thats a lot of questions :) \n\n**the first question might be a little tricky. do we pray before we eat? with myself and the muslims i know, we eat after we pray. Maghrib(sunset) prayer usually comes around dinner time so i always eat dinner after i pray Maghrib. this prayer is prayed as we pray in the mosque. most people say bismillah (in the name of God) before they eat though.\n\nyes all prayers are begun by saying Allahu Akbar (God is great). \n\nDo we all say the same prayers or ones we feel like saying?\nfor our obligatory prayers we do all say mostly the same things. except for which verses we recite. when we're done saying our obligatory prayers... we say our thought prayers of thanks repentance and request in our own language\n\nshukran is thank you  in Arabic.\n\npeace be on you for your genuine interest
559393
Yea, hope and pray. Food won't do anything special for you. You should have practiced more. Now you get to see the results of not doing what you need to do to complete a goal.
180929
Oh Lord, what are you talking about? I think you should be thankful to God for providing you the meal everyday, for providing you with a home, a workplace and a family. Instead of complaining about the trivial things in life, you should start praying to the divine force, bow your head in thankfulness and thank Him for all the privileges you are endowed with. "Thou shalt bow down in thankfulness". Even if you were facing some hardships in your life, you should never disregard and overlook all the things you are endowed with. There is nothing as a so-so or bad friday as such, every day is good for it is a gift from God to you. A gift to cherish and blah blah blah...\n\nOk, I was just kiddin' but, seriously, look what people did to your poor little question, lighten up guys! To answer your question, yea, I also, didn't have much of a good friday, maybe a boring friday, or just_a_regular friday or like_any_other friday or a nothin'_special friday or something.
241097
Definitely!  It is a way to draw closer to God.  Many times God calls for the fast himself.  One night I was seeking God throughout the night.  I finally fell asleep, spent.\n\nWhen I woke up I had knowledge that I was to fast.  So I asked God, "How long?"  "Three days." I heard.  "What if I get sick?" I asked (I have hypoglycemia).  He said "Eat fruit."\n\nThis was a fast called for by God.  I ate only fruit for three days.  It was a wonderful experience, and I drew very close to my God.\n\nBe careful, fasting is not a physical thing but a spiritual one.  Ask God if he will accept your fast before you go on it.
108127
I am at work (watching 138 undergraduates take an exam) so I can't provide citations, however, Lent was not originally a "Church," practice rather it was a practice of the laity like the Rosary.  Because fasting can endanger bodily health and spiritual health the bishops began regulating it very early.  It's start date is not exactly uniform throughout the Church due to differences in counting days.  My Lent started two days earlier than the Roman Lent, for example.  \n\nAll early catechumens fasted for 40 days prior to baptism, except in emergencies of course.  Other members of the laity joined them.  This was the beginning of lent.  Because the Church did not provide a framework, some people endangered their health by eating too little.  Some people endangered their spiritual health by thinking too much of themselves.\n\nThe early bishops required three things: prayer, fasting from animal products because until Noah scripture says man could not eat animal products and hence when paradise is restored there will be no eating meat, and finally almsgiving.  There is an early historian who reported that something on the order of 50,000 people in the City of Rome per day were fed from the Christian donation of their reduced food to the poor.\n\nFish was later permitted in the Roman Patriarchate due to poor nutrition in the Western Empire.  Also, fish is a symbol of Jesus so symbolically you are free to consume Jesus.\n\nStrict fasting was done on Wednesdays, the day Judas arranged payment and Friday, the day of Jesus' death.\n\nThe bishops did this on their authority as the successors to the Apostles to hold Christians according to Jesus words, "what you bind on Earth is bound in Heaven and what you loose on Earth is loosed in Heaven."\n\nThe Church grants dispensations to those who should not fast for any reason.\n\nThe purpose of Lent, like everything else in Christianity can be found in Easter.  The Easter homily of John Chrysostum may best describe the result of this season.\n\n"Are there any who are devout lovers of God?\nLet them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! \n\nAre there any who are grateful servants?\nLet them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! \n\nAre there any weary from fasting?\nLet them now receive their due! \n\nIf any have toiled from the first hour,\nlet them receive their reward. \n\nIf any have come after the third hour,\nlet them with gratitude join in the feast! \n\nThose who arrived after the sixth hour,\nlet them not doubt; for they shall not be short-changed. \n\nThose who have tarried until the ninth hour,\nlet them not hesitate; but let them come too. \n\nAnd those who arrived only at the eleventh hour,\nlet them not be afraid by reason of their delay. \n\nFor the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.\nThe Lord gives rest to those who come at the eleventh hour,\neven as to those who toiled from the beginning. \n\nTo one and all the Lord gives generously.\nThe Lord accepts the offering of every work.\nThe Lord honours every deed and commends their intention. \n\nLet us all enter into the joy of the Lord! \n\nFirst and last alike, receive your reward.\nRich and poor, rejoice together! \n\nConscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!\nYou who have kept the fast, and you who have not,\nrejoice, this day, for the table is bountifully spread! \n\nFeast royally, for the calf is fatted.\nLet no one go away hungry. \nPartake, all, of the banquet of faith.\nEnjoy the bounty of the Lord's goodness! \n\nLet no one grieve being poor,\nfor the universal reign has been revealed. \n\nLet no one lament persistent failings,\nfor forgiveness has risen from the grave. \n\nLet no one fear death,\nfor the death of our Saviour has set us free.\n\n\nThe Lord has destroyed death by enduring it.\nThe Lord vanquished hell when he descended into it.\nThe Lord put hell in turmoil even as it tasted of his flesh. \n\nIsaiah foretold this when he said,\n"
624582
Please don't arguing with people who don't understand things properly, just explain what you need to tell. If you forcefully try to feed something, they'll find irritating and they'll speak foolish thing regarding Allah just because they have no knowledge. Please ask dua for them...
638659
This stuff happens everyday and I used to ask why it was happening to me.  Now I know God has a plan for me, protects me, and hears my prayers.  I am a muslim woman.  I know for a fact that God does hear my prayers and protects me.  I should be dead, should have been a few times already, or at the very least have a disease.  Before I became a muslim, I was living a very bad lifestyle.  My husband knows God hears me.  he is always shocked at stuff that happens, because he knows that these things that I prayed for are rare and somehow always happen for me.  God does exist and there is a reason for everything.  You just need to let go of the problem and put your trust in God.  God will take care of it as long as you do good.
114630
I feel your pain . . . I am a Catholic, a convert, actually, and I see this as well.  But, it is not only in the Catholic faith . . . I see it among all Christians, and I suspect it is the case with most religions (I'm just not exposed to much outside of Christianity).  Many Catholics are what I consider to be "cultural", like people talk about cultural Jews . . . they were born into a long line of Catholics, they follow the teachings of the church on the outside, but on the inside the Devil has free reign.  Not eating meat on Fridays has, unfortuanly, become a way of showing that we are "good" Catholics.  It's like Jesus told His disciples . . . pray in your inner chamber, make sure you look well when you are fasting, so that only God knows your sacrifice (sorry, my concordance is packed away, and my Bible quoting skills are lacking, but it's in there!).  Many, many people do exactly what the Jews in Jesus time were doing . . . making a show out of serving the Lord.  Just as then, we are called to sacrifice in private while preaching the Gospel. But we often fail.  It's very frustrating to me as well (not that I'm all that holy either).
487324
I am proud of you for being a vegan, i am not one at all but my sisters brother in law is one and she and her husband are rude about him being one.  He is a great person.  If i ever see a cow go through any pain so someone could get the meat from it i would probally turn into one too.  Don t let your family get to you.  my sister judges me and is rude to me all the time because i dont believe the religious things she believes in her way.  Good for you for being a vegan.  I heard that if we all became that way there would be more food in the world for everyone to feed all the homeless.
50699
Perhaps you need to stop praying at God and surrender to God. Your attitude clearly shows that you feel you are the god of your life and are unwilling to even consider who the one True God really is and what He might want for your life. Try saying this prayer from your heart and out loud.\n\nDear God I have struggled with who you are and why you have not done as I have asked and begged for you to do for so long. Where have I gone wrong God? What is it you want from me? I mean I admit I am a sinner you already know that. Why then won't you do what I ask......Oh I see that would make me God and I have been telling you the Creator of all things what you should and shouldn't do. Please forgive me Dear God. Help me Dear God to understand. I can't do this anymore and I now surrender to my Creator. Dear God i accept your Son's death on the cross as payment for all my sins. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I give you my life from this day forward. Please send the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within me from this day forward to comfort me and Guide me all the days of my life. I thank you for all you have already done for me Dear Jesus and I ask you to help me to understand what you want me to do with my life and why I have gone through so much. I accept the Holy Trinity, there Persons yet only one true God. In the Holy name of my lord and Savior Jesus Christ I pray all this and accept you now in faith, Amen
519473
To say that God didnt allow people to eat these things anciently because of no refridgeration or anything like that is absurd.  If you believe that then you would have to agree that God is not all knowing.  He must not have realized that one day in the future someone would invent a box to keep ice and meat in because if He did realize it then He surely He would have said "when the ice box in developed you may eat of these unclean animals".  \n\nThe problem here is translation the words "tahor" and "tamei" in hebrew do not translate well in to english so they chose the words "clean" and "unclean".  It is a spiritual teaching using physical things like a pig for instance.  But like any other commandment, if you strip the physical part of actually doing the commandment away, and only focus on the spiritual it will eventually loose its meaning thats why the physical is so important.  This would take me a while to explain but essentially the animals we are not to eat are scavengers, they devour other animals.  The animals that are edible chew cud.  Man was originally made to be vegetarian but when God allowed meat during the time of Noah, He chose animals that chewed cud.  If we were not going to be vegetarians then at least we would only eat animals that chewed cud so we were only one step away in the chain so to speak.  \n\nI dont want to ramble but this is a huge subject that needs to be taught.  There are so many other areas to cover like divided hooves and chewing cud being linked with rightly dividing the word and chewing on it until it becomes milk to feed "baby" believers in Yhwh.  There is really a lot there if you study it out.
464049
when i had gestational diabetes my dr. wanted my fasting to be around 70 and my 2 hr under 90 so yours sound good keep up the good work, I could not control mine with diet and ended up on shots it sucked so keep doing what u are doing great job, you can email me if you have further question will be glad to help you through this cause it is really scary.