To return briefly to fasting.

It is perhaps no surprise that in the age of the disembodied faith [‘faith’ as a set of beliefs – discipleship as bible classes or devotional reading (usually solitary)] – this discipline which has been a central discipline of the faithful for most of history, falls into disuse.

It often seems as if modern Christians have descended into a form of gnostic docetism. That is faith which denies the body and its part in our salvation.

(Indeed, you may like to pause here to ask yourself the question ‘What is the role of my body in the salvation of my soul?’ . . . We live in a generation which largely has no comprehension about the significance of the body. Perhaps that is why the church is so consumed over issues of sex?)

We have lost sight of the person As body – we are trained in seeing the body only as a container, which at best we have to look after for the pitiful reason ‘that we might live longer’.

Fasting is the most powerful way of coming to understand that apart from your body you will not be saved. It is the key discipline for waking up to the SPIRITUAL mess we are in. Fasting is the fastest route to understanding that things are not as we have come to believe. It strips our illusions away. We no longer live a mental fantasy. It is the way to awakening to Truth.