More often than not is just you wake up on fast Sunday and you start eating breakfast and then
your family or roommate is like you know it's fast Sunday right? And you're like
uh and there's that critical moment where you decide am I gonna stop eating this and
fast for the rest of the day or is it just too late and I'll try again next month.
Fast Sunday. What is it? When is it? Who is it? Why is it? We're not
going to answer those questions today because we've answered them in a lot of other videos.
What are we going to talk about today... we're going to talk about our experience with fasting,
our opinions I guess yeah because so brief overview right fasting is
biblically referenced that you go a period of time without consuming food or water kind of
certain people believe different things but in our religion it's food and water
you go for a certain amount of time you fast you pray and you're blessed for that sacrifice
right so like Justin said it's a period of time where you don't eat or drink um it's kind of
challenging uh and you go into it with a spirit of um like prayer and reflection at the same time
kind of weird if you're like not really familiar with it or you're not religious like why are you
just like not eating and drinking like how is that supposed to help that's a really good question
i want to reference a book of mormon scripture really quick that talks about it it's omni 1 26.
i'm going to read like the second half of it it says yay come unto him him meaning jesus christ
and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him and continue in fasting and praying and endure to
the end and as the lord liveth he will be saved so we know that it's referenced by the lord is
something that he wants us to do it's something that he has given us as a tool to draw closer to
him um was really challenging and it's like it's a really interesting thing and not all members
observe fasting the same way and we kind of want to talk about that right because within the church
we have um the instruction and it's interesting because it's not as strict of a commandment as
i mean like the word of wisdom yeah the word of wisdom or the sabbath day right it's just very
out like we know when these days are or when what these commitments mean exactly that's fasting is
actually like kind of arbitrary how we do it in the church as we fast once a month right on fast
sunday which is yeah the first sunday of every month it's basically the way i look at it is the
church has a like a day put in place where you can fast and and do it together and have like
the support of the whole church doing it together at the same time but it's not actually right like
a commandment if if you don't want to do it on that it's so interesting because it's more just
to in it's to invite people too fast to get them in the practice of fasting right but um you can
fast whenever you want for specific things like if you or if your family's out of work and you want
god's help that you can fast to receive right an added measure of blessings not saying you're
going to get a job because you're fasting but maybe the blessings are going to come
in the way you need them right it's show that brings up a really interesting point like why
do we fast i think that often times it's to draw closer to god to think about him more but then
also there are some things like we need help in our lives and it's like another way to like
access power and like maybe be more humble and closer to god so people have like special fasts
where they're like oh this person is sick this person yeah yeah and people come together people
like invite other people to be a part of like to help somebody who's sick or like their special
like i know utah and that's when it's there's a drought yeah you folks have a water problem
now just pay attention everybody i'm trying to make a point here yeah and then people like the
steak will invite people to fast to help end the drought right which is valid right yeah um
but i think what's interesting about fasting because it's so arbitrary it's
there's kind of a stigma in the church that if you don't fast every fast sunday
then people like judge you a little bit so i know as a kid i was like
you know it's i i first of all fasting is one of the hardest things for me to do as
a and especially as especially as a kid but even now just in general it's so hard to not eat food
you know it's just hard i love food and then like who doesn't right yeah and then when you're a kid
my parents were cool they were like okay we're gonna practice just like you're gonna you're
just gonna not eat breakfast you know because that's how they started with me too right you're
just like because side note traditionally it's either like two meals or 24 hours it's kind of
once again very ambiguous yeah because sometimes two meals is like 10 hours if you want it to be
i've definitely gotten away with where i'm like i don't eat breakfast and i don't eat lunch but then
it's three o'clock and i'm like it's a good time for dinner yeah i guess it seems like when we have
thanksgiving dinner like you know is that three years right exactly so once again very arbitrary
but yeah so difficult to go like right the hanger is real like it is so challenging yeah
um yeah one of those things so yeah sorry i got like super sidetracked but yeah fasting's hard
and as a kid like my parents would like adjust it to make it more easy and then as an adult you're
like well i guess i should do the full two meals in 24 hours but the real question is do we do it
like are we like i don't do you do you fast every last sunday so i was very very consistent
and fasted every single fast sunday basically my whole life and then i had to work on sunday during
a job that i had and like being able to perform my job and be like pleasant with people and like
i stopped fasting uh when i worked on sundays and i would always just really feel bad i'm
like oh i really should maybe fast during the week sometime but like i just never really did
um and then when i got to more regular schedule it got to the point where i was
fasting like maybe every couple months because sometimes i would just forget
um so i've definitely been like super strict with it and then also
like at times less strict but like always wanting to get back to that because i do feel like it's
a good thing and it's important well definitely that the hard thing is is it invites the blessings
like regardless of what you're fasting for just by fasting you put off the natural man you learn
to conquer um physical man right like physical urges and desires and then you draw closer to the
lord especially if you use while you're fasting if you take that time to pray or study the scriptures
um it all works together for you to change right so that's just what it does but then if you on top
of that if you fast with a purpose for something yes then yes you'll see the blessings for that too
so fasting is an extremely powerful spiritual experience yes but if you go into it with the
intention to make it so it's right with making an afterthought my for me like the biggest struggles
and so i've been like consistently inconsistent my whole life right where it's like like there's
some sundays where i remember and i'm like yeah it's fast sunday and i'll fast the two meals i
think i've only ever fasted a full 24 hours once in my whole life and i remember it because it
was like the most physically painful like where i'm just laying on the couch and i'm just like
oh i'm dying and i'm just looking at the clock and i'm just like one more minute and and i just don't
think that's the point well maybe like as far as like overcoming the natural man that might be the
point of fasting yeah but there's a scripture that we're supposed in the new testament where we're
supposed to like adorn our faces and and wash our hair and everything or wash our faces just like
don't look like you're fasting don't look like you're suffering don't like be moaning and
like right because the the fairy season the street and just crying in pain and be like oh i'm fasting
look at me so you have some composure yeah yeah so there's a fine line between like if you completely
fall apart while you're fasting it's okay like i don't know don't you don't need to do the full 24
hours the other thing too is everyone's situation is different with fasting based off of your health
so i was like okay consistent like maybe every other month i would fast and if i missed fast
sunday i would try to make up for it on a different sunday which is super hard because
if you're fasting when no one else is then your roommates are eating food and your friends are
eating food your family's inviting you over for dinner yeah but you've designated this day as a
fast for you personally and then you have to tell people no but you also don't want to be like no
because i'm fasting because you don't want people to know your fasting because you don't want them
you don't want it to be that amazing right right and then it's all tricky because then you're just
like oh no i have other plans but now i'm lying and it's that so i i've never thought about it
that intended so that's all i've determined that it's okay to tell people like oh i'm fasting this
day and then yeah not making a big deal about it but i remember i would be so stressed because like
if i tell them if i let anyone know i'm fasting give any inkling at all that i'm going to lose the
blessings and i don't think yeah that's god works that way yeah i don't think so he sees your effort
he sees your heart who knows that you're putting your best foot forward um but i think what happens
more often than not is just you wake up on fast sunday and you start eating breakfast and then
your family or roommate is like you know it's fast sunday right and you're like uh and there's
that critical moment where you decide am i gonna stop eating this and fast for the rest of the day
or is it just too late and i'll try again next month and i i've done both yep i would say that
that's not really what it is for me yeah i don't really eat breakfast anyway so it's like it'll be
like 10. one of those millennials 10 or 11 minute fasting yeah just kidding i don't need pregnancy
for breakfast um like not kidding if i i have five high shoes every morning for breakfast yeah
do you have five specifically certain colors like no no just which one grab it in the bag but like
if it's less than five then i'm starving yeah but five is like just enough to get me to lunch
so that's a wonderful thing sorry but like what so so you yeah so i will get to like 10
or 11 that's when i really kind of start getting hungry and then i'll realize that i haven't really
gone into fast sunday thinking about anything right because you want to start with a prayer
yeah i'm like oh shoot i didn't pray now it's like almost noon do i keep going even though i haven't
really been fasting with the poor this is the time that you haven't eaten count towards fasting if
you haven't if i was if you weren't eating with the purpose of fasting yeah and then i'm like
might as well just eat then and then i feel bad so like but here's the point it's going
to be different for different people people have different capabilities different health
capabilities um and also it's not fasting is not a stick with which to be and judge other members and
yourself like fasting is supposed to be a tool and a blessing um and if you want to take advantage of
those blessings just like prayer and scripture study you're welcome to it and if you like mess
up or you don't do it perfectly that's okay like don't i don't and this is i this is probably an
exception when it comes to other commandments because like if you don't pay your tithing
heavenly father knows and like you're missing out right right um but fasting it's like i don't think
heavenly father is sitting there being like well if you didn't fast this sunday didn't fast this
sunday i think it's more just every time you do fast you get yeah those blessings yeah because
for example tithing it's like the scripture's like you're stealing from god right very intense but
fasting i don't feel like it's quite and i could be wrong just an opinion but i think it's just
we fast once a month as a church just to remind us just to get us in the habit because it's
such a blessing and a benefit to our lives and i will say every time i have fasted
um i've noticed a difference um i know this is cliche for people who have served
missions and we talk about our missions a lot but when i fasted this one month where
we just our president was like we have to baptize a lot of people and like
we have no control over that right um but i do remember my companion and i we're just we hadn't
even taught anybody we weren't finding anybody who wanted to learn about the gospel and we were just
like we're gonna fast a lot a lot and it was easy first of all because we were just so determined
and we were so confident in what we were doing it for and we felt that it was right it wasn't
like we were imposing our will on god we prayed about it we're like should we be fasting a lot
for this this is good and we felt good and so we fasted every week and it was easy we felt great
and then we found this family that was just like it's like walking down the street
and they're like hey missionaries like our daughter we're members but we're inactive and
we want our daughter to get taught so you can get baptized and we're just like this is what we've
been waiting for you know like and stuff like that happens and maybe it doesn't right doesn't
mean the fasting doesn't help you but i've seen lots of personal miracles as far as like people
who are sick feeling better and i'm not saying that's directly attributed to the fast but i
guarantee it helped and yeah yeah i don't know if you've seen at the very least it's makes you focus
on what's most important i have frequently fasted for help with some of my faith questions i'm like
this one's really bugging me and i don't know the answer to it please like help me as i'm
fasting to get an answer and to like have peace on it and i i'm still here i mean it's i've had
a long wrestle with some of these questions and i am still here and i think it's because i take
the steps to follow the commandments like tithing like where the wisdom but also i pray
and i read and i fast and all those things together have given me the power to stay
active in the gospel and stay where i am so that's what i would say is my my experience with it so
highly recommended if you like yeah questions problems and or if you just want extra piece
fasting is a really great option um and then disclaimer because we didn't touch all the things
right so if you have more questions please let us know right please leave them in the comments or
message us um just going to throw on one last disclaimer because they're and we've touched
this in other videos that like if certain people have health conditions that they just cannot fast
right and when i was taking certain medications i just couldn't fast and it's fine yeah like you're
like it's okay if you know somebody who just really should be fasting send them this video
yeah can you imagine and but like can i actually add a scripture nope sorry we do
not share scriptures on the show i wanna purely we just don't there's a lot of blessings that
come from fasting there's a really wonderful scripture in alma five um it talks about how
the prophet alma came to know the answer to some of his struggles it says behold i say unto you
these things are made known unto me by the holy spirit of god behold i have fasted and prayed many
days that i might know these things of myself and now i do know of myself that they are true for the
lord god hath made them manifest unto me by his holy spirit and this is the spirit of revelation
which is in me so we can promise as you fast um in a way that works for you uh as often as works for
you that you're gonna get closer to the spirit and get closer to christ and it's gonna blossom
so we left this pretty open-ended but it was just our opinion and i just like our experiences our
experience it's our real experience with it we're not perfect but it's blessed our lives
we're not perfect but neither are you we love you guys a lot we do see you in the next episode bye