No Such Thing as a Daniel Fast

There is no such thing as a Daniel fast.
James

Thanks for your very short but important e-mail James!

People have at least two reasons to say there is no such thing as a Daniel Fast.

Many people, myself included at one point in my life, don't know that there is a second definition of the word fasting. Merriam Webster's Dictionary says the following about "fasting":

Main Entry: fast
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fæstan
Date: before 12th century

1. to abstain from food
2. to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods

So we use the 2nd sense of the word fasting. In the Daniel Fast Diet, we are abstaining from many foods, but not all foods.

The second reason I know of why people say there is no such thing as a Daniel Fast, is because the word "fast" is not used in the English text of the book of Daniel.

The issue here is that we are describing Daniel's choice to abstain from certain foods using the word "fast".

We include the word "diet" at our website. So you would likely agree that there is such a thing as a Daniel Diet, even if you didn't know that in English, fasting can mean to abstain from food, or to eat sparingly, or abstain from some foods.

Does this help you James? Did I answer your concern about calling Daniel's Diet a Fast?

Here is a very important Scripture about fasting. I find it very convicting. God gives us yet a third definition of fasting.

Isa 58:3 But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' "Well, here's why: "The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard.
Isa 58:4 You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.
Isa 58:5 Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, GOD, would like?
Isa 58:6 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.
Isa 58:7 What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
Isa 58:8 Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The GOD of glory will secure your passage.
Isa 58:9 Then when you pray, GOD will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins,
Isa 58:10 If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
Quoted from The Message Bible

Isn't that a powerful passage?!

For more information about Daniel's Fast, check out these pages at our Daniel Fast Diet website:

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