Limitless Feasting and Self-Forgiveness: Reconsidering fasting and confession
Original sin is life without limits. We can eat any fruit. We can perform any act. Whenever anyone commits any sin, its root is the desire for life without limits. Going back to the Genesis record, life under original sin has its roots in suspicion of God. The serpent’s lie began not with a statement, but rather a question: “Did God really say?” The serpent’s lie was technically about God holding something back from his creatures, namely that he did not want them to become like him. But the reason the lie took root is that we felt like we were entitled to be creatures without limits.
For many, this desire leads to an attempt to live without God, but even for Christians original sin remains a struggle this side of the kingdom. We prefer to address every craving by ourselves. This is obvious with needs such as food, drink, clothing, and shelter, but it also includes love, joy, peace, and even forgiveness. In addition we tend to shut out God from our daily lives and limit him to an emergency responder. It is only when we encounter some problem that we cannot fix ourselves that we will finally turn to God. This is backwards. God’s enablement ought to come first, but to receive it we must continually empty ourselves. It is only when we are empty that we become keenly aware of our own limits and then turn to God. The problem is we don’t like to feel empty, let alone empty ourselves. This is why ancient Christians considered self-emptying to be a spiritual discipline. They used fasting and confession as tools to empty themselves, and we do well to revisit these tools today.
Fasting
Ancient Christians turned to fasting so that they would be reminded of their need for God in their daily lives, trumping the nourishment of food, drink, and even sleep. But most Christians today, especially Protestants, typically do not fast, or do it for the wrong reasons by trying to accomplish some other end. We secretly wouldn’t mind weighing less, gaining some sort of health advantage, or—aided with social media—eerily resemble the kinds of people Jesus says to avoid, for “they already have their reward in full.” If we want to truly address original sin’s nagging presence in our lives, we must practice emptying ourselves. Marjorie Thompson reminds us that this is why ancient Christians linked fasting with Christ. For it is only in Christ that Adam’s original sin is reversed. She writes, “After his Baptism, Jesus began the work of redemption by keeping a forty-day fast in the wilderness. When he became hungry, he refused the lie that life depends on bread alone and reaffirmed that human beings depend in all things on God for life. He said no to the limitless, self-referential power Satan tempted him with.”
Confession
One other practice that ancient Christians linked to Jesus’ redemption was confession. As a Baptist I affirm that all of God’s children are siblings of Christ and that he alone is our high priest. We are not required to interact with God through some human agent, but I wonder if it is a mistake to think we need not confess our sins to one another. It seems the roots of our avoidance to do so lie in our original sin more than our theology. When we choose only to confess our sins privately, we seem to ignore Jesus’ remarks about sin and light. Sin loves the dark and fears being exposed by the light. The times in my life when my sins, especially habitual ones, had their greatest hold over me were when I refused to include anyone else in my struggle against them. Sure, I would pray alone quietly to God for forgiveness, but my habit would remain unchanged.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer devotes an entire chapter of his marvelous book Life Together on “Confession and Communion.” The chapter begins with a quote from James 5:16, “confess your faults one to another.” Given the poor track record of confessing sins alone, Bonhoeffer wonders if it is all just deception. We tell ourselves we are confessing to God, but maybe we are just confessing to ourselves and granting ourselves absolution for our own sins. In terms of original sin, what Bonhoeffer describes and I have experienced is that through private confession we enable ourselves for our own forgiveness. This brand of self-forgiveness never seems to lead to a clean break with habitual sin. So what does? He writes, “Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception.” The flipside is even better in that God tells us that our sins are forgiven through our brother or sister. We never hear those wonderful words spoken to us when we confess our sins privately.
Crazy Busy Fullness
Augustine once talked about how we miss out on God’s blessings because we live our lives with our hands overly full, leaving no room for God to add anything else. Our constant busyness leaves too many of us overly full. In response, empty yourself and turn to God’s enablement. Actively provide space for God to speak and bless. And if you are full of sins, as all of us are, then find a brother or sister who you can trust to be a witness. Bonhoeffer does not just talk about confession but also how best to witness someone else’s confession. He says we can only hear it properly when we consider ourselves in light of the cross, where sin’s ugly price and death’s undoing both reside. For the pursuit of human life without limits ends there.
For many, this desire leads to an attempt to live without God, but even for Christians original sin remains a struggle this side of the kingdom. We prefer to address every craving by ourselves. This is obvious with needs such as food, drink, clothing, and shelter, but it also includes love, joy, peace, and even forgiveness. In addition we tend to shut out God from our daily lives and limit him to an emergency responder. It is only when we encounter some problem that we cannot fix ourselves that we will finally turn to God. This is backwards. God’s enablement ought to come first, but to receive it we must continually empty ourselves. It is only when we are empty that we become keenly aware of our own limits and then turn to God. The problem is we don’t like to feel empty, let alone empty ourselves. This is why ancient Christians considered self-emptying to be a spiritual discipline. They used fasting and confession as tools to empty themselves, and we do well to revisit these tools today.
Fasting
Ancient Christians turned to fasting so that they would be reminded of their need for God in their daily lives, trumping the nourishment of food, drink, and even sleep. But most Christians today, especially Protestants, typically do not fast, or do it for the wrong reasons by trying to accomplish some other end. We secretly wouldn’t mind weighing less, gaining some sort of health advantage, or—aided with social media—eerily resemble the kinds of people Jesus says to avoid, for “they already have their reward in full.” If we want to truly address original sin’s nagging presence in our lives, we must practice emptying ourselves. Marjorie Thompson reminds us that this is why ancient Christians linked fasting with Christ. For it is only in Christ that Adam’s original sin is reversed. She writes, “After his Baptism, Jesus began the work of redemption by keeping a forty-day fast in the wilderness. When he became hungry, he refused the lie that life depends on bread alone and reaffirmed that human beings depend in all things on God for life. He said no to the limitless, self-referential power Satan tempted him with.”
Confession
One other practice that ancient Christians linked to Jesus’ redemption was confession. As a Baptist I affirm that all of God’s children are siblings of Christ and that he alone is our high priest. We are not required to interact with God through some human agent, but I wonder if it is a mistake to think we need not confess our sins to one another. It seems the roots of our avoidance to do so lie in our original sin more than our theology. When we choose only to confess our sins privately, we seem to ignore Jesus’ remarks about sin and light. Sin loves the dark and fears being exposed by the light. The times in my life when my sins, especially habitual ones, had their greatest hold over me were when I refused to include anyone else in my struggle against them. Sure, I would pray alone quietly to God for forgiveness, but my habit would remain unchanged.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer devotes an entire chapter of his marvelous book Life Together on “Confession and Communion.” The chapter begins with a quote from James 5:16, “confess your faults one to another.” Given the poor track record of confessing sins alone, Bonhoeffer wonders if it is all just deception. We tell ourselves we are confessing to God, but maybe we are just confessing to ourselves and granting ourselves absolution for our own sins. In terms of original sin, what Bonhoeffer describes and I have experienced is that through private confession we enable ourselves for our own forgiveness. This brand of self-forgiveness never seems to lead to a clean break with habitual sin. So what does? He writes, “Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception.” The flipside is even better in that God tells us that our sins are forgiven through our brother or sister. We never hear those wonderful words spoken to us when we confess our sins privately.
Crazy Busy Fullness
Augustine once talked about how we miss out on God’s blessings because we live our lives with our hands overly full, leaving no room for God to add anything else. Our constant busyness leaves too many of us overly full. In response, empty yourself and turn to God’s enablement. Actively provide space for God to speak and bless. And if you are full of sins, as all of us are, then find a brother or sister who you can trust to be a witness. Bonhoeffer does not just talk about confession but also how best to witness someone else’s confession. He says we can only hear it properly when we consider ourselves in light of the cross, where sin’s ugly price and death’s undoing both reside. For the pursuit of human life without limits ends there.
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