Re: For Jews Did you Fast Today?
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Can you honestly tell me that you follow every single tradition to the T? Keeping kosher, no premarital sex, etc... To me it's more important to be a good person in everyday life than follow a prescribed list of rules written thousands of years ago. But that's just me.
As you can tell I'm not horribly religious.
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Correct me if I am wrong but I thought you were implying that jews are against premarital sex but as far as I know they have no problem with it.
Also, the false duplicity in your argument (that one could be bad all year long and fast or that someone could be good all year) is ridiculous. I believe that fasting is to atone for your sins and because Jews are a lawyerly people they have filled the loophole that you should also atone for sins that others have made (in prayr you apologize for "the sins that I have committed before thee" and you apologize for even the sins that you personally have not committed)
Even for non-observent Jews I like the tradition of fasting as it gives people cause to think about things that they have done right and wrong over the past year (you are supposed to apologize to others who you have wronged over the past year) and to think about if they want to live their lives differently in the coming year.
That introspective viewpoint that fasting encourages should have a positive effect on ones quality of life.
Note: Please correct any factual inaccuracies in my above statements.
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