The congregation that I’m serving & leading has entered into a period of time set aside for prayer and fasting. Fasting is great because it really serves as a strong illustration for our dependence upon God. It also serves as a powerful comparison between hungering for God and hungering for actual food. Sometimes (most of the time) we value just about everything other than Christ and his word! I’ve always found fasting to be spiritually uplifting. Jesus, when tempted to break his 40 day fast by the devil said,
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)
This shows us the importance of fasting and doing so alongside God’s word. You won’t find me fasting without my Bible. And don’t worry, I’ll try not to tell you about my fasting because I want it to count.
But I have a question about all this fasting. Is it okay to chew gum? Seriously, I need someone to weigh in on whether or not it is okay to pop in a stick of bubble gum and blow bubbles? I’m chewing gum right now and with every bubble, I’m wondering if this is sacrilegious, so to speak.
What do you think?
it’s probably a good idea to chew some gum if you are on a longer fast, fast, can be a kind of detox and give one a bit of bad breath, so when around people or talking to them, prolly a good idea to brush the teeth, take some mouth wash and have a piece of gum – that’s how I see it.
chewing gum cancels your fast out. don’t do it. its over. mwahha ha
Well, it is a well-known truth that the phrase “chewing gum” can be found in the New Testament under its relevant idiom of the day. Matthew writes in his gospel, “They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The association of teeth gnashing (or gum chewing) with weeping, blazing furnaces and the like is a strong indication that nothing good at all can come from chewing gum, fasting or otherwise. I would advise your parishioners from now on, when they see the Dentyne or Hubba Bubba on the store shelves to just say “no” or “Get thee behind me, Satan.” (http://hermansneutics.com)
I doubt it cancels your fast, Tony is a troll. Im fasting now and came upon this because I have the same question. In chewing gum as we speak and have yet to have food in my stomach but the qestion is are we relying on the gum to get through the fast or God? I love chewing gum anyways but I also know my heart is deceitfully wicked above all things so I’m thinking I just ought not do it unless my breath gets offensive.
I was wondering the same exact thing. However, the more I read comments about it, the more I feel like it is sort of “cheating.” I mean, what is the purpose of fasting? Isn’t it to represent the 40 days of sacrifice that Jesus made? I now feel that chewing gum, although it isn’t food, is simply a loop hole that some Catholics try to convince themselves (myself included) that they are still fasting even if they chew gum. Furthermore, what is the purpose of chewing gum during fasting? Is it to suppress hunger? Then I think that is “cheating,” because you’re removing the “sacrifice” part of it. Not to put it so bluntly, but we SHOULD be suffering during fasting, shouldn’t we? I’m sure Jesus was crazy hungry. We shall be as well if we want to be true to the Lenten season.
Just my two cents.