A Christian pastor believes the “most neglected spiritual practice in the modern world” is fasting and contends “it may be more needed than ever.”
Dr. Darren Whitehead, senior pastor of Church of the City in Nashville, Tennessee, is out with a book “The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most,” in which he addresses the need to apply principles of fasting to our digital consumption.
Whitehead recently told CBN News about the importance of fasting, which GotQuestions.org says is intended “to take your eyes off the things of this world to focus completely on God.” He pointed back to Jesus’ own 40-day fast before his ministry began, and said his church starts each year by fasting.
“I am definitely a proponent of helping people participate in a food fast several times a year or with some regular rhythm,” Whitehead said. “We, as a church, take the first 21 days of the year and encourage people to have a season of prayer and fasting.”
As for his belief fasting might be more needed than ever, the preacher pointed to the current state of culture, explaining that people today are “able to appease our every appetite at a moment’s notice at any time, and it hasn’t always been like this.”
And while fasting is often associated with food, Whitehead is also encouraging people to look more diligently at the technologies that have, in many ways, overtaken our lives, encouraging people in his book to consider embarking on a “digital fast.”
Listen to Whitehead explain:
“The reason that I wanted to do a digital fast is that for some of the similar ways that we use food,” he said. “We generally can go to food when we are feeling anxious, when we are afraid of something, when we have some surge of feeling ashamed about something.”
Whitehead believes technology is often treated in the same manner, particularly as a form of escapism.
“Something has happened in society in these last 15 years or so, where, instead of going to food, we’re going to phone,” he said. “And when you feel an unpleasant feeling, when you feel anxious, when you feel afraid. when you feel ashamed — you can just unlock your phone, maybe not even consciously being aware that you’re doing this.”
Whitehead continued, “And you can start doom scrolling on cat videos on Instagram and forget the feelings … and, all of a sudden, 45 minutes goes by and you think, ‘What am I doing with my life looking at these dumb videos?'”
While this might seem benign, Whitehead said these sorts of actions can impact individuals as well as relationships. This is particularly true when it comes to the allocation of time.
“What am I missing as I observe my children because I’ve got my head buried in triviality instead of these precious, childhood years that are so fleeting?” he asked.
But beyond our interactions with the people around us, Whitehead warns that our obsession with technology could also be impacting our relationships with God.
“If all the discretionary moments of our lives have been chased out, then we are not able to still ourselves and listen to the voice of the holy spirit to be paying attention to what God wants us to pay attention to,” he said.
Beyond that, he argued smartphones are “having an enormous impact, particularly on teenage girls and it is decimating their self-esteem, it is stealing their attention, it is stunting their social growth.” Listen to more here.
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