What role does faith play into fitness?

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  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    For a long while I had faith that a driver wasn't going to run me over as I ran along the road. Then a near miss made me lose all faith in people's abilities to drive (as if my daily commute hadn't done that already) So now with no faith in drivers, I stick to parks & trails where I wont get run over.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    No one has to defend God he can handle it and prove himself . Watch when the next crisis happens......

    Don't get me wrong, I am very spiritual but I don't believe in the concept of organized religion because I think it's all just a matter of philosophy and humans trying to interpret something that they do not understand. However, how many more crisis have to occur before God steps in and helps? Of course according to the Bible got was involved in all these situations in basically pre-historic times but in modern age God seems to not get involved. 1400 people were just killed by their own country, what more do we need before God says okay enough's enough.

    If you are more along the Christian schools of thought, we as people have the gift of Free Will so we can make any decisions we want. God is not getting involved in our individual lives. I believe that God may show us the door but it's our choice as individuals to walk through the doors that are presented to us.

    Please nobody quote me any Bible verses, the Bible is just a man-made book and I don't look at anything in the Bible as anything more than philosophy.
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
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    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-anderson-ma-lmhc/weight-loss-tips_b_3920890.html
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    No matter what we interpret a religious work to read, at the end of the day God said to love thy neighbor and there were no disclaimers in that message.

    This is one of the best quotes I have ever read on the Internet.

    Thank you. :) I know this is a little off-topic but it gets so irritating for me when especially self-proclaimed Christians get so nasty and discriminatory towards gay people or anybody else because of a passage in the Bible that may or may not have anything to do with the subject matter; it's really not clear and open to interpretation. Yet on the flip-side, Christ was very clear (no interpretation needed) about loving your neighbor, "turning the other cheek", and "let the person free of sin to cast the first stone."
  • Mslmesq
    Mslmesq Posts: 1,001 Member
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    My spiritual well being plays a large part in my overall well being...and thus it is a very important element of my overall health and fitness. But I have no particular faith per sei.

    Good answer.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    For me, no. I'm agnostic.

    However my (also agnostic) fiancé and I partly want to be fit and healthy in order to better serve others - our families, communities, and one another. Not with any promise of future rewards, but for the intrinsic goodness in it.
  • ehorn625
    ehorn625 Posts: 144
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    When I am at the gym I pray that a hot girl's top falls off.

    lmao! people in the next office are asking me what's so funny . . :laugh:
  • archaichoney
    archaichoney Posts: 132 Member
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    As a pagan and polytheist, I honor Hermes when I workout. He's a pretty damn rad dude. I also use my workouts as a way to check in with my body, center myself and clear the mind.
  • TechOutside
    TechOutside Posts: 101 Member
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    I have faith but I don't have a specific religion. It humors me to hear the complaints of intolerance in Christianity though, seeing that you can complain about it that makes it so ironic... That says a lot about its tolerance, since there are plenty of others that instill enough fear into society that you won't dare speak ill of it.
  • Alehmer
    Alehmer Posts: 433 Member
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    I am a Zen Buddhist, and being able to focus clearly on the here and now while both exercising and doing my sport (various submission grappling) is unbelievably helpful. So much of the pain of exercise or keeping to good habits is trying to avoid the pain instead of holding it close and facing it.

    I know many people would debate the use of 'Faith' for someone who doesn't really believe in God, but I'm leaving this one open to interpretation, and it has helped me immensely.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    Interesting question! After thinking about it, for me, it doesn't play any role at all. I fully believe in God, and commune with Him regularly. It's just never occured to me that He might possibly have any interest in my waistline. I always figure He's got bigger fish to fry than giving me the strength to go work out or helping me fight the temptation of the evil Snickers bar. So, I just rely on me for those things.
  • kathryndale
    kathryndale Posts: 1
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    everything. GOD wants me to be healthy and take care of myself. i must do my part and GOD will do his.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    I always figure He's got bigger fish to fry than giving me the strength to go work out or helping me fight the temptation of the evil Snickers bar. So, I just rely on me for those things.

    ^ This. Now I do have to admit that I do believe in the concept of a "Guardian Angel" or something along those lines. There are occasionally those weird unexplained things that happen and I can't bring myself to believe that of all the millions of people on this planet and probably trillions in the universe that God really has the time to focus on me as an individual, seems silly if you think about it. God created our brains to to be capable of confidence, pride, ego, and the ability to make decisions. God would not have created us this way if he was just going to do everything for us anyway.
  • phred_52
    phred_52 Posts: 189 Member
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    Uh oh....knew I was lacking something (faith). As I've been told being an Atheist, I'm the Devil re-incarnated. No wonder I'm not getting fit :sad: :wink:
  • TMLPatrick
    TMLPatrick Posts: 558 Member
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    I have only faith in my own abilities.
  • Brige2269
    Brige2269 Posts: 354 Member
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    When I am at the gym I pray that a hot girl's top falls off.

    This made me LOL out loud!
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
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    Yup. I had faith that I will die, and I didn't want to spend more of the time before then unhappy.
  • ThickMcRunFast
    ThickMcRunFast Posts: 22,511 Member
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    This is an interesting question. I would say that I have faith in my training plan. I don't know that it works from experience, but I have to trust that it was made by people who know better than I do. Maybe that's faith, maybe its just an educated guess. Regardless, I have to trust that my training will be enough to see me through on race day.

    As far as 'in the moment', I would say its more determination and stubbornness than faith that gets me to my daily, weekly, and overall goals. I know that no one else can do the work for me.
  • jerrygon10
    jerrygon10 Posts: 4 Member
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    For me it played a big role since I believe in God and His creation.

    I see myself as one of His creations and I am therefore charged to be a good steward of the "temple" He created.

    Once I decided to focus down and get serious about trying to be a better person and live a more balanced life things started to fall into place. Prayer was a big part of that for me. One of my motivations in losing weight was my desire to better be able to serve God and that meant being the best, healthiest "me" I could be.

    Thankfully and humbly, I was able to achieve my goal!
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
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    My faith teaches me that the spirit of God dwells in his people, and that our bodies are the Temples of God. As such we are caretakers of the Temple. We should do the best we can to care for ourselves and respect our minds and bodies. So yes, my faith does play a role.

    With that said, it was not faith that led me to MFP. It was my desire to look in the mirror and like what I see. To be able to play ball with my boys without being out of breath and not able to run. And to have my husband look at me with the same desire that he had for me when we first met. It wasn't until later than faith became a part of it.

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