What role does faith play into fitness?

13

Replies

  • Jleonra
    Jleonra Posts: 42
    Being unhealthy will get you to heaven quicker. Just sayin'

    I like you
  • Bownzi
    Bownzi Posts: 423 Member
    Just wondering what role, if any, your faith plays into why you want to get fit and how you incorporate it.

    Understanding who you are and what you believe in is the start to what you can become...
  • 5n0wbal1
    5n0wbal1 Posts: 429 Member
    1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

    Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

    1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV)

    Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

    In response to many others who believe in themselves, so do I. I don't believe God will blow my fat up for me. I believe I should take care of myself because God will be honored through my hard work. It feels amazing to know that what I'm doing isn't just for me, it's for a purpose that exists far beyond my understanding. To honor my Creator by taking care of what He has given me is an unimaginable blessing.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    Endurance training is definitely a spiritual experience. Just when you think you've got nothing left, but somehow you manage to keep going. And going. And going.

    Also, Yoga is based in spirituality. If you are doing yoga correctly, it is a mindful practice that is akin to prayers or changing. I enjoy yoga a great deal, especially the zen meditation that accompanies it.
  • tanigrrrrr
    tanigrrrrr Posts: 137 Member
    It makes me so sad to think that people attribute their success in fitness, health, wealth or anything to god. YOU did the work... its YOUR achievement.. You worked your *kitten* off and you got out of bed and forced yourself to be better.

    You dont blame your shortfalls on God, Dont rob yourself of your successes and say they were the work of God.


    I have faith in my own ability. I dont pray, I have morals that arent dictated by a book, but by the type of human I want to be.

    .....

    The only place that faith has in fitness or in the entire world is to provide motivation to be better if they cannot find it anywhere else in their life.

    #rantover
  • PJ64
    PJ64 Posts: 866 Member
    I think being fit gives me more opportunity to use my faith, it gives me more energy to share my faith.
    My faith gives me strength to carry on in this life

    I don't "Rock out" at the gym, my headphones are for listening to sermons while I workout. I am a podritioner for Woodland hills church in Minnesota, so I get my pump & God on


    For those who don't believe and have respected the OP thank you, for those who haven't I will pray for you, OH and NO not in that condescending way you sometimes will hear some Christians say "I'll pray for you" but really they are wishing you to go to Hell, I don't mean it like that at all I really truly do want people to find peace, so I will pray for you and me because lets face it, NOBODY's perfect!

    PJ
  • stillnot2late
    stillnot2late Posts: 385 Member
    I am not a religious person but I was raised one.

    It's like that story of the man stranded on a roof during a flood who prayed to be helped by the all mighty (whomever that is) and a canoe comes by...nope God will save me, boat comes by...nope God will save me...Helicopter comes by...nope God will save me.

    Reaches the pearly gates and says...God why didn't you save me? Response from God...WTH I sent you a canoe, a boat and a helicopter...

    We are given the tools we need it's up to us to use them and that only requires faith in ourselves, motivation and a willingness to accept where we are and that we need to be better.

    ETA: and the smarts to know when you are given the tools you need.

    This. Thus the saying, God's work must truly be our own, we can't just sit around with our hands stretched out waiting for a miracle
  • DeathOn2Legs
    DeathOn2Legs Posts: 7
    I want to worship the god that requires consumption of bacon.
  • jdm_taco
    jdm_taco Posts: 999 Member
    faith in myself and that is all
  • stillnot2late
    stillnot2late Posts: 385 Member
    I want to worship the god that requires consumption of bacon.
    [/quote

    GO AHEAD, EAT YOUR BACON!!!
  • DeathOn2Legs
    DeathOn2Legs Posts: 7
    Should I worship you now?
  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
    There were a few times I prayed for it to rain so I would feel cooler. Then again last half marathon we were delayed for an hour and it still rained the first 8-10 miles and I prayed it would cease raining.

    QFT

    I've even wished my Seminole Grandmother had taught me a rain dance.
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
    Faith has everything to do with every aspect of my life, I know that God is with me and that I need to push hard to meet my fitness goals, and I often pray for God to give me the strength mentally and emotionally to make it through lots of things including my workouts, when I feel like giving up I can pray to Him and He gives me His peace.
  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,674 Member
    I believe faith plays a role, but I have seen these threads get offensive and shot down. Get ready to be mocked.
    You haven't seen that happen in other threads?

    ANYWAY

    It plays a big role!
    Understanding my design.......not getting sucked into weird methods of weightloss/health....and the connection between mind/body/spirit
    Knowing how much of my time/energy I should put into the effort.

    These two things come immediately to mind.
  • Ftw37
    Ftw37 Posts: 386 Member
    Just wondering what role, if any, your faith plays into why you want to get fit and how you incorporate it.

    I have no religious faith.

    I do have faith in myself, and my ability to finish what I start. I have faith that I can change the way I eat to a healthier way. I have faith that I can improve my fitness level.

    "Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the Horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace of the years
    Finds and shall find me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll,
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul."
  • Nhizarms
    Nhizarms Posts: 26 Member
    That is a great queston... while God will not do the work for us, His word says "we can do all things through Christ who strengthen us"
    There have been MANY days where I know it was God who gave me the strength to say no or walk away....
    People may say what they will but I know the power of the God I serve !!!
  • ladyark
    ladyark Posts: 1,101 Member
    For the last 16 months the gym has become my Religion.....my faith lies in myself. I have faith that i wont quit and i will finish my sets. I have faith that i will be even better and stronger a year from now. I have faith in myself that i have what it takes to Protect this House .

    I am not a religious person in that sense but, there are alot of OMGs and all that uttered the day after leg day :)
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member

    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.
  • cyberbidder
    cyberbidder Posts: 20
    The following is a modernized, version of a prayer that John Calvin wrote. Father giver of all good gifts fill our hearts with gratitude for this food laid before us. May we partake of it soberly and frugally eating only that which is necessary to strengthen us unto your service. May the pleasure that we take in it be as nothing to the joy we take in doing your truth. Amen

    Overeating is a sin. It is a violation of God's standard for human behavior. Do not misunderstand - I fail to live to this standard often. Also I said nothing about being overweight.

    I thank you for the question it has reminded me to pray about my eating habits.
    .
  • VBnotbitter
    VBnotbitter Posts: 820 Member
    For me not at all, I'm a spiritual void. Fair play to those that do
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    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
    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
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-anderson-ma-lmhc/weight-loss-tips_b_3920890.html
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member

    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: 1,000 Member
    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: 10,740 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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.

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