self-discipline

we live in a society that censors many words and fundamental concepts from our life.We think we have freedom of speech-in reality you don't even have freedom of thought-unless you fight very very hard to acquire it.In our age the word "sin" es eye en to spell it out has been severely censored and abandoned from ALL newspapers and textbooks schools, colleges ,president speech.It is close to "illegal" to mention this "religious" word in "public". So we have a fundamental reality-even recognized by Americans back in the early 1900's- that is viciously ignored. We know from the Torah one of the first speeches God gave to mankind:at the doorpost sin crouches and to you is his (i.e. sins')desire but you may rule over him.

We know that 'sin' or the Satan is very busy he never sleeps and keeps on finding new temptation, he never declares bankruptcy , never gives up, you must fight him all your life or else you are defeated by him.

We we do anything in life that requires discipline, for example holding onto a job in spite you are constantly humiliated by your boss, getting married and living with someone that tells you what to do, having children & constantly worrying & thinking about their growth. All of what we call "responsibilities".All of them are nothing but a "natural" God-given way of teaching you discipline unconsciously, you are "forced" into discipline.

once you are "trained" to the general idea of discipline, you find it much easier to conquer the Satan.You need to"train"-very similar to a weight lifter- every day Little more ,lest you strain your muscle then you get injured & all of your hard training is lost (until you recover & start all over) So ,Yes , the athlete has a greater chance of overcoming sin.

Let us take three lessons from the athlete.1)he makes sure to follow his regime every single day if he stops one day he may relapse and loose his momentum and achievement.2) never does he jump too much. never attempt to skip from step 5 to step 7 ,step firmly on each step, when you feel %100 safe & secure,you may continue climbing the next step. 3) assume that after many years of training and self-sacrifice the athlete finally won the race in the world series and was rewarded with lots of fame and money,how much discipline must he have now, not to ruin his life.Again & and again we hear stories of these well-deserved heroes falling into all kinds of trouble.To repeat nobody gets anywhere in life without discipline-rich or fame-require tremendous amount of self-sacrifice.So don't think that Madoff is worse than the homeless.On the contrary ,the homeless didn't begin to live, he is like an animal. Once you conquer the obstacles and you get somewhere, you are in for a new test, a new sin approaches it is called arrogance.

To apply this: whatever restraint it may be that you choose: think am I over training?
will my fasting cause me to become irritated and tomorrow i will relapse and won't do my basic obligations? 2) say that I conquered and overcame the temptation of eating, how is my temptation of arrogance doing? did i just invite an even bigger sin?
so if fasting became very unpopular- be it the reason it may be- it may be a too big step and may have the draw backs just mentioned.Why not try a milder and more acceptable method of teaching yourself self-discipline.we hope to give some advice