禁食

在教會成立時的那個年代，禁食是北美洲許多基督徒宗教崇拜的一個重要部分。他們根據聖經中的例子而採取這項做法。¹最早的後期聖徒在加入教會之前，可能就有禁食的習慣，成為教會成員後便延續此做法。1831年8月，約瑟·斯密得到一項啟示，指示聖徒要「以單純的心準備食物，好使你的禁食完美」。²後來的一項啟示又提到，嘉德蘭聖殿的一項主要功能，是為了促進「禱告和禁食」。³在聖殿於1836年奉獻之前，集體的禁食主要是為了準備醫治病人，或是參加嘉德蘭的先知學校聚會。⁴聖殿奉獻後，教會領袖將每個月的第一個星期四訂為禁食日。⁵在聖殿舉行的禁食日特別聚會中，會有講道和個人見證，也會捐獻給貧困者。⁶

從1838年大部分的教會成員都離開俄亥俄州之後，到1849年，聖徒開始在猶他更穩定下來的這些年間，他們偶爾會將禁食日聚會放在議會和大會的程序中，或是為了執行按立、祝福病人、幫助窮人，或慶祝神所賜的協助和祝福，舉行禁食日聚會。⁷鹽湖谷的聖徒很快就恢復了每月第一個星期四的定期禁食日。到了1856年，教會領袖開始鼓勵他們更定期作禁食捐獻，就是把禁食的時候沒有吃的食物，或是價值相當的金錢，捐出來幫助窮人。也差不多是在這段期間，禁食日聚會中開始更常固定有當地會眾作見證。⁸在這段時期，領袖有時會為了紓解天災和反多妻突襲造成的損害，發起特別的禁食。⁹1896年，總會會長團和十二使徒定額組將禁食聚會改到每月的第一個星期日，建議的禁食時間為24小時，並要求捐出犧牲兩餐的同等金額。¹⁰

20世紀之交興起了一股提倡健康的新浪潮，宣導禁食對身體和靈性的益處。¹¹教會領袖也注意到了禁食對健康的益處，但他們在總會大會上的演講卻大多強調禁食是援助窮人的重要方式。約瑟F.·斯密會長開始採用一套更正式的禁食捐獻制度，由各地的主教和支聯會會長收集和發放禁食捐獻給有需要的人。¹²隨著以現金繳付禁食捐獻漸成主流，教會領袖也發展出一套集中發放資金給貧困者的模式——首先發放給支會，然後是支聯會，最後才給其他需要幫助的地區。這套禁食捐獻制度一直延用到21世紀，是世界各地教會成員實踐宗教和提供人道服務的重要方式。¹³

教會資源

Glen M. Leonard, “Why do we hold fast and testimony meeting on the first Sunday of the month?,” Ensign, Mar. 1998, 60–61.

參考書目

• A. Dean Wengreen, “The Origin and History of the Fast Day in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1896” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955), scholarsarchive.byu.edu.

• Bruce D. Blumell, “Welfare before Welfare: Twentieth Century LDS Church Charity before the Great Depression,” Journal of Mormon History, vol. 6 (1979), 89–106.

• R. Marie Griffith, Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).

註：

1. R. Marie Griffith, Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 33–37.

2. Joseph Smith, “Revelation, 7 August 1831 [D&C 59],” 1, josephsmithpapers.org.

3. Joseph Smith, “Revelation, 27–28 December 1832 [D&C 88:1–126],” in Revelation Book 2, pp. 39–40, 45–46, josephsmithpapers.org.

4. “Minutes, 23 March 1833–A,” in Minute Book 1, 18–19, josephsmithpapers.org; John Murdock, April 13th, 1833,” John Murdock Journal typescript, John Murdock Journal and autobiography, Church History Library, Salt Lake City; Joseph Smith, “Revelation, 29 March 1836–A,” in Journal, 1835–1836, 186, josephsmithpapers.org.亦見主題：先知學校。

5. 殖民地、州和聯邦的立法機關在戰爭和疾病爆發期間，都曾提出各種禁食日的宣告和決議。這類的決議通常會指定一個平日或特定的日期，要大眾禁食和祈禱，以團結人民並尋求神的幫助。嘉德蘭的後期聖徒在1832年堅忍對抗霍亂疫情，當時就有數個州的議會和美國國會討論，是否要訂立一個全國性的定期禁食日。See “Resolution of the House of Burgesses Designating a Day of Fasting and Prayer, 24 May 1774,” Thomas Jefferson Papers, United States National Archives; Adam Jortner, “Cholera, Christ, and Jackson: The Epidemic of 1832 and the Origins of Christian Politics in Antebellum America,” Journal of the Early Republic, vol. 27, no. 2 (2007), 233–64.

6. Eliza R. Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Company Printers, 1884), 12–13; Oliver B. Huntington, “Fast Days in Kirtland Temple,” Young Women’s Journal, vol. 8 (1896), 239; Brigham Young, Discourse, 8 Dec. 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–1886), 12:115.

7. Joseph Smith, “Discourse, 30 July 1840, as Reported by John Smith,” josephsmithpapers.org; Joseph Smith, “Discourse, 20 March 1842, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff,” in Wilford Woodruff, Diary, 138, josephsmithpapers.org; A. Dean Wengreen, “The Origin and History of the Fast Day in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1896” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955), 18–25.

8. Wengreen, “Origin and History of the Fast Day,” 43–45, 57–58.

9. 見主題：立法反多妻制。See also “Letter to the Presidents of Stakes and Their Counselors,” 2 Dec. 1889, in James R. Clark, ed., Messages of the First Presidency, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 3:176–177.

10. Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith, “An Address,” 5 Nov. 1896, in Clark, ed., Messages of the First Presidency, 3:281–82; Wengreen, “Origin and History of the Fast Day,” 71.

11. Marie Griffith, “Apostles of Abstinence: Fasting and Masculinity during the Progressive Era,” American Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 4 (2000), 599–638; see also Griffith, Born Again Bodies.

12. Joseph F. Smith, October 1915 general conference, 4–5; Thomas G. Alexander, Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-day Saints, 1890–1930 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 95.

13. H. Lester Peterson, “The Magnitude of the Fast Offerings Paid in the Stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1916–1936,” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1938), 19; Clark, ed., Messages of the First Presidency, 4:195; “Latter-day Saints Asked to Fast, Pray on Sunday,” Church News, Aug. 18, 1945, 1; William G. Hartley, “Mormon Sundays,” Ensign, Jan. 1978, 19–25; Glen M. Leonard, “Why do we hold fast and testimony meeting on the first Sunday of the month?,” Ensign, Mar. 1998, 60–61.