What do you do if your faith requires you not to eat during the day, but you have to visit a polar region?
Question by LibraryNinja: What do you do if your faith requires you not to eat during the day, but you have to visit a polar region?
So I know Muslims cannot eat from sun up to sun down during Ramadan, and Jews have to fast on certain holidays and the Sabbath, but what do you do if you are Jewish or Muslim and have to visit an arctic city like Nome or Barrow, or move there? Or a Muslim scientist maybe studying penguins or something in Antarctica during Ramadan? Both places can have 24 hours of daylight during the summer. Conversely, do you get a “free pass” from fasting during a dark arctic winter?
OK, I’d like an answer from someone who celebrates one of two these faiths and might someday face this situation. This is purely theoretical, though I’m sure someone Jewish or Muslim has had the need to go north of the Arctic circle at some point.
Best answer:
Answer by Know it all
I sure God will understand
Add your own answer in the comments!
Jesus harvested food and ate it during the Sabbath.
He said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
He was constantly rebuking the religious leaders of his day who had become overly legalistic and obeyed the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.
The Pharisaic tradition, by Jesus’ day, had developed into an array of petty rules having to do with the minutiae of the law. It focused on physical works that had little to do with the spirit and intent of the law—and which, in fact, often violated the law (Matthew 15:1–9; Mark 7:1–13; John 7:19; Galatians 6:13).
The scribes among the Pharisees created and transmitted the Pharisaic rabbinical traditions. The body of traditional law that they formulated, called the Halakah (preserved in the Mishnah), is extra-biblical. Although authoritative for Jews who follow Pharisaic tradition, much of the Halakah is not directly supported by Scripture, but is intended as a “hedge” about the law, to prevent any possibility of its being broken.
Ironically, in an attempt to ensure their law-keeping by putting a “hedge” about the law, the Pharisees were breaking the law, for God had said: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2; also 12:32).
By adding the weight of their tradition to the law of God, they bound “heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders” (Matthew 23:4).
The Pharisees placed the authority of their traditions above that of Scripture itself, thus going against the word of God.
My advice would therefore be to follow the spirit of your religious system as far as practicable under the circumstances. As God himself explained – he never intended for his laws to be an impossible burden. Pray for guidance and then do what you feel is right.
In this case it’s calculated by apporximation., i.e. by average number of hours. A similar case is already observed and fixed in Scandinavian countries for Muslims regarding fasting and prayer times.
Edit:
I am Muslim, but I’m not sure if I will be in North Pole someday. As I said, a similar situation is experienced by Muslims of Scandinavian countries. So, it’s more than just theoretical case.