14 Is spirit-life the stronger when the vital force is weak? Is sainthood reached by starving, self imposed?
15 A glutton is a sinner in the sight of God, and he is not a saint who makes himself a weakling and unfitted for the heavy tasks of life by scorning to make use of God’s own means of strength.
16 Lo, John is dead, and his devoted followers are fasting in their grief.
17 Their love for him impels them on to show respect, for they have thought, and have been taught that it is sin to lightly treat the memory of the dead.
18 To them it is a sin, and it is well that they should fast.
19 When men defy their consciences and listen not to what they say, the heart is grieved and they become unfitted for the work of life; and thus they sin.
20 The conscience may be taught. One man may do in conscience what another cannot do.
21 What is a sin for me to do may not be sin for you to do. The place you occupy upon the way of life determines what is sin.
22 There is no changeless law of good; for good and evil both are judged by other things.
23 One man may fast and in his deep sincerity of heart is blest.