Editing Mortification of the flesh (section)

===Denominational practices===

====Catholicism====
{{Main|Mortification in Roman Catholic teaching}}
[[File:Battenti guardia1.jpg|thumb|A Catholic [[procession#Christian processions|Christian procession]] with ''battenti'' (beaters) mortifying the flesh with spugnas in the [[Italy|Italian]] city of [[Guardia Sanframondi]]]]
Some canonized Catholic saints and founders of Catholic religious organizations practiced mortification in order to imitate [[Christ]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}} Another way of mortification that developed quickly in the early centuries was [[celibacy]], which the Catholic tradition interprets as renouncing the joy of human marriage for a superior chastity and higher supernatural ends (cf. ''[[supererogation|Works of Supererogation]]'').{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} for the sake of Christ.<ref>Rite of Consecration of Virgins, prayer of consecration</ref>

====Lutheranism====
The [[Augsburg Confession]] of the [[Lutheran World Federation|Lutheran Church]] supports the practice of mortification of the flesh, stating:
{{Blockquote|For they [our teachers] have always taught concerning the cross that it behooves Christians to bear afflictions. This is the true, earnest, and unfeigned mortification, to wit, to be exercised with divers afflictions, and to be crucified with Christ. Moreover, they teach that every Christian ought to train and subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labors that neither satiety nor slothfulness tempt him to sin, but not that we may merit grace or make satisfaction for sins by such exercises. And such external discipline ought to be urged at all times, not only on a few and set days. So Christ commands, Luke 21:34: Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting; also Matt. 17:21: This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Paul also says, 1 Cor. 9:27: I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Here he clearly shows that he was keeping under his body, not to merit forgiveness of sins by that discipline, but to have his body in subjection and fitted for spiritual things, and for the discharge of duty according to his calling.<ref name="Neve1914">{{cite book |last=Neve |first=Juergen Ludwig |title=The Augsburg Confession: A Brief Review of Its History and an Interpretation of Its Doctrinal Articles, with Introductory Discussions on Confessional Questions |year=1914 |publisher=Lutheran Publication Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/augsburgconfessi00neve/page/150 150] |url=https://archive.org/details/augsburgconfessi00neve}}</ref>}}
In the [[Lutheran]] tradition, mortification of the flesh is not done in order to earn [[merit (Catholicism)|merit]], but instead to "keep the body in a condition such that it does not hinder one from doing what one has been commanded to do, according to one's calling ({{langx|la|juxta vocationem suam|links=no}})."<ref name="Weber2002">{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |title=The Protestant Ethic and the "spirit" of Capitalism and Other Writings |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=9780140439212 |page=54}}</ref> In ''[[The Ninety-Five Theses]]'', [[Martin Luther]] stated that "inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh."<ref>{{cite book |title=Theses, Ninety-five, of Luther. |year=2000 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House}}</ref> He practiced mortification of the flesh through [[fasting]] and [[self-flagellation]], even sleeping in a stone cell without a blanket.<ref name="Lindberg1988">{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=Carter |title=Martin Luther: Justified by Grace |year=1988 |publisher=Graded Press |language=en |isbn=9780939697557 |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherjust0000lind/page/16 16] |url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherjust0000lind/page/16 |quote=Luther subjected himself to long periods of fasting and self-flagellation. He spent many sleepless nights in a stone cell without a blanket to protect him from the damp cold that was characteristic of the area.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wall |first=James T. |title=The Boundless Frontier: America from Christopher Columbus to Abraham Lincoln |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |language=en |page=103 |quote=Though he did not go to the ends that had Luther— including even self-flagellation — the methods of ritualistic observance, self-denial, and good works did not satisfy.}}</ref>

====Methodism====
[[File:Circuit rider illustration Eggleston.png|thumb|200px|Illustration from ''The Circuit Rider: A Tale of the Heroic Age'' by [[Edward Eggleston]] depicting a Methodist circuit rider on horseback]]
{{Further|Works of Piety}}
[[Samuel Wesley (poet, died 1735)|Samuel Wesley Sr.]] examined the writings of [[Thomas à Kempis]] on the mortification of the flesh and concluded that "mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty."<ref name="Torpy2009"/> His son, [[John Wesley]], the evangelical Christian progenitor of the [[Methodist Church]] continued "to hold à Kempis in high regard".<ref name="Torpy2009">{{cite book |last=Torpy |first=Arthur Alan |title=The Prevenient Piety of Samuel Wesley, Sr. |date=26 October 2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |language=en |isbn=9780810870826 |page=104 |quote=Samuel weighed the pros and cons of Thomas à Kempis on the mortification of the flesh with Samuel taking a moderate position between two extremes. As for T. Kempsis, all the world are apt to strain o' one side or t'other. And 'tis no wonder if contemplative men...when they observed how mad the bulk of the world was for sensual pleasures, should run the matter too far o' the contrary extreme, and attempt to persuade us to have no senses at all ...But for all that, mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty." John, in his later years, would continue to hold à Kempis in high regard, recommending him to Sammie Wesley, Charles's son, for edification and hoped for evangelical conversion.}}</ref> As such, he likewise wrote that "efforts to manifest true faith would be 'quickened' by self mortification and entire obedience".<ref name="Anderson2012"/> Moreover, he "spoke approvingly of 'voluntary instances of mortification' in his journals".<ref name="Anderson2012">{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Misty G. |title=Imagining Methodism in Eighteenth-Century Britain: Enthusiasm, Belief, and the Borders of the Self |date=14 March 2012 |publisher=JHU Press |language=en |isbn=9781421404806 |page=114}}</ref> Methodist [[circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]] were known for practicing the [[spiritual discipline]] of mortifying the flesh as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees [[fasting#Methodism|without food or drink]] or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end".<ref name="Bratt2012">{{cite book |last=Bratt |first=James D. |title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History |year=2012 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |language=en |isbn=9780802867100 |page=44 |quote=Methodist preachers, in particular, may have been tempted to take the elevation of the spirit and concomitant mortification of the body to extremes. Early circuit riders often arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end.}}</ref> [[John Cennick]], the first Methodist [[itinerant preacher]], [[Christian prayer|prayed]] nine times a day, fasted and "fancying dry bread too great an indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass".<ref name="Rubin1994">{{cite book |last=Rubin |first=Julius H. |title=Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780195083019 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/84 84] |url=https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/84 |quote="Ascetic disciplines in both Catholicism and Protestantism were a system of rules of conduct to control the flesh by starvation and renunciation." John Cennick, the first Methodist lay preacher, exemplifies the fact that Protestant ascetics were required to adopt monastic regimens of the body in their everyday lives. "He fasted long and often, and prayed nine times a day. Fancying dry bread too great an indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass; and often wished that he could live on roots and herbs."}}</ref> The Methodist [[evangelism|evangelist]] John Wesley Childs was known for "limiting what he would eat" and choosing "to walk beside his horse rather than to ride in order to demonstrate his willingness to suffer for his calling and to try[ing] to heighten his religious experience through subjecting himself to trials."<ref name="Bratt">{{cite book |last=Bratt |first=James D. |title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History |year=2012 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |language=en |isbn=9780802867100 |page=44}}</ref> The ''[[Wesleyan Methodist Magazine]]'' in 1813 published a statement written by [[Matthew Henry]] for Christian believers:<ref name="WesleyanMethodistMagazine1813"/>
{{Blockquote|By using yourselves to consideration, you will come to be aware of the snares that your spiritual enemies lay for you, of the snake under the green grass, and will not be imposed upon so easily as many are by the wiles of Satan; and by habituating yourselves to [[self-denial]] and mortification of the flesh, and a holy contempt of this world, you will wrest the most dangerous weapons of the hand of the strong man armed, and will take from him that part of his armour most trusted, for it is by the world and the flesh that he mostly fights against us: nay, and this sober-mindedness will put you the whole [[armour of God]], that you may be able to stand in the evil day; and so to resist the [[devil in Christianity|devil]], that he may flee from you.<ref name="WesleyanMethodistMagazine1813">{{cite book |title=Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine, Volume 36 |year=1813 |language=en |page=252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzJAAAAAYAAJ |access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>}}

====Western Orthodoxy====
The [[Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate]] states that "mortification of the flesh, or the putting to death of the passions which hinder attainment of the [[kingship and kingdom of God|kingdom of heaven]], is practiced with three disciplines of [[self-denial]]".<ref name="AWRV"/> These [[spiritual discipline]]s include "unostentatious fasting or self-denial; increased prayer, by attending to worship and various devotions; and the sacrificial giving of [[alms]] (charitable donations)."<ref name="AWRV">{{cite web |title=The Holy Season of Lent in the Western Tradition |last=Fenton |first=John W. |publisher=[[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese]] |language=en |url=http://www.antiochian.org/node/25432 |access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>

====Other Christian viewpoints====
It became "quite common" for members of the [[Oxford Movement]] within the [[Anglican Communion]] to practice self-flagellation using a [[discipline (mortification)|discipline]].<ref name="Yates1999">{{cite book |last=Yates |first=Nigel |title=Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910 |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780198269892 |page=60}}</ref> [[Congregationalist]] writer and leader within the [[evangelical Christian]] movement, [[Sarah Osborn]], practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God".<ref name="Rubin1994.115">{{cite book |last=Rubin |first=Julius H. |title=Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |isbn=9780195083019 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/115 115] |url=https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/115 |quote=In the many letters to her correspondents, Fish, Anthony, Hopkins, and Noyes, Osborn examined the state of her soul, sought spiritual guidance in the midst of her perplexities, and created a written forum for her continued self-examination. She cultivated an intense and abiding spirit of evangelical humiliation—self-flagellation and self-torture to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God.}}</ref>
According to other evangelical Christian commentators, using Paul's writings and other passages from the New Testament to justify the practise of mortification of the flesh is a complete misinterpretation, arguing that Paul shows a very high view of Christ's redeeming work in the verses leading up to Colossians 1:24.

{{Blockquote|"He understands this redemptive work to be finished, completed, and perfected. Nothing remains to be done, and the suffering of Christ's followers does not put the finishing touches on the triumph of Calvary. Paul does not believe that suffering has any atoning benefit for himself or for others. It does, however, 'serve to increase Paul's living knowledge of Christ.'"<ref>{{cite book |title=Colossians and Philemon |series=The NIV Application Commentary |author=Darrel E. Garland |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |year=1998 |page=127 |isbn=978-0-310-57098-1}}</ref>}}

This suffering Paul refers to comes as one takes on the commission to share the gospel. Persecution and suffering such as that experienced by Christ will follow and Christians should see this suffering as a divine necessity. In chapter 9, "Paul compares the evangelistic lifestyle of believers to athletes who sacrifice normal pursuits for the sake of strict training and a competitive edge".<ref>{{cite book |title=1 Corinthians |series=The NIV Application Commentary |author=Craig L. Blomberg |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |year=1994 |page=189 |isbn=978-0-310-48490-5}}</ref> In the Corinth church there were grey areas of lifestyle and behaviors<ref>See {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|8}}</ref> not specifically covered by the Mosaic law, and Paul was encouraging them to discipline themselves to abstain from those behaviors and practices for the sake of winning others to Christ.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}