Lent is coming

[JesusIsAll]

You can do what you want, but I've not had a good experience with lent. I've lent tools and books, and never saw them again. Somebody borrows a first edition, twenty year out-of-print book? Forget it! You will experience the effects of a black hole.

You do as you please, but I'm very skeptical of lent, or borrow. I could maybe celebrate collateral. Even then, if you made somebody leave one of their kids, they'd drop off the sneering Goth brat, and you'd wind up having to feed the kid and buy another drill, anyway.

I'm for mourning or celebrating every day the same, and the Lord, via Paul, is on my incorrigibly unceremonious side,

Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Stick that in your Catechism! Besides, I sort of like the idea of trying your best to love the Lord, every day.

 

[Kaycie]

So would fasting be included in your list?

Of course not, fasting is in the bible. That's like asking if I'm against prayer. Both fasting and prayer are in the bible, but you know what is not in the bible? Someone telling someone else which specific foods they must not eat at specific times. Or someone telling someone else which specific words they must say in their prayers, or that they have to use beads that they cannot wear when they pray, or that they have to pray to or through Mary.

 

[phil36]

Of course not, fasting is in the bible. That's like asking if I'm against prayer. Both fasting and prayer are in the bible, but you know what is not in the bible? Someone telling someone else which specific foods they must not eat at specific times. Or someone telling someone else which specific words they must say in their prayers, or that they have to use beads that they cannot wear when they pray, or that they have to pray to or through Mary.

Hi Kaycie, I understand what you are saying. But, Paul was refering here to the usual 'Judaizer' types - they were people who claimed to follow Jesus, but insisted in keeping food laws etc (as part of works to keep one saved). You can see this at the first church council (Act 15:1-31 cf.Gal 2:11-14). It is this that Paul is refering to in 1 Tim.

Lent isn't like that, No one is telling anyone what to eat or what not too, although if you wish to fast etc you may (it may help you focus on whts important but its not a '''work'' its just like fasting.). I am not RC so beads have no interest to me or praying to Mary. Some traditions are good (not used in the RC sense of tradition).

Here is a good description from Tim Kellers Church

What is Lent? The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word “lengten,” which simply means “spring” — when the days lengthen and new life springs forth. It is a time in which we anticipate the victory of the light and life of Christ over the darkness of sin and death. It is, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, a season of a kind of “happiness and wonder that makes you serious.”
It is our prayer that as you journey with us from Ash Wednesday to Easter, you would be reminded of the reality of our broken humanity, but as days grow brighter, you would experience with greater abundance the reality of God’s redeeming grace. And so, just as we carefully prepare for big events in our personal lives, such as a wedding or commencement, Lent invites us to make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

[mrh35]

I am a member at a Baptist church and there are lots here who give something up for lent I was unaware that it was for catholics only. And I guess the idea is to give up something that you choose.

 

[sparkman]

Use a vacuum and get that lent outta your life. It is pagan. All pagan observances are of lucifer. Why give Satan an inch. Google it. I'm surprised that the subject is even considered.

Im not surprised about Christian ignorance on the devilish tithe and satanic cleric system and pastors lying about both but 'lent'?? Come on guys...draw a line somewhere. Next you'll be saying the veneration of Mary/Semiramus is okee dokee! Yes I'm pushing hard. Somebody's got to.

It sounds like you've been reading Alexander Hislop's Two Babylons. Hislop was an ignoramus who tried to associate Roman Catholicism (and by extension much of Protestantism) with the worship of Nimrod and Semiramis, his supposed pagan wife.

The logic he used was very poor, and he did not prove his thesis. For example, Nimrod and Semiramis didn't even live in the same time frame.

I have heard Lent associated with "weeping for Tammuz" but this is an error as this custom was in the summer, not in the spring like Lent is.

The forty day time period is commonly associated with biblical events where individuals including Moses and Christ fasted for forty days prior to the giving of the Law and the temptation.

I don't observe Lent, but I have no issue with it. The hype which is generated by Hislop's ignorant "scholarship" shouldn't lead to making slanders about other Christians, though. By the way Roman Catholics are not the only ones who observe Lent. Some Protestants do as well.

Haters will keep quoting Hislop when informed better, so I don't know why I even bother. To be honest, one of the biggest discouragements about Christianity that I have is the degree of hatred others exhibit toward fellow Christians about issues like this.

If someone is really interested in the truth, read Two Babylons by Ralph Woodrow and Easter - Is it Pagan? by the same author. Three Days and Three Nights is also a good title that covers typical Easter slanders.

I used to belong to a group who engaged in this type of slander in order to promote themselves as the true church; claiming that the rest of Christianity was tainted by paganism. Cults are good at doing that.

Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association

 

[sparkman]

I am a member at a Baptist church and there are lots here who give something up for lent I was unaware that it was for catholics only. And I guess the idea is to give up something that you choose.

It's not exclusively Roman Catholic, and their hatred of Lent is based on misinformation. Hislop's Two Babylons is a main source of this misinformation.

 

[sparkman]

I was recently hired as a music minister in a United Methodist Church, and they do Lent. It will be my first true experience with it. I will not be "giving up anything" for Lent, however. It will be interesting to see how people observe it and how it affects their walk with the Lord.

If this man-made tradition helps them to be closer to God, then there is nothing wrong with it. But if it's just an excuse to somehow make themselves worthy or to do good works for good works sake, then it's a bad idea.

The church I'm attending simply does targeted sermons during the Lent season focused on Christ's sacrifice. Who can fault that?

 

[MsKy]

Use a vacuum and get that lent outta your life. It is pagan. All pagan observances are of lucifer. Why give Satan an inch. Google it. I'm surprised that the subject is even considered.

Im not surprised about Christian ignorance on the devilish tithe and satanic cleric system and pastors lying about both but 'lent'?? Come on guys...draw a line somewhere. Next you'll be saying the veneration of Mary/Semiramus is okee dokee! Yes I'm pushing hard. Somebody's got to.

Yet: You are my new favorite person on this forum. In my head this is like a bible study in my house and I think that you would be a blast to have around.

Do you participate in any other Christian traditions like Christmas, Sunday School, praying before meals, or eating at Chick-fil-A?

 

[Willie-T]

1. Don't use credit cards, spend only cash
2. Keep a list of things to buy and only shop one day per week

- Fair enough

3. Don't buy anything (except maybe food)

- Clearly this guy doesn't use toilet paper, soap or underwear

1. Get up at a specific time each morning
2. Go to bed at a specific time each night
3. Be in bed for a set amount of time each night

- I see, this guy is the kind that thinks being in bed = sleeping,.... I wonder if he'd feel this way it it took him two to five hours to fall asleep each night

1. Get dressed before 8am
2. No stretchy pants
3. Take up Jenna's Rule of Three for Dressing for Staying at Home

-What?

1. Clean the house each week
2. Clean the house before bed each night
3. Clean the house before dinner each evening

- does God care about your house being spotless?

1. Eat more simply
2. Eat up the food that's in the back of the pantry and freezer
3. Eat only soup

- Again: What? Why?

3. Don't use electricity
- Ah, he's Amish






..............

That was priceless, Kitty Cat..

 

[Depleted]

In 1 Timothy 4:1-4 it says that some of the practices of Catholicism are things taught by demons not by the bible. And although lent is not mentioned in that verse, lent still falls into that category. It is not from the bible (which contains everything we need, says the bible) it is a false doctrine. God says they worship Him in vain- teaching as doctrine the commands of men/ merely human rules.

Man-made doctrines (human rules) will NOT result in salvation, but the opposite of salvation. You must do what the bible says, not what people added to the bible and count as scripture- which God severely warned not to do. So when I see someone following falsehood or teaching others to do the same, it is my Christian duty to make a stand against it.

What Bible do you use? Catholicism wasn't even around when Paul wrote to his buddy Timothy. And then you tell me not to add to the Bible?

 

[Depleted]

You can do what you want, but I've not had a good experience with lent. I've lent tools and books, and never saw them again. Somebody borrows a first edition, twenty year out-of-print book? Forget it! You will experience the effects of a black hole.

You do as you please, but I'm very skeptical of lent, or borrow. I could maybe celebrate collateral. Even then, if you made somebody leave one of their kids, they'd drop off the sneering Goth brat, and you'd wind up having to feed the kid and buy another drill, anyway.

I'm for mourning or celebrating every day the same, and the Lord, via Paul, is on my incorrigibly unceremonious side,

Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Stick that in your Catechism! Besides, I sort of like the idea of trying your best to love the Lord, every day.

Which books do you still have? I'm just checking to see if you have any I can "borrow."

(Something tells me your library might be a good'un.)

 

[Kaycie]

What Bible do you use? Catholicism wasn't even around when Paul wrote to his buddy Timothy. And then you tell me not to add to the Bible?

The niv, or King James. Exactly, Catholicism wasn't even around when Christ established His church- which proves its not the church Christ started. And God said not to add to the bible after the book of revelation.

 

[Ariel82]

lent lasts 40 days because that was how long Jesus spent in the desert after being baptized and then being tempted by Satan.

I think Lent should be used as a time for renewed prayer and study of the Bible because we will be tempted to become prideful, instead of humble.

If you choose to fast, wash your face and do it before God. Not like hypocrites.

For the guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them.

I don't think most of us can take 40 days and wander in the wilderness. However we can reflect and remember that time we wandered in a spiritual desert.

We can honor the true Manna that came down from heaven to feed us and drink of His cup, of shed blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Yes we all need to be in deep prayer.

 

[pwrnJC]

mrh35....wow..got it all down to a basic formula? If only I could find that JESUS expects this. If only I could find that the original Apostles decided to give up their usual donkey or camel post spots, like was mentioned about giving up a parking spot for LENT...Lent....another Dark Ages man-made ritualistic way to honor GOD and prepare for some spiritual expectation. I do agree that us CHRISTIANS need to keep on expecting the SPIRITUAL...but walking in HIS spirit gives me 'lent" every day. I do not need a dated yearly event to observe by 'giving up" something. When our lives are so filled and being controlled by His Holy Spirit, we are giving up space in our minds so that HE can freshly infill us and comfort us hour by hour. For anyone to 'add' to a prescribed list of things to give up for lent only tells me that we are attempting to do this 'on our own". And in that manner, I always and will forever fail. When I totally surrender my life to JESUS CHRIST, that is the best gift anyone can give up to our Heavenly Father. It's a once and for all event. As we walk daily in His WORD, the little things that we tend to 'pick up" that hinder our relationship with CHRIST do need to be surrendered to HIM and done away with. Why wait until LENT to do that?

 

[NarrowRoadDisciple]

Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the wilderness have nothing to do with a set time before the Passover (the day He died, 14 Nisan) nor the Resurrection (3 days and nights later). It is indeed an invention of man, and the Roman Catholics do celebrate it. Even the Orthodox Church celebrates it and adds more days.... but with the apostles as our example... where does the bible thus tell us to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ with 40 days of fasting prior? Is this not a tradition of man added after the fact?

Interesting how the invention of Easter falls in March this year, but Passover, the day Christ died, is in April. Just some food for thought

 

[3Scoreand10]

lent lasts 40 days because that was how long Jesus spent in the desert after being baptized and then being tempted by Satan.

I think Lent should be used as a time for renewed prayer and study of the Bible because we will be tempted to become prideful, instead of humble.

If you choose to fast, wash your face and do it before God. Not like hypocrites.

For the guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them.

I don't think most of us can take 40 days and wander in the wilderness. However we can reflect and remember that time we wandered in a spiritual desert.

We can honor the true Manna that came down from heaven to feed us and drink of His cup, of shed blood for the forgiveness of sins.

Yes we all need to be in deep prayer.

We need to be in bible study and deep prayer daily.
The truth is that many observe lint for 40 days and live like the devil the other 325.

 

[sparkman]

Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the wilderness have nothing to do with a set time before the Passover (the day He died, 14 Nisan) nor the Resurrection (3 days and nights later). It is indeed an invention of man, and the Roman Catholics do celebrate it. Even the Orthodox Church celebrates it and adds more days.... but with the apostles as our example... where does the bible thus tell us to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ with 40 days of fasting prior? Is this not a tradition of man added after the fact?

Interesting how the invention of Easter falls in March this year, but Passover, the day Christ died, is in April. Just some food for thought

In some years, Nisan 14 is as early as late March. See 2010, for example. Nisan 14 was on March 29. So it is not that unusual unless you are a person who insists that it be observed on Nisan 14. We aren't on the Jewish calendar system.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=2010&month=3&country=34

 

[notuptome]

Islam has a similar observance.

Those who do these things do they do it to be seen of man or to please God? I must tell you I do not see how God is going to be impressed.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

 

[mrh35]

It's not exclusively Roman Catholic, and their hatred of Lent is based on misinformation. Hislop's Two Babylons is a main source of this misinformation.

Thanks glad to know im dreaming that non Catholics also observe this.

 

[RickyZ]

(This one's not original, but I like it!)

For Lent, I'm giving up.

Kinda goes with my idiom... I feel much better since I gave up hope