toldailytopic: What do you think about the practice of observing Lent?
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toldailytopic: What do you think about the practice of observing Lent? -
March 5th, 2013, 05:00 AM
The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for March 5th, 2013 06:00 AM
toldailytopic: What do you think about the practice of observing Lent?
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It's a personal decision, as are all religious practices.
I don't personally place any significance on the idea of Christ as a "sacrifice", though I understand why many others, do. So I feel no obligation to "sacrifice" to Christ in return. For me, Christ is about love, and forgiveness, and kindness, and caring, and I don't see these as being a "sacrifice" on my part, especially. If they are, then we should call it 'Lent' all year round.
I love Lent, the Catholic Church down the road has fish fry every Friday during Lent, you get three huge beer battered deep fried pieces of cod, fries, coleslaw, and a big fresh baked roll for $7. They only give you one package of tartar sauce though.
Slogan/motto:
"Tolerance and Apathy are the last virtues of a dying society."
~UNKNOWN
Reputation:
March 5th, 2013, 07:29 AM
toldailytopic: What do you think about the practice of observing Lent?
I do not think I will gain any "extra salvation" points but I choose to do it anyway. Jesus did not ask me to do it but again, I choose.
As far as the fish thing on Friday's, my family in Italy eats fish every Friday no matter what "season" it is. I respect their traditions, however I do not think my soul is damned if I eat a triple cheeseburger on a Lenten Friday.
Last edited by LKmommy; March 5th, 2013 at 07:30 AM.
Reason: ?
Lent is, in a little way, a sharing in the the forty days of fasting that Christ spent in the desert.
It's not about giving up chocolate or somesuch, although a lot of Christians who observe Lent might fall into that sort of legalistic, minimalistic approach: "Hey, it's been a great Lent! Forty days without chocolate! Let me tell you how hard it was..." No, it's about a spiritual purification, a clearing out of the cobwebs of the soul, an active desire to remove those obstacles in ourselves that keep us from desiring a better awareness of the presence of God in our lives, both in as individuals and together as a church. Wanting always to move closer to Him, and knowing every day how often we fall in the attempt.
And - there's always the hope that any small progress that might be made won't end on Easter Sunday.
Slogan/motto:
II Timothy 2:15, Psalms 6:5, I John 3:1-2, Romans 5:1 I John 4:18, I Timothy 2:4-5, II Corinthians 9:8,11, III John 2
Reputation:
March 5th, 2013, 08:50 AM
unnecessary at best.
Religious nonsense
God's word rebukes that stuff quite sharply and offers the right doctrine in:
Isaiah 58:1-12
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."
"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers." Acts 2:42
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Psalm 6:5
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