What is the point of Lent..?

David Lamb said:

Thanks. Yes, I knew about the ashes being from the crosses of the previous Palm Sunday. My personal opinion is that fasting in the bible doesn't refer to giving up just one particular (and non-essential) food or drink, like beer or chocolate.

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What about Daniel?

David Lamb said:

When Jesus fasted for 40 days, we read that afterwards He was hungry. If He'd just stopped eating one food item, but continued eating others, He wouldn't have been hungry.

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Right. Lent isn't a full reenactment of Jesus going without any food whatsoever out in the wilderness. Instead it's a symbolic man-made tradition which is simply based on that. Christians observe Lent in remembrance thereof.

Servus said:

What about Daniel?

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We are not told that Daniel fasted, just that he and his three friends ate vegetables rather than food from the king's table.

Servus said:

Right. Lent isn't a full reenactment of Jesus going without any food whatsoever out in the wilderness. Instead it's a symbolic man-made tradition which is simply based on that. Christians observe Lent in remembrance thereof.

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I agree, except I would say that some Christians observe Lent.

David Lamb said:

Thanks. Yes, I knew about the ashes being from the crosses of the previous Palm Sunday. My personal opinion is that fasting in the bible doesn't refer to giving up just one particular (and non-essential) food or drink, like beer or chocolate. When Jesus fasted for 40 days, we read that afterwards He was hungry. If He'd just stopped eating one food item, but continued eating others, He wouldn't have been hungry.

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That's why giving up something is called 'abstinence' and not 'fasting'. Fasting means actually going hungry. We are asked to fast, and in modern day Catholicism the guidelines for that are rather wimpy so that most anyone could do it. But we are also asked to abstain from something. Again, very easy to do. The positive part of it is that it builds willpower in those who do it.

David Lamb said:

We are not told that Daniel fasted, just that he and his three friends ate vegetables rather than food from the king's table.

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Right. He abstained. That's what Lent is, abstaining.

David Lamb said:

I agree, except I would say that some Christians observe Lent.

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Good. It's a healthy discipline. Helps build spiritual character.

chevyontheriver said:

That's why giving up something is called 'abstinence' and not 'fasting'. Fasting means actually going hungry. We are asked to fast, and in modern day Catholicism the guidelines for that are rather wimpy so that most anyone could do it. But we are also asked to abstain from something. Again, very easy to do. The positive part of it is that it builds willpower in those who do it.

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Some see it as an imposition rather than it being beneficial.

Servus said:

Some see it as an imposition rather than it being beneficial.

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Even parents can impose beneficial things.

Tellyontellyon said:

What is the point of Lent... do Christians have to do it? Has it got any bearing on salvation?

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1) What is the point of Lent?
Answer:
The point of the Lenten season is a time of penitential self introspection as we ready ourselves to receive the joy of Easter, the resurrection. Lent reminds us of the time Jesus spent in the desert between His baptism and the start of His public ministry where He fasted, prayed, and was tested. As such it is a season of fasting, of prayer, of repentance. Lent leads us to Good Friday, where we behold the weight of our sin upon the Son of God as He suffers and dies on the cross on our behalf, for us. Observing Lent means reminding ourselves of the seriousness of our sins, of the weight of our own wrong choices, of our own fallen sinfulness and the wrongness of our wayward appetites pulling us away from God and neighbor and toward selfishness and self destruction and the harm it causes. And as we ready ourselves to the full beauty of the Resurrection, of Christ's victory over sin, death, hell, and the devil; we receive it all the more joyfully as we have walked this Lenten road of ashes and sackcloth (figuratively, though Ash Wednesday reminds of this physically and visibly) the Hallelujah we sing Easter morning is all the more sweet. From ashes we were created, to ashes we return; but Christ has conquered death. We are minded of our mortality, our sin, and the suffering of death--but Christ is our Hallelujah, God wins, death is defeated.

2) Do Christians have to do it?
Answer:
No, there is no moral obligation or commandment concerning any liturgical feast or observance or season. But like all parts of the historic Christian calendar, Christians freely participate as a way of committing our time and energies to the things of God.

3) Has it got any bearing on salvation?
Answer:
No, not in the slightest.

John Bauer said:

Lutherans also observe Lent, do they not?

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Lent is an ancient Christian observance which, as mentioned by @FireDragon76, has its origins in antiquity when the Church received lapsed Christians back through repentance. It is a period observed in both East and West, though there are slight differences between Eastern and Western practice.

Historic Protestants, such as Lutherans, have largely retained the historic observances of the ancient Church as there was no good reason not to. Some Protestants have, to varying degrees, gone further and done away with a lot of those practices for various reasons. Some Protestants, like the Puritans, were so gung-ho that they actually made celebrating Christmas illegal.

As a result, there are many Protestants today who have a minimalist calendar, usually consisting of just Christmas and Easter, as these were the two festal periods that seem to have had the strongest cultural impact. Easter is obvious, but the reason why Christmas had sticking power among modern Protestants who otherwise did away with or de-emphasized the liturgical calendar probably has more to do with the culture of Christmas in the English-speaking world, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. And other seasons and observances, like Lent, Advent, Epiphany, etc increasingly came to be seen as "Catholic" rather than just part of a common Christian history that goes back to Christian antiquity. Though I have observed, even among Evangelicals, a resurgence of these, where more Evangelicals and Evangelical churches are finding the joy of the Church Year. That was the case for myself before I became Lutheran.

John Bauer said:

Lutherans also observe Lent, do they not?

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Many modern Reformed churches observe Lent too, especially the ones that are Mainline or Mainline-adjacent. There's no notion that it is absolutely required, it's just something that has been quietly accepted as part of mid-twentieth century liturgical scholarship and renewal movements.

The church I attend promotes Lent. On Ash Wednesday there are ashes to put on the forehead or back of the hand and Lent is discussed. It's up the the individual to participate or not.

So, I'd like to ask people who observe Lent. Is it a public or private observance?

I do not observe it.

I think fasting is dictated by your circumstances. I don't think it's something you pre-plan & mark on a calendar 'I'm going to fast X days.'

Paul4JC said:

So, I'd like to ask people who observe Lent. Is it a public or private observance?

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Private as per the Lords words in Matthew 6:16-18. The Lord says the same regarding alms giving and prayer also in Matthew 6:1-15.

John Bauer said:

Lutherans also observe Lent, do they not?

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Yes

Simply put, Lent is a way to strengthen your relationship with the Lord—a form of repentance and self-reflection through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (donating to the less fortunate).