Lent

[Bitnd12]

Just curious. If you would care to elaborate on your answer, please do. Have a great sunday, guys.

 

[Marycita]

My church doesn't really observe Lent, but I grew up Catholic, and it's one of the things from Catholicism that I appreciated. I think that it can be a very powerful experience. So yes, I still personally observe Lent.

 

[SmileAndAHandshake]

Yes. It's a time of prayer, self-reflection, and self-challenge for me. During lent, I give up something, and I take something on. I've already chosen what these things will be. Some years include church-going, but not this year for me.

 

[Malachi425]

My church doesn't observe Lent, so I never really have either. I think I would like to if I was serious about it and used it as a way to grow closer to God. But all my friends see it merely as a time to give up something to appear cool and they don't take it seriously.

 

[Wren]

No. None of the churches where I have been a member observed Lent, so I never got into that practice. If, in the future, I joined a church that did observe Lent, I don't think I would have a problem doing so, though.

 

[stephanieamber]

My churches don't really talk much about Lent but a few years ago I started to practice it.

This is how I've seen it.

Jesus Christ, while fully God, was fully human. It was his humanity that provided the biggest temptations for interfering with his fellowship with the Father. In his forty days, he gave up his humanity - his physical self - to spend time with the Father, allowing Him to provide his needs and to remove distractions.

For me, Lent is a time to look at my life and say "what is it that is getting in the way of MY fellowship with the Father?" and to, in the footsteps of my Savior, take time to remove things and focus my time on the Lord.

However, I think that one of the important aspects about fasting from anything, is to replace it. When one (yes, just one!) of my wisdom teeth got pulled, we stuffed gauze in my mouth not only to gather the blood, but also because I could put pressure on that to help alleviate the pain. In that same way, it is so essential that we replace whatever has been taken out of our lives, and we do so in a way that brings more glory and focus on God, or else our self-denial of fast food in an attempt to live more simply unintentionally results in a higher Starbucks intake, or our giving up Facebook results in pointless hours on YouTube.

Lent, as any fasting from anything, should be seen as a serious time to commit yourself before the Lord and deny yourself the things that get in the way of being more like Jesus. Sometimes that is physical, sometimes it is mental, and even at times it can be spiritual. One year I gave up fast food, and two days in to it I was making a 3 hour drive home and wanted Taco Bell. I decided to gave, but faced the world's longest line so instead found a place to get a sandwich. as I sat there reflecting on it, God really convicted me.... "why give up fast food if you aren't going to address your spiritual arrogance? why pretend like this time is about us if you aren't going to talk to me?"

I've been thinking about Lent since December. and I'm so excited that it is THIS WEEK. I'm giving up sweets and replacing it with more water. I'm giving up Facebook applications that waste my time and replacing it with reading one book a week. I'm spending one hour of intentional time focused on or being with God per every one hour on the internet. This year it's less about fasting until Easter and more about taking the time to intentionally let my life be more Christ-centered.

And you know what I think?
I think that I mostly love the Lent season because I love celebrating Easter. and now that Lent is here, I get to think about being with believers, celebrating the day that Jesus rose from the dead, which gets me all excited just thinking about it.

/novel

 

[trentlogain2]

/novel

where do i sign up to get a copy? will you autograph it for me?

 

[Mrs. Luther073082]

We observe it at our church and part of the reason Kirk and I choose April 10th as our wedding date is because we didn't want to get married during Lent.

 

[SystematicChaos]

While my church does not observe Lent, I do so personally. This year, I will be focusing on my spiritual gift, given to me by God's Spirit. I'm not sure yet what I will give; it depends on how His Spirit guides me.

 

[LoneSheep]

In my old church, you knew it was Lent because the Lent money offering envelopes would be handed out. Otherwise it wasn't a real big deal.

 

[Beccafly]

My church doesn't observe lent...but I'm trying it this year. I want to give up sweets/deserts. I see it as a way of saying I can take away something I really like for God. I did fasting once last year and it was a good spiritual experience because I was focused on Bible Studies and prayers with friends.

 

[Obzocky]

We observe it in varying degrees. I take up the fast and commit myself to Bible study whilst others give up chocolate/tell nothing but the truth/do something for charity. Sometimes the people in my age bracket were a bit stricter during Lent, there's too much of a "it's only Lent" attitude hanging around that bugs me.

 

[citizenthom]

No. I reject any ideology that says it's OK to have idols the rest of the year, but not during one arbitrary period. Lent has the same Biblical flaws as indulgences and confession: it encourages you to replace your constant, personal relationship with God and struggle with sin with a meaningless superficial "event"--after which you are usually no closer to God and no further from the sin.

 

[CrusaderKing]

No. I reject any ideology that says it's OK to have idols the rest of the year, but not during one arbitrary period. Lent has the same Biblical flaws as indulgences and confession: it encourages you to replace your constant, personal relationship with God and struggle with sin with a meaningless superficial "event"--after which you are usually no closer to God and no further from the sin.

Generally the idea of doing a penance of that sort is so you can fit it into your spiritual life beyond beyond Lent. Too often, I've seen people do as you've said and that gives a very negative outside perspective to the Lenten penance.

I'm not going to come out and say Lenten penances are bad ideas and I'm not going to climb on a soapbox. At the same time, I think it's an important part of spiritual growth at any time of the year to find what is coming between you and God. Whether it is gluttony or lust, it's always something to take before God through prayer so you can continue to grow spiritually rather than remain stagnant in that growth.

 

[Luther073082]

No. I reject any ideology that says it's OK to have idols the rest of the year, but not during one arbitrary period. Lent has the same Biblical flaws as indulgences and confession: it encourages you to replace your constant, personal relationship with God and struggle with sin with a meaningless superficial "event"--after which you are usually no closer to God and no further from the sin.

Thats a total misunderstanding of what Lent is and its purpose.

Lent is a time that we celibrate the sacrifice Jesus made for us not only on the cross but also by becoming human. In celibrating sacrifice we sacrifice something of ourselves. It doesn't have to be something sinful, or an idol. (It can be as all people have sins and idols which plauge their lives.)

But it can be something that isn't sinful. For example sweets arn't sinful but a lot of people give them up for lent. Its a small sacrifice. The point of this small sacrifice is when you are really tempted to eat sweets you can recall the far greater sacrifice that Jesus made. I mean depending on the person giveing up on sweets can be a tough sacrifice. But no matter who you are, when you are tempted to eat those sweets, you can recall that your sacrifice for God is NOTHING compaired to choosing to go to a cross.

No church that I'm aware of says idols and sins are ok any other time but lent. Sin is sin and its never ok or acceptable.

Oh and confessing our sins to eachother is a command.

James 5:16
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

The error that you have confused is the belief that confessing your sins to clergy is the only way to receive forgivness. That is a Roman Catholic belief with which I heavily disagree. Faith in Christ is the only way to receive forgiveness, no matter if you confess them or not.

Confession is a time for you to be open about your sins and to hear a pastor, or Christian brother or sister remind you that you are forgiven by speaking that to you in Christ's stead.

If I confess my sins to a pastor, he doesn't forgive my sins - (Unless I sinned against him) but he does, if he does not have reason to belive that my confession is less then honest say to me that I am forgiven by Christ's authority.

 

[Manda_24]

I don't observe lent and neither does the church I go to.

 

[CrusaderKing]

Thats a total misunderstanding of what Lent is and its purpose.

Lent is a time that we celibrate the sacrifice Jesus made for us not only on the cross but also by becoming human. In celibrating sacrifice we sacrifice something of ourselves. It doesn't have to be something sinful, or an idol. (It can be as all people have sins and idols which plauge their lives.)

But it can be something that isn't sinful. For example sweets arn't sinful but a lot of people give them up for lent. Its a small sacrifice. The point of this small sacrifice is when you are really tempted to eat sweets you can recall the far greater sacrifice that Jesus made. I mean depending on the person giveing up on sweets can be a tough sacrifice. But no matter who you are, when you are tempted to eat those sweets, you can recall that your sacrifice for God is NOTHING compaired to choosing to go to a cross.

I was pretty vague in my response, but you have a good grasp of Lent. It can be taken as a time of spiritual growth as well. I'm not generally inclined to give up a food as a sacrifice other than the required fasting and abstinence. My Lenten observance has been more rewarding when I've taken it as an opportunity to be a little more disciplined in my spiritual life (e.g rosary, attending daily Mass, etc) so I can take habits to carry over beyond Lent, or more correctly, what I should have been doing all along. It just feels a bit cheap to me to say give up sweets just to start eating them again after Easter and call that a penance. I'm not going to criticize someone for doing that as a sacrifice because that's a personal decision. If you can take the fruits of that sacrifice beyond Lent, I would say it was fruitful.

 

[SmileAndAHandshake]

All lent was growing up was "give up chocolate", I remember that as a child.. I think it's sad that it gets reduced to that. I don't do the "give up sweets" thing any longer just because of that, though if it's a real vice to someone then obviously I commend them for it.. but I don't like how it's become a "diet trend" more than a spiritual one in some places. In that sense, I get where some criticisms might arise..

However, Lent is so much more, and it can be a time of profound spiritual understanding and growth. While people may criticize Lent all they like, the fact is that each individual person is capable of obtaining different things out of the same thing. What may be a "meaningless event" to one person, can be deeply profound learning experience or spiritual experience for another.

Generalizations in religion/spirituality are just as bad as any other kind of generalization. Saying "no one" benefits from a spiritual "event" is just as bad as slamming down any other negative stereotype as far as I'm concerned. It's a broad generalization that blankets a large amount of people, when it may apply to none of them at all.

I personally see it more as a time of personal challenge. It's not just about "giving up something" -- it's about pushing myself to do something I think I cannot. Going beyond your limits and comfort zone is also a sacrifice that stands to improve you as a human being in so many ways. So I always give up at least one thing, and take on at least one thing.

Just thought I'd expand on what I originally said, since I see criticisms of Lent are already arising as per usual

I think people should do what they feel is useful to them, and not do what is not useful to them. What these may be, will vary from individual to individual at the end of the day.

 

[Historicus]

I observe Lent as does my Church.

 

[citizenthom]

I don't intend to start a debate here, but since in expressing my own opinion I've been accused of "misunderstanding," I feel justified in responding.

Thats a total misunderstanding of what Lent is and its purpose.

Lent is a time that we celibrate the sacrifice Jesus made for us not only on the cross but also by becoming human. In celibrating sacrifice we sacrifice something of ourselves.

That's exactly what I said it was: a time set aside to celebrate something we're supposed to celebrate every day, by giving up something we either A.) should give up all the time (either a sin or an idol), or B.) are not required to give up at all (thus an empty sacrifice). Even a mature understanding of the event, which you have but most people do not, doesn't erase that fact: that it replaces what should be a constant contemplation with a seasonal one. That is the fundamental problem I have with Lent, even aside from the fact that it's mostly practiced in total frivolity and insincerity.