What do YOU do for Lent? (hell, priest, faith, Jewish)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the past, I went vegetarian for one Lent, the first after I was confirmed as an Episcopalian when I was around 35. I was into medieval English historical fiction, and giving up meat was the traditional thing in the Middle Ages. Another year I read The Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer every day. Psalms another year. The last church I attended usually had a Lenten program of some sort, a Bible or theological study with a specific focus, and I enjoyed that. A couple of times, it would be a soup night, so I would take one week and make my vegan lentil spinach soup. Even meateaters like it.
This year I am giving up Christianity for Lent. However, as I do every Ash Wednesday, I will listen to Allegri's Miserere Mei, Deus. Psalm 51.
In the Catholic Church, the only rules under pain of sin for Lent are that you must abstain from meat on Fridays, and fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
And I believe that 'pain of sin' bit only applies to people aged 18-65, or something along those lines, although abstaining from meat was encouraged for all (I'm an atheist now, but I was Catholic for the first 18 years of my life)
I'm in. Starting now I am refusing sugar for 40 days to show appreciation for making it to the bonus round and not dying an alkie. Starting Friday I am meatless to honor the sentience of animals. I will fast from sun up to sun down to show appreciation for the abundance. Since I am an atheist my higher power will just have to be compassion for people who don't have the choices I do.
So sayeth me.
That escalated pretty quickly from sentence 1 to sentence 3...I personally refuse sugar (meaning processed/refined sugar) nearly every day of my life just out of preferences/vague concerns about health, so that part would be easy for me, but to do a 40-day Ramadan of sorts? That's pretty intense.
And I believe that 'pain of sin' bit only applies to people aged 18-65, or something along those lines, although abstaining from meat was encouraged for all (I'm an atheist now, but I was Catholic for the first 18 years of my life)
You're correct; the fasting rules apply to those aged 18-59.
No sugar for 40 days is not intense. He's not going to die. He's going to live.
You read one sentence. Now I'd encourage you to read the two sentences that follow it in her post. She went from mentioning giving up sugar to saying she was going to fast from sunup to sundown. Hence my characterization of her pledge as 'Ramadan-style'
The rituals themselves point to god, as BF said, but people sometimes lose track of the symbolism and so the ritual is just an empty thing that no longer elevates god or godly principles in the person's mind; it's just something you're supposed to do and you feel part of the group by joining in. This is a valid critique; I just think evangelicals take it too far by turning it into a bogeyman and symbol of everything that is supposedly horribly wrong with more structured Christian communities. As if eradicating all ritual by itself creates a superior religious community, and there are zero tradeoffs.
Oh no, this I agree with. If that's what the poster meant then I get what he was saying.
It isn't supposed to be about the ritual. The ritual is supposed to be what serves as a reminder and focus on the point. Having to do certain rituals and doing them by rote is kind of backward.
You're correct; the fasting rules apply to those aged 18-59.
Frankly, I forgot about the age bit.
Wish I hadn't been reminded.
Now when I'm a couple weeks in, a smell that pleasing smell ( of a medium rare rib-eye) I may........
Lead me not into temptation
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
