There were some responses, which gave the idea that Lent is a unimportant and insignificant tradition of man made religion which should pretty well be done away with.
Now I'll admit to not adhering to Lent this year (or any other that I can remember), but this was my response... what do you think?
I can see no harm in Lent what-so-ever. The idea of giving something up to spend that time instead in prayer and communion with God is something seen all throughout the Old Testament (Nineveh when Jonah comes and tells them God will destroy them if they don't repent, the king even makes the cattle and sheep fast! Malachi praying for the Jewish people in Esther's time ect) and there is call for fasting and prayer in the New Testament as well. Jesus fasted and prayed before beginning his ministry, and gives teaching on fasting in Matthew 6:16.
Also in Acts there are times of fasting to prepare people for their ministries (kind of like what Jesus did before his).
So my bug isn't with Lent as such as people saying "man made religion bad!!!" when they haven't even considered a time of fasting themselves which is COMPLETELY BIBLICAL! And recommended in times of repentance, asking for help or preparing to do work.
Religion isn't bad - traditions are not bad either - but the fact we can let them become so mundane and routine that we loose the focus on them is bad.
Also in Acts there are times of fasting to prepare people for their ministries (kind of like what Jesus did before his).
So my bug isn't with Lent as such as people saying "man made religion bad!!!" when they haven't even considered a time of fasting themselves which is COMPLETELY BIBLICAL! And recommended in times of repentance, asking for help or preparing to do work.
Religion isn't bad - traditions are not bad either - but the fact we can let them become so mundane and routine that we loose the focus on them is bad.
Like it or not, all of our church heritage comes from a Catholic background - from the period of Constantine to the Reformation all churches were Roman Catholic (Catholic meaning Unified so basically the Unified Church from Rome), it was a long the way that our 'religion' got sidetracked...
Lent allows us a time to give something up and instead of doing it (be it eating, TV whatever) we spend time in communion with God. That's the real meaning of it - and it is a preparation for celebrating the Grace shown to us by Jesus at E aster time = it has nothing to do with suffering with Christ, or feeling a bit like Christ, but everything with setting aside specific time to get to know him better.
can't see anything wrong with that.
Apologies for spelling or grammatical errors int that one, I'm not overly careful on Facebook with that!
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