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Lent as people celebrate it

abide

abide

Member
From the time I was a teenager I wondered about Lent and Easter.

I have been searching for scriptures for the observance of these days. I have asked myself if these days are to be
celebrated would not the early church and the apostles observe them. Just curious.
.
 
There is something called Ash Wednesday. You go to the church and they put a cross made of Ash on your forehead. Then you go around town or go to work and you don't wash it off all day. Then you give up something that you really like that you will miss for 40 days. It can be a favorite food. It can be video games. No real rules. It is observed by Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Easter Orthodox, Lutherans, and Methodists
 
I don't celebrate lent. I don't like the idea of fasting and having to give something up. If Jesus doesn't command me to celebrate it then I don't feel like there is any need.
 
Count Duckula said:
You give up something that you really like that you will miss for 40 days.
Click to expand...
I suppose that if they were serious in these man made ordinances. they would imitate Jesus and have absolutely no food at all for forty days. Wait. Wait! There's an out. In 1 Cor 11:1 we're told by our risen Lord Jesus by revelation to Paul (Gal 1:11-12) that we're to follow Jesus as Paul followed Jesus (1 Cor 11:1). Did Paul voluntarily enter a hunger strike, spread ash on his forehead, and think he was doing God's will in all that self effort?

There have been some that attempt to relate all this to fasting. Do they really know what fast God has chosen?
Isa 58:4 Isa 58:4 . . . to make your voice to be heard on high. (Hey there lady; do you know you've got a mess on your forehead!)
Isa 58:5 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?
Isa 58:6 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? ( But Father, don't you know how hard it is to give up eating Hostess Twinkies for forty days?)
Isa 58:7 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? :shrug
 
abide said:
From the time I was a teenager I wondered about Lent and Easter.

I have been searching for scriptures for the observance of these days. I have asked myself if these days are to be
celebrated would not the early church and the apostles observe them. Just curious.
.
Click to expand...
Too bad we only look to the early church, the Apostles, the Apologists and the Early Church Fathers when it suits us. Too bad we don't always look to what they believed and follow it.

Ash Wednesday has a beautiful significance and so does Lent.
I read all the Protestant anti'isms to it. If I have time later I'll post why it's a good idea for EVERY church to follow...
 
wondering said:
Maybe to learn how to control youself?
Did Jesus not say we're to fast?
Click to expand...

I don't need to starve myself to learn control. I eat daily because the body needs food daily to function properly, my body and mind needs to function and needs food to live and be healthy.
 
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wondering said:
Too bad we only look to the early church, the Apostles, the Apologists and the Early Church Fathers when it suits us. Too bad we don't always look to what they believed and follow it.

Ash Wednesday has a beautiful significance and so does Lent.
I read all the Protestant anti'isms to it. If I have time later I'll post why it's a good idea for EVERY church to follow...
Click to expand...
 
Personally, I think the rather showy display of running around with the dirt on your forehead — not to mention all the bragging of what you are giving up — is in direct violation of Jesus' telling us to keep our "fasting" to ourselves by not even letting on that we are doing it.
 
kiwidan said:
I don't need to starve myself to learn control. I eat daily because the body needs food daily to function properly, my body and mind needs to function and needs food to live and be healthy.
Click to expand...
First of all K, nobody starves themselves.
Second, you're not the only person in a church. This is done for others as well who may actually need to learn some self-control.
 
Willie T said:
Personally, I think the rather showy display of running around with the dirt on your forehead — not to mention all the bragging of what you are giving up — is in direct violation of Jesus' telling us to keep our "fasting" to ourselves by not even letting on that we are doing it.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, it's a great testimony to one's faith.
Jesus also said that he who is ashamed of Him, he will also be ashamed of.
Luke 9:26
New International Version
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
 
wondering said:
On the other hand, it's a great testimony to one's faith.
Jesus also said that he who is ashamed of Him, he will also be ashamed of.
Luke 9:26
New International Version
Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Click to expand...






I am not ashamed of Jesus. I don't have to wear ashes on my forehead to prove it. I got a cross necklace that I wear around my neck every day and I'm getting Baptized on April 15th. If I was ashamed it would be really hard to tell with those actions and I'm not.
 
HeIsRisen2018 said:
I am not ashamed of Jesus. I don't have to wear ashes on my forehead to prove it. I got a cross necklace that I wear around my neck every day and I'm getting Baptized on April 15th. If I was ashamed it would be really hard to tell with those actions and I'm not.
Click to expand...
Well, you wear a cross, and that's wonderful.
Catholics like to get their ashes to show the beginning of Lent.
They do it for the same reason you wear the cross.
Anything we feel we're doing for God is a good thing, there's no reason to be arguing about this just because some of us Protestants don't believe in it.
(I wasn't speaking to you personally!)
 
ASHES AND LENT

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.
From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday is about 40 days, deducting each Sunday.

When the priest places the ashes on the forehead, or the hair, of the person, he says one of two verses:
"For you are dust and to dust you shall return."
Genesis 3:19c
OR
"Repent and believe in the gospel."
Mark 1:15b

Person who had committed grave acts of sin (O.T.) were required to wear sackcloth for 40 days. They were sprinkled with ashes and expelled from church to remind them of when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They were admitted back to church on Holy Thursday.

Ashes were used in the year 200-300 AD, but the ritual, as practiced today, dates to about 950 AD. Ashes were used because they were a sign of repentence.
Job 42:5-6
Daniel 9:3
(1 Maccabees 3:47)
Mathew 11:21

Today, ashes are received as a sign of devotion. They remind people that God is gracious with those who have a repentant heart. They reflect a humble heart and remind us that this earthly life is a passing life.

Lent is a time of preparation for a big event.
The big event is the Passion of Christ.
Christ was born for us.
He died for us.
He was resurrected for us.
He was born and died to save us from death and from sin.
Purple is the color for Easter. The color of penetance and humility, the color of royalty. Jesus is the sovereign King in the Kingdom of God, right here on earth.

Most catholics will deny themselves meat on Friday, or perhaps make some other small sacrifice. This is in line with Romans 12:1 and helps in preparing the heart for Easter.

If one dies with Christ on Good Friday, and has prepared himself properly, the joy of Easter morning is all the more full.

It's my belief that all churches should prepare for Easter and the death of Christ. This would be a nice way. Children, especially, could use some "religiosity". It would help them to understand Christian seasons and would help them to bond with their Christian faith.
 
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