{"id":61035,"date":"2007-05-29T17:14:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-29T22:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=61035"},"modified":"2023-05-29T17:15:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T22:15:50","slug":"who-loaned-us-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-loaned-us-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Loaned Us Lent?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Mike Thomas<\/p>\n

Now is the time of year when Catholics practice Lent. The term comes from the Old English term “lencten,” which meant “the spring season.” It is now used to describe the forty-day period prior to Easter wherein people seek to imitate the forty-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). The purpose of Lent is to prepare people for Christ’s day of resurrection, which is believed to be on Easter, through a fast of particular foods. “During Lent, the faithful must observe the law of fasting” [Catholic Dictionary]. This is not an absolute fast for forty days, as with Jesus in the wilderness, but is only practiced on Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) and on Fridays during Lent. Sundays are not included.<\/p>\n

When I was a child, I always wondered why some kids would come to school with ashes on their foreheads once a year, and why the school would serve fish on Fridays. (Not that I minded. It made a tasty sandwich between two rolls.) I know now that these were part of the Lenten season for Catholics who “fasted” for the forty days prior to Easter. Meat, eggs, butter, milk, cheese, and oil are just some of the forbidden “vices” during Lent.<\/p>\n

One of the things associated with New Orleans is Mardi Gras. What few realize is that this two-week party also stems from Lent. The celebration, which for most is a time of drunkenness and immorality, is a license to release all inhibitions before the forty days of restraint in Lent. The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is known as Fat Tuesday because it is the last day of the carnival. The term carnival itself finds its origin in this celebration. It comes from the Latin term\u00a0carnelevare<\/em>\u00a0which means “to remove the meat.” It was popularized in Mardi Gras because people were having a carnival before removing the meat in Lent. There are several reasons why these traditions are not from God:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Lent and Easter are never celebrated in the Bible. Jesus wants His people to remember His death every first day of the week in the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-26).<\/li>\n
  2. “The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith … forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:3). The Catholic doctrine of commanding to abstain from meat in Lent is evidence of this.<\/li>\n
  3. Jesus said it is a sin to honor the religious traditions of men as doctrines from God (Matthew 15:8-9).<\/li>\n
  4. God considers fish a meat (Deuteronomy 14:9-10). If it’s wrong to eat meat during Lent, fish is not the solution.<\/li>\n
  5. The only “holy day” God has today is the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10). To place religious significance on any other day is to depart from God’s will (Colossians 3:20-22; Galatians 4:10).<\/li>\n
  6. If something is a “vice” during Lent, it would be a vice 365 days a year. God never gives us a license to sin; those who teach us to do so are acting contrary to God’s will (I John 3:4-8).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Mike Thomas Now is the time of year when Catholics practice Lent. The term comes from the Old English term “lencten,” which meant “the spring season.” It is now used to describe the forty-day period prior to Easter wherein people seek to imitate the forty-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1465,1599],"class_list":["post-61035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-lent","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60933,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/whats-the-weather-should-we-observe-lent\/","url_meta":{"origin":61035,"position":0},"title":"What\u2019s the Weather? Should We Observe Lent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve A. Hamilton The television weatherman was forecasting a big snow. I happen to like snow. 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But I was thinking that I should give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57998,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mardi-gras\/","url_meta":{"origin":61035,"position":2},"title":"Mardi Gras","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by L. A. Stauffer in\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 6, No. 2, Feb. 2006 Neither Mardi Gras nor any of the practices of the lenten season are authorized by God in the Scriptures. Mardi Gras is a French term that means \"Fat Tuesday\" but generally refers to a three-day religious celebration that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/Mardi-Gras-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30084,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-ask-for-lent-money-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":61035,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong to ask for lent money back?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have lent money to some people in my workplace. Is it right to ask it back because in doing so I have to be firm, and when they don't return it I get weird ideas about them? Basically, my question is whether it is a sin to ask\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37525,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-it-feel-as-if-demons-were-chasing-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":61035,"position":4},"title":"Why did it feel as if demons were chasing me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I would like to start with my story. This would be my first year doing lent. On my list of things to give up were sex, cigarettes, soda, pork, and hard liquor. I have been dating this guy for almost a year now. I don't know what it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-catholicism-start-and-when-did-it-happen\/","url_meta":{"origin":61035,"position":5},"title":"Why did Catholicism start and when did it happen?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did the religion Catholicism start and what year did Catholicism start? Answer: Why Catholicism started is fairly straightforward. Man has a difficult time leaving something alone. There is a strong desire to modify things with the goal of \"improving\" things. 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