What are you giving up for Lent?

Come on, Jeannette. You got distracted by the Moses reference because you've heard it so many times. But who else pulled the forty day fast routine in the Bible? How about your favorite hero, the Jesus character?

Matthew 4:2 (CEB) = 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving.


And who else? Remember Elijah from 1 Kings 19:7-9 (TLB) =
7 Then the Angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you.”

8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, 9 where he lived in a cave.

But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

An interesting observation about the forty day fasting period is that it didn't physically affect Moses. He was strong enough to lug the two heavy stone tablets down the mountain on two occasions.

Elijah chowed down and then went on a forty day hike across the country side without eating again. And after spending a night in a cave, he was good to go once more without eating.

The Jesus character was the weak one, barely making it for forty days without starving to death. He wouldn't have been able to keep up with Moses or Elijah.

When you pay careful attention to the biblical stories you will notice that they include references to events that take place over forty days and forty nights and also forty years. That time period was fascinating to the story tellers.

So, it seems that the folks who came up with the idea of Lent were trying to get the sheep to follow the examples of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Notice that of the three characters, the stories only mention Moses as the one who also went without water for forty days and forty nights. If you are going to do the forty day fast drink water but layoff the food. At the end of forty days you will need an organ transplant or two but it's doable. And be sure to take showers or baths or else you will stink. BTW, it is possible to go up to 70 days without food.

 

So Christians who respond to anyone who insults them and their faith, are nasty people. Hmmm! I guess it's called liberal logic. Now me, I prefer reasoning.

(My apologies to William Shakespeare)

​

To reason or not to reason
that is the question.

How can'st one reason
where knowledge is not.

When reasoning itself
requires a lot - Jeannette


​

 

As I pointed out the FIRST POST with any nastiness came from a christian, guess you do not understand . Where did you get the idea I was a liberal from? I guess you do not understand your little meme, you reasoned without knowledge, kind of makes you look a fool!

 

No matter the number of years I've been fallen from Catholicism, I still have the calendar in my head. And these days, I use Lent as a good excuse to stop behaviors that are bad for me. Stop eating foods that aren't good for me.

 

I'm Orthodox, so let me tell you what I know from my readings and experiences, so you'll know where I'm coming from. When the Church glorifies a Saint, it means their virtues, (such as fasting and praying throughout the night - mostly for others) exceeds human limits, so that they became spiritualized. This is why they can live with a minimum of food, sleep, etc.

These Saints or future Saints, are given charisms by God that exceed physical limitations, but to what extent depends on the virtue and purity of the individual Saint. One gift they all seem to have though, is the ability to read people's souls. The more gifted Saints can bi-locate (be in two places at the same time). I know someone who was saved by a Saint who was thousands of miles away at the time.

Saint Porphyrios was able to see all the geological formations in the earth and tell others how far down they needed to go to find water. He called it his gift of 'Clear Sight'. Anyway, the Church does a lot of testing before someone is glorified, because witches and warlocks do exist, and they too have powers that go beyond our physical limitations.

 

"Whatever works for you" doesn't work if the other two don't agree with you.

 

As long as they are gathered in his name, the box is checked. It doesn't say as long as three completely agree about everything, I am there.

 

Those are all good choices.

 

Thank you for this information. I had never heard of this before.
I have a freind who follows what she calls a Daniel Fast. She listed what she is allowed to eat and it sounds similar to your list of foods.
Her fast is only for a limited period of time, I forgot how long.

 

That is my goal. I am giving up two things that are bad for me---fast food and Facebook.

 

The worse thing the Catholic Church did was eliminating the Fast. Before that Catholics ate fish twice a week. Not just Catholics though, everyone. Throughout history, fish was known as a brain food because of the affect it had on the nervous system.

Not only did children stop eating fish, but the companies started putting Vitamin D in milk, so that children stopped taking Cod Liver Oil - which in my day and age was a staple. (I'm very old).

Could this be why ADD and ADHD was so prevalent in children from the 1970's and onward?

 

YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

Some thinkest that I said a slight
so censuring must rule.
But thinking thus is but a blight
that makest them the fool - Jeannette​

 

If you have to be "gathered in his name" if you're going to claim you're gathered in his name, that was the point.

 

No the point is you cannot accept that scripture contradicts your claim.

 

Giving up watching Tarzan movies

 

1 Timothy 2:12
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; she is to remain quiet.

 

Have you ever noticed that Tarzan is always clean-shaven? You would think that for a guy who spends his time swinging through the jungle trees he would look like a hairy monkey.

 

Good choice.

 

Question: How did Tarzan end up in the jungle with all those Africans? Where was his family? Was he happy there in Africa?
Just curious. I've never been a fan of Tarzan.

 

Apparently his family, while on a safari, was ambushed by the wahooki and everyone in the party was slain except the the baby (tarzan) who was raised by chimpanzies. Anyhow, that's as I remember it.

 

Ditto. I left them behind ages ago but I still remember those early teachings. I'm working on bettering myself and I think that's a good thing no matter the motivation behind it.

 

No, the point is that you don't know squat about scripture and you think you can BS me. But you can't.

 

Legalism is the hallmark of cult mentalities, and fortunately the perversion of religion by such thinking is driving people away from the cults and their strict adherence to manufactured rules not supported by scripture. You can believe whatever you like about your self-alleged superior understanding of scripture. You will have legions of company, just not in this world.

 

Ignorance is the hallmark of false teachers and prophets.

 

Thank you for that explaination.