Lent? x_x

[chibiphonebooth]

ugh.

for lent, my parents are going to take away all electronics (most likely) for the whole lent season.

this means no video games, no computer, no tv... *dies*

its sooo not fair. at all.
i hate lent. x_x

i think its way too excessive. i mean, ok, i would understand if we could only have like 1-2 hrs of electronic time instead of what we normally have... but llike.. all weekdays without it??

i cant do that! YARHG.

[Radical Dreamer]

Sadness! Well, we'll MISS YOU!!! See you in like...*Lent lasts a month, right?* In a month, unless I'm wrong! Byeee!!

[chibiphonebooth]

im not leaving YET. XD

when does lent START anyway? and im still in the proccess of trying to convince my parents that its way over the edge.

[ShiroiHikari]

o.o I don't think they should force Lent on you. You should be able to pick your own thing for Lent. :\

[Meow Chan]

Wow that sux kinda a lot

[Meow Chan]

i think it starts march 1

[chibiphonebooth]

o.o I don't think they should force Lent on you. You should be able to pick your own thing for Lent. :\

they always do.

its really annoying.
but i dont remember doing lent last year, or the year before. i think they are just using lent as an exuse to get us off electronics.

[Mangafanatic]

Having been through lent of this very nature, I feel your pain. However, if your parents are requiring that you do it, may I suggest you not make my mistake? When I did lent, I spent all the time thinking about the first movie I'd watch when I go back, or the first website I'd hit when I had my computer back, so forth and so on. It simply defeates the purpose.

Try to spend this time devoting extra time to God. I'd challenge you to try to memorize a passage of scripture. Heck, with that much time on your hand, you could memorize a pretty hefty chunk of the Bible. And I know a lot of people think "I'm no good at memorizing!", but everyone can memorize. It just takes some people longer. Find some passage which means a lot to you, and memorize it, even if it takes a while. I'm memorizing Phillipians and it's taking me ages, so don't let the amount of time it requires discourage you.

Another thing I think I'd mention is that the kind of things you're sustaining from are huge priviledges. Having been in a third world country where sewage runs down the same muddy paths where children play barefoot, computer and video games are a shocking and huge gift which the majority of the world's population can only dream of. In light of that, while you're abstaining from these incredible gift-- I suugest you take the oppotunity to thank God for them. And not just some wimpy "Well, I'm supposed to be thankful so. . ." kind of prayer. I'm talking about an on-your-face-carpet-fibers-up-your-nose kind of thankful. Everytime you're all "ARGH! I wanna play my [insert object]!" try to turn it around and say "Gosh, God, thanks for giving me the kind of ridiculous wealth which allows me to have all these things."

Suffering is something that we are called to. I'm not going to debate about the value of lent, but I will say that if you don't spend the entirity of lent being mad about it-- it could be awesome.

Does abstaining from electronics make "sense?" No. But did God's commandment that the Isrealites not wear clothes made from fabrics which were wool/linen mixes make sense? No (except that it WOULD shrink up kind of funny in the wash). But was there a purpose for it? Most certainly. One purpose that I and my pastor discussed was that it was simply to be different. To ask people to say-- so, what's up with that? This could be an opportunity to be different and to share your faith.

And that, boys and girls, is the true meaning of lent. (Just kidding)

[Nate]

And then we learned the true meaning of Columbus Day!

[Radical Dreamer]

im not leaving YET. XD

when does lent START anyway? and im still in the proccess of trying to convince my parents that its way over the edge.

LOL, yes, convince! I don't know when it starts, though...when DOES it start? All I know is that I THINK it lasts for a month. XD Anyways, tell them to take away like...Your eMo mUziK pirvlgse!

[chibiphonebooth]

LOL, yes, convince! I don't know when it starts, though...when DOES it start? All I know is that I THINK it lasts for a month. XD Anyways, tell them to take away like...Your eMo mUziK pirvlgse!

ZOMG NOE 1 CUD EVR TAYK AWAI MI EMO MUZIK PRIVLGRGEZ. CUZ IT LIVZ 4EVA IN MI BROKN HART THT BLEEDZ BLACK BLUD LYK MY EYELINR.

[chibiphonebooth]

Having been through lent of this very nature, I feel your pain. However, if your parents are requiring that you do it, may I suggest you not make my mistake? When I did lent, I spent all the time thinking about the first movie I'd watch when I go back, or the first website I'd hit when I had my computer back, so forth and so on. It simply defeates the purpose.

Try to spend this time devoting extra time to God. I'd challenge you to try to memorize a passage of scripture. Heck, with that much time on your hand, you could memorize a pretty hefty chunk of the Bible. And I know a lot of people think "I'm no good at memorizing!", but everyone can memorize. It just takes some people longer. Find some passage which means a lot to you, and memorize it, even if it takes a while. I'm memorizing Phillipians and it's taking me ages, so don't let the amount of time it requires discourage you.

Another thing I think I'd mention is that the kind of things you're sustaining from are huge priviledges. Having been in a third world country where sewage runs down the same muddy paths where children play barefoot, computer and video games are a shocking and huge gift which the majority of the world's population can only dream of. In light of that, while you're abstaining from these incredible gift-- I suugest you take the oppotunity to thank God for them. And not just some wimpy "Well, I'm supposed to be thankful so. . ." kind of prayer. I'm talking about an on-your-face-carpet-fibers-up-your-nose kind of thankful. Everytime you're all "ARGH! I wanna play my [insert object]!" try to turn it around and say "Gosh, God, thanks for giving me the kind of ridiculous wealth which allows me to have all these things."

Suffering is something that we are called to. I'm not going to debate about the value of lent, but I will say that if you don't spend the entirity of lent being mad about it-- it could be awesome.

Does abstaining from electronics make "sense?" No. But did God's commandment that the Isrealites not wear clothes made from fabrics which were wool/linen mixes make sense? No (except that it WOULD shrink up kind of funny in the wash). But was there a purpose for it? Most certainly. One purpose that I and my pastor discussed was that it was simply to be different. To ask people to say-- so, what's up with that? This could be an opportunity to be different and to share your faith.

And that, boys and girls, is the true meaning of lent. (Just kidding)

ive been to third world countries too... and i know its a privalege... its just like.. kj;dalkjf;a. really annoying. cause ...

...

yarg.

yes.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

MMhmm, If youve ever had the times of switching back and forth from dial up to cable, to dial up and back to cable. You may understand how it feels. When we made the switch from dial up to cable. I was estatic! It was the bomb! Playing counter-strike with my friends with a good connection. It was amazing...

Till we got rid of it, and went back to dialup.

At first, it was utter torture. I couldn't handle the slowness! But after a while, I started to get used to it, and it started to feel okay.

Then we got cable again and I was estatic again

Point is, thing's dont always seem bad as what they seem

[Puritan]

No wish to undermine your parents, but my understanding is that the choice of what you give up should be left to you. In the spirit of Lent it should be something important to you, but I thought it was typical to choose your own loss rather than have it chosen for you. As the computer is so important to you it might be a good thing to give up, but if this is impractical you could find a suitable alternative that fits the spirit of Lent and talk to your parents about giving that up instead. However it works out, I hope that you learn from the experience and are reminded of the blessings we have been given by God, because I know how easy it is to take them for granted.

[chibiphonebooth]

i wanna give up homework and school for lent!

[Joshua Christopher]

For lent I give up breathing.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

For Lent, I give up giving up things for Lent

[Arnobius]

LOL, yes, convince! I don't know when it starts, though...when DOES it start? All I know is that I THINK it lasts for a month. XD Anyways, tell them to take away like...Your eMo mUziK pirvlgse!

In my tradition Lent is 40 days. Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. Sundays are not considered part of lent
The traditional giving up of meet on Fridays IS a sacrifice for me. It doesn't feel like a meal without it

[Yumie]

In my tradition Lent is 40 days. Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. Sundays are not considered part of lent
The traditional giving up of meet on Fridays IS a sacrifice for me. It doesn't feel like a meal without it

Yep, it's the six weeks up to Easter.

My parents made me do this too, giving up all electronics except for a movie with the family on Friday nights. And yeah, it didn't really make sense, because it seemed like I should choose what I wanted to give up, especially since I'm not Catholic and only one other family in my whole church other than us gave things up for lent. But, I do know that the Bible says to honor your parents, and irritating as it is, that includes honoring them when they make us give up things that we love for no apparent reason whatsoever. Just try to make the most of your free time to do constructive things and all that jazz, stay positive, and maybe it won't be so bad.

[Warrior4Christ]

In my tradition Lent is 40 days. Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. Sundays are not considered part of lent

Does that mean you can go back to using electronic stuff on Sundays?

Is that ALL electronics you're giving up, too? Because just about everying has electronics in it. You can't wear a watch. Use a gas stove (though that's very borderline). Can't drive a car. Can't use a phone. Can't listen to music. Etc etc etc.

[Radical Dreamer]

Not to get this thread off topic or anything, but in what denomination is Lent practiced? I don't think I've ever done it before...I've been a part of a Presbyterian church and am now a part of a non-denominational church. So...which denomination does this?

[Raiden no Kishi]

I dunno. I second the thought of giving up Lent for Lent, however. And the thought that your parent's shouldn't force it on you. First, I don't remember Lent anywhere in Scripture, and second, isn't it supposed to be something between a believer and God? Having it forced on you seems to defeat the purpose if you ask me. Meh.

.rai//

[TurkishMonky]

i believe it was started in the catholic church, but the process of fasting from somthing so you can devote that time to God has been around sine early hebrew history, and is practiced by many denominations.

[mitsuki lover]

For Lent I volunteer to give up eating liver!
Ok,seriously now I know a lot of other Christians practice giving up things for Lent but I read where C.S.Lewis once said what is important is that we willingly give up our favorite sins,or something to that effect.
I don't really practice Lent myself.
As far as it goes when we were living in the country we used to have a lot of
times when we were without electricity for days and even a couple times weeks because of outages.So from that perspective giving up electronics for a brief time doesn't seem too great a pain.At least you don't ahve to worry about when the power company will be coming to fix whatever the most recent problem is.
Just take a deep breath and do a lot of extra reading.

[ShiroiHikari]

I used to go to a Free Will Baptist church that practiced Lent, though I've never done Lent stuff myself. For me, personally, instead of giving up something tangible, I'd probably try to give up something internal-- like for instance, talking trash about people. It might be harder but it would definitely be more beneficial in the end, I think. Of course, that is something you should be doing every day anyway. Um. I'm rambling.

[Roy Mustang]

I know other churches that practiced Lent, but the catholic church is big on this.

I will be giving up meat on Friday as I always have.


Wingzero22

[Rogie]

I used to go to a Free Will Baptist church that practiced Lent.

And I've gone to a Freewill Baptist church since childhood, and they never practiced Lent (or fasting, for that matter). Of course, it operates a lot like a non-denominational sometimes, too.

I guess it's on a church-by-church basis, and observing it is honestly more of a person-by-person basis. I do the fasting with the Prayer Guardians here at CAA (when I remember ), but no one else in my family or church ever fasts.

It's a personal conviction and it requires a good amount of devotion, in my opinion, to do either Lent or any general fasting otherwise.

[mechana2015]

I personally chose to start doing a lent fast each year during high school, but I made a point of making three rules: It couldn't damage my daily operating (no giving up talking because of interactive classes and work, no giving up computers now because I would fail classes), It has to be practical (breathing, eating, walking cannot be given up because... well... thats just dumb really) and it had to have meaning to me (giving up somthing I dont do anyways like smoking or shooting up is pointless).

The last two years I have given up video games, and candy. Both were actually quite difficult, and very effective, as well as having beneficial results overall (less wasted time, less sugar in my diet). I also felt like I did get closer to God thanks to these, and because I chose them myself they had a lot of meaning. I think if somthing were imposed on me I would take it as a punishment, not as a fast (think of the difference between the statements "I'm not going to eat for a week" and "You don't get to eat for a week!")

Lent really has meaning to me because I choose to do it, thats what I think. No church that I have attended has ever metioned lent.

[Kawaiikneko]

oh oh I'm gonna be a total dork nitpicker. whheeee XDDD

But did God's commandment that the Isrealites not wear clothes made from fabrics which were wool/linen mixes make sense?

actually it did make sense because there was a pagan religion at the time whose priests wore those fabrics. The point behind the command was that God didn't want the Israelites to dress like the priests of a pagan religion.

SOOOO now that I've been a dork and pointed that out... Sorry about that Savvy T_T I'll miss youu. Good luck, have a good attitude and make the best of it.

[Mithrandir]

Wow. Forced lent might be tough if it's done in that way. I think MangaFanatic had a pretty good bit of advice there. My denomination doesn't practice lent, but I've found it useful to observe from time to time. Kinda the same as fasting, I guess. It's not really useful if the absence of whatever doesn't draw you closer to God.

Good luck! Ganbatte!