THE
OBSERVANCE OF LENT
By
Carolyn Schorle
I do not recall as growing up the observance of Lent, other than my best friend in High School being Catholic gave up certain foods during a time around Easter. She was very self-disciplined, and I remember that what ever it was she gave up; she stuck to it for the entire forty days. After becoming a Christian, I realized her efforts, however noble, was not biblical, nor necessary.
When did the custom of lent really began? It began in the second century, as fasting, and abstaining from certain foods was imposed after the days of the apostles by the priests.
The Lenten season is believed to be a biblical custom of penitence and abstinence, beginning on “Ash Wednesday”’ Lent comes from the word Lencten, referring to the spring of the year. Originally it was associated with the spring but today it begins in the winter.
But, is Lent taught in the scriptures? In a way, yes, but was known as the great annual festival in celebration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, the pagan Babylonian God. Forty days before the feast of Tammuz, the pagans held their Lenten season.
“He said unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations
that they do.
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward
The north; and, behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Ezek.8:13-14
They were weeping for Tammuz. It preceded the pagan festival in honor of the false belief that Tammuz had been resurrected. Fasting and weeping went on for forty days. Lent, as I brought out before, means “spring”. Lent continues the custom of abstaining from certain foods just before celebrating a fake resurrection. God called this celebration an abomination. God warned his people over and over by the prophets not to learn the way of the heathen.
Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen. Je. 10:1-2.
It would appear, just as Israel continued to go the way of the heathen, the church continues to go the way of the world, and her customs.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “the purpose of lent is to prepare men for the celebration of the death and Resurrection of Christ….the better the preparation the more effective the celebration will be. One can effectively relieve the mystery only with purified minds and heart. Lent provided that purification by weaning men from sin and selfishness through self-denial and prayer, by creating in them the desire to do God’s will and to make His kingdom come by making it come first in their hearts.”
Sounds good, but does lent bring us closer to God? The answer is absolutely NOT. God’s word teaches us that we are Purified, cleansed, and accepted in the Beloved through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:11-14, 22:13:12). Can we be weaned from sin? No! The only hope for self-control, temperance, is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. Fasting was never designed as a means of penance.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Nothing in our hands we bring, only to his cross we cling.
Paul warned us to beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Col. 2:8-10.). Jesus never commanded his apostles to observe Lent, but to observe the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
At first, Lent was observed for no more than a week: some for only a day or two. Still, some kept it for forty hours, believing that only forth hours elapsed between Christ’s death and resurrection.
Lent was not observed by the first century Church, but was first addressed at the church at Rome during the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. Any doctrine contrary to the Roman Church was considered an enemy of the state. In A.D. 360, the Laodicea church commanded Lent to be observed. As time continued, more and more emphasis was placed on fasting…..from the fifth century on the observance of the fast was very strict. Only one meal a day was allowed: flesh meat and fish and even most dairy foods were strictly forbidden. Meat was not even allowed on Sundays” From the ninth century onward, Lent’s strict rule were relaxed. The emphasis was on performing “penitential works” than fasting and abstinence. Pope Paul IV (Fed. 17, 1966), “abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, and on all Fridays of the year that do not fall on holy days of obligation, and fasting as well as abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday” (Catholic Encyclopedia).
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not, handle not; which all are to parish with the using ;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
We are warned in scripture not to use self-denial as a tool for our own will. “Will” worship places the focus on ourselves and what we can do in our own strength, and not reliance on the Holy Spirit.
There is no room for the
observance of lent in the life of a Christian. Let us hold fast our profession
of faith, and again, once for all contend for the faith once for all delivered
to the saints.