Lent Give-ups

Cap'n Squirrgle · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:59 am

Kingfish Wrote:

Flying Rabbit Wrote:

Why are most of you giving up things...because its what you do and the church told you to, or because you genuinely feel moved to cleanse yourself? Just wondering.

It honestly has nothing to do with the church. Well, maybe a little.

I really do it for two reasons: 1) The self-satisfaction of doing something difficult that requires determination over an extended period of time; 2) I find that the self-denial causes me to get out of my routine of thinking about my desires, which makes me reflect on things bigger than myself. Basically, it's practicing not being selfish, which I can use more of in my life.

Also handily summed up by an old college roommate who gave up alcohol for lent (and who was not religious): "Just making sure."

paper · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:58 am

nobody Wrote:

Shame and decency.

QUAL

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:16 pm

Kingfish Wrote:

Flying Rabbit Wrote:

Why are most of you giving up things...because its what you do and the church told you to, or because you genuinely feel moved to cleanse yourself? Just wondering.

It honestly has nothing to do with the church. Well, maybe a little.

I really do it for two reasons: 1) The self-satisfaction of doing something difficult that requires determination over an extended period of time; 2) I find that the self-denial causes me to get out of my routine of thinking about my desires, which makes me reflect on things bigger than myself. Basically, it's practicing not being selfish, which I can use more of in my life.

Not trying to start a clash. Its just I feel like many of the "traditions" of religion are legalistic if done for the wrong reasons. I had this conversation with people in the past week and they said it was because it was "what they did this time of year". Responses like that really bother me. I can respect your response. Personally, I don't see why its relegated to one week of the year, but I can at least respect your thinking. Its the same with people putting out nativity scenes...why relegate it to only December? Are you not celebrating our Savior's birth? That should be a year-round thing.

Senator LooGAR · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:05 pm

I used to not give a fuck - now I gives a fuck less.

Actually, long after I stopped going to Mass, I would still give things up like soda, or slangin yay.

Now it's just not something I put a lot of emphasis on - I am taking it back to the early church and figuring that the amount of money I give em these days will buy me back into The Big Man's Good Graces

Dalen · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:08 pm

I'm going to fail at giving up these.

Kingfish · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:35 pm

Flying Rabbit Wrote:

Kingfish Wrote:

Flying Rabbit Wrote:

Why are most of you giving up things...because its what you do and the church told you to, or because you genuinely feel moved to cleanse yourself? Just wondering.

It honestly has nothing to do with the church. Well, maybe a little.

I really do it for two reasons: 1) The self-satisfaction of doing something difficult that requires determination over an extended period of time; 2) I find that the self-denial causes me to get out of my routine of thinking about my desires, which makes me reflect on things bigger than myself. Basically, it's practicing not being selfish, which I can use more of in my life.

Not trying to start a clash. Its just I feel like many of the "traditions" of religion are legalistic if done for the wrong reasons. I had this conversation with people in the past week and they said it was because it was "what they did this time of year". Responses like that really bother me. I can respect your response. Personally, I don't see why its relegated to one week of the year, but I can at least respect your thinking. Its the same with people putting out nativity scenes...why relegate it to only December? Are you not celebrating our Savior's birth? That should be a year-round thing.

Another reason I do it is because I'm coming off of Xmas holidays and Mardi Gras. At this point, my liver and waistline are looking to scale it down. So on some level, "this time of the year" kind of makes sense. I don't know - I think I see wisdom in "there's a time for everything" thinking. I mean I love Mardi Gras but I realistically can't eat King Cakes 365 days a year.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:45 pm

But, once again you are actually placing this as a moment in your life to improve yourself, which I see as a positive. I guess I see certain traditions as stodgy relics if people do not think about what it means and ask why they are doing the activities. I mean, look at how many Catholics on Ash Wednesday get ash on their foreheads. Yes, they might grasp a Sunday School definition, but do they truly understand and live out the meaning? I guess in a way I'm getting on a platform here, and I apologize if its perceived as denigrating someone's beliefs.

Kingfish · **Posted:** Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:31 pm

Flying Rabbit Wrote:

But, once again you are actually placing this as a moment in your life to improve yourself, which I see as a positive. I guess I see certain traditions as stodgy relics if people do not think about what it means and ask why they are doing the activities. I mean, look at how many Catholics on Ash Wednesday get ash on their foreheads. Yes, they might grasp a Sunday School definition, but do they truly understand and live out the meaning? I guess in a way I'm getting on a platform here, and I apologize if its perceived as denigrating someone's beliefs.

I don't think you're denigrating. It's always good to question why.

discostu · **Posted:** Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:54 pm

fuck it, I gave up French Fries (which I hope will keep me away from places that serve french fries)

Radcliffe · **Posted:** Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:19 pm

f4df Wrote:

Radcliffe Wrote:

Try giving up childhood-learned superstition for a month.

or, I can try to give those with one foot in the grave a little nudge

0.1 / 5

catswilleatyou · **Posted:** Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:43 pm

im not drinking on weeknights. except wednesday night at class... we call it whiskey wednesday.

Lent Give-ups

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