What did you give up for Lent?

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I gave up trying to join a multiplayer game in Little Big Planet 3. Every time the friendly allure beckons with messages of acceptance and creative teamwork with Stephen Fry's soothing yet playful voice assuring me everything will be ok...All I have to do is choose "join" before any single player adventure ([small]instead of "play on my own"...A much larger, shame inducing bubble[/small]) and dive into the wonderful joyous fun with others. Am not easily enticed into these things, but the game has a charm and a reassuring tone that calms some odd social anxiety.

But none of the little shits ever accept me. I am being rejected in a damn kids game that markets easy going acceptance! Why am i not good enough for you bastards?? Is it because I dressed my avatar as the creepiest stone-cold-eyed red riding hood I could that looks like it will consume your very soul with its' demon cocktail umbrella?? can't you handle a bit of psychologically scarring fear??? ...Fine!...Never wanted to socialise with you assholes anyway.

I still get into heaven though, right?

 

[Recusant]

]Lent is a period of 40 days of "reflection and preparation" before the celebrations of Easter.
By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians and Catholics "replicate" Jesus' sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Some people fast, but the big thing is that for those 40 days you give up something (i.e. social media, internet, or something that plays a large part in your day-to-day life) and spend that time praying, repenting, etc. It's like a religious pre-game thing, get all high on repentance before the big Holy Week commemoration.

Catholics are Christians; indeed, they have more chronological right to claim that than anyone else, with the exception of the Greek and Roman Orthodox and the Assyrians (who they're tied with, having all evolved from the same root). It'd be more accurate to say "Christians and Protestants"- but the Catholics aren't that rude. Let's return the favor, eh?

Also, since Ash Wednesday was on the first this year, someone is going to point it out sooner or later, so I'll do it: Lent is not 40 days long, as anyone with a calendar could tell you. The six Sundays that fall between Ash Wednesday and Easter, being Sundays, are days that Catholics aren't supposed to fast or do penance, so they're not part of Lent.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I grew up Greek Orthodox so you traditionally would not eat meat for those 40 days but only priests would usually do that. Most folks would just follow that for the last week.


I've been agnostic for years though so I don't give up anything any more. Even if Jesus really does exist, he surely doesn't want us to suffer for his memory but rather live our temporary lives to the fullest and how can you do that without bacon. How I ask you, how.


Also we would have this offal and lettuce stew on the day before Easter to break the lent, it's kind of an acquired taste since it has hearts and lungs and stuff but I was one of the few kids who lapped that stuff up, so overall lent has a positive image for me, I just don't really heed these old traditions any more at all in my current life. They're a source of nostalgia and not much else.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Don't worry. Nothing edgy about choosing your own way to live your life.

On the other hand, using the religious equivalent of "So what are you doing this month?" to launch into an anti-religious tirade is another thing entirely.

They asked me a question. Why ask if you don't like the potentiality? Sure if someone asked; "Does my butt look big in this?" ... the polite response is no. But you can't blame a person for saying. "Not big enough, I need more!"

What if I said I gave up greater levels of inhibition?

Besides, it's not anti-religious ... I'm using Catholic theosophy to back up my argument. I even gave a shout out to various Popes and gave them the thumbs up for at least crawling towards a more liberal experience of their religiosity and surely that's a good thing? Would you rather I did nothing but chastising them for not making progress fast enough? That seems a bit mean-spirited even for me. Least I can do is encourage them to be more freer with their sensibilities!

Also, would you rather I lie and just virtue-signal about my self-denial, when accruing vices is kind of the only way I have remaining to fill the yawning chasm of my loneliness and this is probably an accurate depiction of most people across the Western world?

That's not how Catholic guilt works. You're literally born and a priest is like; "Shame!" It's great!

The irony being is me being a good Catholic requires me to be public with my failures as a general human being and a creature that cannot elevate themselves above base pleasures as I was in my first post. I'm being a good Catholic here. Why would you deny me my possible penitence?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I gave up lent for lent hur dur

Ditto. As was said in Hamlet[small]*[/small], "neither a borrower nor a Lent-er be".

[small]* May not actually have been said in Hamlet.[/small]

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

One thing I never understood about Lent from a protestant perspective is Fat Tuesday (AKA Mardi Gras, Carnival, international hedonism day). If you're recognizing something as a vice and promising to give it up, why have a day celebrating it and just, sin in general?

I mean if you want to have a party that's great, but the timing is really freaking weird.

I don't know. Throwing out a last big party finishing the Carnival, just before you are supposed to give up most earthly pleasures seems logical to me. Mind that while Lent is a thing established by the church, Fat Thursday is a holiday stemming from the folk tradition(might have pagan origins as well). Sacrum/profanum etc.

I'm not religious, so lenting does not bother me, but i'll give catholics credit where it's due, because i love Fat Thursday. You might as well call it Donut Day around here.

 

[sageoftruth]

Don't worry. Nothing edgy about choosing your own way to live your life.

On the other hand, using the religious equivalent of "So what are you doing this month?" to launch into an anti-religious tirade is another thing entirely.

They asked me a question. Why ask if you don't like the potentiality? Sure if someone asked; "Does my butt look big in this?" ... the polite response is no. But you can't blame a person for saying. "Not big enough, I need more!"

What if I said I gave up greater levels of inhibition?

Besides, it's not anti-religious ... I'm using Catholic theosophy to back up my argument. I even gave a shout out to various Popes and gave them the thumbs up for at least crawling towards a more liberal experience of their religiosity and surely that's a good thing? Would you rather I did nothing but chastising them for not making progress fast enough? That seems a bit mean-spirited even for me. Least I can do is encourage them to be more freer with their sensibilities!

Also, would you rather I lie and just virtue-signal about my self-denial, when accruing vices is kind of the only way I have remaining to fill the yawning chasm of my loneliness and this is probably an accurate depiction of most people across the Western world?

That's not how Catholic guilt works. You're literally born and a priest is like; "Shame!" It's great!

The irony being is me being a good Catholic requires me to be public with my failures as a general human being and a creature that cannot elevate themselves above base pleasures as I was in my first post. I'm being a good Catholic here. Why would you deny me my possible penitence?

Well, I was definitely wrong about it being an anti-religious tirade. Sorry about that.

Still, it was a tirade nonetheless. A "Good Catholic" tirade I suppose? Anyway, you're right. The man asked a question. Not a question to you specifically, but a question to the general Escapist community: What did we give up for Lent? Your answer to his question: Nothing, in fact, the opposite.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that to an agnostic like me, but then you proceeded to tear the concept of Lent apart. Mentioning how we live under a cruel dictator of a God, or possibly just mocking the idea that others call him "Caring" and "Benevolent". Ultimately pointing out how absurd you think Lent is.

Tirades aren't a bad thing, but there's a time and place for them, most of the time in the R&P section. Definitely not in a "So what did you do for X?" thread. The purpose of this thread was to bond and relate, not to debate. Granted, this sort of thing does happen a lot on the Escapist.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Well, I was definitely wrong about it being an anti-religious tirade. Sorry about that.

Still, it was a tirade nonetheless. A "Good Catholic" tirade I suppose? Anyway, you're right. The man asked a question. Not a question to you specifically, but a question to the general Escapist community: What did we give up for Lent? Your answer to his question: Nothing, in fact, the opposite.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that to an agnostic like me, but then you proceeded to tear the concept of Lent apart. Mentioning how we live under a cruel dictator of a God, or possibly just mocking the idea that others call him "Caring" and "Benevolent". Ultimately pointing out how absurd you think Lent is.

Tirades aren't a bad thing, but there's a time and place for them, most of the time in the R&P section. Definitely not in a "So what did you do for X?" thread. The purpose of this thread was to bond and relate, not to debate. Granted, this sort of thing does happen a lot on the Escapist.

I don't know why. As I was saying, I grew up Roman Catholic, spent 4 years at a Catholic boarding school. Mandatory mass, mandatory religious instruction, mandatory confessions. For starters, self-denial is meant to be done with humility. Not publicly. Only flagellants and those that had taken their vows were so public with their self-flogging and ascetic self-reflection. If anything I find the idea of a public thread discussing your ascetic journey to be discussed publicly to be in far worse taste than me being honest about the fact that I gave up ascetic self-reflection years ago.

In a round about way I was criticising all those people that think ascetic sacrifice is something as simple as giving up smoking, or chocolate, or whatever vanity of self-improvement. At worst I'm being bluntfully truthful about how I and others treat Lent with disingenuous ideas of giving up temporary superficialities ... but at worst you're asking me to lie about transgressions.

I knew Catholics that tried to arrange their holiday leave to correspond with Lent JUST SO they could fast extensively, and spend that time in quiet self-reflection. To the point they often made themselves sick, and perhaps through reflecting on their self-imposed hardships they found some kernel of truth to their living condition that allowed them to be an actually better individual.

At least someone more than saying giving up chocolate is somehow a symbol of virtue... I'm not one of those people, and honestly neither are most of the people willing to discuss what they gave up for Lent. Lent is meant for quiet hardship, not the indulgence of saying that you are arbitrarily tossing a bad habit in the bin.

That's neither spiritual or bonding.

I did do ascetic backpacking through Asia, however. Purposefully gave myself very little money to spend in each place I stopped at to guarantee I better intimated the local systems of subsistence and interdependence in my journal.

So I won't write off ascetic lifestyles completely, they do help you understand the needs of the least fortunate.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

]Lent is a period of 40 days of "reflection and preparation" before the celebrations of Easter.
By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians and Catholics "replicate" Jesus' sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Some people fast, but the big thing is that for those 40 days you give up something (i.e. social media, internet, or something that plays a large part in your day-to-day life) and spend that time praying, repenting, etc. It's like a religious pre-game thing, get all high on repentance before the big Holy Week commemoration.

Catholics are Christians; indeed, they have more chronological right to claim that than anyone else, with the exception of the Greek and Roman Orthodox and the Assyrians (who they're tied with, having all evolved from the same root).

Not the first time i see this distinction and i was always curious about the story behind it. Is this the US only thing? Treating catholics like they are their own thing instead one of the factions that christianity is comprised of? People do know they also believe in Jesus?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Nothing because I don't believe in Lent.

 

[Sonmi]

]Lent is a period of 40 days of "reflection and preparation" before the celebrations of Easter.
By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians and Catholics "replicate" Jesus' sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Some people fast, but the big thing is that for those 40 days you give up something (i.e. social media, internet, or something that plays a large part in your day-to-day life) and spend that time praying, repenting, etc. It's like a religious pre-game thing, get all high on repentance before the big Holy Week commemoration.

Catholics are Christians; indeed, they have more chronological right to claim that than anyone else, with the exception of the Greek and Roman Orthodox and the Assyrians (who they're tied with, having all evolved from the same root).

Not the first time i see this distinction and i was always curious about the story behind it. Is this the US only thing? Treating catholics like they are their own thing instead one of the factions that christianity is comprised of? People do know they also believe in Jesus?

A lot of uneducated Protestants think Catholics worship Saints and the Virgin Mary, and therefore cannot be Christians. To be fair, belief in Jesus Christ is not enough to make one Christian; Mormons, Muslims, the Druze, and (if I'm not mistaken) the Baha'i all believe in Christ as well, but they are not Christians, nor do they recognize themselves as such. (Except the Mormons)

 

[Saelune]

Christians. Christ. Christians. Christ. Christians. Christ-ians.

If Jesus is a major part of your belief system, then Christian.

Now, just believing Jesus existed, sure. (Such as Muslims, which my understanding is that they believe he was a Prophet like Muhammad, but his message got warped into Christianity instead of Islam) But when a religion is built around the guy, then Christian. And Mormonism is very much about Jesus. Its literally in their longer name. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"

 

[Sonmi]

Christians. Christ. Christians. Christ. Christians. Christ-ians.

If Jesus is a major part of your belief system, then Christian.

It's not that simple, I'm afraid.

Christianity stipulates that Christ is the last prophet, which invalidates Islam and Mormonism as Christianity, even as heretical branches.

 

[Pseudonym]

Watch it, you might poke someone's eye out with all those edges.

Dostoyevsky is edgy now? News to me.

Dostoyevsky is pretty damn edgy at times. Just like you are being.

 

[lacktheknack]

Every second meal.

One day, I'll be as hardcore as my parents who gave up food entirely for lent several times.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Alcohol. I've been going dry for Lent since the latter years of my undergrad.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Nothing. I'm an Atheist-Agnostic. The biggest dick thing I can think of, if there is a God, is to go along with the motions if my heart isn't in it.

All lent means to me is the people I'm ringing up at the grocery store are gonna have those little smudges on their heads, and they'll get really cross when I tell them so.

 

[FalloutJack]

really cross

Hah! Funny man.

OT: Look, guys, it's not that hard to understand here. All Catholics are Christians, all Christians are not Catholics. It's a denomination. That's how it goes.

 

[zoey]

Like Colbert, I gave up on hope.