Lent: What are you giving up?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Me? Nothing! But I'm sure that some people here are planning on cutting something out of their life for the 40 days of Lent! (Which starts on Feb 25th this year ;))

[Droo]

All bad food and drink. Hence why I did a Heineken run earlier. Cheers!

[Xavier Synik]

I wonder if I can give up work for Lent and still get paid....

Hmmm... *ponders*

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I better say I'm giving up Double Stuf Oreos and Coke. :cry

I already gave up soda. But I had some yesterday. ^_^;

[Dasquian Belargic]

Tsk, you're gonna need more persistance than that to make it through these 40 days!

[Droo]

If I truly wanted to prove to God how much I loved him, I would stop watching Battlestar Galactica for 40 days. Screw God!

[Dasquian Belargic]

If I truly wanted to prove to God how much I loved him, I would stop watching Battlestar Galactica for 40 days. Screw God!

Oh Droo... Six would not approve of such blasphemy!

[Droo]

Screw Six, too! :mischief

[Dasquian Belargic]

Six and Eight and- :mischief :o

[Darth Turbogeek]

Giving up precisely zero.

[The Original BuffJedi]

Not Jewish(or Catholic ;) ), so nothing. But i love God :) and try to please him every day, just sadly I fail, LOTS!!!! of times :( But that's one of the many great things of the Lord, he forgives us, thank..well...God :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

lol Lent is a Catholic tradition, not Jewish.

[The Original BuffJedi]

LOL!!! not that either oopppssss!!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Me either. But a lot of people use Lent as an excuse to try to give up things that are bad for them, and it doesn't really matter what you believe.

Personally I dont' think that giving up something for 40 days is going to prepare my soul for Easter if I am not right in my spirit with God. But I think this thread was mainly for a non-religious application of Lent, not a religious one.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Like lots of Christian observances, 'Lent' has lost a lot of its religious connection at least for people I know. As LD said, people see it as a time to detoxify the body almost, or to try and quit something that is bad for your health, e.g. smoking, drinking alcohol, fast food, chocolate, whatever. I suppose the idea is that it's easier to do when you have others around you, sharing the attempt to 'fast'.

Anyway, the best part of this whole.. Lent time of year is clearly Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day :eee

[Lilaena De'Ville]

A K A

MARDI GRAS! :dance

[Atreyu]

Nothing. :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

A K A

MARDI GRAS! :dance

I had no idea mardi gras and pancake day were the same day! :o

[Rossos Atrapes]

Lent's about all the stuff put forth there, but for those who actively try to do it, it's more about self-control and restraint than actual 'preparation', though that is a huge part of it as well. Jesus (I get kind of wierded out when people say 'Happy Zombie Jesus day.') did the whole fasting thing too, so there has to be something good going for it. It depends on why you're fasting, I guess; either way, you're only getting something good out of it if you're doing it for the right reasons, and even then, do something long enough, and eventually you might actually change due to them.

Sorry about that spiel; the theology aspect of my degree's got to go for something, I guess. :\

Lent began a bit early for me, so actually I'm starting tonight (that whole the day ends when the sun sets thing). 40 days of no meat or dairy products, and extra long church services. Good thing I like church, eh? :p

[Droo]

I had no idea mardi gras and pancake day were the same day! :o

Fat Tuesday? Jenny! :rolleyes

[Dasquian Belargic]

I thought Mardi Gras was in... summer or something. I don't know!

Shut up and get back to your DVDs, wench :twak

[Droo]

I am! This was just a mere interlude! :uhoh

[Wei Wu Wei]

MArdi Gras comes before Lent every year.

Lent is actually meant as a time to emulate Christ's journey to the Cross. So we fast and suffer (marginally) to be more like Christ.

This year I won't be giving up anything, but I am adding something: regular church attendance. I've been kind of hit and miss on that since I started my new job.

Lent can actually be a pretty significant religious experience if you approach it correctly.

And for the record, Sunday is a "day off" during Lent. So if you give up chocolate, you can have some on Sunday. :)

[Pierce Tondry]

I am giving up Lent for Lent.

[Atreyu]

And for the record, Sunday is a "day off" during Lent. So if you give up chocolate, you can have some on Sunday. :)
I remember when our old minister told us about his priesthood training days - the old bishop/abbot/prior/whatever-they-call-them always gave up smoking his pipe for Lent. However, he really took the 'Sunday doesn't count' rule to heart.

So every Sunday during Lent, smoke could be seen billowing out his door as he made up for a week's worth of no smoking. :lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

I have a lot of friends who are giving up alcohol.

But they are also going out to a club tonight, so by the time the clock hits midnight they will be drunk... I predict most of them last about 10 mins after this before they go buy another drink.

[Jacob Foley]

pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes :crack

[Dasquian Belargic]

Curry for tea, pancakes for desserts.

Nomnomnom.

[Morgan Evanar]

Too pagan, don't care.

[Razielle Alastor]

Too pagan, don't care.

:love

When I was Catholic, I gave up pickles pretty routinely every year, just because I love them so.

But now that I am no longer a party to such things, I plan to indulge myself in extra salty cucumbers and still manage to be faithful to my traditions. ;)

[Wei Wu Wei]

I have a lot of friends who are giving up alcohol.

But they are also going out to a club tonight, so by the time the clock hits midnight they will be drunk... I predict most of them last about 10 mins after this before they go buy another drink.

No alcohol for Lent? if they lived in Georgia, USA they would have to buy their alcohol the night before to indulge on Sunday. You can't buy alcohol on Sundays in GA.

So if no one really participates in Lent, why are we discussing it? lol

[Dasquian Belargic]

You can't buy alcohol on Sundays? What, anywhere in the state? o_O that's bizarre.

I made the thread because I thought that some people might be giving something up more out of the spirit of giving it up than actually celebrating the religious connotations of Lent.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Yep, totally true. No alcohol can be bought anywhere in the state. They cal it a blue law. I think it's dumb. Then again, I'm Catholic so drinking isn't necessarily an evil for me.

It is true though that plenty of people give things up though. I was just amazed at how many people aren't doing anything about it. lol

Did anyone decided to add something to their lives for those 40 days? Exercise, cooking 3 dinners a week, etc?

[Wyl Staedtler]

We usually use it as an opportunity to quit bad habits; we're not really religious. I dunno what to give up this year. Maybe wine.




:(

[Dasquian Belargic]

Not wine... not like this, not like this.. :(

[Wei Wu Wei]

Don't give up something that's beyond your ability to do without. My friend particpates in Lent, but asking him to give up coffee would be like asking a normal person to give up air. It's just beyond his ability.

If you've never given up something for Lent (or in general) at all start with something that you might indulge in once in a while but something that you don't depend on very often. Sometimes it's ok not to go in hard core.

[Charley]

I'm sticking to a strictly vegetarian diet for Lent.

Made a turkey sandwich for my farewell to the flesh tonight, but only ate half of it before I was full :(

[Park Kraken]

Is it too late to give up something for lint?

If not, I'll give up chocolate.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I'm totally bringing home ribs tomorrow night :)

[Park Kraken]

I was going to originally give up beef, and go with a fish, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. diet, but 40 days is a long time without that extra meat variety.

But I do plan to eat nothing but BBQ for the next two days or so. I'm going to a fundraiser tomorrow down in Mulberry, and the day after I'll be trying my hand at cooking BBQ pork, a combo of sliced and pulled, in a crockpot.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Even without beef, the selection left available as far as animal flesh goes is pretty diverse o_O

[Charley]

I'm totally bringing home ribs tomorrow night :)

From where?


I was going to originally give up beef, and go with a fish, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. diet, but 40 days is a long time without that extra meat variety.

But I do plan to eat nothing but BBQ for the next two days or so. I'm going to a fundraiser tomorrow down in Mulberry, and the day after I'll be trying my hand at cooking BBQ pork, a combo of sliced and pulled, in a crockpot.

Forty days without beef is a hardship? Beef is a luxury, unless you're just rocking fast food joints or something.

I can't think of anything I've made in the past two months with beef that wasn't a very occasional steak or roast beef sandwich.

If you're stuck in your carnivorous habits, you might want to consider eating offal only as far as beef goes. At least make it interesting.

[Morgan Evanar]

We usually use it as an opportunity to quit bad habits; we're not really religious. I dunno what to give up this year. Maybe wine.




:(Why would you do that?

[Wyl Staedtler]

Well, we don't get drunk or anything but we do drink a lot of wine. 4-6 bottles a week. Which is an unnecesary cost, if nothing else.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

I'm giving up the Mountain Dew/Vault. Not really because of lent, but just to see if I can actually do it if I put my mind to it. Tried to do this in Jan, got a week into it, and had to say "screw it" cause of some other factors. Hoping this time is more lasting.

[Charley]

Man, this vegetarian thing is freakin easy. I never knew how little meat I really ate until I decided to *give it up*.

The thing that I miss most are anchovies and anchovy-related foodstuffs that I cook with in a lot of italian food, but that's just one small flavor profile.