I realized that today is what the Catholic church calls "Ash Wednesday" and the practicing Catholics abstain from meat today and every Friday until Easter. I will let the scripture speak for itself. You can find what God says about this practice in 1 Timothy 4:1-4:
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." 1 Timothy 4:1-4
The practice of abstaining from meat and even the priesthood and nuns that say they must take a vow to remain single without ever being married is not agreed with in the Word of God. This scripture warns of the latter days, which we see now, that people will fall away from the truth and give in to false doctrines "doctrines of devils." God created marriage and meat for us and it is good. It should not be refused or forbidden. This is NOT the doctrine of God.
Know thy Bible.
Let us also heed this warning of those who refuse to eat meat.
Beware...
*stuffs chicken soft taco into mouth*
(In all seriousness, however, I did not even know that Catholics did this, OR that there was a scripture addressing it. Good stuff, as always!)
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Thanks for sharing!
Julie
For the ones who do participate in Ash Wednesday / Lent with a worship of spirit and truth in their heart as their #1 priority then why not let it be okay? From what I understand... Lent is also a representation of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying and pouring himself out before the Lord before He began His 'public' ministry. A lot of participants of this non-biblical season, do it as a way of drawing their heart closer back to the Lord. Today you may find, especially in the protestant community giving up T.V. for the 40 days, giving up 20 minutes in their day to devout to just prayer, some are having a 40 day devotional with their family to remember the days of Christ just before he surrendered Himself to free us from sin.
I was looking forward to doing a devtional in our home this year, but unfortunatly it just didn't work out. However, I, with a baptist background finally just participated in Advent the last 2 years (something that I had to actually had to educate myself about first, because I had no clue as to what Advent was :O) ~~ What joy and growth it is to participate during the Advent season - I look forward to it with gladness.
((((I hope it was okay to share my thoughts about Lent here. I hope none of my thoguhts were offensive to you or anyone else... I just wanted to offer another side of the coin from one gal who is madly in love with her Savior just like you :O)
Blessings, Deanna
That's why I encourage us all to stick to the Word of God instead of churches with their own rules. Find a church that follows the Word of God as the final authority, not man.