giving it up (i)

Over the last few days, several dozen people have asked me why we give things up for Lent. 

Some people find the idea objectionable - but among the various objections I’ve heard, I would have to agree with most of them, on the basis that they have grown up as rather recent habits of  folklore that have nothing much to do with Christian doctrine.  "Isn’t it all a bit negative?", said one person, "It seems to imply that God and religion is all a bit of a killjoy exercise. Why should God care or be impressed if I give up chocolate or alcohol?"

A writer in Last Sunday’s Independent was similarly misinformed, dismissing the idea of Lent, because, as he put it, he didn’t see why giving things up should earn God's forgiveness of your personal failings. He was right in a way, since giving things up for Lent has nothing to do with earning forgiveness. Christianity is founded on the idea that we cannot atone for, make payment for, or save ourselves from our own failings. The whole point of the gospel is that we cannot save ourselves – God has saved us by grace. We do not buy God’s forgiveness through our self-sacrifice – that may be an idea prevalent in some religions, but it goes against the central tenets of Christian theology

I also came across one or two people who are treating the opportunity to give things up in a positive light. One person said, “It’s a good thing – I need to lose some weight, and I like the fact that Lent imposes a time scale and a deadline to achieve that." And another said, “Giving stuff up is good – it stops you spending too much on stuff you don’t need.” But both of these are based on the misconception that Lent is about giving up things that are bad for us – like smoking or overeating. It’s actually about giving up things that are GOOD for you – and it's not AT ALL about self-improvement .

So, what IS lent about, and what has giving something up got to do with it?

For the rest of this week, I'll post about the history of Lent and some thoughts on why giving things up might have relevance for a Christian in 2005.

Comments

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this promises to be interesting! i tried to do something similar on our youthclub blog. i shall look forward to this!

[Arlen Hanson]

I am really looking forward to your thoughts on this and all of the good things I know you are going to share. Very cool to do this and clear up a lot of the misconceptions. Thanks. Peace.