Max Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Am I the only one, or does anyone else get the urge to just walk around eating steak-on-a-stick on Fridays during Lent, just as a celebration of being not Catholic? It's such a goofey "sacrifice" anyhow, seems like a shame to not rub it in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeptic Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 I've never done anything for Lent. I remember once I went out to Pizza Hut with my elementary school basketball team for lunch and I wanted to get a pepperoni pizza and everyone yelled at me because it was a Friday during Lent. Who the fuck cares? If I was eating lamb, I could kind of understand, but it's pig. Technically, you're not supposed to eat it anyway, if you believe the laws in the OT should be followed, so I was a sinner anyhow. I really don't see the point of Lent and I honestly don't want to. My parents are fundies and they didn't even care about Lent. I guess it's just a Catholic thing *shrug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGiant Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Yeah, even after having left the church for as long as I have, I still take a special pleasure at eating plenty of red meat on Fridays during Lent. Also Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. There is slightly less pleasure taken that I don't obey any of the other Lenten dietary restrictions anymore either, though that is usually just more not thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbobrob Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 thank goodness that St. Patrick's Day is not a Friday this year. Every year it is, the Boston Catholics bemoan and complain and whine to the Pope thaey they just gotta eat their corned beef dinners that day. It spends at least a couple of weeks in the news cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Heh. I stopped giving things up several years before I stopped being Catholic. I see it as kind of the same thing as New Year's resolutions. If I want to change something about myself, I don't need a date on the calendar to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyCole Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Well this is one topic I have to chime in on. Being raised a Catholic, I never believed in anything the church taught especially this stupid thing they call lent. When I was 12 or 13, I'm now 48, I would seek out anything in the fridge that was a meat product. I would do this on Ash Wednesday, Every Friday and Especially Good Friday. I would get a stick of Pepperoni, any cold cuts I could find, and I would walk around house eating it making sure It was witnessed by all. I can say now that I'm older, that Catholic's who are in their right mind, (now there's an oxymoron), really don't believe that eating meat during lent is going to send anyone straight to hell. The problem with Catholic's today is that they are entrenched in tradition more than belief. Plain and simple... I can't believe the Catholic Church still has the amount of members that it does. Anyone who is my age and lived through it, should have dispelled with this silliness a long time ago. Last year I had a funeral to go to that fell on Good Friday. When we get to the repass and everyone sits down, my cousin, who's mother had died made an accouncement to everyone that she just got special dispensation from the priest because they were serving various forms of meat. I think I looked at her and made a snide remark which maybe I shouldn't because my aunt had just died. But the remark wasn't intended fo her, it was meant to show how silly the faithful are, even in my own family. I was left speechless, and couldn't believe grown ups really believe this crap. You want to sacrifice something be it food or anything, that's fine. Do it when you want to and not when it's dictated to anyone based on old stories and threats of damnation and sinning. I look at all organized religion like this: 1. If all people who follow an organized religion really believe it, then they are delusional. Now if they are told these stories that have been handed down for centuries by leaders, ministers, etc....and the leaders believed it, they are delusional too. Maybe people choose not to really think for themselves, be inquisitive and look for the truth. When is comes to Children, it's still a delusion except if leaders know it not true. And many believe it's not true, but once your part of this machine, you just cant walk out unless you can't live with the fact that your living a lie. At this point, if your teaching this crap to children and instilling fear and guilt and you don't believe it's true, then it's criminal in my book. The fact that I'm 48 and still mad and angry and have joined various secular sites and anti-religious forums just proves the damage religion has done to me and millions of others. By the way, I'm really not an atheist. Haven't come up with a personal belief yet that I can label and it may never happen. But organized religion is the biggest scam known to man with detrimental consequences. That's why there is this big anti religious movement going on in the world today.. The faithful will say that we are approaching the end times because of the rejection in large numbers based on their fairytale book. But we all know it's not the end the world, which the faithful are so eagerly awaiting. All that's really happening is the maturation of the human species, more and more people opening their eyes and mind and asking a lot of questions. The truth eventually will find you. All religions are crazy, but it's the one that you were raised in and rejected that we give the most time to. And that just happens to be christianity... PS. Some day in the future, mankind will destroy itself with some sort of bomb or bombs. And it will look like what the Bible has imprinted on the minds of the weak. They will truly believe that Jesus is on his way down from the clouds. But it's just man killing man... I really feel sorry for much of the human race who still believe because they use the same brain we do, but they haven't allowed themselves to evolve to where they should be. Many will never reach that place we've reached. Many will just go on living right to the very end of their lives believing nonsense and instead of helping humanity grow, they keep their scorecards of who will be invited to their afterlife party, more concerned about spending years telling others we're not invited... Thanks for listening Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 The problem with Catholic's today is that they are entrenched in tradition more than belief. Plain and simple...I can't believe the Catholic Church still has the amount of members that it does. Anyone who is my age and lived through it, should have dispelled with this silliness a long time ago. I completely agree. It is more about tradition than belief. In my personal experience, most of the ex-Christians I know are ex-Catholics, and looking at those that still believe, I can't help but think that it wouldn't take much for them to leave the faith. The problem is that many people don't really think about it outside of one hour of church every week, and they never confront the tough questions. I feel like many Catholics are hanging by a thread and that in a generation or two from now it will be nothing more than a cultural thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazycatlady Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Yes, it's my third Lent out of the faith and I still make a point of eating meat each Friday and eating a bunch of small snacks on the "fast" days. While Catholic, my Lenten sacrifice was always to read on book of the bible and prayed one rosary daily, and gave up sweets. Now, I own neither a bible nor a rosary and I don't think about them much during Lent. I am trying to lose weight, but I still allow myself a small amount of dark chocolate every few days -- Lent or not. I'd like to eventually get to the point where I just don't care anymore and don't even realize whether I'm breaking an RCC law or not. But in the meantime, consciously throwing them all out the window is quite therapeutic. On the subject of RCC belief, I think it's already pretty close to a cultural thing in Europe, Canada and the States (NOT in Mexico). I remember back when I was a Catholic, it used to really bug me that so few people believed and took it seriously ('course then I realized that I didn't believe, and stopped taking it seriously). I think lukewarm feelings toward religion are a necessary self-defense mechanism. Unfortunately, I never quite developed that particular defense, so now I avoid religion all together (which, IMO, is a better course of action anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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