# What are you doing for Lent? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261 "2009-02-10T19:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/61 "2009-02-12T16:51:40Z")
I find it easiest to give up elephant hunting each year for Lent. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/62 "2009-02-12T17:16:37Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I don’t think it’s anymore repulsive than fasting. If something is worth giving up for 40 days, it’s worth giving up for the rest of your life. If you give something up knowing that it’s only for the period of Lent, just to make yourself feel pious, you’re not really giving it up. It’s just a game. > > Lent is not about giving things up. It’s about reminding yourself of your mortal nature. It’s a spiritual practice, not a physical or material one. To treat it that way is to debase its purpose. But body and soul are one and the material and physical is entwined with the soul. Giving something up to remind yourself of the sacrifices made by Christ isn’t a game. Because neither is rejoicing with Easter, which is for a limited time too. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/63 "2009-02-12T21:41:11Z")
I’m not a Christian but a CofE primary school and English society in general inscribed the Lent tradition into me. If it makes some of the more serious posters feel better I try and turn the negative into a positive, like giving money saved via abstinence to charity. I have no inspiration at the moment though. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/64 "2009-03-05T16:29:10Z")
Getting back to the OP, I’m trying the “no-alcohol” this year. ---
**Author:** ![Kappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/50afbb/32.png) [@Kappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kappa)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/65 "2009-03-05T19:29:31Z")
I’m giving up for Lent. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261/66 "2009-03-11T10:14:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > It took me more than 6 years of searching to find an edition of the Bible which wasn’t either the King James or in a similar incomprehensible dialect. I finally found a New Jerusalem Bible… It’s an acquired taste, as one you’ll find in Shakespeare. I like the Old Testament and personally find it to be interesting, but often overly repetitive and pedantic. That new translation really bugs me, though. > [@Nava](#): > > The prayers are all in archaic language. Even when I’ve gone to a kumbaya church (the Franciscans are always a guarantee that you won’t have people looking at you down their noses due to “inappropiate clothing” that would be appropiate in, say, a restaurant), I could recognize half of what was going on because of the rythms, but not because I actually understood the sentences being uttered. I find it very unusual that anyone using the term “kumbaya” sardonically is struggling with the King James version. This is an extreme cognitive disconnect. > [@Nava](#): > > Italian, no problem. French, no problem. Portuguese, no problem. English? Most of it might as well be in German ☹ Consider me even more cognitively disconnected now. > [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > I am a Baptist, but I have celebrated Lent for the last few years as a way to focus on the sacrifice of Christ. A Baptist celebrating Lent? That sounds…almost…like…a sin 🙂 to me. As I’ve said strongly before in this thread, I don’t think lent is about identifying with the Christ or his suffering. It’s about recognizing one’s own corporal humanity. In fact, it’s the opposite of identifying about the Christ. It’s about recognizing that you ARE NOT THE CHRIST. “Vanity of vanities…” > [@gigi](#): > > But body and soul are one and the material and physical is entwined with the soul. Giving something up to remind yourself of the sacrifices made by Christ isn’t a game. Because neither is rejoicing with Easter, which is for a limited time too. I find this to be both provocatively eloquent and something which causes me to think deeply as a Catholic. Thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-for-lent/485261.md?page=3)