Lent: Invention of 325 A.D.

Ash Wednesday begins March 3rd, and is start of Lent when believers fast and give up things such as meat, caffeine, and etc. This period of denying yourself lasts till Easter Sunday. The tradition can be found nowhere in Scripture, and worse it makes the highest holiday in our faith grim. Rather than a celebration that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, its somber penitential mini via Delarosa where Christians try to taste some suffering, which is bizarre! Jesus suffered so we don’t have to! And I am sure He is not thrilled that how we commemorate His loving work with self denial that makes us irritable. Would you want people to celebrate your great achievement with dirges and giving up stuff they enjoy?

Lent is believed to have started as a tradition in 325 A.D. after The First Council of Nicea. That is long after all the apostles had died and Jesus had ascended. In fact, that was when Emperor Constantine perverted the church with paganisms and a revival of the old temple system that tramples on Jesus’ blood (Hebrews 10:29); the truth is we may boldly approach the throne of God, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus,” (Hebrews 10:19), and “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most,” (Hebrews 4:16); and that Jesus isn’t behind a curtain and altar, He tore the curtain, “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life, (Matthew 27;50-52), and He lives inside all Christians, “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God” (Romans 8:10).

If a tradition is not in Scripture and dates after 33-110 A.D. we must be wary because many false doctrines infiltrated the church through evil men. It took a Reformation to get us back on track, and a revival in 1970’s to get the Gifts of the Holy Spirit moving again.

I urge you skip Lent. Celebrate Christ’s great act of salvation and love with joy! Stop punishing yourself! Make this holiest of holidays a time of awe and wonder, when you embrace all God had done for you, not with self denial and monastic mumbo jumbo! I say do as the Reformer Zwingli did, He ate Sausages and protested Lent which he affirmed is not a biblical fast! Amen.

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