Lent Question? I have given up shopping for Lent..?

Question

Before Lent I bought a pair of shoes that I want to exchange. Would that count as shopping?

Answer 1

Probably not.

But why not just wait until Sunday?

There are 40 days in Lent.

However if you count the number of days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter) you find there are 46 days.

The extra days are 6 Sundays. These Sundays are not really part of Lent. So if you give up chocolate for Lent you can eat it on Sundays.

If you give up something more important like sarcasm or endeavor to do some good work then I suggest you keep up the effort on Lenten Sundays.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Yes

And I don't think you've clearly thought this Lent thing through. Yes, what you give up should be important to you. But it is so much more than that. It should also be difficult but not impossible. (Like someone else said, who's getting the groceries? Gas? And here you are using the internet....are you working to pay for it? That's shopping too.) It should also have meaning for you that reminds you of the reason you are participating in Lent. This means it should not be something superficial or easy to give up, Lent is meant to be a religious time and remind you of the eventual sacrifice you will celebrate on Easter.

Does shopping REALLY do that for you?

Answer 3

If you are getting a new item, then yes, that would be shopping. However, I am hoping you are young and you are just giving up shopping of things that you do not need. I am hoping that you have someone shopping for food and other things that are needed in your life. The idea of lent is to practice the three disciplines of lent--fasting, prayer, and acts of love. With the time that you would be spending on shopping, spend it in prayer or in study. Spend the time with God instead of on shopping. Also, spend time figuring out ways you can be kind to other people that are in need. Do acts of love for friends, family members, and especiall your parents--like cleaning up when you weren't even asked to or if you didn't make the mess.

Answer 4

Liz, ROTFLMBO...sorry, too deep for me. Did you choose to give up shopping for Lent or is that some kind of assigned thing?

Returning merchandise might be okay, but if you choose something else, I would see it as shopping. Perhaps you could have someone return them and get a store credit you could use after Lent. Otherwise...I think you should ask someone who sees this as a truly serious situation.

Answer 5

No, as long as you can refrain from shopping while your there but, I wouldn't go at all untill Lent is over because we are supposed to avoid the near occasion of sin.

Answer 6

Lent is about your personal relationship with God. Ask him.

Answer 7

Who's gonna get the groceries???

Answer 8

you are so going to burn in hell for that. J/K. I really don't care.

Answer 9

I don't think so.

Answer 10

One of the problems of Roman Catholicism is its doctrine of salvation. It denies justification by faith alone and requires works done through the Roman Catholic sacramental system in order for a person to be justified before God. Justification, of course, is the legal declaration by God where he proclaims the sinner righteous in his sight. The Bible clearly teaches that this justification is by faith and denounces any addition of works to it.

Rom. 3:28-30, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one."
Rom. 4:5, "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,"
Rom. 5:1, "therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Rom. 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him."
Rom. 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."
Rom. 11:6, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."
Gal. 2:16, "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified."
Gal. 2:21, I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
Gal. 3:24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith."
salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise."
Eph. 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Phil. 3:9, "and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."
In spite of the obvious teaching of scripture, Roman Catholicism teaches to the contrary. Please note the proclamations of the Council of Trent, 1545 to 1563.

CANON I - If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or, that they are more, or less, than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament; let him be anathema."
CANON IV - If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary unto salvation, but superfluous; and that, without them, or without the desire thereof, men obtain of God, through faith alone, the grace of justification;-though all (the sacraments) are not indeed necessary for every individual; let him be anathema.
CANON VIII - If any one saith, that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed, but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for the obtaining of grace; let him be anathema.
Reparation
Reparation means to make amends, something done as a compensation, to repair something that has been damaged. It is certainly biblical to make amends (reparation) for wrongs done when we have offended another person. But it is not possible for us to make reparation to God for our sins. This is because we are sinners and we are not able to keep the law of God perfectly. Therefore, all that we do, all of our righteous deeds are filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6) and to seek in anyway to make reparations to God for our sins -- other than appealing to the sacrifice of Christ alone -- is essentially teaching a false gospel and is in violation of scripture. Gal. 2:16 says, "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified."