Why can't we eat meat on fridays during lent?

Question

I have been told this for years but never been given a real explanation as to WHY. Just looking for some clarification.

Answer 1

Lenten is not biblical. It is only a doctrine from the Roman Catholic Church. Likewise prohibition of eating meat during Fridays of the said Lenten seasons is not biblical. There is no verse in the bible that to eat meat during Friday is prohibited. It only means that this teachings of the Roman Catholic Church is false.
jtm

Answer 2

As a former catholic, now Born Again Believer, I no longer worry about the man made doctines of the catholic church.
Do this and don't do that...These things all have the appearance of wisdom, however, they cannot keep you from lusting or commiting fornication. They are worthless, manmade rules and regulations, that have nothing to do with Godliness. Seek Jesus and His Word, these are the words that bring life, and pleasure to God Almighty.
Christ teaches us about the "doctrine" of religion and Christ had nothing to do with it. Rather, He spoke out against it and told His disciples to "Be aware of the leaven (Teachings) of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They clean the outside of the cup, but inside they are full of sin and dead mans bones.
Eating meat at lent, or not eating meat at lent, cannot save you. If your conscience tells you it is a sin, then don't do it, if your conscious is not offended either way, then do whatever you want. Do everything out of love for God and people.
God Bless You...Peace.

Answer 3

I eat meat on Fridays, Lent or otherwise. I'm not a Christian. Also, that's a Catholic thing. Ask your priest why not. He probably won't be able to tell you either, because it's just a tradition like any other tradition that started centuries ago and has no meaning anymore.

Answer 4

I eat meat on Fridays during Lent all the time. Don't believe everything you are told.

Answer 5

Let me answer this question from an Islamic perspective.
Firstly there is no such injuction in any holy scriptures not to
have meat on a friday or any day for that matter what ever it
may imply.What God has made lawful no man can make
unlawful and what god has forbidden no man can permit.
These are the ways that you christians worship the church and its doctrines.The bible tells you Do not eat Pork the
church makes it lawful for you.The bible forbids Alcohol the
church permits it.God almighty tells you to eat all lawful and
good food on which ever day you would like to do so but the
chutch makes it unlawful on fridays.If a person is fasting then
yes he has to abstain from all types of food and drink for the
alloted time period.But it is difficult to understand the
concept of the christian fasting.The priest tells you do not
eat meat but they happily sip wine during mass.and you end up eating all other foods , smoking, lying cheating adultry etc
but only emphasis is added on eating meat .strange is it not ?

Answer 6

This is tradition. This isn't a commandment of Jesus. In Acts chapter 10 we read: "Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven."

In this story God is revealing to Peter that nothing that we eat is considered unclean. In the Jewish tradition certain foods were considered unclean and they could not eat them. Jesus came to do away with the Law and now nothing is unclean because all are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. So to do away with one type of food or another isn't as important as doing away with whatever claims the devotion of your heart more than Christ. That is what fasting and prayer are about. Devoting yourself to God and not to the thing that matters most in your life other than God. I think that when this tradition was started, meat was very important. Now, not so much. Maybe you should give up TV or Movies or cigarettes or drugs or alcohol or a person that takes your attention and devotion from Christ.

Answer 7

Q: Where did the law about not eating meat on Fridays originate? When was this changed to Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent?

A: Already in the fourth century, there was a Church law about abstinence (not eating meat on certain days). Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays were once days of abstinence in the Western Church. By the 12th century, this was required only on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays—to remind Christians that Jesus died on this day. (Later, abstinence was added in connection with a few feasts.)

The U.S. bishops decided in 1966 to require fasting and abstinence only on Ash Wednesday, the Fridays of Lent and on Good Friday. Earlier that year, Pope Paul VI allowed conferences of bishops to select days of fast and abstinence.

Why abstain from meat? People like it and notice its absence. Christian fasting regulations once included milk and eggs. Fasting and abstaining show respect for God’s creation by using it more sparingly at times.

Answer 8

catholics used to always have fish on fridays not meat. I think its to do with the crusofixtion being on friday but am not catholic so not sure. I thought people used to give up meat for all lent so that is obviusly an easier option.

Answer 9

Its only when you are in a church that applies man made rules over you that you cant eat meat on Fri. during Lent. Christian churches don't put that limitation on its people.

Answer 10

Lent is pagan. Eat whatever you want. Coming from the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning “spring,” Lent originated in the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess…Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz” (The Two Babylons).

Lent, like Easter, is pagan. It is shunned by all true Christians.