how do christians keep/maintain lent?

Answer 1

Christians maintain lent by picking something that they will abstain from for a period of forty days. An example of this would be to abstain from Television. There are many reasons for doing this and I will out line a few.

1. Penance - This is done usually out of a feeling of obligation to atone (pay for) the sins they have committed in the last year.
2. Tradition - Many people simply do it because their parents do.
3. Love/Sacrifice - Lent is used to show how much you love God and wish to make Him a central part of your life. By giving something up you are showing Him how serious you are. People who do it for this reason don't have to be from a particular religious back ground and don't need any priest to oversee it. Also it doesn't need to happen at a certain time or for a certain length.

Catholics are much more consistent and studious in their observance of lent but they are by no means are the only ones that do it. Many under the Protestant umbrella of churches also practice lent but as previous answers have shown have a variety of views on the subject.

Personally, I believe a period of lent is helpful for any person who is serious about following Jesus. I do not, however, think it is necessary to assure personal salvation but simply another helpful step to show your love and devotion to God.

I also believe that lent can become a hindrance to a relationship with God if it is done solely out of penance and obligation. Lent done as penance becomes a sacrament and when you start to rely on sacraments for your salvation you are on a slippery slope. We are called in the Bible to experience Jesus and to solely lean on him. As evidenced by the most famous of the most recognizable Bible verses.

“For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 NLT

Answer 2

Lent is observed as the forty days from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter. It is a Catholic tradition that most other Christian sects don't practice. Catholicism is, by the way, a subset of Christianity. Catholics most certainly acknowledge Christ; that belief is codified in the Nicene or Nicean Creed, which describes the tenets of Catholicism.

Catholics give up something (usually some sort of food) during Lent to symbolize the 40 days Christ spent in the desert fasting and being tempted by Satan before he began his ministry.

You maintain Lent by willpower. The idea is to sacrifice something that you enjoy; Giving up something that is easy to do without does not really fulfill the purpose of Lent.

Answer 3

I rather feel sorry for other Christians who don't observe Lent. They are missing out on so much. It's ridiculous to assert that it's "not in the Bible" ... well, of course the *word* "Lent" isn't there (nor is rapture, or Trinity, or the doctrine of sola scriptura for that matter).

But if we are to imitate Christ ... his 40 days in the desert are definitely in the Bible, and that is what Lent is to those who observe it. We take the focus off ourselves. We deny our selves (including our flesh), pick up our crosses and follow Him. The periods of fasting, the prayers, the special devotions, the sacrificial giving (of alms, and our time, above and beyond what we normally do) to those in need, the entire penitential nature of this journey we take with our Lord with our entire being (body, mind and soul) ... really, what could possibly be objectionable about it? Other than it's "a Catholic thing"? With this and much more, those who reject all things Catholic on a knee-jerk basis are living a sterilized and watered-down version of Christianity, limited as it is to just what they experience between their ears.

Answer 4

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RE:
how do christians keep/maintain lent?

Answer 5

Catholics ARE Christians. They are the first Christians.

Protestants do not practice Lent as a group on a particular day. The idea of Lent is a good thing, a sacrifice that brings you closer to God. Sometimes we fast and pray but it is not an organized method, it is done in secret, between us and Jesus, as the Bible describes.

Answer 6

Good question...I think it's more Catholic than anything though. It is a non-Biblical tradition of man that they keep. Who knows why they do it.

No where in the bible does it say to do this, that is why it is non-Biblical.

Answer 7

In most Christian denominations, Lent is the forty-day period (or season) lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday . The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, He endured the temptation of Satan.
Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.


The forty-day period is symbolic of the 40 days spent by Jesus in the desert. The number forty has many other Biblical significances: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God; the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb; God makes it rain for forty days and forty nights in the story of Noah; the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land; Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days grace in which to repent.

Jesus retreated into the desert, where he fasted for forty days, and was tempted by the devil. Jesus overcame all of the temptations of the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life by citing scripture to the devil, at which point the devil left him, angels ministered to Jesus, and he began his ministry.

It was also traditional belief that Jesus lay for 40 hours in the tomb, which led to to the forty hours of total fast that preceded the Easter celebration in the early Church. The main ceremony was the baptism of the initiates on Easter Eve. The fast was in preparation to receive this sacrament. Later, the period from Good Friday until Easter Day was extended to six days, to correspond with the six weeks of training, necessary to instruct the converts who were to be baptized.


As you can see we Catholic Christians imitate what Christ did we fast and we pray and we mediatate. Those who say it is not biblical apparently have not read their bibles

Answer 8

Christians don't.

Catholics do the lent nonsense. Lent isn't in the Bible.

Catholics are not saved and are not Christians. Catholics teach a false gospel of works that leads to eternal hell (Galatians 1).

Answer 9

Why should we? It means absolutely nothing to intelligent people who do not believe in religion - which is man-made anyway.
If you were not brainwashed from a very early age about religion, would you still believe in any gods?
If so, or if not why? No-one has yet proved there are any gods, except the aborigines who worship Ayers Rock and that is suspect. Also the American Indians who think they go to the `happy hunting grounds.`
Ever heard such rubbish?

Answer 10

Lent is a Catholic tradition. I go to a nondenominational church and we do not observe this.