Posted on 03/13/2014 8:41:23 PM PDT by TBP
THE CHRISTIAN world is once again observing the Lenten season; the season of prayer and fasting that precedes the joyous festivity of Easter. It is commonly believed that the Lenten period has to do with the events of the forty days preceding the Resurrection. This is an erroneous idea. Lent is a church institution, and there is no authorization for it anywhere in the New Testament. The idea, however, has a sound spiritual basis; Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Himself set a precedent for it. Each observed a forty-day period of prayer and fasting as a preparation for spiritual work. Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai at the conclusion of his fast. Elijah talked with God on Mount Horeb at the conclusion of his period of prayer and fasting. Jesus began His great spiritual ministry at the close of His fast in the wilderness.
The ancient Hebrew writers made a practice of using umbers to symbolize ideas. Forty, in their minds, was a "foursquare" number suggesting the idea of a foundation for something to follow; an idea of completeness. So the number forty is frequently used in the Scriptures to indicate a completed preparation for something to follow. When we consider Lent as a well-rounded or "completed" season of retreat from the things of the world for the cleansing of the mind and the recollection of the things of Spirit, it becomes a true season of preparation
(Excerpt) Read more at newthoughtlibrary.com ...
I would be happy to observe Lent, but alas, I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that passage of Scripture.
It’s probably hiding under the easter bunny and his eggs ... and maybe when the “east-star” rises they can all turn their backs on the temple and it will reveal itself so then they can bake their cakes to the “queen of heaven” as they weep over the death of “tammuz” and then look forward to his resurrection in the spring, while they all sing fertility now... fertility now... all hail the great easter bunny who brings them great tidings of joy.
Mathew’s Gospel carries in detail Jesus’s time in the desert, and being tempted by the enemy.
Excellent, but whose wife will she be in the resurrection?
I herard a great acronym Sunday.
LENT — Lovingly Eliminating Negative Thining
smiles ... we will just have to wait and see, because there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed.
Its’ simply the season leading up to Good Friday and Easter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.