My Take on Lent.

So I realize that what I'm going to say might be rather controversial, but I'm not trying to personally attack or offend anybody. This is just how I feel about Lent, and I just want to put it out there in the open because it's bothering the heck out of me.

When I see and hear people say they are "giving up candy/facebook/soda/alcohol/etc." for Lent, I really just want to ask them why. Why do you specifically choose this part of your life to remove for 40 days? To be honest, I really don't see the sacrifice. I may not be Catholic, but I have done my research because I was curious about Lent and the reasoning behind it.

Apparently, when a person removes a certain part of their life through self-denial for 40 days, it's supposed to represent Jesus's 40 days in the desert and act as penance for sin. If you have forgotten, during this entire time Jesus fasted and was tempted by Satan in multiple instances, so in today's world you are supposed to "fast" by giving something up and then resist its temptation for 40 days. This is the part that most people are more than ready to jump into... but there's another part that actually gives the whole experience meaning.

When this piece of a person's life is removed, they are supposed to fill it up with God through prayer and spending time in the world. It is a purification process that prepares the person for Easter, or the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What I find so completely bogus about the whole idea of Lent today is that people give up the frills, or the things that in reality are no form of real sacrifice. I just don't see how someone could even begin to reason that giving up facebook is similar to Jesus fasting for forty days straight in the desert and being tempted by the Devil. Also, while you may find yourself "struggling" to avoid the temptation to log back on and see how many notifications you have, what are you doing with this newfound free time? Chances are that you're watching TV, doing your homework, or hanging out with your friends... so the purpose of Lent is lost because you aren't strengthening your relationship with God by spending time with him.

I don't believe in Lent because I don't think giving up my favorite food or pasttime is what will draw me closer to God. If you want to strengthen your relationship with him, why don't you just open your Bible or pray to him? Why do you have to search for a specific part of the year to feel compelled to "sacrifice"? It seems to me that if you truly felt that giving up that thing would help make your relationship stronger, then you should have done it a long time ago and made it a permanent change.

I do believe in real fasting where a person gives up eating certain meals so they can instead spend that time in prayer, but to me this just doesn't seem altogether right. But maybe that's because some people have set the wrong example.