Do “Sola Scriptura” Protestants observe Lent? If so, why? It isn’t biblical

  • Thread starter Thread starter BartholomewB
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Raised protestant and did not even hear of Lent until I was in college. So it’s tough to consider observing a tradition you’ve never heard of.

Lent is an awesome concept. I don’t see why not. If we are to strive to be Christ like why not observe his fasting. Seems to me the Catholic Church is asking less of it’s members in way of fasting and not doing it exactly as Christ did.

As a protestant I have questions if I may without derailing your topic. From my understanding the fish on Fridays was due to the fact only families of wealth could afford meat outside of fish and gave up meat during Lent to give the monetary difference to the poor. Where I live just about every type of meat is less expensive than fish. So would you turn the tradition the go with the cheaper meat even say spam from a can and give what you would have spent on the fish to the poor?

Also, you give more than that up? What would you recommend? Your time to studying? Your nail appointments to charity?
 
It’s a fad as of late. A Baptist minister called me this year to ask how to celebrate Ash Wenesday. He was planning to mix olive oil with ashes. Luckily I told him not to do that and sent him a copy of the ritual. My best guess is that ex-Catholics in his church are requesting ashes.
 
I learn a lot around here. That’s a new one on this colonial.

OTOH, there is a very nice lady, of the RCC lineage, who has attended a couple of our pancake Shrove Tuesdays, who asked me this year what the meaning of Shrove was.
 
Yep. She was, as I said, very nice. I started in on the liturgical year and all that, not knowing her background, but she only looking for the idea “Shrove”. And she liked the pancakes.
 
Ok. They were really quite good, and some had blueberries in them.
 
Excath said:
We Protestants reject Lent because it is a season of works and the New Testament Church lives under grace. No amount of works justifies you before Christ. Your works only serve to put you under the curse of the Law. The only righteousness God accepts is the sacrifice and work of His Son on the cross. It is your faith in His works and leaning on Him by faith that makes you in right standing with God. We Protestants receive salvation and sanctification through being born again followers of Jesus… stop doing dead works, God is not pleased with anything but your faith in Him.
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Speak for yourself. Assemblies of God don’t speak for all Protestants. Please only speak for Assemblies of God
 
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Could you really tell from that comment that @Excath belongs to the Assemblies of God? I’m impressed! I was going to write something along the lines of “Only a minority of Protestants assert their identity as a New Testament Church …” but you snuck in ahead of me. Thank you for saving me the trouble!
 
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Scott Hahn says in his new book that his church, at least, didn’t celebrate it. He used the term “palm-less Sunday” to refer to his service.
 
And yet Palm Sunday has a Biblical precedent. The pre-Easter fast has been traced back no further than the Council of Nicea, possibly even a few years later.
 
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Excath said:
We Protestants reject Lent because it is a season of works
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NO, “we” Protestants don’t! Please do not come here with that misguded belief, and proclaim it as truth. There are Protestant denominations who do recognize Lent. They include Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, some Anabaptist and some Evangelical.
 
I think we need to distinguish between two interpretations of sola scriptura. One interpretation is that the entirety of church doctrine and practice must be drawn from scripture. The other is that doctrine must be drawn from scripture. So the Anglicans observe Lent, even though it is not explicitly demanded in the NT, because they believe that it is a good practice that reinforces biblical demands for repentance. Presbyterians do not because it is not demanded and is therefore wrong.
 
First posts in 9 months. The new platform for CAF continues to provide surprises more than a year since the transition. Not that I have problem with this particular one.
 
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It was an accident. Mea culpa. I reopened this old thread because I wanted to post a link to it on another (new) thread:
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Protestant 66 books of old testament question? Non-Catholic Religions
I was the one who asked that question at the beginning of Lent this year. Silly or not, it resulted in a gratifyingly lively and informative thread.
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