Where in the Bible does it say to not eat meat on Friday's of Lent?

[dronald]

Was this meant to be a condescending slur?
We take seriously Our Lord’s recommendation not to appear as fasting in front of men. It is the first scripture reading to begin lent. Mt. 6:1

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

No, but I don’t understand why the Catholics here think that an objection to lent is an objection to Christian fasting. We fast, you just won’t know when.

 

[Sirach2]

I’m not trying to ‘teach’ anything. I’m merely pointing out a fact. Even the NAB, which I get from the Vatican website says ‘repent’ in Luke 13:3. From the NAB:

Luke 13:3
By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!

So please don’t say I’m trying to teach something different than what you believe. I’m pointing out what the NAB (again from the Vatican website) says!!!

You are correct in that John the Baptist did preach a baptism of* repentance*.

I hope you’re not on a mission to pick nits. The three links I gave you were written by more scholarly folk than you or I, and this was the basic understanding in many older bibles and those who own and read them. In fact, if you go to the Duoay-Rheims, it is quoted therein as “penance.”

I believe these were your exact words: Jesus did not teach that we have to do penance. That is totally ‘works’ based.

The premise you were standing on, is that nobody has to do penance, since it is not found in the bible, which is typical non-Catholic jargon and literalness. My remark still holds, that you are not equipped to teach Catholics NOT to perform acts of penance, since you do not understand our faith. Maybe some day you will.

A very pertinent link for you to visit, Point #5.

 

[smichhertz]

I abstain from eating meat on Fridays of Lent because the Church tells me to and for penance as well but I have a friend, who asks me "where does it say in the Bible that you’re not suppose to eat meat on Friday’s?” and I don’t know what to answer her. Does it say anywhere in the Bible not to eat meat during Lent time?

Where in the Bible does it say to worship God on Sunday? The Bible certainly tells us to “Keep Holy the Sabbath”, but the Sabbath was always on a Saturday.

 

[Sirach2]

Where in the Bible does it say to worship God on Sunday? The Bible certainly tells us to “Keep Holy the Sabbath”, but the Sabbath was always on a Saturday.

Foxy!

 

[Gorgias]

Colossians 2:16 and Romans 14 destroy the idea that we as Christians must participate in observance of days or abstinence of foods in order to say we’re doing greater than our brothers.

Straw man argument.

Who ever said that Catholics abstain “in order to say we’re doing greater than our brothers”? No one. Therefore, Colossians 2:16 and Romans 14 destroy nothing that Catholics practice.

 

[Gorgias]

The difference is that when I fast for the Lord, you’ll never know.

Notice that this assertion would have been completely foreign to Jesus: observant Jews had days in which all were called to penance and fasting. Therefore, in Jesus’ day, everyone knew when you were fasting – because everyone was fasting!

Jesus was talking about a different dynamic, though: when you are fasting, don’t change your physical appearance so that you look like you’re suffering. After all, if someone can tell you’re fasting because you look miserable, you’ve already received the reward you were really hoping to receive. Rather, when you fast – whether or not others know it is a fast day – let your demeanor reflect your love of God, not your observance of the fast.

So, when you fast, whether I know it or not is not the issue at hand. What’s at hand is that you aren’t making a show of the difficulties of fasting. When I go to my parish’s fish fry tonight, I won’t see anyone looking somber or disfiguring their faces. Maybe it’s different in your congregation, though…

 

[cguerber]

I hope you’re not on a mission to pick nits. The three links I gave you were written by more scholarly folk than you or I, and this was the basic understanding in many older bibles and those who own and read them. In fact, if you go to the Duoay-Rheims, it is quoted therein as “penance.”

I believe these were your exact words: Jesus did not teach that we have to do penance. That is totally ‘works’ based.

The premise you were standing on, is that nobody has to do penance, since it is not found in the bible, which is typical non-Catholic jargon and literalness. My remark still holds, that you are not equipped to teach Catholics NOT to perform acts of penance, since you do not understand our faith. Maybe some day you will.

A very pertinent link for you to visit, Point #5.

I say respectfully, I’m not trying to get Catholics to NOT perform acts of penance. I understand your theology/religion tells you that you have to. I merely have stated that Jesus never said you have to do penance. Also, there are reasons that Bible translations get updated. forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif

 

[Sirach2]

I say respectfully, I’m not trying to get Catholics to NOT perform acts of penance. I understand your theology/religion tells you that you have to. I merely have stated that Jesus never said you have to do penance. Also, there are reasons that Bible translations get updated. forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Your link doesn’t work.]

Immaterial, as to whether or not it is literally “in the bible” and in accord with your interpretation. Let’s go back to Gorgias’ post, where he said:

Remember when he was talking about the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23? He tells the people that “the scribes and Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you.” In other words, since they had legitimate authority from God, they could command the people to observe particular religious practices; and, Jesus tells the people that they must obey these leaders when they made these commands. So, if the leaders required a person to fast or abstain… then, according to Jesus, it was completely legitimate and was binding on the people.

Not sure if you read the entire thread, but this is a key point. When our lawful Authority advises us to abstain from meat on 8 Lenten days, it is binding on us. You can use all the scriptures you like, but they do not carry any weight with a Catholic. This may be hard for you to grasp, but until you do, please do not attempt to contradict our disciplines according to your interpretations of scripture.

 

[dronald]

Notice that this assertion would have been completely foreign to Jesus: observant Jews had days in which all were called to penance and fasting. Therefore, in Jesus’ day, everyone knew when you were fasting – because everyone was fasting!

Jesus was talking about a different dynamic, though: when you are fasting, don’t change your physical appearance so that you look like you’re suffering. After all, if someone can tell you’re fasting because you look miserable, you’ve already received the reward you were really hoping to receive. Rather, when you fast – whether or not others know it is a fast day – let your demeanor reflect your love of God, not your observance of the fast.

So, when you fast, whether I know it or not is not the issue at hand. What’s at hand is that you aren’t making a show of the difficulties of fasting. When I go to my parish’s fish fry tonight, I won’t see anyone looking somber or disfiguring their faces. Maybe it’s different in your congregation, though…

Jesus’s reason given was so that others do not know that you’re fasting, my friend.

 

[dronald]

Straw man argument.

Who ever said that Catholics abstain “in order to say we’re doing greater than our brothers”? No one. Therefore, Colossians 2:16 and Romans 14 destroy nothing that Catholics practice.

That’s fair. I think it’s fine what Catholics do, although not necessary; as long as Catholics concede that us not observing days and foods is equally okay.

 

[marywarfield]

Jesus’s reason given was so that others do not know that you’re fasting, my friend.

Really? Where does it say what Jesus’ reason was?

 

[cguerber]

[Your link doesn’t work.]

Immaterial, as to whether or not it is literally “in the bible” and in accord with your interpretation. Let’s go back to Gorgias’ post, where he said:

Not sure if you read the entire thread, but this is a key point. When our lawful Authority advises us to abstain from meat on 8 Lenten days, it is binding on us. You can use all the scriptures you like, but they do not carry any weight with a Catholic. This may be hard for you to grasp, but until you do, please do not attempt to contradict our disciplines according to your interpretations of scripture.

Colossians 2:8 (NAB)
See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.

 

[dronald]

Really? Where does it say what Jesus’ reason was?

Matthew 6:16*“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

 

[Sirach2]

Colossians 2:8 (NAB)
See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.

The ultimate insult…
I wondered how long it would take for your stripes to fully show.
Let’s see how long you last to have a repeat performance.

Edit: As a matter of fact, that seems to be your sport, from what I have seen of your other posts on the forum; attacking Catholic practices.

 

[Gorgias]

Jesus’s reason given was so that others do not know that you’re fasting, my friend.

Brother,

If you were an observant Jew living in Palestine in the 1st century, and you – along with every other observant Jew in Palestine – were fasting on the eve of Purim or on Yom Kippur… do you really think that it’s logical to suggest that “others [would] not know that you’re fasting”? No… that’s the height of folly. Every Jew would know that each of his fellows were, likewise, fasting!

Therefore, there are only two logical alternatives:
Either… * your interpretation of Scripture is mistaken, since on days of public fast, God wasn’t the only one who would know that you were fasting

• or, the context of the passage you cite is private days of fasting (in which no one would know you were fasting (except God), unless you put on a show of fasting). Of course, this would mean that your case is irrelevant, since you’re attempting to apply a passage of Scripture about private fasting to the practice of public days of fast.

I can’t see any other possibility here. So, which is it? Is your interpretation of Scripture in error, or merely irrelevant to the case at hand?

Peace,
G.

 

[Modern_Revert]

If I belonged to a church with no liturgical calendar and worship was open-ended with no real way of marking the important events in the life of Christ, I’d be jealous of Lent too.

 

[Gorgias]

The ultimate insult…
I wondered how long it would take for your stripes to fully show.

I have to admit… I could stand to be more charitable on these forums, too, and I think it’s fair to say that I’m not the only one. So, “let him without sin”…

 

[Razanir]

That more than likely comes from an outdated translation.

An outdated translation? So… What the Bible teaches and how it’s to be interpreted changes over time?

Colossians 2:16 and Romans 14 destroy the idea that we as Christians must participate in observance of days or abstinence of foods in order to say we’re doing greater than our brothers.

As others have pointed out, this is a strawman we don’t do it to be better than others.

The difference is that when I fast for the Lord, you’ll never know.

Oh, trust me. You wouldn’t know when I fast. I actually felt less hungry on Ash Wednesday than days I’ve actually eaten. (That’s the power of the Eucharist for ya!)

as long as Catholics concede that us not observing days and foods is equally okay.

And we do. Fasting and abstinence aren’t part of natural law, just like Mosaic Law. They’re only binding on Catholics as a form of penance. Which again is Biblical. There are plenty of examples of people in the Bible fasting for their sins.

And actually, it’s not technically sinful to eat meat on Fridays during Lent. Or at least, the meat itself is not the sin. The sin would be not listening to the legitimate authority Christ bestowed upon the apostles (and their successors). But again, that’s only for Catholics. Non-Catholics don’t have to follow Church teachings, except for the parts that fall under natural law.

 

[marywarfield]

Matthew 6:16*“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Excellent starting point. So where does he say
don’t have prescribed fasting days?
For instance a Baptist minister friend of mine invited
me to dinner two Driday nights ago. Roast goat- Cabrito.
I begged off.
My Catholic friends knew why as all one hundred of
us attend the same Mass and knew that was a fasting
day.
The Baptist does not. So… Bbecause my Catholic
friends knew but the Baptist did not have I lost my
reward in Heaven according to you?

 

[JustStarting]

These quotes are perfect examples of why I left Protestantism. Flippant, smug, “I’m superior to you” and the horrific exegesis of people who think that because they can quote scripture, they know scripture.

So I thought it important to let the authors quoted below that they exemplify why I left.

Anyone who says it is a sin would have to prove it by the Bible, and the Bible says that requiring people to abstain from meat is itself a sin. Anyone who chooses not to eat meat on any particular day is within their rights to do so. Anyone who requires it of others is absolutely wrong.

Smoking Crystal-Meth is a sin. Sorry I can’t prove it by the Bible.

Sure it’s easy to pull Scripture out of context, but I’ve done no such thing. The difference is that when I fast for the Lord, you’ll never know.

All righty then. Your superiority as a human being has been noted.

Colossians 2:8 (NAB)
See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.

Of course, the writer was referring to a very specific heresy; namely the Colossian Heresy which had elements of Paganism and also embraced aspects of Jewish legalism. I pulled that little fact from *John MacArthur’s Bible Commentary *(pages 1729-1739) because I thought you might trust the source. There are many other references I can provide that demonstrate this as poor exegesis if you have the time for me to pull them out of the garage. Which leads to another question: if I found multiple references from well known Protestant Scholars that contradicted your use of this passage, why didn’t you?

At the very least, it would be a stretch to apply this verse to anything other than what it was specifically referencing. To do so would be adding to scripture-- something you’re against, right? And for the sake of dignity, please don’t tell us you weren’t applying the passage to the Catholic Church. It was painfully obvious.

For the record, the questions here were rhetorical, so if you respond, please do not expect a reply.

Bah. I was hoping this place would give me a rest from such nonsense.

But it confirms my decision to leave the Protestant Church (all 20,000 of them) was a good one.