*Please read with understanding that my attitude is that of doing my best to kindly educate – I really don’t mean for this to sound condescending:

My take on Ash Wednesday and the Lentin season that started last Wednesday for Catholicism and some other denominations that have adopted the Catholic tradition. The Lentin period was formalized in 325 AD at the First Council of Nicaea and Ash Wednesday was first enacted by Pope Gregory in 601 AD. Some have said that the ash cross figure applied to a person’s forehead has similarities to the pagan tradition of “Weeping for Tammuz” which was a 40- day mourning period for a pagan sun god and condemned by God in Ezekiel 8. It does bear a striking resemblance. However, the bigger issue is creating traditions that further complicate and minimize the importance of human purity and spirituality. By implication, those who participate in Ash Wednesday and Lent are choosing AT THAT TIME to give up a sinful vice or habit for the sake of devotion to Christ. The Bible and the first, second, and third century Church, had no such practice of 40 or 46 days of “fasting”. The terrible implication that many take from Lent is that it is ok for 325 or 319 days to commit the same sins that for 40 or 46 days you pledge to “fast” from. Sin should be abstained from EVERY DAY. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross should motivate us to live a life that pleases Him- a small price to pay for the large sacrifice He made. The wearing of ash on one’s forehead gives the appearance of piety when in fact, if this were truly your desire, you’d wear that ash every day of the year. But more to the point, the Word of God gives sufficient command and exhortation to live holy lives every day; an added tradition originated by a doctrinally confused “church” in Catholicism only adds greater confusion and reliance on needless rituals while quietly enabling a “rest-of-the-year” sinful lifestyle. If in fact it originates with the tradition of weeping for Tammuz, that is altogether another reason to avoid this and many other needless rituals. Do you want absolution from the guilt of sin? Repent and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior (Romans 10:9-10). Then you will be forgiven 24/7 and it will become your Holy Spirit-led motivation to live righteously every day, not just 40 or 46 days.

Relying on God’s Word and not man’s traditions, Pastor Larry