People piss me off during Lent. "Oh I'm going to give up chocolate for Lent but still eat other shit," or "I'm going to give up coffee for Lent but drink craploads of Red Bull." The Muslims know how to do that shit right

2/18/2010 7:57:49 PM

muslims observe lent?

2/18/2010 7:58:38 PM

Naw, I mean Ramadan. Giving up food and shit all day to remind yourself how good you got it. That's how my great-grandparents used to observe Lent but these days most people are too pussy to be that hardcore

2/18/2010 7:59:56 PM

in before the giving up lent for lent joke.

2/18/2010 8:02:09 PM

Actually some Christians fast that way for Lent. We actually do it more intense than the Muslims by giving up food all day and then when we DO go eat, the diet is vegan.

2/18/2010 8:02:59 PM

2/18/2010 8:10:54 PM

Quote :

"Actually some Christians fast that way for Lent. We actually do it more intense than the Muslims by giving up food all day and then when we DO go eat, the diet is vegan."

yep

what 'christians' other than Catholics observe lent at all? (i see that Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans do but they are a hard sneeze and a pope away from being Catholic anyways)

2/18/2010 8:37:59 PM

a certain roommate of mine is giving up french fries

WTF?

why not just give up fast food in general for that short period of time? that's like a person who eats a lot of candy saying they're just giving up Reese's Cups....or a sex addict saying they're just going without anal for Lent

2/18/2010 8:40:24 PM

because people are wimps and they pick something easy

i should pick something (preferably something i already haven't broken)

soda - but i don't drink much anyways
coffee - maybe but i've already had 2 cups today

? ideas?

2/18/2010 8:42:56 PM

im giving up vegetables and jogging


oh wait

2/18/2010 8:45:06 PM

Arab13 See Coptic Orthodox or Greek or Russian Orthodox, for example.

2/18/2010 8:47:03 PM

i might try fasting during the day (ala muslims) (only water, no soda or sugar added to tea or something) on fridays

I lump them in with us Catholics

[Edited on February 18, 2010 at 8:48 PM. Reason : s]

2/18/2010 8:47:34 PM

i'm giving up black licorice

2/18/2010 8:47:55 PM

i gave up drinking...

2/18/2010 9:03:18 PM

I hope Arab is joking.

What other Christians besides the Catholics and every important denomination of the Protestants observe Lent?

Dunno, can't say I care about the 1%.

Giving up oral sex for Lent, since my girlfriend seems quite faithful to the idea without vocalizing so.

2/18/2010 9:11:10 PM

gave up booze

2/18/2010 9:20:07 PM

i gave up crazy_carl

2/18/2010 9:23:03 PM

saps852 you know i'm never gonna give, never gonna give....never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down

2/18/2010 9:30:59 PM

lol

2/18/2010 9:40:00 PM

I always thought of these sorts of rituals as a device to provide an ongoing reminder to meditate on your beliefs. "Whoever can suffer the most wins" just seems unenlightened.

2/18/2010 9:49:44 PM

I think the whole thing is attention whoring


people who are otherwise not religious in any way are doing this shit

2/18/2010 9:53:33 PM

The point of Lent is to make a difference in your life style in a way that will be a pain in the ass to do...some people give things up some people take things on. Many people fast all of Ash Wednesday. It's not a who is more christian and suffers the most contest, in fact what you give up or take on should really be between you and God and should be a personal journey, not a HEY LOOK WHAT I'M GIVING UP FOR LENT time.

The Christians that observe Lent are the liturgical Christians that observe the different seasons of the church year.

2/18/2010 9:56:39 PM

^ Yeah, except most of the shit people proclaim to do isn't a pain in the ass at all. That's my beef.

Quote :

"I think the whole thing is attention whoring people who are otherwise not religious in any way are doing this shit"

I could see that.

2/18/2010 10:03:09 PM

my rant on lent: its stupid

2/18/2010 10:04:18 PM

my god is better than your god

2/18/2010 10:06:58 PM

In the past the things I've given up have been like a whole "genre" of food...like instead of just giving up candy I would give up all dessert foods, so nothing sweet...or I gave up potatoes on year...no chips, mashed, baked, fries...one year I gave up cheese and pasta...

Giving up whole groups of food tend to make things a bit harder, I mean yeah it's easy to just avoid chocolate when you can eat other sugary things, or avoid chips when you can have fries...but when you can't have anything even related to what you want then that's when it really is worth it.

2/18/2010 10:07:12 PM

Lent makes it easier in some ways to give something up. I went sans caffeine and sodas when I was at State one year for Lent. Massive headaches for about a week, but after that I was cool. Last year that was part of the whole giving up regular sodas and going diet only for good (other was my triglycerides were too fucking high, but I didn't want to drop Dr. Pepper altogether) and I have stuck to that one. I am kinda going along with the no booze and no beating off for Lent this year. Figured that would be something a lot harder to give up.

In the end its about testing myself, and I like doing that. The religious aspect gives you a little extra motivation to keep it up. But since I'm not really a churchgoing guy, I just read some from the Bible on the subject and toss up some prayers for strength to help me avoid the temptation and make myself stronger.

2/18/2010 10:14:19 PM

Quote :

"The point of Lent is to make a difference in your life style in a way that will be a pain in the ass to do...some people give things up some people take things on. Many people fast all of Ash Wednesday. It's not a who is more christian and suffers the most contest, in fact what you give up or take on should really be between you and God and should be a personal journey, not a HEY LOOK WHAT I'M GIVING UP FOR LENT time."

You have failed to answer the question of why you are making a difference in your life style.

I fail to see how making your life a pain in the ass for the sake of making your life a pain in the ass builds a stronger relationship with God.
Hence my comment that the constant reminders cause a person to meditate on their relationship with God.
It's that near constant meditation that matters, in my humble opinion.

Maybe I'm the wrong person to even be commenting on this.

[Edited on February 18, 2010 at 10:17 PM. Reason : l]

2/18/2010 10:15:55 PM

Welp I dodged the ashes for another year. You know. The ones from our sun blowing up and engulfing our planet

2/18/2010 10:46:10 PM

2/18/2010 10:47:42 PM

The point of Lent is that you give up something difficult, you do this to symbolize the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. You also do it to jump start a change in yourself, a transformation of being if you will.

2/18/2010 10:50:31 PM

^^^^Why does anyone do any sort of religious fast?

However, you've just made it obvious that there is no point in trying to respond to you about the reasons behind it because nothing I could possibly say for my reasons for observing Lent could satisfy you.

[Edited on February 18, 2010 at 10:51 PM. Reason : ]

2/18/2010 10:50:53 PM

^ You're probably right, because not everyone believe's in some imaginary guy in the sky.

2/18/2010 10:55:55 PM

There is no god up in the sky tonight no sign of heaven anywhere in sightd up

2/18/2010 11:04:35 PM

I'm giving up the atrocious misuse of apostrophes

2/18/2010 11:24:03 PM

Quote :

"^^^^Why does anyone do any sort of religious fast?"

You tell me.

Quote :

"However, you've just made it obvious that there is no point in trying to respond to you about the reasons behind it because nothing I could possibly say for my reasons for observing Lent could satisfy you."

You haven't stated any reasons yet. I would have accepted that it helps you relate to God. I would have accepted that it is a way of proving your determination to God. I would have accepted that you do it because you trust in the word of the scriptures without having to ask "why?"

parsonsb's response makes sense.

I think you're taking my posts in entirely the wrong way.

Keep in mind that my original statement was in response to:

Quote :

"The Muslims know how to do that shit right "

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 9:02 AM. Reason : l]

2/19/2010 8:54:41 AM

Back in college my two catholic roommates both gave up beer.

Instead we stocked the fridge with malt liquor during lent. It was awful.

2/19/2010 9:09:57 AM

actually, lent is stupid all around, no matter what you call it, how you do it, etc. christian or muslim. it's fucking stupid.

2/19/2010 9:11:07 AM

I realize this thread is about those who give up luxuries for Lent.... which I do not. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

2/19/2010 9:14:25 AM

People that use Lent as a way to be 'trendy' ... are very pathetic. Just sayin'

2/19/2010 9:18:18 AM

People who follow a religion are pathetic.

2/19/2010 9:21:44 AM

Quote :

"Actually some Christians fast that way for Lent. We actually do it more intense than the Muslims by giving up food all day and then when we DO go eat, the diet is vegan. "

But do Christians go without WATER (or anything to drink) all day as well? Muslims do.

Muslims dont eat/drink/smoke/mouthwash, etc. during "fasting hours".

2/19/2010 9:24:31 AM

Is there a rule that you have to wait until Lent to give something up. Are you allowed to diet or lead a healthier life or give back to the community at any point in time or are there strict rules only allowing it for 40 days?

2/19/2010 9:26:36 AM

Quote :

"Is there a rule that you have to wait until Lent to give something up. Are you allowed to diet or lead a healthier life or give back to the community at any point in time or are there strict rules only allowing it for 40 days?"

2/19/2010 9:33:45 AM

sarcasm homles.

2/19/2010 10:06:09 AM

Quote :

"I hope Arab is joking. What other Christians besides the Catholics and every important denomination of the Protestants observe Lent? Dunno, can't say I care about the 1%. Giving up oral sex for Lent, since my girlfriend seems quite faithful to the idea without vocalizing so."

i've never heard of baptists doing lent jackass

and it's people like you that make lent less meaningful

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 10:10 AM. Reason : s]

2/19/2010 10:08:49 AM

Quote :

"I think the whole thing is attention whoring people who are otherwise not religious in any way are doing this shit "

Quote :

"what 'christians' other than Catholics observe lent at all? (i see that Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans do but they are a hard sneeze and a pope away from being Catholic anyways)"

Not so much.

Lutheran = Espiscopalian Lite; Espiscopalian = Catholic Lite

Methodists are more like Diet Baptist.

2/19/2010 10:12:47 AM

how we gonna pay.....

how we gonnnaa payyyy....


HOW WEEEE GONNNAA PAYYYYYYYY

LAST YEAR'S LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENT

2/19/2010 10:23:49 AM

I don't give up a goddamn thing for Lent caus I don't gotta.

2/19/2010 10:27:34 AM

I'm giving up heroin

2/19/2010 12:47:31 PM