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Lent, in the Christian Church is the forty-day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where according to the Bible he endured temptation by Satan.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Is Lent biblical? Well lets see what the bible says

our Lord observed Lent for 40days.

Moses observed Lent for 40 days and received the commandments from LORD. (Exodus 34:28).

Elisha observed lent for 40 days and taken to heaven. (1 Kings 19:8)..

The people of Nineve observed lent for 3 days and were saved from the wrath of God. ( Jonah 3:6).

Esther describes in chapter 4, that during the time of Ahasuerus, that all Jews observed lent for 3 days and were saved from the death.

Prophet Daniel observed lent by praying and fasting for the Jewish people (Daniel 9:3-21)

Ezra received blessing from God when she observed Lent. (Ezra 8:23)

Nehemiah observed lent and received blessing from God (Nehemiah 1:4)

“Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the elders, all who dwell in the land , Into the house of the LORD, your God and cry to the LORD.

In all these versus our Patriarch’s and our LORD observed the Lent. Though the number of days varied, in all these cases, God favored and blessed the people who observed the Lent.

She [Anna] never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer” (Luke 2:37)

Matthew 4th chapter describes our Lord’s observance of lent for 40days and His win over Satan.

Our Lord commands how to observe Lent in Matthew 6:16 . “When you fast do not look gloomy like hypocrites……… But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who see what is hidden will repay you”

Our Lord teaches that the church should observe Lent till He come back. “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15)

Acts 13:2 says that the Christians at Antioch has been fasting and worshiping the Lord.

“The completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:3)

Lent was invented because Easter was invented. Easter was invented because Christians got tired of celebrating Christ's resurrection EVERY Sunday and wanted an extra special celebration near the Jewish Passover. Then they figured that, to make it extra special, they should have a few days of solemn self-examination beforehand. Eventually things got carried away, so "Lent" ended up starting a whole 46 days before Easter (with extra anticipatory days like Sepuagesima Sunday tacked on).

On the plus side, it corresponded with the time of year when people were running low on food before the early spring harvests, so fasting became an integral part of the observances. We don't have that problem now, so it's all up to us. If fasting, self-deprivation and spiritual stock-taking do you some good, go for it. However, if one's entire Lenten experience consists of counting the days until it's over, I'd recommend something more useful.

Lent, a fast of preparation for 40 days, is a Jesus-made tradition from Jesus' 40 day fast in the desert to confront temptation, the Devil and his ( and our own) evil

The tradition of a time of repentence and fasting is very biblical

Lent, from the Anglo-Saxon for early Spring (' the springing of spring 'as the days lenghten), has been a really good thing for me and for those i know who have taken the message of repentance, almsgiving, fasting, self-discipline, more prayer and spiritual reading ( especially the Bible and Jesus' Passion in particularof Lent seriously

Lent is supposedly based on Jesus’ 40-day fast after his baptism. Was he then establishing a ritual to be followed yearly? Not at all. This is evident from the fact that the Bible does not record any such practice among the early Christians. Lent was first observed in the fourth century after Christ. Like many other teachings of Christendom, it was borrowed from pagan sources - false religious lies!

If Lent is in imitation of Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness after his baptism, why is it observed during the weeks leading up to Easter—supposedly the time of his resurrection? Jesus did not fast during the days prior to his death. The Gospel accounts indicate that he and his disciples visited homes and ate meals in Bethany just a few days before he died. And he ate the Passover meal the night before his death.—Matthew 26:6, 7; Luke 22:15; John 12:2.

That being said, how can any tradition based on a LIE be a good thing? Who did Jesus identify as the Father of the Lie? Did he not say it is Satan? (read John 8:44) Also did Jesus not condemn the religious leader of his day for teaching commands and traditions of men as doctrine? (read Matthew 15:3-9)

In view of what Jesus said, can a Christian really regard any religious tradition as being on a par with the Bible? Hardly. No matter how much sentiment or emotion may be tied up with a custom, a genuine Christian’s concern is whether it harmonizes with God’s Word or not.

on account that, i'm christian and by no skill catholic and do not participate in paganistic rituals, i'd be abstaining from lent (definite there's a distinction between both, they don't look to be interchangeable). Lent isn't even just about reported contained in the Bible. Fasting is extremely efficient and critical in case you do it with the right heart and correctly. Lent, regardless of the indisputable fact that, isn't. enable me ask you this, what part of Lent do you imagine will glorify God? The section the position you gorge your self on that distinct element the day earlier, be it sex or meat or chocolate? The section the position you whine and groan and moan about what you've given up for lent (hummm, kinda like the ash and sack-clothed clergymen Jesus advised us about). Or the section the position you brag to quite everyone precisely what you've finished? Howbeit you imagine that God will bless you for giving some thing up for lent, once you should have gotten rid of that sin out of your existence upon repenting and attempting to bypass forth and sin no extra. shall we glance on the culmination of this, for God reported you may decide issues by using its fruit, maximum suited? Mardi Gras. absolutely the sin-fest contained in the south. it quite is a exceptionally rotten fruit. Sounding like a ash lined, sack-clothed priest. "Oh, inspect what i'm doing with out to make me look extra efficient, oops, I advise that is for lent." Being a hypocrite: do you extremely bypass into it and are available out of it questioning you've replaced for the added efficient. Come on, fasting is to be finished in prayer and supplication unto the Lord.

The Catholic Church and many other Christians Churches follow the Biblical practice of Jesus Christ and the Jews in setting aside days where the entire Church fasts and prays as one in a attitude of constant renewal.

By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert and in spiritual preparation for the celebration of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

This season of penance is an intense moment of the Church's penitential practice and are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and charitable and missionary works.

The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches also observe the season of Lent. Many modern Protestant Churches consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1438:

http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chp...

For Lenten resources, see:

• http://www.usccb.org/lent/

• http://americancatholic.org/Features/Lent/default....

• http://americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0205....

With love in Christ.

To each his own...if someone does it good for him...if not so what?...that's what is meant be man-made tradition...its not a commandment from God so it doesn't matter if you keep it or not

that is a good question I hope you will get reasonable answers

Believers should present their lives as a sacrifice for God.

Romans 12

1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You worship a human being and you're worried about a man made tradition? For God's sake.