Beginning of Lent

Happy Ash Wednesday! In honor of Lent, I usually partake in the Catholic tradition of giving something up for Lent. Not because I'm Catholic, but because I think it's a great concept of giving up something that you use or do on a regular basis that you know you probably could do without. So this year, I'm giving up the following:

1) Alcohol. I think I've done this one every year for the past 6 years now. Only time I get tempted is bowling nights....
2) Caffeine. This is a new one for me this year. I know I no longer have my caffeine addiction that I had in college. I remember going to my doctor in college and he asked how much pop I drank and I told him he really didn't want to know. I think my last year when I never slept I was drinking a 2 liter of Mt. Dew every day (it was 99 cents and COLD at QT in Campustown). I can now go an extended time without caffeine, but not sure I've ever done 40 days. Now this is only direct forms like coffee, tea, pop (for those raised in IA), soda (for those raised in MN).... not sure what they say in Nebraska.
3) Candy. This one actually has more to do with my diet than Lent but I'll throw it on here to impress my mom.

Eddie and Pitzen - don't forget to give something up, and NO MEAT on Fridays for you. I'll enjoy a nice juicy steak for you!

Speaking of Lent, today's question revolves around the history and origins of Lent. I'd like to remind my readers that if you have any questions for me (either personal, professional, or just a random information quest) send them my way!!!

I received a letter from Mike Rotch in Buhmbel Fuhk, Egypt who writes:

Hey Adam! Thanks for all the great insight and humor you always provide every day! My question involves Lent. Nowhere in the Bible do I find any information about Lent. Can you help me out?

Thanks for the question Mike! Lent is the 40 day period before Easter (not including Sundays) that is used in preparation for the arrival of Easter. It began as a holy week, but due to the overwhelming symbolic use of the number 40 in the Bible, it was changed to represent the period of temptation and suffering before Easter when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ, along with resurrection of ourselves.

The number 40 appears in the Bible as the number of days spent by Jesus fasting in the wilderness while being tempted by the Devil all this time, Jonah gave Nineveh 40 days in which to repent, the Jews wandered the desert for 40 years traveling to the promised land with Moses, 40 days and nights of the Great Flood and Noah, Elijah walked for 40 days and 40 nights.... so sure, the number 40 when attributed to "suffering" makes sense.

As for the term "Lent" and its use in the Bible, there is some debate as to if this period was actually participated in by the Apostles (the First Christian Church) after the Ascension of Jesus. I tend to believe that Lent is a post-Biblical tradition and its officialization can be traced to the Council of Nicea in AD 325. Christianity was legalized in AD 313 but there are letters even before then of a preparation time for Easter.

And why give up the good stuff during Lent? While originally Lent was setup as a time of fasting (fasting was much more common in Biblical times in preparation of Holy Events) but modern Christians find fasting difficult with our modern lifestyles. So Lent is basically a time for a more strict diet. Some divisions of Catholicism even give up Meat and milk ("essentials") for the entire 40 days, not just on Fridays.

There you go Mike - hope this helps! Keep those questions coming!!

Song of the Day - Today is a Classical selection. I pulled out the recording I have of the Brahms Piano Concerto. It's one of the few pieces by Brahms that I enjoy. We performed this with HOOBERT last year in La Crosse. Those were some good memories!

Video of the Day - Thanks to Wieman for the suggestion for today. Chris, you'll really like this one!! Microsoft repackages the iPod for marketing! Very funny if you understand the different market strategies between Apple and Microsoft. And some great Danny Elfman music to enjoy with it!

Webpage of the Day - Lady gets scammed on ebay for a $2400 wedding dress. Not sure what pisses me off more about this, the fact that they try to make people not trust ebay, or the fact that the lady was dumb enough to go down a multi-red-flagged path to get screwed over! I won my ebay case;) I'm a huge fan of it!