Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Fer many, 'specially Catholics, turkey wouldn't work either. Only meat allowable fer them is fish, which is why they're called "Fisheaters" and why in grade school we had fish every stinkin' Friday.

My bride-to-be is a fisheater. I love her very much, but that thick, juicy steak I've got in mind for this Friday might cause an uproar -- hey, my faith says "Love thy Lord" not "Do without nutritious, delicious, wonderful beef, which goes better with a loaded baked potato than anything else."

Back to your subject, ER. The turkey chili tain't bad. Bein' a bachelor, ya had to learn how to improvise with lottsa stuff, and oftentimes, the turkey chili was what was on sale. So a good chili dog or a good chili mac is ... good.
 

Teditor, you can have your slab of cow. Just do it on Sunday, which are exemptions from the Lenten guidelines of self-denial (Sundays are "mini-Easters" so fasting is not permitted. They are feast days.)
(Of course, my Methodist minister mad a joke the other day when explaining this to the congregation. He said the "regular holy people" will take those Sunday breaks. But the "super holy people" will be so holy they won't need to. Much laughter ensued since we'll all be lucky to hold out until Saturday.)

Maybe that will help E.R. too.

E.R., you are on the right track. Self-denial does take us out of our own heads and our own worlds and puts us in a place to experience our relationship with God differently.

Here's a loose analogy. You've got a kid who just loves playing PS2. Every day. His homework suffers, he's getting fat as a cow, he can't hear his parents speak. So the parents get tough, take not only the PS2, but the TV, the computer, the phone and the stereo and put them in storage for *gasp* SIX WEEKS! Kid thinks he will DIE! Then he discovers a bicycle, a basketball and some roller blades have been waiting for him in the garage. And his life turns around in big ways.
This is how Lent is supposed to work, in spiritual ways as well as physical. You give something up so you can take on something different.

Good luck with your experiences. I'm posting some Lenten recipes on my blog for those who may want some other ideas about how to cope.
 

I'm new to all this. Is venison allowed? What about other poultry (you've only mentioned turkey)?
 

Also, someone said fish. What about shellfish? Treat yourself to a nice lobster tail.
 

It's all a matter of personal choice, Rem. The idea is to surrender something of meaning as a sacrifice. Lent really is not the Great Christian Diet month, which, unfortunately, a lot of people have tried to make it. ("I'm giving up chocolate! I hope I lose 5 pounds!" or "I'm giving up Brussels sprouts! I don't like them anyway!) That's not the meaning behind it.

For those of us who really enjoy consuming the flesh of animals, especially beef and pork, giving up meat can be a significant sacrifice. Especially in Oklahoma or other states where dinner is on the hoof most of the time.

Some people choose to forego all forms of animal food; others pick particular things that they enjoy a lot. Others may recognize that a certain food (for me, beef) can cause gluttony, so we'd focus on giving that up.

The "giving up" is symbolic of sacrifice, like the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for us. No matter how big our six-week sacrifice may be, it can never measure up to His.
 

Trix,

Starting Saturday night this week, I'll be hangin' out with the parents of the love of my life, very, very, very, VERY strict Catholics. After this Friday, it's fish every stinkin' Friday.

I shall eat steak this Friday. Big. Ol'. Steak. Saturday will be McDonald's as I drive nine hours to my new home and new job. By myself. I'm treatin' myself to steak, whether it's a Friday durin' Lent or a Monday durin' football season. :-)

I ain't never seen no Methodist minister preach from the pulpit about not eatin' meat on Fridays of Lent, and I've been a goin' 30-plus years.

Back in the day, Catholics celebrated every Friday in a fasting regimine, some who ate nothing, others who would eat no meat other than fish. Some Catholic Churches still recognize that, not just for Lent.

You're correct in the sacrifice. Mine is that I'm moving in with Catholics. :-)
 

Rem, my own deal is to just avoid beef and pork, since they are my favorites.

Venison,m for me, would be fair game, and lamb would be fair livestock!
 

Being reading abou the "First American" migrations, and gleaned these two facts for you in regards to your Lenten problem.
One: In several of the Indian languages in Amazonia there is a specific word that means"hungry for meat".
Two: In Amazonia the Catholic Church allowed Cappybaras, a giant aquatic rodent related to the guinea pig, to be eaten as fish on Fridays.
Cappybara Chile anyone?
 

Lent = Lencten and Old English word derived from the Anglo-Saxon for Spring. A time when the food hoarded for winter has run out and the new growth has yet to produce food. Fish became a major food source during this time. Thus a season of hunger and forced fasting, made into a Catholic holiday in the 4th or 5th Century in England.
An unavoidable necessity transformed into a vertue.
 

Vertue = virtue: an old drlobojo mis-spelling of something he knows not of.
 

"I'm new to this Lent thing."

a newbie, eh?! heh. i was raised roman catholic. irish roman catholic. of course, we observed all of the traditions: the "fasting" (meats and sweets), slight increase in the frequency of visits to the confessional, stations of the cross, etc.

mom had a sweet tooth, but her real passion was peanut butter. right out of the jar, no less. so that was her additional lenten sacrifice. on easter morning, while the family was at mass, dad (who, as an agnostic, abstained from institutionalized ritual) would prepare the annual "peanut butter hunt". upon our return from easter mass, mom was handed a card, a written clue, as to where in the house she should look. she'd decipher the clue, then search the suggested area. but the first clue led only to another mysterious clue, which, in turn, led to another, and so on, until mom (with her six kids close on her heels) at last uncovered her peanutty easter treat.

good times....

KEvron
 

"....of something he knows not of."

"....of something of which he knows not."

GRammar NAzi
 

That sounds like fun, KEv.

Reckon I can get Dr. ER to hide a steak somewhere here in the house, with clues and such?

She could wrap each clue in bacon ... MMMMM ... bacon ... :-)
 

Grammer Nazi, who made that rule anyway? Is that another one of Milton's ideas? A third of the sentences in my post aren't. And I spell like Captain Clarke did 200 years ago. So why pick on one little innocent preposition, just because by definition it must be pre-positioned in front of a word.
 

NEW RULE:

No Gammer corrections unless you can explain the rule.

(That will make it more fun ;-}
 

Does that go for spelling, too, or just Gammer?
 

explain the rule? sure:

a couple of powdered-wigged jackasses decided to pound latin grammar down our english throats.

better?

KEVron
 

Trixie, there may be rules in spellin but it don't matter none.
Bceusae fi yuo gte lal eht leretts in a wrod yll'ou be bale ot rdae it yanywa. Osemhtnig boatu het bainr imslpe erogronzesi it ofr uoy.
 

Not at all a nice thing to do to someone who hasn't had their first cuppa caffeine, drlobojo.

My head hurts....
 

"fi yuo gte lal eht leretts in a wrod"

wtih the cdotiionn taht the fsirt and lsat ltetres are in tiehr crorcet pitisoons....

KorvEn
 

KorvEn, I cnoeecd.