One comment that I hear often during Lent is, "God won't send me to Hell because I ate meat."
The person who makes that statement is usually shocked when I respond by saying, "You know, I agree. You are right".
That usually gets their attention long enough, then catechesis begins.
First: God doesn't send anyone to Hell. We get their on our own.
Second: Eating meat on a Friday during Lent is not a sin, but the attitude of a Catholic who chooses to is.
Abstaining from meat is not a doctrine or a dogma of the Church. It is a practice much like priestly celibacy. The Church has chosen to enforce this practice because of the great benefit which it gives to individual Catholics and the Church as a whole. The Church has had 2,000 years to develop these practices. It doesn't create them on whims, serious thought and prayer goes into them.
So, where does sin come in? Simply put, the person sins by eating meat on a Friday during Lent because the individual presumes to know better than the Church. The Church has spent 2,000 years thinking about these topics. How much time have you spent? I thought so.
So, is it a mortal or a venial sin? Well, that depends on the attitude of the carnivore.
Basically what I want to say in this post is that it's not about meat at all. It's about denying ourselves, uniting with other Catholics in a common practice, and being obedient to Church law. There is so little that the Catholic Church requires of her members, not eating meat on 8 days isn't that much of a sacrifice. Just remember, you could be ordering a Ramadan meal or keeping Kosher all year long.
On a related note: Remember the Meat Police?
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4 comments:
"... because the individual presumes to know better than the Church..."
Church != God
The church is run by men, "fallible and flawed", like everyone else. I won't even get into the topic of power and corruption. While eating meat is not an issue that can justify "disobedience", following any individual or group blindly should, you would think, be behind us now.
God doesn't exist, so don't worry about it.
So in other words, for 2000 years you have been forcing people do something that hasno BIBLICAL basis.
There is no where in the bible where the eating of meat is forbidden. Infact Jesus taught in Mark &:1-23....to forget tradition. AZnd not eating meat is a tradition...not a biblical principle.
Eating meat is the biggest sin one can do. For God, every living entity is the same (either man, cat, cow..because it is a pure soul).
So when you kill God's living entity for your own sense gratification you are commiting a sin. Now the question arises why we kill plants, they also have a soul. So the scriptures say you can eat food which is in the mode of goodness and that is plant food. Also some foods like Onion and Garlic are not eaten as they are in the mode of passion. So to first understand God you have to understand yourself, becasue u are a part and parcel of the lord. So first come in the mode of goodness and become a human being and then start devotional service.
Read Bhagavad gita As it is from His divine grace A.C Bhakti Vedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada and make your life successfull.
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