March 2nd, 2007

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Internet
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My Social Network Idea Du Jour: ForLent.com

As the Christians among you surely know, last week was Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Traditionally, during Lent, you give something up. From Wikipedia:

Many modern Protestants and Anglicans consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g. going to the movies, playing video games) for Lent, or they may instead decide to take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so forth. Roman Catholics may also observe Lent in this way, in addition to the dietary restrictions outlined above, though observation is no longer mandatory under the threat of mortal sin.

Somebody should build a site which enables people to describe what they’re giving up for Lent, track their progress and encourage others who were giving up the same thing.

You could call it 43Penances (I see Lent gets a mention on 43Things). Such a site probably exists, but my 12 second Google search didn’t produce any promising examples. ForLent.com is owned by some company called Forlent Technologies.

Comments: 4 Responses so far

Oana
March 2nd, 2007
4:21 pm

Well as an Orthodox Christian, I have to give up all animal products and go vegan for the entire 40+ days. I’ve decided instead to just moderate my consumption of animal products and give up bread. I think Catholics have it easy.

[Reply]

Andrew Ferguson
March 3rd, 2007
12:13 am

This idea strikes me as both too hilarious to be considered anything but a parody and so serious it’s mildly creepy.

I’m not doing lent, but I’m (along with two others) embarking on a nineteen day sunrise-to-sunset fast (starting today) as part of the Baha’i holy month of Ala. I also just finished being vegetarian for the month of February. It’s not social networking, but the three of us do have a blog about it.

The three of us are doing a project where we’re a different religion every month for all of 2007. The site’s up at http://www.yearoffaith.net if you’re interested.

I’m just putting the finishing touches on the intro to the Baha’i faith post.

[Reply]

grant
March 5th, 2007
5:53 am

I read your Alpha three weeks in post - how’s your exploration of world religions going? Did you give it up for lent? You might find these two sources of Christian thought somewhat refreshing by comparison to orthodox Catholic or Anglican theology:
http://www.ptm.org
http://www.geezmagazine.org/

Happy hunting,
Grant

[Reply]

darren
March 5th, 2007
8:33 am

Grant: I’m afraid it’s gotten kind of sidetracked by busyness and my plan to move to Malta for six months. That country is highly Catholic, so I guess that’s what I’ll be learning about next.

[Reply]

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