lent isnt so much about punishing or torturing yourself for God. its simply a little period of time to clean up some of the stupid things you do that you probably shouldnt. theres rules just to give you something to go by. the whole giving up meat on fridays is silly but whatever, its part of the game. i give up things like porn, junk food, and im adding cursing (thanks for the idea don) just because its another thing i do way too often and its become a bad habit.
i dont so much seeing it as making a sacrifice for God as i do a way of cleaning up my act to be a better person. thats really what religion is all about in the first place…just trying to be a better person. its too bad a lot of people tend to get a carried away with it and give it a bad image to everyone else. everyone has bad habits. this is just the Christian way to try to get rid of some of them. no it doesnt always work but it helps.
this is not a catholic rant, just saying how i see it.