Yes, I'll Be Eating Meat This Holy Week

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Having grown in a Roman Catholic family meant I was taught that we should never eat meat during Ash Wednesdays and the Fridays of Lent. There were also times that my folks and I weren't eating meat for the whole holy week. The reason is because it's commemoration of Jesus' death. What annoys me is that Scripture is often taken out of context or people just love to twist the already obvious meaning. If they could twist around Matthew 16:16-18 then I shouldn't expect them not to do the same with the rest of the Scripture. After I got saved by the grace of God and out of Roman Catholicism I really said, "Away with all these practices that bind heavy burden unto men's shoulders!"

The idea that says that eating meat during Holy Week is a "mortal sin" is nowhere in the Bible. If you think about it all sin is sin (James 2:10-11) whether they be "mortal" or "venial". First, while church authority is ordained but the Roman Catholic institution is nothing but a mess of legalism and hypocrisy. I always think of the Lenten season to be one of the most hypocritical times of the year aside from Christmas. If parents have the license to lie about Santa Claus during the Christmas season then people have the license to be legalistic hypocrites during Lent. They start judging everyone with what they eat and drink.

I have verses from the Bible to justify that I can eat meat this Holy Week:
Colossians 2:16 
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
1 Timothy 4:3

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Even when the Good News Translation or any Roman Catholic translation already spells it clear in spite of missing verses and words from the Greek and Hebrew is that Roman Catholics still insist they're not judging others in meat or drink and they think that God ordained priests to be celibate. It's hypocritical to say "Oh it's Old Testament." while appealing to the Old Testament to defend an erroneous priesthood. God didn't require the priesthood to be celibate as Leviticus 21:13 orders priests to be married. They even use 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 to justify priestly celibacy when it doesn't.

Do you want to know how the Lord Jesus commanded the people to remember Him? It's all in the Lord's supper. It's celebrated in the evening because it's supper. It's unleavened bread and unfermented wine. Here's what the Bible says on how to remember the death of Christ:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

Should I mention that the holy week celebration usually coincides with the Passover? Jesus' death happened during the Passover Week. The Passover Lamb was slain at 3 P.M. on that day at the same time Jesus already finished paying for our sins on the cross. The Passover was a celebration that ate roasted lamb, bitter herbs and unleavened bread not a time of sorrow and abstinence from meat. Nowhere in the Bible did the early church commemorate the death of Jesus by abstaining from meats. That kind of teaching is nothing more than the teaching of demons which is happening right now. Make no mistake that from the time of the apostles up to today we are in the last days. We don't know how many last days are left but we're certainly in the last days. 

I had a thought in my mind that maybe, just maybe Huldrch Zwingli wasn't too creative about the Affair of the Sausages. Maybe he could have insulted the Papists by cooking lamb during the Lenten season because Jesus was crucified during the Passover. Also, the coming Good Friday can be considered a time for joy. I may be accused of being an Antinomian but Good Friday should be a celebration. Here's what Charles H. Spurgeon has to say about Good Friday in his sermon "Sad Hearts Changed to Glad Feasts":
The Lord of life and glory was nailed to the accursed tree. He died by the act of guilty men. We, by our sins, crucified the Son of God. 
We might have expected that, in remembrance of his death, we should have been called to a long, sad, rigorous fast. Do not many men think so even today? See how they observe Good Friday, a sad, sad day to many; yet our Lord has never enjoined our keeping such a day, or bidden us to look back upon his death under such a melancholy aspect.  
Instead of that, having passed out from under the old covenant into the new, and resting in our risen Lord, who once was slain, we commemorate his death by a festival most joyous. It came over the Passover, which was a feast of the Jews; but unlike that feast, which was kept by unleavened bread, this feast is brimful of joy and gladness. It is composed of bread and of wine, without a trace of bitter herbs, or anything that suggests sorrow and grief. …  
The memorial of Christ’s death is a festival, not a funeral; and we are to come to the table with gladsome hearts and go away from it with praises, for "after supper they sang a hymn" [Matt 26:30, Mark 14:26].

So why is it a call for rejoicing for the Christian? It's a celebration that Jesus already completed His work and there's no other sacrifice for sins. It's a celebration that Jesus took the punishment that was deserving of me. It's a celebration that because Jesus paid the penalty for my sins He also defeated the power of sin on the cross. This is a cause for rejoicing and a celebration of true repentance:
Hebrews 2:14 
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil;
Hebrews 9:14 
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

This is the power that we can rejoice about the death of Jesus on the cross. He not only paid for the penalty of sin but also defeated Satan through His sacrificial death. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins. This is a call to celebrate new life in Christ. This is a celebration of freedom from sin and not freedom to sin. If one's view of salvation is celebrating sin instead of repenting of it then it's not worth celebrating. This celebration is all about liberty from sin and new life in Christ. This is a celebration that says, "I will live for Jesus because He died for me." This is a celebration that says "Thank you Lord for taking my place on the cross. Now give me your grace to do what you want me to do."

What I also find hypocritical is that many people who actually do Lent as their "time of mourning" are also living very sinful lives whole year round. It's just like how Ahab's sackcloth and ashes were used for show business. Many of them do their "time of mourning" hoping it buys them grace to make up for their sins. Easter Sunday comes and it's back to their sinful, wild lifestyles. Holiness is not just a one time affair but it's the Christian life. It's safe to say that holy week for Roman Catholics has become nothing more than a license to sinful living for the rest of the year. 
Hebrews 12:14 
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

True holiness characterizes the Christian lifestyle all year round. Holiness is not just during holy week. True holiness is not about ritualistic rules and regulations such as avoiding meat during Holy Week or doing heavy rituals. Instead, true holiness is living the Christian life according to the Bible and not according to ritualism. It's not all about performing religious ceremonies to gain merit but it's all about doing good works, attending Sunday services and studying the Bible because one is already saved. True holiness results to true change of character. Holiness is something that true believers will grow in and it's a daily walk. If the person only has a once a year holiness then that's not holiness but hypocrisy.  

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