October 31st is Reformation Day, a religious holiday in remembrance of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Most attribute this to Martin Luther posting his famous 95 Theses on the door of All Saint's Church in Wittenburg, Germany on October 31st, 1517.
Lent is about prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Certainly those are good things. The question is whether it's appropriate for Christians to set aside 40 days of the year to do these things in preparation for Easter.
Imagine you're a healthy young man. Now imagine that you've been in an auto accident, and that you're now a paraplegic. That would be sad and difficult, of course. Now, imagine the Roman Catholic church rubbing salt into your wounds.
According to the Roman Catholic church, there are two types of sins:
Venial sins, which are relatively minor, and Capital (or Mortal) sins, which put one in danger of eternal damnation. The traditionally-held Seven Deadly Sins are, in order of seriousness:
The Roman Catholic church apparently considers this to be an unofficial list of "capital" or "mortal" sins...that is, one cannot commit this kind of sin without being in danger of hell.
That's what we call 'a loaded question'! First, I find that Catholics are usually very much like other people. =)
Who's your favorite pontiff? Let me know if you find any errors, or if anyone is missing.
