Why do christians do not eat meat on good friday?
It is a form of fasting. Here is an explanation from one of my favorite websites, Catholic Answers, as to why we fast: “The idea of fasting and denying oneself comes from Judaism and from Jesus Himself who quite specifically stated: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Mt 16:24).” Then in verse 27 He says: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of the Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behavior.” So our salvation is the result of His grace AND our willingness to co-operate with it. Something IS expected of us. In Mt. 7:5 He says: “It is not those who say ‘Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.” He obviously expected us to fast or He would not have admonished us to not do it for prideful reasons. He says in Mt. 6:16: “When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do; they pull long fa
Catholics are not supposed to eat meat on any Friday during Lent (the 40 days before Easter). It is supposed to teach us self control. At one time there were all sorts of other, stricter fasting rules that were supposed to commemorate the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert before the Crucifixion. Over the years, the rules were made less strict, until the fish thing is one of the few rules left. As for the question “why fish?” it is supposed to commemorate the Miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Also, at the time the rule was adopted, the fishing industry was having problems, and this was intended as an economic subsidy to help it out. (Kind of like ethanol subsidies are supposed to help struggling farmers). See http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-lent.
