Is Easter Pagan?

[redsleigh]

(04-07-2011 04:23 PM)Vic Wrote:  

(04-07-2011 02:34 PM)sari83 Wrote:  

(04-07-2011 01:38 PM)Rose of Shushan Wrote:  

Quote:Are you saying Easter is the Lord's supper? Are we really comparing a big bunny and colored eggs to Passover?

Are you saying Easter is a big bunny and coloured eggs? It seems to me that you haven't been around Christians much since as a Christian I find the question rather shallow and offensive.While these items form part of some of christianity's celebration traditions they form such a minor part that it really is a question that I wouldn’t expect to hear from a fellow believer.
Sari noone is ordered to celebrate anything in the NT we are free to praise and esteem God in the way we wish.
The longer I have been out of M the more I see what a party pooper its beliefs have been.
Celebrating our Lord's resurrection and the brirth of our saviour are the two key celebrations which usually come under attack.
So many out there seem to want to block out these events which were the culmination of what the prophets foretold across the millennia.
As a child I remember feeling really sorry for the child of one of our neighours who were Jehovah witnesses.They don’t do any celebrations as you may know, not even birthdays or anything and it seemed to me so different to what God intends for us.
Celebrations were included in the Mosaic law and to me its natural that we may want to have periods of time and reflection when Passover/ easter time comes around.Its a time when families get together to celebrate and rejoice before God in diverse ways according to their custom..
Sari did you know that in many non English countries easter is called la Pascua and it comes from the word Passover.In Spanish they are the same word even though to an english speaking christian it will mean easter and to a jew Passover.

Yes, I'm saying a huge part of Easter is the big bunny, colored eggs, and an event based on the spring equinox. It's a mixture of the pagan spring holiday and the true holiday celebrating Christ. Since, paganism is just simply any practice that came from or was part of a polytheistic religion. It's not difficult to conclude where these "extra" practices came from. And personally, I think due to the origins of the way Easter is celebrated by large, it undermines the true celebration of Christ, and the command of not being of the world. It's another attempt of humans to choose our own definitions of how we wish worship him. I have many Christian friends and attend a local bible study. Many of them are truly godly people and I truly enjoy their company. I acknowledge that I am just an imperfect person, and that I'll never be righteous through works. However, I am saddened that we have turned the narrow path Christ calls us to, and created one of ease. Where a Christian can dissolve right into the world around them and not be set-apart in all ways. "Pascha" is the true celebration of Christ's Resurrection. The early Christians and disciples did not celebrate Christ's Resurrection on Sunday, nor with bunnies or colored eggs. Pascha is similar to the original feast of Passover, but with the added dimension of Christ as the Passover lamb, and the spiritual understanding of everything the celebration truly means.

Not to burst your bubble, but Passover happens at the same time and you have just stated that the disciples were celebrating Pascha and historically it all was being celebrated at the spring equinox or thereabouts--that's why the council met, to attempt to nail down a specific date. Passover or Pesach that the Jews celebrate is also called, "The holiday is also referred to as Chag he-Aviv , (the Spring Festival), Chag ha-Matzot , (the Festival of Matzahs), and Z'man Cheiruteinu , (the Time of Our Freedom)..." [http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm]

What??? The SPRING Festival?? How could they? isn't that being pagan too because it was celebrated during the same time as Christians celebrate Pesach aka easter except the difference was---pesach became known as easter in english because it made a clear distinction between Passover which belongs to Judaism under the law--and it wasn't called passover then--it was called """Pesach" ...comes from the Hebrew root Pei-Samekh-Cheit , meaning to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare. It refers to the fact that G-d "passed over" the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt. In English, the holiday is known as Passover. "[http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.htm]

THAT distinction is why it was called Easter which means resurrection. There was a difference in the use of pascha in the NT before Christ died and after He died and rose again. The fulfillment of prophecy and the New Covenant, Sarah. There's a difference.

Easter may be bunnies and candy---have you ever eaten easter or christmas candy Sarah? It may be cultural for some to talk bunnies and candy, but for Christians, Jesus death on the cross, burial and having risen from the dead is what is meant by EASTER. The world recognises easter as being a Christian event. What others do about it is inconsequential to the true believer because their heart focus is on Christ. Do not lump Christians as being pagan when it has nothing to do with paganism. The word is not pagan nor the application by believers now and then.

The apostles celebrated and worshipped on Sunday. They eventually set the date so their was uniformity to the time. Nothing pagan or terrible about it. Jews were celebrating Passover and Christians were celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ at the same period of time.

Philip Schaff, a very liberal bible translator stated that Easter is the resurrection festival which follows passover and is included in the same week.

Afred Edersheim a Messianic Jew from the 19th century noted that the Last Supper was to be the last of the Old pascha's, and instead it became the symbol of the promise of the new covenant and new passover and rest in Christ.

Just as the Sabbath was a shadow of the rest we have in Christ, that is also fufilled in CHrist. Judaism still holds to the shadow. We hold to the fulfillment and rejoice in the resurrection day and the first day of the week.

There needed to be a distinction shown in Scripture that it was not the same thing being celebrated before Christ died versus after. It's that simple. And the apostles set the precedent and did worship on Sunday's.
Historical records show that.

Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

1Co 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

Wow! You have combined a lot of false teachings from the Catholic church to come up with your justification of Easter. You don't show however, scriptures to back up your explanation of why we should celebrate Easter. Examples of teachings from the Catholic church: there had to be a distinction of before and after Christ died and was resurrected. The need for a distinction was actually a distinction from the Jews themselves (as they readily admit). Hence the celebration of Easter and Sunday Sabbath which started at the end of the first century, long after Jesus' death and resurrection! In fact Sunday worship was actually made law by the pagan Constantine for purely political reasons as he still worshiped the sun god most of his life until apparently the end of his life. Sunday worship is not scriptural as you won't find it in God's Word, it is a man-made rule based on assumptions and misinterpretation of scripture.

Actually, Christ himself distinguishes between the old Passover and new when he established the bread and wine at the Passover Seder (which he kept by the way). At the Passover Seder the Jews drink 4 cups of wine. Each cup signifies something different. The third cup, taken after dinner, is called the Redemption cup. This is the cup that he told his disciples was the cup they were to drink in memory of him (representing his blood shed on the cross, which assures our redemption!). Same as the bread which is to be eaten in memory of him. The bread was matzah, unleavened bread (representing his body without sin, as God always referred to leaven as sin). Ironically, the Jews keep this every year but do not see the cup and bread as Christ, Christians see him as the wine and bread but do not keep Passover!

Not only is there a connection between Christ and the Passover, as he fulfilled it totally, but Passover is commanded and instituted by God as a forever statute for Israel. (not just the Jews which at the time of the exodus were PART of Israel as there were still 12 tribes, by Jesus' time the 10 tribes had been gone a long time and mostly Jews were left(the Levites were lumped in with the Jews). Gentile believers in Jesus are made part of Israel, as Paul explains in Romans 11:17-24. Since we as Gentile believers are part of Israel, I take Passover as still a command we should keep as Christ himself kept it and instituted the celebration of his resurrection in the memory of himself through the bread and wine (the Christian's communion) at the Passover Seder. There is no connection between Easter (its true meaning, not what the church turned it around to be) and Christ, and you will not find God does not command us to now keep Easter instead of Passover!

Passover in the OT is a "shadow" of Christ's death and resurrection. He became the Lamb of God as he was unblemished and pure from sin (represented by the unleavened bread, matzoh). He became our redeemer through his blood on the cross as the blood on the doorposts of the Israelites redeemed them from death! Just as the Israelites were "passed over" by the blood of the lamb, we are "passed over" from death to eternal life by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ!

The reason Easter and Passover are so closely connected by season is because God's statutes and times are based on agriculture. Passover is celebrated at the first crop of spring (Barley). Easter was celebrated by the pagans as they worshiped the sun god and after the spring equinox the days get longer and hence they saw it as a resurrection of the sun! You can see how it was very easy for the Catholic church to teach about Christ through their pagan worship! Unfortunately, the church never corrected the pagan teachings and they became the tradition for all Christians. Hence, Easter is a man made tradition (based on pagan traditions) whereas Passover was instituted and commanded of all Israel FOREVER by the God of all creation! To see what God thinks about us using pagan ways to worship him, look what he says in Deuteronomy 12:30-32: "take heed that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do likewise.' You shall not do so to the Lord your God; for every abominable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods: for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it."

Celebrating Christ's resurrection by calling it by a pagan goddess' name, coloring eggs, and bunnies taken directly from pagan practices and beliefs I don't think are pleasing to God especially in reference to the scripture from Deuteronomy. They used to color eggs blood red and offered them to their pagan god and apparently the myth goes that she proved her deity by making a rabbit lay eggs, hence the colored eggs and chocolate bunnies!

As for your Scripture references to Sunday worship, what do you have to say about these?

Acts13:42 - As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.

Acts 13:44 - The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the Word of God.

Acts15:21 - For from early generations Moses has had in every city those who preach him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.

Acts16:12,13 - ...We remained in this city some days; and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

Acts 18:4 - And he argued in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks.

It is well known that the new Gentile believers attended synagogue every Sabbath to hear and learn the Torah! Tell me, where else would they go to hear it? Your scripture references do not prove that Paul taught and kept a Sunday worship! In Acts 20:7 - they were gathered together to break bread. They were having dinner! The fact that they were breaking bread doesn't mean it is a Sabbath. In 1Cor.16 - he was telling them to gather their collections on the first day of the week so when he came they didn't have to collect it then. No where does it say that they were worshiping that day or keeping a Sunday worship. In John 20:26 - It says a week later, some versions say 8 days later (meaning after Christ was seen resurrected), it just says they were together. It does not say they were worshiping! In fact God distinctly states in the 10 commandments that we are to keep the SEVENTH day as a Sabbath to him, and no where else in the Word of God does it say that now we are to keep the first day of the week as a Sabbath! As you can see from the previous scripture verses from Acts Paul kept Sabbath! Besides, if you read in Genesis 2:1-3 and in Exodus 20:8-11, Sabbath is really all about creation not the resurrection! Therefore it is not a "shadow" of the rest we have in Christ, but is set apart to remember God as Creator, which declares he is the one and only God! That is why God says it is a sign between Him and His people. By keeping seventh day Sabbath we are declaring just who he is - the God of Creation, the one and only God. Are you declaring that on Sunday? No! Sunday was not set apart and blessed by God, only the seventh day was set apart and blessed by God! No where in the entire Bible will you find a scripture that refers to the Sabbath as celebrating the resurrection. We are only told in scripture to celebrate his resurrection at Passover through the unleavened bread and wine! This is a commandment of Jesus in keeping with the Father's commandment of Passover!

Passover was actually a "shadow" of Christ's death and resurrection. He became the Lamb of God through his sacrifice, as he was the unleavened bread because he was without sin. Therefore, we are redeemed through his blood, as God "passes over" our sin and punishment (death) to eternal life, just as he passed over the Israelites by the blood on their doorposts, thereby saving them from death. He was the first resurrected to eternal life thereby fulfilling the Feast of First Fruits as well. He became our blood sacrifice, therefore, he changed that part of ALL the Feasts. The blood sacrifice of innocent animals is no longer needed! Think about it, why would God tell them they needed to bring sacrifices to the temple during the Feasts he told them to keep for all generations, when he knew the temple would be torn down? Because, thanks to Christ, we no longer need sacrifices as he became our only needed sacrifice and because of the gift of the Holy Spirit (fulfilled at the Feast of Pentecost) we are now God's temple!

Easter does not mean resurrection either as you suggest. You will only find it in the KJV where it is a mistranslation of Passover. All the later versions correctly say Passover. Pesach actually means passover. Easter is actually the English rendition of the fertility goddess Ishtar, who the pagans worshiped on Easter Sunday!

Are we really allowed to worship and praise God how we wish? I beg to differ with you. God himself told us HOW to worship him. By obeying His commandments! We are saved only by the blood of Christ but we show him we love him by obeying his FOREVER commandments which include the Feasts as well as the 10 commandments. Therefore, it is not in diverse ways according to each person's custom! He gave us specifics and Jesus kept them all and if we claim to love him then we should try our best to keep his specific commandments too! We should also not add to them or take away from them as ALL 'religions' do (including Jews who follow the Talmud more than God's Word)!