Easter: Pagan or Christian?
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God bless brother. To top it off, it was authorized by the king we overthrew and God has told us what happens when a nation decides to choose their own leader. Same things is happening today. God is amazing. Many don't believe He has the power to preserve His word exactly the way He wants it from the majority text. Those many are the greeks that seek after wisdom and not God. God said this would happen.
Easter was the word used by the English translations until William Tyndale. He decided to use the closest dynamic equivalent and invented the word passover. He left Easter in to help the readers understand the meaning as did others to follow. The King James used it just once. It's still from the same Greek word Paschal.
Happy Easter!
@John146 ,
I agree that God wanted the Bible as it is down to the words.
The critical text crowd take a view that it was a mistranslation. I don't believe that.
I used to believe that Easter was a transliteration of Ishtar as the Jehovah's false Witnesses, Adventist sect, Hebrew Roots cults spread. I hate to admit it, but just to be safe as a Baptist, I quit using it and substituted Resurrection Sunday.
I finally spent time with source evidence to verify the origins.
All I came up with about Ishtar is that it was made up. The first book I read about it was by Wislop. The others quoted him. I must've already thrown it away because I can't find it now.
Something gets repeated enough, it becomes "fact" by default without any resistance from the truth.
The Bible tells us to "prove all things, holdfast to that which is good."
This is one of the Bibles that was in use by pastors/bishops when the KJV was being translated.
Bishops Bible used Ester/Easter twice, Acts 12:4 & John 11:55
The Geneva Bible used it too.
As time went on, the word changed from Easter to Passover.
It took some digging to find this out because the vast majority of information is wrong on the internet. What's new?
They repeat the same two theories, neither of which is correct.
I believed them at different times until I decided to go to source docs.
Blessings
I agree that God wanted the Bible as it is down to the words.
The critical text crowd take a view that it was a mistranslation. I don't believe that.
I used to believe that Easter was a transliteration of Ishtar as the Jehovah's false Witnesses, Adventist sect, Hebrew Roots cults spread. I hate to admit it, but just to be safe as a Baptist, I quit using it and substituted Resurrection Sunday.
I finally spent time with source evidence to verify the origins.
All I came up with about Ishtar is that it was made up. The first book I read about it was by Wislop. The others quoted him. I must've already thrown it away because I can't find it now.
Something gets repeated enough, it becomes "fact" by default without any resistance from the truth.
The Bible tells us to "prove all things, holdfast to that which is good."
This is one of the Bibles that was in use by pastors/bishops when the KJV was being translated.
Bishops Bible used Ester/Easter twice, Acts 12:4 & John 11:55
| Great Bible (1539) | 15 times (NT) |
The Geneva Bible used it too.
As time went on, the word changed from Easter to Passover.
It took some digging to find this out because the vast majority of information is wrong on the internet. What's new?
They repeat the same two theories, neither of which is correct.
I believed them at different times until I decided to go to source docs.
Blessings
So you are suggesting that both Matthew and Mark are repeating hearsay? Hearsay does not qualify for being able to be accepted as truth by biblical standards. You just trashed your own claim that those two works of scripture are true, and by extension that all scripture is true. It is points like these that have led me to recognize that scripture CONTAINS truth, but is not truth itself.
You are trying to nitpick to protect your understanding. Or are you astonished when you see a house burned down and then astonished again the next day when you realize the burning was more extensive than you first realized?
You are suggesting following the law regarding what days to honor? Remember, the law was made for humanity's benefit, humans were not created for the law.
Indeed, followers of Christ should follow his example of celebrating God's holy days. The Law is a preciously gift from God that was graciously given for our own good in order to teach us how to live blessed lives, so we should not spurn God's gift.
No, it is not.
The Law is a set of commands given to ancient Israel, not to Christians.
the first uses of Eostare are in 13th-14th century Germanic Bibles ((modern German: Östern)), long before any English translation existed. even earlier Germanic Bibles use Pascha - the change to a new word related to teutonic dawn goddess Eos came about when there was a great deal of antisemitism brewing in German speaking lands.
every Latin, Greek and Hebrew source says Pascha, and every Bible translation in history simply transliterated the Hebrew word Pascha until the change in Germany.
Tyndale invented the word passover in the 1500's and used it ubiquitously in His translation everywhere the text said Pascha - both in Exodus and in Acts.
Germany was both the seat of the HRE, the birthplace of the rejection of the papacy, and the deepest seat of antisemitism in Christianity.
my understanding is that the word easter comes from this word in German ((Öst = east, Eos = Venus, Ishtar, Ashereh, Astarte etc)) and it was a change consciously made to divorce Christianity from any relationship with Judaism.
the date of Ishtar was divorced from the date of Pascha long before, being calculated by the verbal equinox instead of by the moon and the month of Nisan - - hence it almost never coincides with God's feast day.
we should remember that God did not rise on a brand new holiday. He rose on His own feast day, Firstfruits.
kjv, by choosing to reject the word Pascha, simply adopted a preexisting human tradition born of antisemitism.
Ascertaining truth by the testimony of witnesses is indeed a biblical standard.
My claim is that the whole truth is obtained by adding/harmonizing the descriptions of each partial truth.
I also claim that the essential truth is sufficient for attaining salvation, so grains of sand amid the gold lode do not matter,
with which you agreed implicitly by saying Scripture contains truth. Does that astonish you?
Re following the law: apparently you have confused me with someone else unless you can provide a quote.
It was used in error
They should have just said passover rather than borrowing from pagan religious practices
meta to pascha means "after Passover", but the same term, Pascha, is used for Easter in most languages. English and German are peculiar in calling it Easter (or in German, Ostern) rather than using a term derived from Pesach (Hebrew) / Pascha (Greek) for Passover.
The actual word the KJV translators translated in error to say "easter" is pascha (Strong's G3957)
of Aramaic origin (compare H6453); the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it): KJV -- Easter, Passover.
H6453 - pecach -- pronounced: peh'-sakh
from 6452; a pretermission, i.e. exemption; used only technically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim): KJV -- passover (offering).
Pagan origins of easter
the Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar),
an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back
to 2100 BC. When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the
underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed
low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility,
crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will
end.
After Inanna has been missing for three days her assistant goes to other gods for help. Finally one
of them Enki, creates two creatures who carry the plant of life and water of life down to the
Underworld, sprinkling them on Inanna and Damuzi, resurrecting them, and giving them the power
to return to the earth as the light of the sun for six months. After the six months are up, Tammuz
returns to the underworld of the dead, remaining there for another six months, and Ishtar pursues
him, prompting the water god to rescue them both. Thus were the cycles of winter death and
spring life.
The Sumerian goddess Inanna is known outside of Mesopotamia by her Babylonian name, "Ishtar".
In ancient Canaan Ishtar is known as Astarte, and her counterparts in the Greek and Roman
pantheons are known as Aphrodite and Venus.
the story of Inanna and Damuzi is just one of a number of accounts of dying and rising gods that
represent the cycle of the seasons and the stars. For example, the resurrection of Egyptian Horus;
the story of Mithras, who was worshipped at Springtime; and the tale of Dionysus, resurrected by
his grandmother. Among these stories are prevailing themes of fertility, conception, renewal,
descent into darkness, and the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.
Easter as a Celebration of the Goddess of Spring
A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was
originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and
Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit
of renewal.
Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness,
and will continue to grow. As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often
depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the
season.
the Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar),
an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back
to 2100 BC. When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the
underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed
low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility,
crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will
end.
After Inanna has been missing for three days her assistant goes to other gods for help. Finally one
of them Enki, creates two creatures who carry the plant of life and water of life down to the
Underworld, sprinkling them on Inanna and Damuzi, resurrecting them, and giving them the power
to return to the earth as the light of the sun for six months. After the six months are up, Tammuz
returns to the underworld of the dead, remaining there for another six months, and Ishtar pursues
him, prompting the water god to rescue them both. Thus were the cycles of winter death and
spring life.
The Sumerian goddess Inanna is known outside of Mesopotamia by her Babylonian name, "Ishtar".
In ancient Canaan Ishtar is known as Astarte, and her counterparts in the Greek and Roman
pantheons are known as Aphrodite and Venus.
the story of Inanna and Damuzi is just one of a number of accounts of dying and rising gods that
represent the cycle of the seasons and the stars. For example, the resurrection of Egyptian Horus;
the story of Mithras, who was worshipped at Springtime; and the tale of Dionysus, resurrected by
his grandmother. Among these stories are prevailing themes of fertility, conception, renewal,
descent into darkness, and the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.
Easter as a Celebration of the Goddess of Spring
A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was
originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and
Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit
of renewal.
Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness,
and will continue to grow. As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often
depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the
season.
Almost all English Bibles used Ester/Easter until Tyndale's translation.
His use of Passover in the New Testament from Pascha was due to a lack of a direct dynamic equivalent. It is a good word as it refers back to Exodus origins.
The difference in our New Testament is that the Passover has been fulfilled. Now where remission of sins is, there is no more offering for sin. Hebrews chapters 10-11.
@posthuman ,
I'm sure there's pagan influences much of our language since we have anglo Saxon, German, Northern European roots. Days and months are named after their false gods.
The problem is that the Jehovah's false Witnesses and other such cults want to dictate their moral superiority and self righteousness to true believers in Christ. They don't celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and say it's pagan. That's not just stupid, but heretical. They don't even believe in His resurrection, but want to go on a major campaign to get Christians to agree. There's nothing pagan about the Passover, pascha, Easter or however the Bibles say it. We go to source docs and can prove that just as we show the JWs for who they are.
This is done from source evidence, not an Encyclopedia of the Occult as many get their information.
I'm sure there's pagan influences much of our language since we have anglo Saxon, German, Northern European roots. Days and months are named after their false gods.
The problem is that the Jehovah's false Witnesses and other such cults want to dictate their moral superiority and self righteousness to true believers in Christ. They don't celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and say it's pagan. That's not just stupid, but heretical. They don't even believe in His resurrection, but want to go on a major campaign to get Christians to agree. There's nothing pagan about the Passover, pascha, Easter or however the Bibles say it. We go to source docs and can prove that just as we show the JWs for who they are.
This is done from source evidence, not an Encyclopedia of the Occult as many get their information.
i hope you don't think by me stating some historical facts about today doesn't mean you think i am saying that we should not celebrate His resurrection.
far from it
we should not be ignorant, nor should we prop up our traditions with lies. i think it's good that we know the Truth - He rose on Firstfruits, after giving Himself as the Pascal Lamb.
God didn't invent a new holiday on a new day for this. He did these things on the feast days He had already given.
He is our Firstfruits, not our Ishtar - - but wherever and whenever His name is lifted up, i say Amen.
the pastor begins by admitting he preached "for years and years and years" an excuse for the word Easter that 5 minutes worth of research into what the Bible says would have immediately destroyed.
then at 11:15 he mocks how anyone could know how ancient Assyrian was pronounced.
so, i did 5 seconds of research on that question. Ai synopsis below:
Assyrian pronunciation is understood through the study of Akkadian cuneiform, which was deciphered using bilingual inscriptions (like the Behistun Inscription) that compared known languages like Greek or Persian with the ancient script. Scholars rely on phonetic clues in spellings, loanwords, and comparisons with related, living Semitic languages.
Here is how scholars determine how Assyrian (an Akkadian dialect) was pronounced:
Cuneiform Decipherment: The cuneiform writing system was unlocked by identifying proper names and comparing them across multiple languages, revealing that signs often represented phonetic sounds rather than just concepts.
Comparative Semitic Languages: Because Assyrian is a Semitic language, scholars compare it to Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic to understand consonant sounds.
Loanwords and Transcriptions: Ancient scribes sometimes wrote Akkadian words in other scripts (like Greek or Egyptian), or used foreign names in their texts, which provide clues to the phonetics.
Spelling Variations: When scribes in different regions or time periods used different spellings for the same word, it helps linguists figure out the phonetic sound.
While ancient Assyrian used cuneiform and later incorporated Aramaic, modern Neo-Aramaic languages spoken by Assyrians today also provide clues to the language's development.
at 19:00 he argues that because Luther ((a notorious antisemite)) replaced Pascha with Oster, even saying Osterlamb instead of Pascal Lamb, Easter means the same thing as Pascha. 10 seconds later, showing that Tyndale followed the relatively recent German tradition, he admits Osterlamb is incorrect, it should be Pascal Lamb.
this is him assuming his audience are idiots, and thinking that by putting some foreign words on a screen, he will appear intellectual and well studied - - even though he just a few minutes prior, said he preached things for years that were patently false on the same topic and were easily disproven by anyone who knew their Bibles.
i don't like this. i would never return to hear this man teach again.