Do You Celebrate Easter Sunday????

[Trax]

Wow what the. . .?!?! Talk about a load of holier than thou people here in this thread. Your too good and spiritual to try and redeem a day that is set aside to celebrate Jesus raising from the dead, the name Easter is just that a name, don't try and make it seem like your so amazing that you can't be tainted by something that was at some point a pagan holiday. I celebrate Easter as what it is to me a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb, a time to celebrate that the Lord loved us so much that He came down to earth to die for our sins and rose to conquer sin and death so that I could have life and spend eternity with Him.

Why do you call it Easter rather than the ressurection? I don't celebrate easter because the
world celebrates it. It is of the world and I will not be part of it. And yes, before you ask,
I don't do the Dec 25 festival either. The non-believing world KNOWS what easter is.
And they look at the Christian and they say, "Those hypocrites! They claim Jesus is the only way
and there is only one God yet they rush to show their religion is just another archaic pagan
religion." They see it. They know the score. ANd they do reject Christ because of what
they see. You may not think there is anything wrong with what you do, but you are not
your own, if you are saved. You represent the Lord and if anyone celebrates what the
non-believer knows to have roots in paganism, then Christians, who do engage in such activities, put a stumbling block in way of non-believers.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

Right. Easter, Esther, Ishtar, Ashtaroth are all different tribal names for the same pagan goddess. This goddess was modeled after Semiramis, wife of Nimrod, who was said to descend out of the great waters from a colorful egg. The great waters referring to a great global flood according to ancient Sumerian / Chalddian legend.

It just so happens that Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah, the grandson of Ham by Cush the brother of the cursed Canaan. Nimrod was the first to openly defy God by refusing to migrate after Noah's flood. Instead, Nimrod took slaves and built a city in the plains of Shinar, today that city is commonly known as Babel. It was Nimrod who planned and initiated the building of the Tower of Babel which, according to Jewish legend, was built so the He might survive if God ever decides to flood the world again.

The bible refers to Nimrod as a great hunter. It was believed that Nimrod was so great that he could not die. However, he was killed somewhat unexpectedly leaving Semiramis in charge. Fearing a revolt, Semiramis get's herself pregnant and claims that her child is Nimrod reborn. The child, Ninus, was raised to believe that he was Nimrod and would eventually marry his mother thus establishing the pagan belief of reincarnation in the religions of the East. Ninus was given the title 'Nimrod' which in that day was the equivalent of the name king or emperor. later, the sons of Herod the Great would follow suit , taking up their father's name as a means to legitimize their crown.

i wish people would quit repeating this urban legend...it has no factual basis whatsoever...

unfortunately there is absolutely no record of nimrod's existence outside of the bible...everything we can possibly know about nimrod is in the bible...and the bible says nothing at all about his wife or children or religious acts...

the -real- 'semiramis' was actually shamurammat...wife of king shamshiadad v of assyria...who lived about 1,500 years too late to have anything to do with the biblical nimrod...

the notion that semiramis was the wife of nimrod is based on a mistaken identification of nimrod with ninus...a mythical assyrian king who never really existed...suggested by a forger sometime in the second or third century AD...and revived by a very creative anti catholic writer in the 1800s

also the name 'easter' has nothing to do with ishtar...by coincidence they just sound similar... there is no more connection between them than there is between 'paraklete' and 'parakeet'...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

In my own studies this has been taught me, however there is another teaching which makes much more sense.
While the church was expanding into most of Europe, in order to appease and keep certain pagans in the rank and file of what was considered the faithful at the time, the church incorporated the spring fertility feast of northern European tribes. The goddess of fertility is Oestra, being fertility, the egg was also incorporated. Birth and fertility were equated with the resurrection, and Oestra became Easter.
Now I have heard the Ishtar version, and both stories are good, but when dealing with the churches of christianity, I lean heavily towards the name, Easter, as being derived from Oestra since there was never anything called Easter previous to the incorporation of those Germanic tribes into the church extant.

this is also an urban legend...

easter gets its name from eosturmonath...the name for the month of april in the germanic calendar...

there is only one source in existence that claims that eosturmonath was named after a goddess called eostre...the eighth century monk bede...who admitted that eostre worship no longer existed in his time and that he had never witnessed it... bede's account also seems somewhat confused...since he refers to eostre as a 'spring goddess'...while the 'eos' in the name would imply that she had to have been a dawn goddess instead...

aside from bede's probably unreliable account there is no proof that a goddess named eostre even existed at all...much less that the christian holiday of easter was named after her...

anyway in the majority of cultures where easter is celebrated it is called 'pascha'...or some variation of that... pascha gets its name from 'pesach'...the hebrew name for passover...

 

[Elizabeth619]

Here we go again with Holiday pagan symbolism.
As I have stated before things are what you make it. A colored egg does not represent the Goddess of fertility unless you want it too.

Am I going to have an "Easter" dinner? yep
Is my son and I going to color eggs and get food coloring all over the kitchen? You betcha!
Will we have an egg hunt? YES!!!
Will the Easter bunny come to see him? No, but he will get a basket full of chocolate from me with a chocolate bunny and cadbury creme eggs and Reeses.

Am I pagan? Nope.
Do I think of that Holiday as the time of the resurrection? Yes, as I do everyday of the year.

Again, symbols are what you make them out to be.

Example....
God made rainbows...rainbows are pretty. i like rainbows... Rainbows also symbolize gy rights. Does that make me a gay supporter? I think not.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

oh and the easter eggs come from the fact that eating eggs was prohibited during the lenten fast...on easter sunday it was permitted to eat them again...so eggs became part of the easter celebration...kind of like a reverse shrove tuesday...

the custom of painting easter eggs comes from the practice of dying the eggs red to symbolize jesus' blood...later the painting became more elaborate and the symbolism was obscured...

 

[Elizabeth619]

oh and the easter eggs come from the fact that eating eggs was prohibited during the lenten fast...on easter sunday it was permitted to eat them again...so eggs became part of the easter celebration...kind of like a reverse shrove tuesday...

the custom of painting easter eggs comes from the practice of dying the eggs red to symbolize jesus' blood...later the painting became more elaborate and the symbolism was obscured...

Wow. I didn't know that. Interesting stuff!!! Thanks for posting that.

 

[Molly]

Wow what the. . .?!?! Talk about a load of holier than thou people here in this thread. Your too good and spiritual to try and redeem a day that is set aside to celebrate Jesus raising from the dead, the name Easter is just that a name, don't try and make it seem like your so amazing that you can't be tainted by something that was at some point a pagan holiday. I celebrate Easter as what it is to me a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb, a time to celebrate that the Lord loved us so much that He came down to earth to die for our sins and rose to conquer sin and death so that I could have life and spend eternity with Him.

Hello CanadaNZ. I can appreciate your position as one who has a great love for the Christ and the need to acknowledge his wonderful sacrifice and resurrection. But we are commanded in scripture 'not to go beyond what is written'.

Nowhere in the scriptures are Christians called upon to celebrate Christ's resurrection. We are commanded to commemorate his sacrificial death. It was his death that released sinful humanity from their sins. His blood atoned for us, not his resurrection.
His resurrection, though a wonderful and miraculous event, was a process by which he was able to return to life and to return to his Father in heaven....his mission then fully accomplished. We can appreciate it without making it an excuse for a festival...especially one where the world alienated from God will make it into a commercial event. (like Christmas)

As it has been brought out, the celebration of Easter itself is based upon a festival originally dedicated to a pagan fertility goddess whose name and symbols are still attached to to it. Like it or not, if you insist on continuing to celebrate it with this knowledge, you are actually profaning the sacrifice you wish to honor. You cannot fuse paganism with Christianity. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

Easter is pagan and there is no way to make it "Christian". If you understand how far back the paganization of Christianity goes, then you will see that it took place so long ago that not many people think to question it.

Kind Regards,

Molly

 

[Elizabeth619]

Hello CanadaNZ. I can appreciate your position as one who has a great love for the Christ and the need to acknowledge his wonderful sacrifice and resurrection. But we are commanded in scripture 'not to go beyond what is written'.

Nowhere in the scriptures are Christians called upon to celebrate Christ's resurrection. We are commanded to commemorate his sacrificial death. It was his death that released sinful humanity from their sins. His blood atoned for us, not his resurrection.
His resurrection, though a wonderful and miraculous event, was a process by which he was able to return to life and to return to his Father in heaven....his mission then fully accomplished. We can appreciate it without making it an excuse for a festival...especially one where the world alienated from God will make it into a commercial event. (like Christmas)

As it has been brought out, the celebration of Easter itself is based upon a festival originally dedicated to a pagan fertility goddess whose name and symbols are still attached to to it. Like it or not, if you insist on continuing to celebrate it with this knowledge, you are actually profaning the sacrifice you wish to honor. You cannot fuse paganism with Christianity. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

Easter is pagan and there is no way to make it "Christian". If you understand how far back the paganization of Christianity goes, then you will see that it took place so long ago that not many people think to question it.

Kind Regards,

Molly

1 Cor 8:1-13 Talks about eating food that is sacrficed to idols. A meat sacrifice would be made to an idol. After a certain portion was consumed in sacrificial flames (or by the priests), the balance would be sold as common food in the market. The controversy, therefore, arose: is this meat contaminated simply because it had some connection with an idol?
In this passage it states that if one has KNOWLEDGE that it is NOTHING then you can eat the meat regardless of its former association with an idol.

This is a good example of something that was once considered part of idol worship, but do all Christians refrain from meat because it was once part of something ungodly? No. Same with Easter. If you have KNOWLEDGE it is not part of idol worship then it is ok UNLESS it could cause a brother to stumble.

The bible also states that a Christian can do things according to custom as long as it does not interfere with the truth.

Therefore, celebrating holidays that may hve one had a pagan meaning is fine for a Christian to celebrate and long as they are not doing in to honor pagan Gods.

 

[RedTent]

We are so blessed that we can now know more about our triune God! It was not long ago I didn’t have the information about Nimrod. I couldn’t really understand the OT. It was opened up to me when I learned about the ancient Hebrew culture. The Dead Sea Scrolls opened up ways of understanding ancient language so that is possible. After the holocaust we see prophecies coming about right before our eyes for the first time in over a thousand years. I didn’t know to study how the church developed in the first hundred or so years after the resurrection. I had heard of Constantine, but I thought so what? I think some of what has happened that lets us have new information is as profound as the discovery of the printing press and the protestant revolution. Perhaps God is preparing us for His second coming?

After what I have learned, I do not follow pagan ways, but God’s ways. It makes common sense to have the pagan holidays Christianized, to celebrate the birth of Christ and His resurrection. That is what pagan is, following men’s ideas instead of God’s.

Now, I have studied the seven feasts God told us to honor. I found a church that celebrates them. I notice God has protected them from bunnies and Santas. But I think God has used such as Christmas and Easter to help us gentiles learn of Him and be saved from death through Christ's blood.

 

[JaumeJ]

this is also an urban legend...

easter gets its name from eosturmonath...the name for the month of april in the germanic calendar...

there is only one source in existence that claims that eosturmonath was named after a goddess called eostre...the eighth century monk bede...who admitted that eostre worship no longer existed in his time and that he had never witnessed it... bede's account also seems somewhat confused...since he refers to eostre as a 'spring goddess'...while the 'eos' in the name would imply that she had to have been a dawn goddess instead...

aside from bede's probably unreliable account there is no proof that a goddess named eostre even existed at all...much less that the christian holiday of easter was named after her...

anyway in the majority of cultures where easter is celebrated it is called 'pascha'...or some variation of that... pascha gets its name from 'pesach'...the hebrew name for passover...

My post is prefaced with the words "in my studies." I see many folks are posting in Yahoo style, declaring what they post as ultimate and final. This is not the way. As for my studies and sources they are not the Internet, and they go back over the past 40 years starting with the Encyclopedia Judaica. This and 50 cents will not get you a cup of coffee, but it is my legitimate share with you. As for the month name of the germanic calendar, has the origin of the monat (month) nam (name) been researched. I spell the name of the goddess o-e-s-t-r-a, however there are at least 7 other spellings for this same goddess. It is as valid as the Norsk, Greek, and Roman dieties naming just a few.

 

[loveme1]

I thought the eggs, were a symbol of fertility after the pagan god ishtar of fertility.

 

[Elizabeth619]

I just came across this link about religous symbolism. Rather interesting.

Christian Symbols

 

[Scotty]

Fortunately, my family does not celebrate Easter. We do, however, celebrate the Passover and First Fruits. Now, that I'm out on my own, I'll continue to do so

 

[Molly]

1 Cor 8:1-13 Talks about eating food that is sacrficed to idols. A meat sacrifice would be made to an idol. After a certain portion was consumed in sacrificial flames (or by the priests), the balance would be sold as common food in the market. The controversy, therefore, arose: is this meat contaminated simply because it had some connection with an idol?
In this passage it states that if one has KNOWLEDGE that it is NOTHING then you can eat the meat regardless of its former association with an idol.

This is a good example of something that was once considered part of idol worship, but do all Christians refrain from meat because it was once part of something ungodly? No. Same with Easter. If you have KNOWLEDGE it is not part of idol worship then it is ok UNLESS it could cause a brother to stumble.

The bible also states that a Christian can do things according to custom as long as it does not interfere with the truth.

Therefore, celebrating holidays that may hve one had a pagan meaning is fine for a Christian to celebrate and long as they are not doing in to honor pagan Gods.

Hello Elizabeth619,
Since the ceremonial offering of meats to idols produced no change in the meat, the Christian could, with a good conscience buy meat from a market that received some of its meat from religious temples. This meat had lost its “sacred” significance. It was just as good as any other meat, and the Christian was therefore not under obligation to make inquiry respecting its origin. (1 Cor 10:25, 26) The eating of it was not incorporated into their worship. If it was, it would have made them unacceptable to God.

And a Christian invited to a meal, did not have to make inquiry concerning the source of any meat served but could eat it with a good conscience. But if someone present at the meal were to remark that the meat had been “offered in sacrifice,” then the Christian would refrain from eating it to avoid stumbling others. (1 Cor 10:27-29)

The words of Jesus to the apostle John respecting the Christian congregations at Pergamum and Thyatira indicate that certain ones had failed to heed the apostolic decree in not keeping themselves clean from things sacrificed to idols. (Rev 2:12, 14, 18, 20) So there is no reason to assume that Paul was saying something different to what John did.

If 'Christians' in the early centuries adopted pagan festivals and relabelled them as Christian ones, (which is what they did) how would God feel about that?

The example of ancient Israel gives us a clue. After their release from Egypt, they adopted a pagan practice at the foot of Mt Sinai and called it a "Festival to the LORD". They got up to have a good time whilst worshipping a golden calf. They were supposedly giving worship the true God but with a pagan celebration. What was God's response to that activity? (Exodus 32:1-8) Read it for yourself.

Paul said, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor 6:14-18 NIV)
Do you think he was advocating the fusion of pagan and Christian activities and teachings? Or do you see that he is clearly advocating a separation from such things?

Such separation was the criteria for God's acceptance of us as his children. This is a very serious issue for all who call themselves Christians.

 

[dscherck]

oh and the easter eggs come from the fact that eating eggs was prohibited during the lenten fast...on easter sunday it was permitted to eat them again...so eggs became part of the easter celebration...kind of like a reverse shrove tuesday...

the custom of painting easter eggs comes from the practice of dying the eggs red to symbolize jesus' blood...later the painting became more elaborate and the symbolism was obscured...

I've heard a different story of why we color eggs.

A long time ago a pagan emperor encountered a young peasant women who was carrying some eggs to sell in the local market. She greeted him with the typical Paschal greeting, "Christ is risen!", and offered him one of her eggs in tribute. To which the Emperor replied mockingly, "Christ is no more risen than that egg is red!" Whereupon the egg in her hand instantly turned a bright red. I believe the emperor later became a Christian as did a great many of his people.

 

[dscherck]

Here's my last comment on this matter, as this thread will argue till the cows come home.

Anyone who claims they care so much about honoring Yeshua's death and resurrection, yet choose to celebrate it by pagan means and symbols are only choosing to be blind and ignorant to it. YHVH does not and will not honor such practices, and His word says so clearly.
Anyone who truly loves Yeshua is those who keep the TRUE Passover, and First Fruits celebration of Yeshua. It is they whom YHVH will honor and bless for their obedience to Him in His Word.
Those who know the truth and continue to ignore, are those who honor Him with their lips, but their heart is far from Him.

Acts 10:15 comes to mind,

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

I say that while these dates may have once been affiliated with paganism, it's obvious that they are not nowadays, but are instead used to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, they have been cleansed. Why do people insist on ceding a day of celebration of Christ to ancient pagans? Are the pagan beliefs more powerful that our faith in Christ? Can we never again use these particular days because some long dead pagans once used them to celebrate a false pagan deity?

 

[JaumeJ]

Acts 10:15 comes to mind,


I say that while these dates may have once been affiliated with paganism, it's obvious that they are not nowadays, but are instead used to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, they have been cleansed. Why do people insist on ceding a day of celebration of Christ to ancient pagans? Are the pagan beliefs more powerful that our faith in Christ? Can we never again use these particular days because some long dead pagans once used them to celebrate a false pagan deity?

Dates and times are not the question. The question deals with if we do or do not celebrate what some mistakenly call Easter Sunday.

Jesus Christ was celebrating a seder, and when He broke the bread and drank the wine He asked that as often as we come together for this seder we do it in memory of Him. He proceeded to BE the Lamb of God expiating the sins of all who will accept Him and know Him once and for all with no further need of a sin offering for there is no sacrifice after the sacrifice of Yeshua. This is what I celebrate, I do not take the names of other gods to my lips, for all other gods are idols, so how could anyone with any knowledge of YHWH use the name of a god or goddess to celebrate anything having to do with Yeshua? It is an abomination.

 

[tribesman]

Acts 10:15 comes to mind,


I say that while these dates may have once been affiliated with paganism, it's obvious that they are not nowadays, but are instead used to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, they have been cleansed. Why do people insist on ceding a day of celebration of Christ to ancient pagans? Are the pagan beliefs more powerful that our faith in Christ? Can we never again use these particular days because some long dead pagans once used them to celebrate a false pagan deity?

Acts 10:15 is about gentiles that has been cleansed, by the work of Christ, ready to be taken up in the Church. It is not about making paganism "clean" or an acceptable form of worship, its not even about making unclean foods "clean". It is about souls of men. In the context, Peter makes that clear:

Acts 10

[28] And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

 

[JaumeJ]

Acts 10

[28] And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

This is a most beautiful teaching, as are all teachings when understood in the spirit. I like the words continuing here after this, "What God has made clean let no man call common." This is profound love, this is God's most beautiful love for each of us. Everyone here is just as loved and important as the next person, let us never lose sight of this truth, in Jesus Christ's name, amen.

 

[Crossfire]

i wish people would quit repeating this urban legend...it has no factual basis whatsoever...

unfortunately there is absolutely no record of nimrod's existence outside of the bible...everything we can possibly know about nimrod is in the bible...and the bible says nothing at all about his wife or children or religious acts...

the -real- 'semiramis' was actually shamurammat...wife of king shamshiadad v of assyria...who lived about 1,500 years too late to have anything to do with the biblical nimrod...

the notion that semiramis was the wife of nimrod is based on a mistaken identification of nimrod with ninus...a mythical assyrian king who never really existed...suggested by a forger sometime in the second or third century AD...and revived by a very creative anti catholic writer in the 1800s

also the name 'easter' has nothing to do with ishtar...by coincidence they just sound similar... there is no more connection between them than there is between 'paraklete' and 'parakeet'...

I will agree that is legend but it's hardly new. You've probably never heard of much less read the book of Jasher mentioned in both Joshua 10:13 & 2 Samuel 1:18? The legends of Nimrod date back thousands of years to a time before King David and while most probably are just legend, ancient Hebrews did believe it as true.

As for Semiramis, I simply made mention of what is commonly believed. I just assume that people take sources outside of the bible as legend and not to be taken seriously.