Myths and Realities about Easter

[Crimeny]

i don't get it, so did Jesus resurrect on sunday or monday, i always thought three days from friday was monday..

 

[dscherck]

i don't get it, so did Jesus resurrect on sunday or monday, i always thought three days from friday was monday..

The Jews of the time counted 'days' a bit differently than we do in modern times

 

[dscherck]

Ostara, Eostre, and Easter:


Currently, modern Wiccans and neo-pagans celebrate “Ostara,” a lesser Saabbat on the vernal equinox. Other names for this celebration include Eostre and Oestara and they are derived from the Anglo-Saxon lunar Goddess, Eostre. Some believe that this name is ultimately a variation on the names of other prominent goddesses, like Ishtar, Astarte, and Isis, usually a consort of the gods Osiris or Dionysus, who are depicted as dying and being reborn.
Pagan Elements of Modern Easter Celebrations:


As you might be able to tell, the name “Easter” was likely derived from Eostre, the name of the Anglo-Saxon lunar goddess, as was as the name for the female hormone estrogen. Eostre’s feast day was held on the first full moon following the vernal equinox — a similar calculation as is used for Easter among Western Christians. On this date the goddess Eostre is believed by her followers to mate with the solar god, conceiving a child who would be born 9 months later on Yule, the winter solstice which falls on December 21st.
Two of Eostre’s most important symbols were the hare (both because of its fertility and because ancient people saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg, which symbolized the growing possibility of new life. Each of these symbols continues to play an important role in modern celebrations of Easter. Curiously, they are also symbols which Christianity has not fully incorporated into its own mythology. Other symbols from other holidays have been given new Christian meanings, but attempts to do the same here have failed.

Here is about.com giving some information.

You do realize that about.com isn't the most accurate of sources....

 

[loveme1]

You do realize that about.com isn't the most accurate of sources....

The truth is that we know from the Bible that people were worshiping gods and were taking part in rituals before the Birth of the Messiah..

I can not say for all certainty that information is 100% correct.

I gave an example of a pagan prospective of "easter".

 

[ebyown]

facts

The day of preparation Nissan 14 started at sunset the evening of the Last Supper. The Lamb had not been sacrificed yet and would be sacrificed the next afternoon at the same time that YAHshua was on the cross being sacrficed.

YAHshua did not eat Lamb with His diciples at the last supper. They ate unleavened bread in accordance for with first day of the feast. The Lamb was killed on Nissan 14 and Passover started at sunset as YAHshua was put in the tomb. They ate the passover Lamb that night when Nissan 15 started at sunset.

Scripture tells us the rulers and priests would not go in to talk to Pilate to condemn YAHshua because they did not want to defile themselves so they could eat the Passover after sunset on the day of preparation when YAHshua was crucified. John 18:28.

YAHshua was killed on Wednesday Nissan 14 and placed in the tomb around sunset that day of preparation for the Passover which started at sunset which is Nissan 15.

YAHshua was in the tomb for the three full days and nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday which included 2 Sabbaths that week. Thursday was the Passover High or Special Sabbath and Saturday was the weekly Sabbath. The women likely prepared the spices for His burial during Friday between the 2 Sabbaths because they would have been resting the other 2 days in observance of Sabbaths. They also would have eaten the Passover Lamb on Thursday after YAHshua was entombed.

YAHshua was raised at night Psalms tells us which means that after Sunset Saturday He was raised at some point. When the women went to the tomb early Sunday morning while it was still dark He had already been raised by YAH His Father.

ishtar, astarte, asherah, isis, libertas, diana etc are all the same female goddess worshipped by different cultures and nations. it is the same goddess as lady liberty today who is also worshipped the same way as then with sexual immorallity and child sacrifice. killing children by abortion is modern day child sacrifice to lady liberty or whatever goddess name you want to call it. moloch is the government which condemned children to death specifically using the word "liberty" from the constitution to condemn infants to child sacrifice to lady liberty.

the same goddess was the fertility goddess which also has to do with offering first born children just as most children killed by abortion now are the firstborn. easter symbols have to do with fertility and the worship of that goddess. it is pagan idolatry that is condemned throughout the body of Scripture and greatest offence to Creator YAH.

All of this can be proven from Scripture and history. Believers should completely disassociate themselves from all these idolatrous practices and believe the Scriptures.

 

[Avinu]

The Jews of the time counted 'days' a bit differently than we do in modern times

I've seen a couple people make such claims lately, but no one seems to be able to give evidence of this.

 

[JS]

Great post Rachel and everyone else here!

Keep the information flowing in the Spirit of Love and Truth!

Love,

J

 

[jimsun]

Hi Rachel. What a great essay! Thank you for that! You've really put some work into it & I enjoyed reading it very much.
(Bit perturbed about the Easter Bunny though! But don't fret - He's down @ the bottom of our gardens!).
Luv @ Easter; J+ x.

 

[Abiding]

More misinformation about misinformation.
But plenty of emotion. Thats always good.

 

[SantoSubito]

The truth is that we know from the Bible that people were worshiping gods and were taking part in rituals before the Birth of the Messiah..

I can not say for all certainty that information is 100% correct.

I gave an example of a pagan prospective of "easter".

Anything that has to do with Wiccans is not going to be historically accurate. Wiccans are not re-constructionist pagans so they pretty much just make things up. There are re-constructionist Anglo-Saxon pagan groups and they don't celebrate any such holiday. For example this is a complete list of Anglo-Saxon deities.

Woden

God of wisdom, knowledge, battle , victory, poetry and prophecy. Equivalent to the Norse Odin.

Ingui

The god of sacral kingship, virility and prosperity, sunshine and fair weather. Equivalent to the Norse Freyr

Thor/Thunar

The god of thunder, lightning storms, strength, the protection of mankind, hallowing, and fertility.
Frige

Goddess of love and fertility (of both men and crops). Equivalent to the Norse Frigg

Welund

God of the forge, similar to the Roman Vulcan and the Greek Hephaestus

Tiw

God of war and bloodshed similar to the Roman Mars and Greek Ares
Seaxneat

God of the sword, the Anglo-Saxons carried a short sword type blade called the Seax that was named for him.


And there you go no Eostre. Scholars to this day doubt there was ever an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn since we have no attestation to the worship of the goddess (Outside of what is given to us by the Venerable Bede), and the lack of an equivalent goddess among other Germanic peoples.

Also thanks once again to Rachel for compiling these frequently repeated falsehoods and giving answers to them all in one place.

 

[Dude653]

wait a minute....what about the bunnies...bunnies represent fertility

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

Very wrong if it is not in the Bible.

The writers intention was to convince everyone to accept her view, yet no Biblical support was offered.

most of these issues are not questions of biblical interpretation...they are questions of history...

the bible says nothing about the origins of easter eggs and the easter bunny...positive or negative...but informed history shows decisively that these things do not have pagan origins...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

The fact that one verse clearly states that it was the day of preperation before a high Sabbath John 19:31, and one verse that tells us, specifically for a reason that it was 3 days and nights as Jonah was in the fish, also proves the lay out of it all. I don't understand why anyone has such a hard time believing just what it says, or why anyone doesn't want to accept it for what it says. I am truly baffled at this.

Just another note, since scripture is clear that a day starts at sundown, if Yeshua was buried just before sundown on friday, then you have one full day of saturday, and on sunday at night Yeshua arose, you don't even have 2 days out of it. Not to mention that Yeshua wasn't even in the tomb a the breaking of dawn, so we have no idea how soon after sundown sat. that He arose and left the tomb. Which makes this fri. to sun. theory even more illogical.

As for easter, whether pagan or not, has not and never was about Yeshua in any way shape or form. So for the most part is irrelevent. The true name of the day of Resurrection is First Fruits.

When these annual Feast Sabbaths were celebrated, it could well happen that there would be TWO Sabbaths in that certain week - the annual Sabbath. which could fall on any day of the week, and the weekly Sabbath -These, two Sabbaths, in certain years of course, could coincide - but otherwise, the weekly Sabbath (Saturday), was never called a ‘High Day’.- neither was it called a ‘Feast Day’, unless it coincided with the annual Chag or Feast Day.

The fact that there were two Sabbaths in the Crucifixion week is wonderfully proven by two apparently contradictory verses in the Bible.

The 1st of these is found in Mark 16:1 :

"When the Sabbath was OVER, Mary (and others) .... bought spices with which to go and anoint Him".

The 2nd is found in Luke 23:56:

After His body had been laid to the tomb. "....they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment".

We shall firstly apply these statements to the commonly accepted theory of Friday Crucifixion and Sunday-Resurrection, to see if it fits the picture. If Messiah was crucified on Friday, then according to the first verse, the women should have bought the spices on Saturday evening (i.e. 'after the Sabbath'). This would enable them to prepare it and go to the grave before sunrise on Sunday morning. But... read the 2nd verse! This states that, after they had prepared the spices, they rested on the Sabbath according to the Law! This would mean that the following day (Sunday) was also a Sabbath, so that they could not have gone to the grave until after Sunday. But Luke 24:1 explicitly states that the women went to the grave 'on the first day of the week' (Sunday), before dawn! So this theory does NOT fit.


I know we've had some rough discussions in the past, I was rude to you then. Just want you to know that I'm not attacking or coming at you, just discussing and asking where you get this info. Shalom

maybe i didn't make this clear in my essay...

the annual passover sabbaths were -always- without exception -always- on the day after the seder...the 15th of nisan...and the seventh day of the feast...the 21st of nisan...

we know that jesus died on the 15th of nisan because he had held the passover seder the night before according to matthew 26:17-19...mark 14:12-16...and luke 22:7-13,15... and if the 15th of nisan when jesus died was a day of preparation...then the 16th of nisan was a sabbath...

like i showed before...it is -impossible- for the annual sabbaths of the passover feast to fall on the 16th of nisan...they were fixed on the 15th and 21st...

the -only- sabbath that could have possibly taken place on the 16th of nisan was the weekly saturday sabbath...and if the 16th of nisan was saturday...then the 15th of nisan when jesus died was a friday...

this weekly sabbath was considered a 'high sabbath' because its observance would have been altered slightly during the feast...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

We should humble ourselves and be gracious.

The pagans are deceiving the sheep, whether a lost sheep comes out and supports her captives or not.

I think people need to understand why it was called "easter" and where all the rituals have come from, it is not Biblical.
It is to do with the spring equinox etc....


When people question this, they may be lead to more truth....

passover takes place in the month of abib which means 'spring'...it was the month of the spring equinox... jesus died and rose again during the passover feast...so of course easter is going to happen close to the spring equinox...

if you insinuate that there is something sinister about easter falling near the spring equinox...you are accusing God who set the date for the passover...not the pagans...

the deception here is in the slandering spirit that falsely accuses everything christians do of having pagan roots...

 

[Avinu]

maybe i didn't make this clear in my essay...

the annual passover sabbaths were -always- without exception -always- on the day after the seder...the 15th of nisan...and the seventh day of the feast...the 21st of nisan...No arguement.

we know that jesus died on the 15th of nisan because he had held the passover seder the night before according to matthew 26:17-19...mark 14:12-16...and luke 22:7-13,15... and if the 15th of nisan when jesus died was a day of preparation...then the 16th of nisan was a sabbath...No He didn't die on the 15th, but the 14th. The 15th was a High Sabbath. Where do you get that He died on the 15th?

like i showed before...it is -impossible- for the annual sabbaths of the passover feast to fall on the 16th of nisan...they were fixed on the 15th and 21st...You're absolutely correct.

the -only- sabbath that could have possibly taken place on the 16th of nisan was the weekly saturday sabbath...and if the 16th of nisan was saturday...then the 15th of nisan when jesus died was a friday...No, the 15th was on a Thurs. Can you give proof of what you're saying here?

this weekly sabbath was considered a 'high sabbath' because its observance would have been altered slightly during the feast...
__________________ In all of history, a weekly Sabbath has never been considered a High Sabbath even when a High Sabbath from a feast fell on it.

Ok, your turn, Blessings.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

Ostara, Eostre, and Easter:


Currently, modern Wiccans and neo-pagans celebrate “Ostara,” a lesser Saabbat on the vernal equinox. Other names for this celebration include Eostre and Oestara and they are derived from the Anglo-Saxon lunar Goddess, Eostre. Some believe that this name is ultimately a variation on the names of other prominent goddesses, like Ishtar, Astarte, and Isis, usually a consort of the gods Osiris or Dionysus, who are depicted as dying and being reborn.
Pagan Elements of Modern Easter Celebrations:


As you might be able to tell, the name “Easter” was likely derived from Eostre, the name of the Anglo-Saxon lunar goddess, as was as the name for the female hormone estrogen. Eostre’s feast day was held on the first full moon following the vernal equinox — a similar calculation as is used for Easter among Western Christians. On this date the goddess Eostre is believed by her followers to mate with the solar god, conceiving a child who would be born 9 months later on Yule, the winter solstice which falls on December 21st.
Two of Eostre’s most important symbols were the hare (both because of its fertility and because ancient people saw a hare in the full moon) and the egg, which symbolized the growing possibility of new life. Each of these symbols continues to play an important role in modern celebrations of Easter. Curiously, they are also symbols which Christianity has not fully incorporated into its own mythology. Other symbols from other holidays have been given new Christian meanings, but attempts to do the same here have failed.

Here is about.com giving some information.

wiccans and neopagans basically had to -invent- lots of their own beliefs and practices in the early 20th century because most of the old pagan religions of europe were all but forgotten... they got their notions about eostre from bede just like everyone else did...and i already showed how bede was misinformed...

i already showed how the name of easter is totally unrelated to the babylonian goddess ishtar or the nonexistent 'eostre'...repeating your old debunked misinformation over again doesn't make it true...

the word estrogen...which was originally written as 'oestrogen'...comes from the greek word 'oistros' which refers to sexual desire... medical science has always derived its technical terminology from greek...and not from the names of imaginary germanic deities...

bede is the only historical source who actually mentions eostre...and he doesn't even tell how the date was set for the supposed feast of eostre... anyone claiming to know the specific date when a feast to eostre was celebrated is making thing up...

the supposed association between hares and the already dubious eostre comes from an equally dubious connection between eostre and the norse love goddess freyja...who was actually associated with cats...not hares...

like i said before eostre is only mentioned by bede and nobody else...bede does not even tell what eostre's supposed symbols were...so anyone claiming that something is a symbol of eostre is just taking wild guesses...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

The truth is that we know from the Bible that people were worshiping gods and were taking part in rituals before the Birth of the Messiah..

I can not say for all certainty that information is 100% correct.

I gave an example of a pagan prospective of "easter".

just because the bible says that people were worshipping gods and taking part in rituals in ancient times does not mean that any given christian custom can now be accused of having pagan roots...there is a huge gap in the logic there...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

facts

The day of preparation Nissan 14 started at sunset the evening of the Last Supper. The Lamb had not been sacrificed yet and would be sacrificed the next afternoon at the same time that YAHshua was on the cross being sacrficed.

YAHshua did not eat Lamb with His diciples at the last supper. They ate unleavened bread in accordance for with first day of the feast. The Lamb was killed on Nissan 14 and Passover started at sunset as YAHshua was put in the tomb. They ate the passover Lamb that night when Nissan 15 started at sunset.

Scripture tells us the rulers and priests would not go in to talk to Pilate to condemn YAHshua because they did not want to defile themselves so they could eat the Passover after sunset on the day of preparation when YAHshua was crucified. John 18:28.

YAHshua was killed on Wednesday Nissan 14 and placed in the tomb around sunset that day of preparation for the Passover which started at sunset which is Nissan 15.

YAHshua was in the tomb for the three full days and nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday which included 2 Sabbaths that week. Thursday was the Passover High or Special Sabbath and Saturday was the weekly Sabbath. The women likely prepared the spices for His burial during Friday between the 2 Sabbaths because they would have been resting the other 2 days in observance of Sabbaths. They also would have eaten the Passover Lamb on Thursday after YAHshua was entombed.

YAHshua was raised at night Psalms tells us which means that after Sunset Saturday He was raised at some point. When the women went to the tomb early Sunday morning while it was still dark He had already been raised by YAH His Father.

ishtar, astarte, asherah, isis, libertas, diana etc are all the same female goddess worshipped by different cultures and nations. it is the same goddess as lady liberty today who is also worshipped the same way as then with sexual immorallity and child sacrifice. killing children by abortion is modern day child sacrifice to lady liberty or whatever goddess name you want to call it. moloch is the government which condemned children to death specifically using the word "liberty" from the constitution to condemn infants to child sacrifice to lady liberty.

the same goddess was the fertility goddess which also has to do with offering first born children just as most children killed by abortion now are the firstborn. easter symbols have to do with fertility and the worship of that goddess. it is pagan idolatry that is condemned throughout the body of Scripture and greatest offence to Creator YAH.

All of this can be proven from Scripture and history. Believers should completely disassociate themselves from all these idolatrous practices and believe the Scriptures.

passover lambs were slaughtered at twilight according to exodus...so your claim that the passover lambs were slaughtered in the afternoon at the same time jesus was on the cross does not line up with scripture...

the feast began with the passover seder...unleavened bread was eaten as the feast continued for the next seven days... the jews wanted to keep from defiling themselves for the rest of the feast...

all of this other stuff has already been addressed...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

I've seen a couple people make such claims lately, but no one seems to be able to give evidence of this.

here is biblical proof that partial days were counted as actual days...

in acts 10 there is a torah observant centurion named cornelius living in caesarea...one day at 3:00 PM cornelius has a vision according to acts 10:3...

next in acts 10:9 we are told that peter was praying around noon in joppa the following day when he also had a vision...that would be twenty-one hours after cornelius' vision...a full twenty-four hours would have passed by 3:00 PM that day...

acts 10:23 tells us that the -next- day peter left joppa to visit cornelius...by 3:00 PM on that day a full forty-eight hours would have passed...

finally acts 10:24 tells us that peter arrived at cornelius' house the next day after he left...according to acts 10:30 it was already 3:00 PM when peter arrived and met with cornelius... 3:00 PM on that day would have been seventy-two hours from the original vision...

seventy-two hours would have been exactly 'three days and three nights' according to the modern western method of counting days that you have been insisting on...

but how did cornelius count the days? in acts 10:30 cornelius said he had his vision 'four days ago'

so here we have a torah observant gentile telling a jewish christian that something that happened seventy-two hours before had happened 'four days ago'...and neither of them were confused by this timekeeping convention...

cornelius and peter clearly counted the remaining three hours before evening on the day cornelius had his vision as one day...the day of peter's vision made two days...the day of peter's departure from joppa made three days...and the day of peter's arrival at cornelius' house made four days...

similarly the remaining few hours after jesus died on friday was counted as one day...all of saturday made two days...and the twelve predawn hours of sunday before jesus rose made three days...

so about thirty-eight hours is counted as three days in the gospels...just like seventy-two hours is counted as four days in acts...

we have to read the bible as they would have read it back then...not as modern western readers timing things with stopwatches...

 

[Tombo]

here is biblical proof that partial days were counted as actual days...

in acts 10 there is a torah observant centurion named cornelius living in caesarea...one day at 3:00 PM cornelius has a vision according to acts 10:3...

next in acts 10:9 we are told that peter was praying around noon in joppa the following day when he also had a vision...that would be twenty-one hours after cornelius' vision...a full twenty-four hours would have passed by 3:00 PM that day...

acts 10:23 tells us that the -next- day peter left joppa to visit cornelius...by 3:00 PM on that day a full forty-eight hours would have passed...

finally acts 10:24 tells us that peter arrived at cornelius' house the next day after he left...according to acts 10:30 it was already 3:00 PM when peter arrived and met with cornelius... 3:00 PM on that day would have been seventy-two hours from the original vision...

seventy-two hours would have been exactly 'three days and three nights' according to the modern western method of counting days that you have been insisting on...

but how did cornelius count the days? in acts 10:30 cornelius said he had his vision 'four days ago'

so here we have a torah observant gentile telling a jewish christian that something that happened seventy-two hours before had happened 'four days ago'...and neither of them were confused by this timekeeping convention...

cornelius and peter clearly counted the remaining three hours before evening on the day cornelius had his vision as one day...the day of peter's vision made two days...the day of peter's departure from joppa made three days...and the day of peter's arrival at cornelius' house made four days...

similarly the remaining few hours after jesus died on friday was counted as one day...all of saturday made two days...and the twelve predawn hours of sunday before jesus rose made three days...

so about thirty-eight hours is counted as three days in the gospels...just like seventy-two hours is counted as four days in acts...

we have to read the bible as they would have read it back then...not as modern western readers timing things with stopwatches...

You're pretty sharp, for a pagan.

Tom