Easter ? What are we celebrating?
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tigger 2
Well-Known Member
EASTER
What do the name “Easter,” colored eggs, hot-cross buns, and bunnies have to do with honoring Jesus and Jehovah?
The very name of this celebration in English (“Easter”) is the name of a pagan goddess! Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter!
“East’er ..., n. [AS. eastre, pl. eastron, from name of old Teutonic goddess of spring, AS. Eastre.]” - Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953.
“... Eastre was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. .... The festival [eventually] was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ but was still known as Easter after the old goddess.” p. 215, v. 5, Britannica Junior, 1957.
“(the word Easter is derived from the [Anglo-Saxon] name of Eastre, the Spring-goddess….)” – p. 240, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, The Philosophical Library, 1945.
Easter was
“originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.” - The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.
“Rooted in ancient veneration for the moon, the date of Easter was long regarded as symbolizing the rebirth of living things that had passed through the death of winter. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who presided over the vernal equinox, eventually gave her name to the Christian [?] festival.” - How It Started, Garrison, copyright 1972 by Abingdon Press, pp. 49-50.
“Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the month of April was dedicated to Eostre or Ostara, Goddess of Spring; and her great feast has given its name to our Easter. Here again the Church was quite frank about it, and Bede states that the feast in England was simply ‘the old [pagan] festival observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.’” - Paganism in our Christianity, Weigall, p. 261, Gordon Press, 1974 (Reprint of the edition published by Putnam, New York.)
So how did the name of a pagan European goddess come to be in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4 ?
“EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word ‘passover’ was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, “passover,” is always used.” – Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.
* * * *
“Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard [in a respectful, or even tolerating, manner] on your lips.” Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.
* * * *
“Eating special buns at the festival of the pagan goddess Eostre has long been an established custom among the natives of Britain. Early Christian missionaries who tried to stop this practice got nowhere. Eventually.... converts ... were permitted to continue eating buns at the time of the spring festival....” - How It Started, p. 50.
“Like the Greeks, the [pagan] Romans ate bread marked with a cross ... at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them - a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light.[2.] .... The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot-cross-bun.” - The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, Vol. 4, p. 381.
“Long before the Christian festival of Easter was established, persons of many cultures exchanged eggs at the time of the year when nature wakes up from sleep. Wealthy persons used to cover their gift eggs with gilt or even gold leaf; ordinary persons usually colored them red. Today’s [Easter] egg hunt, involving a dozen or hundreds or thousands of decorated or candy eggs, is so gay that it conceals the reverence with which many ancients [pagans] regarded this symbol of ‘life and death.’” - How It Started, p. 51.
“… the symbol of the egg generated not from Christian observances, but from pagan rituals. From earliest times, the egg has been a symbol of fertility and immortality. During the rites of spring, the pagan nations included it as a symbol of celebrating for the new life promised during the season of planting. The Church only took this ancient sign and applied it as a visual lesson to the resurrection of Christ.” – p. 232, The Christian Book of Why, J. C. McCollister (Lutheran pastor and university professor), Jonathan David Publishers, 1983.
“Like the egg, the rabbit has been a symbol of fertility, the observance of which was a part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology and the pagan’s celebration of spring, In a blend of Christian and pagan traditions, the rabbit was adopted as part of the festival of Jesus’ resurrection celebrated during the spring each year.” – pp. 233-234, McCollister.
“A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.” - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. V, p. 227.
So when children hunt for Easter eggs (left by the ‘Easter Bunny’),
“This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a [pagan] fertility rite.” - Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. 1, p. 335.
The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, volume 8, page 828:
“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’”
The ‘old usage’ was the practice by pagans of having a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.
* * * *
“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... ‘Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...’ says the Lord Almighty.” - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: “agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9).”]
What do the name “Easter,” colored eggs, hot-cross buns, and bunnies have to do with honoring Jesus and Jehovah?
The very name of this celebration in English (“Easter”) is the name of a pagan goddess! Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter!
“East’er ..., n. [AS. eastre, pl. eastron, from name of old Teutonic goddess of spring, AS. Eastre.]” - Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953.
“... Eastre was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. .... The festival [eventually] was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ but was still known as Easter after the old goddess.” p. 215, v. 5, Britannica Junior, 1957.
“(the word Easter is derived from the [Anglo-Saxon] name of Eastre, the Spring-goddess….)” – p. 240, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, The Philosophical Library, 1945.
Easter was
“originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.” - The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.
“Rooted in ancient veneration for the moon, the date of Easter was long regarded as symbolizing the rebirth of living things that had passed through the death of winter. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who presided over the vernal equinox, eventually gave her name to the Christian [?] festival.” - How It Started, Garrison, copyright 1972 by Abingdon Press, pp. 49-50.
“Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the month of April was dedicated to Eostre or Ostara, Goddess of Spring; and her great feast has given its name to our Easter. Here again the Church was quite frank about it, and Bede states that the feast in England was simply ‘the old [pagan] festival observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.’” - Paganism in our Christianity, Weigall, p. 261, Gordon Press, 1974 (Reprint of the edition published by Putnam, New York.)
So how did the name of a pagan European goddess come to be in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4 ?
“EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word ‘passover’ was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, “passover,” is always used.” – Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.
* * * *
“Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard [in a respectful, or even tolerating, manner] on your lips.” Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.
* * * *
“Eating special buns at the festival of the pagan goddess Eostre has long been an established custom among the natives of Britain. Early Christian missionaries who tried to stop this practice got nowhere. Eventually.... converts ... were permitted to continue eating buns at the time of the spring festival....” - How It Started, p. 50.
“Like the Greeks, the [pagan] Romans ate bread marked with a cross ... at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them - a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light.[2.] .... The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot-cross-bun.” - The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, Vol. 4, p. 381.
“Long before the Christian festival of Easter was established, persons of many cultures exchanged eggs at the time of the year when nature wakes up from sleep. Wealthy persons used to cover their gift eggs with gilt or even gold leaf; ordinary persons usually colored them red. Today’s [Easter] egg hunt, involving a dozen or hundreds or thousands of decorated or candy eggs, is so gay that it conceals the reverence with which many ancients [pagans] regarded this symbol of ‘life and death.’” - How It Started, p. 51.
“… the symbol of the egg generated not from Christian observances, but from pagan rituals. From earliest times, the egg has been a symbol of fertility and immortality. During the rites of spring, the pagan nations included it as a symbol of celebrating for the new life promised during the season of planting. The Church only took this ancient sign and applied it as a visual lesson to the resurrection of Christ.” – p. 232, The Christian Book of Why, J. C. McCollister (Lutheran pastor and university professor), Jonathan David Publishers, 1983.
“Like the egg, the rabbit has been a symbol of fertility, the observance of which was a part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology and the pagan’s celebration of spring, In a blend of Christian and pagan traditions, the rabbit was adopted as part of the festival of Jesus’ resurrection celebrated during the spring each year.” – pp. 233-234, McCollister.
“A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.” - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. V, p. 227.
So when children hunt for Easter eggs (left by the ‘Easter Bunny’),
“This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a [pagan] fertility rite.” - Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. 1, p. 335.
The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, volume 8, page 828:
“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’”
The ‘old usage’ was the practice by pagans of having a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.
* * * *
“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... ‘Therefore come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...’ says the Lord Almighty.” - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: “agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9).”]
Easter for many Christians is simply a celebration of Christ's resurrection with a celebration of His death and burial a few days before on Good Friday.
For many of us, the pagan elements are not even observed.
I believe that the holiday works out for people's salvation because many Christians are CEO's--Christmas and Easter Only (concerning when they will set foot inside the doors of a church). These are the nominal and lukewarm type that impaho are not truly saved...so Easter and Christmans turns into an opportunity to evangelize Christians in name only who are not really born again of the Holy Spirit.
For many of us, the pagan elements are not even observed.
I believe that the holiday works out for people's salvation because many Christians are CEO's--Christmas and Easter Only (concerning when they will set foot inside the doors of a church). These are the nominal and lukewarm type that impaho are not truly saved...so Easter and Christmans turns into an opportunity to evangelize Christians in name only who are not really born again of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, Romans 14 anticipates that some Christians will regard special days as being important more than other Christians do.
Christ knows your heart,teach the true meaning of both, and not the pagan ones.
Cherie Faye Mora
New Member
I've also been doing a lot of research on Easter and its origins. Apparently 80% of Americans will be celebrating Easter and it's not in the Bible. Why does everyone keep celebrating?
What Does Celebrating Easter Say About You?
What are you here for? To advertise your web page? Your web page gives us no information as to who you are and what your faith is. I will open nothing where the information given tells me nothing about the people who own the web page.
The King James version is the Bible, contrary to what some appear to believe.
Act 12:4, And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Why do I keep celebrating Easter? Mind you, I do not celebrate the aspects of it concerning chocolate bunnies and easter eggs. I celebrate the resurrection of my Lord and Saviour on that day.
The devil wants to destroy Easter; for it represents the resurrection, the very thing that permanently defeated him. We have victory because of the resurrection! The celebration of Resurrection Day is not going down without a fight.
CoreIssue
Well-Known Member
We are to remember Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection 365 days a year. Not just one day.
Easter,
Christmas, etc. are all adaptions by Catholicism, a cult, from paganism. Done not to worship Christ but to absorb Pagan cultures into the Catholic Church.
Just look at the celebrations held in South America today. Those are all their pagan religions cloaked in Catholicism with many of the old traditions still celebrate, like Day of the dead.
Easter,
Christmas, etc. are all adaptions by Catholicism, a cult, from paganism. Done not to worship Christ but to absorb Pagan cultures into the Catholic Church.
Just look at the celebrations held in South America today. Those are all their pagan religions cloaked in Catholicism with many of the old traditions still celebrate, like Day of the dead.
Rom 14:5, One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
I think that I am fully persuaded that Easter is a good holiday.
SovereignGrace
Certified Flunky
The word used for 'Easter' in the KJV is pascha which is used as 'passover' 28 times and only once in the KJV. I am NOT bashing the KJV here, just showing you it is a poor rendering of the word in this one place in Acts of the Apostles 12:4.
Easter comes from Eostre, and the egg is symbolic of fertility. It has its origin in paganism. We should all remember the Christ's resurrection, but Acts 12:4 should be Passover and not Easter.
Easter is a time of the year that most people recognise as 'christian' and it is a time when many, who normally will not attend church will do so.
An oppertunity for corporate worship and the explanation of the gospel to get through to them.
Should we celebrate easter?
If we can't, don't or won't what does that say about us?
Do we apriciate our salvation? Does it give us any JOY? Are we living life to the full, if we aren't enjoying our salvation we certainly are not.
An oppertunity for corporate worship and the explanation of the gospel to get through to them.
Should we celebrate easter?
If we can't, don't or won't what does that say about us?
Do we apriciate our salvation? Does it give us any JOY? Are we living life to the full, if we aren't enjoying our salvation we certainly are not.
Deborah_
Well-Known Member
Where I now live, in Wales, Easter is called "Pasg" (derived from Pascha). So presumably that makes it OK, and I can go ahead and celebrate it.
Taken
Well-Known Member
"A" people together on One Day (regardless of what Nation they reside) in Remembrance of "Their" Risen Christ the Lord.
God Bless,
Taken
bbyrd009
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rolling eggs, buying bunnies, and participating in fertility rites?
ok, go with that, but you will be required to explain why Passover was not good enough ok, the Word that got changed in your Bible? That anyone can verify in like one minute? 'Member?
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bbyrd009
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Sorry, but imo that is hardly the point. Celebrating any aspect of that is by def not celebrating Passover, isn't it?
Don't get me wrong, the ignorant will surely be less punished, but I mean is that what we are going for here?
Ah so Let the blind lead the blind then I guess
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bbyrd009
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