Easter and Christians

@HIM

Romans 14:5-6

Happy Easter.

Dkh587 said:

Every year more and more people realize the pagan origins of Christmas & Easter and stop celebrating them.

Easter & Christmas are about the celebration of Satan, not the Messiah.

Satan wants people to celebrate his holidays. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, New Years etc, the list goes on and on. They ALL are satanic.

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More and more people are being led astray by unscrupulous individuals who are themselves completely ignorant but decided that that thing they read by some random person on the internet or watched on a youtube video, without any citations, without any primary sources, without any evidence, must be true.

Sort of like how every now and then there are some people who decide to come around and claim that we can't say "Jesus" because it's actually trying to get Zeus' attention, "Hey! Zeus!" or some nonsense. Because they don't understand how language works, because they refuse to bother to learn history, because when presented with documented facts and with primary sources their eyes glaze over, pretend they didn't hear, and then continue repeating their misinformation again.

Because these people don't care about the truth, they are enemies of God's people who have no interest in serving Christ and being faithful to Him; they are interested in only propagating their own ignorance and trying to convert others to make them twice as much the sons of hell as they themselves are.

-CryptoLutheran

HIM said:

The day in which Easter is derived does have pagan roots. History screams it. Here are some links http://www.hightime1311.com/wp-cont...Real-Story-Christmas-Easter-and-Halloween.pdf

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

The pagan roots of Easter | Heather McDougall

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Heather Mcdougall isn't an authority on the liturgical origins of Easter. She's a music teacher promoting an internet myth.

Joanna Gillan of the other site you have quoted is a bachalor of Psychology, not of history.

I mean, we have actual historians who write about this stuff. Books like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Passover-Eas...s+of+Liturgical&qid=1555792688&s=books&sr=1-2

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Litu...s+of+Liturgical&qid=1555792688&s=books&sr=1-1

I've read the former and he doesn't even bring up the subject of Easter being derived from paganism because there's no evidence for the claim.

What do you make of the fact Easter was called Pascha before it was called Easter?

HIM said:

The day in which Easter is derived does have pagan roots. History screams it. Here are some links http://www.hightime1311.com/wp-cont...Real-Story-Christmas-Easter-and-Halloween.pdf

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Halloween is completely different. Anyway, I'm willing to bet the vast majority of us wouldn't have ever found out about these "origins" if you guys hadn't brought them up. The information you're promoting is kind of a stumbling block, because it's only really going to give those of weaker faith anxiety. Stop doing that. Realize that Christ is more important than what pagans practiced historically.

Ignatius the Kiwi said:

Legitimate question. Is there any argument we could make to convince you Easter isn't pagan? I feel like with these debates the "Easter is Pagan" side believes their position as if it were said by the bible itself. So seriously, what would it take to convince you? Please don't say nothing.

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Considering that I used to think like many of you in here, and genuinely believed that Easter was not pagan, there is nothing at this point. Maybe if you erased the historical evidence? But we know that will never happen.

I did my research a few years ago and considered all the evidence with an open mind, and once I learned that Easter was pagan, and that the Apostles nor any of their assemblies celebrated it, I stopped celebrating it forever. I won’t go back to celebrating holidays that venerate Satan.

HIM said:

I was not aware that antagonism was a fruit of the Spirit

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If you are antagonized by scripture I don't know what to tell you. Respond to the scripture I posted.

Dkh587 said:

Considering that I used to think like many of you in here, and genuinely believed that Easter was not pagan, there is nothing at this point.

I did my research a few years ago and considered all the evidence with an open mind, and once I learned that Easter was pagan, and that the Apostles nor any of their assemblies celebrated it, I stopped celebrating it forever. I won’t go back to celebrating holidays that venerate Satan.

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So how do explain the name of Easter in non English Germanic languages? I think I asked you or someone else before in the other thread but never got an answer. In Greece and Italy this year the people will call it Pascha and Pascua respectively (including the Pope). How did Easter transform into Pascha in these countries? Can you explain the etymological and historic origins of how this Celtic feast came from England to Rome and Constantinople?

HIM said:

So knowledge and honoring the the actual time period in which He resurrected is is a stumbling block.
And your use of Romans 14 has nothing to due with Christians using days which were already established for worshiping and honoring false gods.

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You have yet to establish Easter as moveable feast existed in pagan celebrations.

HIM said:

The day in which Easter is derived does have pagan roots. History screams it. Here are some links http://www.hightime1311.com/wp-cont...Real-Story-Christmas-Easter-and-Halloween.pdf

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

The pagan roots of Easter | Heather McDougall

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All just recycled furphies (that's Australian English — my native dialect — for unfounded rumours, i.e. lies).

Yes, various ancient cultures had goddesses that were celebrated around springtime. And yes, there were pagan myths about gods who rose from the dead. But Easter (and indeed Christmas) doesn't have anything to do with pagan gods and goddesses. The people who instituted these celebrations were followers of Christ, honouring Christ. If there were celebrations of pagan deities around the same time, what on earth does that matter? Those pagan gods weren't and aren't real and the ONE God is hardly going to mistake our honouring of His Son for the honouring of a non-existent myth.

The real problem with Christians believing these "Easter is pagan, Christmas is pagan" falsehoods is that they're buying right into what neo-pagans and atheists want the world to believe — that Christians are wrong and deluded and their "Jesus Christ" is just a repurposed pagan myth. Is that really what we want to go along with?

HIM said:

The day we celebrate the Resurrection which we call Easter was founded on prejudice and has pagan roots that date back thousands of years. If We would celebrate HIS Resurrection it should be done on the end of Passover week not tomorrow. That was when it happened. Solomen thought that there was no issue with ascribing to the pagan practice of sacrificing in high places to our GOD. His intentions were pure but it is recorded as a short coming.... Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the LORD by following the practices of his father David, EXCEPT that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
(1Ki 3:3 NET)

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"Easter is pagan thread" #1600

HIM said:

The days that were picked and the history behind them is Historical. They both have pagan roots and that is a fact easily verified.

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Except you have had a hard time doing just that. You've given us nothing to go on except secondary sources which make vast claims but can't back them up. Where are the primary sources?

HIM said:

You told me Happy Easter. Now you are going to play as if you did not mean it as a slight in respects to my beliefs. lol. Now you are going to make a comment that I am antagonized by Scripture. LOL indeed.

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When it comes to this issue, you are looking at the letter of the law and missing the Spirit. Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun will not exist in eternity. Dates of celebration are only a shadow of things to come. And yes, I'm judging this unscriptural belief of yours because I see that it only bears harmful fruit.

Colossians 2:16-17

HIM said:

The day in which Easter is derived does have pagan roots. History screams it. Here are some links http://www.hightime1311.com/wp-cont...Real-Story-Christmas-Easter-and-Halloween.pdf

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

The pagan roots of Easter | Heather McDougall

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First link doesn't work.

Have you actually read the second link?

From your second link:

"Resurrection as a Symbol of Rebirth

One theory that has been put forward is that the Easter story of crucifixion and resurrection is symbolic of rebirth and renewal and retells the cycle of the seasons, the death and return of the sun.

According to some scholars, such as Dr. Tony Nugent, teacher of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University, and Presbyterian minister, 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.

Dr Nugent is quick to point out that drawing parallels between the story of Jesus and the epic of Inanna “doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't a real person, Jesus, who was crucified, but rather that, if there was, the story about it is structured and embellished in accordance with a pattern that was very ancient and widespread.”

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. In the 4th Century, when Christians identified the exact site in Jerusalem where the empty tomb of Jesus had been located, they selected the spot where a temple of Aphrodite (Astarte/Ishtar/Inanna) stood. The temple was torn down and the So Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built, the holiest church in the Christian world.

Dr Nugent points out that 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. "

The claim being put forward is that the STORY OF JESUS' RESURRECTION ITSELF is just a retelling of a pagan myth of death and renewal. Nothing there about Easter, the claim is that Jesus' resurrection is itself Pagan.

Then we have it followed up by this,

"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."

How does this author know this? Is it based on any actual evidence? No. Because the only evidence we have for the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre comes from Bede, and Bede makes no mention of this. So where did the author get this information? The answer is that they are merely repeating something they've been told. Because there is no evidence to back this claim up.

"According to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, the idea of resurrection was ingrained within the celebration of Ostara: “Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian’s God."

Remember how earlier I mentioned that we have what Bede said, and then we have people hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years later using Bede and engaging in wild speculations? That's precisely what Jacob Grimm did, and is exactly what I was referring to.

Here's from your third link,

"The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life."

Yeah, again, false information and mere repetition of factually wrong statements.

Horus was not born on December 25th. Neither was Mithras. Also, Inanna wasn't hung on a stake and killed. Inanna instead went on a journey from the heavens to the underworld to visit her sister, the queen of the underworld. When Inanna came to the gates of the underworld, her sister asked why she was there, after an exchange the poem says,

"Then Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death
She spoke against her the word of wrath
She uttered against her the cry of guilt
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse
A piece of rotting meat
And was hung from a hook on the wall"

Inanna was turned into a hunk of rotting meat and then hung on a hook on a wall, as a piece of rotting meat. After this, after much pleading by others, Inanna was restored back to life.

But sure, I can see how someone could read an ancient Sumerian poem about a goddess being turned into steak and hung on a wall and think that must be Jesus?

Want to know what your links have in common?

A lack of citations, evidentiary support, and a mere repetition of misinformation based on hearsay.

Anyway, would you like to try again?

-CryptoLutheran

TuxAme said:

How is the Resurrection of our Lord pagan? How is choosing to celebrate His victory over death on Sunday, the Lord's day, the day of the week on which He rose- pagan?

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Exactly. One would think people would get tried of put forth this pagan foolish nonsense.

HIM said:

The days that were picked and the history behind them is Historical. They both have pagan roots and that is a fact easily verified.

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Then you shouldn't have any trouble providing those historical sources and the verification of your claims.

-CryptoLutheran