Do protestants celebrate Easter?

[All4Christ]

DP

 

[All4Christ]

TP (sorry!!)

 

[GlockMeister]

But this still makes no sense as they commemorate based on the gregorian paschalion. If they observed the quartodeciman practise it would make sense. The Jewish passover will begin on April 22 this year, it was not observed in the final week of march. Following the methods of their own religious tradition, logic would have it that they would observe the jewish reckoning and then celebrate the resurection on the third day of the jewish passover, but they don't do that. They can even go to an Astronomical observatory and pinpoint the exact date passover fell on in 33 AD and establish a fixed anniversary date, but they dont.




One of the subforums has a discussion entitled "Should christians celebrate easter", its about 7 pages long. A parallel discussion within that thread also touches upon the dating of Christmas. For the low church protestants this is indeed a legitimate question to ask themselves. I assume if i go to the bible belt, I wont have to ask, "hey what day does your easter (or your Christmas) fall on this year"? I can safely assume if they do celebrate these feast days it will be based on the papal liturgical calendar. But why?????
I think its a legitimate question to ask, especially in the face that these people are quite conflicted over why they celebrate what they do. Its evident that bible-only believers have a problem with a December 25th Christmas associating it with pagan baggage. From their own reading of scripture they have concluded that Christ was not born in winter but in one of the warmer months. So why hasn't any protestant leader called to transfer Christmas to Labor Day, or if they want to give it symbolism transfer it to Rosh Hashana or maybe on Yom Kippur. It can be in the summer or whatever warmer month makes more sense to them.
After centuries of non liturgical protestants debating this point everytime these holidays approach and being conflicted over it, I as an Orthodox need to call their bluff and ask them: "why the heck do you continue to celebrate these days? Or at the very least why the heck haven't you devised your own calendars by now? What in the world are you waiting for????

This post is all Greek to me (pun intended). But Protestants most definitely do celebrate Christmas and Easter. Why wouldn't thay?

 

[All4Christ]

This post is all Greek to me (pun intended). But Protestants most definitely do celebrate Christmas and Easter. Why wouldn't thay?

I believe he is referring to fact that Easter and Christmas were not directly mandated in the Bible. Jesus' birth wasn't on December 25th, and celebrating Easter on a specific date wasn't mandated either. He is asking why Protestants who adhere to Sola Scriptura and no Tradition still follow the feast days formalized by the Church far before the reformation.

That said, as I mentioned earlier, I definitely celebrated both when I was a Protestant, as I knew it was beneficial to do so.

 

[GlockMeister]

I believe he is referring to fact that Easter and Christmas were not directly mandated in the Bible. Jesus' birth wasn't on December 25th, and celebrating Easter on a specific date wasn't mandated either. He is asking why Protestants who adhere to Sola Scriptura and no Tradition still follow the feast days started by the Church far before the reformation.

That said, as I mentioned earlier, I definitely celebrated both when I was a Protestant, as I knew it was beneficial to do so.

I don't know. I just know we've always celebrated them in the Baptist and other churches I've been in.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Glocks? Meh. I'm a Springfield XD guy muhself....

I don't know. I just know we've always celebrated them in the Baptist and other churches I've been in.

 

[buzuxi02]

I don't know. I just know we've always celebrated them in the Baptist and other churches I've been in.

Theres a new thread on the general discussion area possibly inspired by this one. One asking precisely why they follow the roman calculation and not what the rabbis are dictating for their passover.
I put in my two cents on that thread as the poster and a few others don't seem to even know that whether roman, jewish or Orthodox reckoning, all apply the full moon after the equinox as a standard. Everything else has to do with the usage of differing solar calendars and slight mathematical variations used for the paschal tables.

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

Oh great - we're going to cause the spin off of yet another Protestant sect that will be claiming that they're the One True Church because only they celebrate Easter when it should be. *face/palm*

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Currently on this website there's a discussion on this, with many of the Sola scripture believers saying they dont. But it's a good question for those that do celebrate it. Why would they?
Seems like a waste of time. Why would they celebrate a holiday which originates from Rome and is completely and utterly nonsensical within the protestant tradition?. Its detached from any Lenten season, not based on any liturgical calendar, no requirements for fasting, no culmination of coherent gospel readings and Holy week services with an anticipation towards the Ressurection based on a liturgical cycle. How do they explain pastel colored easter eggs, why this feast day is not on a fixed date, why they feel the need to emphasize the Ressurection on this day in a complete vaccuum from the liturgical cycle of events which determines moveable and immoveable feast days.

The only thing it would seem to me is deep down inside they still yearn for their Mother Church in Rome on some subconscious level.

Hi buzuxi02,

Numerically, the Sola Scriptura believers that don't celebrate Christmas, Easter etc. are a very vocal but very small minority. While main line protestants all continue to mark Lent and Holy week, although their observations of these seasons and festivals are not always what we in Liturgical Churches would be familiar with.

For us Lutherans, we have never stopped marking the seasons of the Church, and we have retained some practices that are not always observed in the Catholic Church in recent times.

I find the lack of observance and celebration of these festivals to be at odds with their claimed Sola Scriptura. These events are noted in Scripture because God wants us to know about them, so the Church has marked these things from the very beginning. Not observing these and other historic events revealed in the Bible seems like defying God's will to me.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Oh great - we're going to cause the spin off of yet another Protestant sect that will be claiming that they're the One True Church because only they celebrate Easter when it should be. *face/palm*

Then celebrate with readings only from the KJV.

 

[ArmyMatt]

These events are noted in Scripture because God wants us to know about them, so the Church has marked these things from the very beginning. Not observing these and other historic events revealed in the Bible seems like defying God's will to me.

I think the point is that if one is truly sola Scriptura, he would know about these events because they are recorded in Scripture, and not as something to celebrate since we are not commanded in Scripture to celebrate them.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I think the point is that if one is truly sola Scriptura, he would know about these events because they are recorded in Scripture, and not as something to celebrate since we are not commanded in Scripture to celebrate them.

Yet, neither are we forbidden to do so. Since the Jews celebrated historic events as festivals (Passover is but one example), that is Biblical support for celebrating the "new Passover" with the Lamb of God. One could make the argument that that these are Old Testament and not the Gospel, but since these groups of Christians are very legalistic, and often follow OT law regarding Sat. Sabbath, dietary laws, etc. that argument holds no water either. Sola Scriptura, as most would understand it, does not exist. Most pick and choose what they are comfortable with. Confessional Lutherans like me use is as a source of doctrine and the normative standard where by we test practices of tradition and traditional teachings (we do understand that the Church existed before the written word of God was compiled into the Bible as we know it).

I see such austere Christian teaching and practice as a rejection of traditional Christianity for the sake of piety (like the Bible tells us of the Pharisees; keeping the law to the letter, yet missing the point of faith.

What I get from the Gospels is that God is less hung up on legalism than they are.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Yet, neither are we forbidden to do so. Since the Jews celebrated historic events as festivals (Passover is but one example), that is Biblical support for celebrating the "new Passover" with the Lamb of God. One could make the argument that that these are Old Testament and not the Gospel, but since these groups of Christians are very legalistic, and often follow OT law regarding Sat. Sabbath, dietary laws, etc. that argument holds no water either. Sola Scriptura, as most would understand it, does not exist. Most pick and choose what they are comfortable with. Confessional Lutherans like me use is as a source of doctrine and the normative standard where by we test practices of tradition and traditional teachings (we do understand that the Church existed before the written word of God was compiled into the Bible as we know it).

I see such austere Christian teaching and practice as a rejection of traditional Christianity for the sake of piety (like the Bible tells us of the Pharisees; keeping the law to the letter, yet missing the point of faith.

What I get from the Gospels is that God is less hung up on legalism than they are.

Oh I am with you 100%, it shows that oral tradition parallels the written. Sola Scriptura is a misnomer. The real thing is to see who has the proper oral tradition with the written, which I think is the initial point of this thread

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Oh I am with you 100%, it shows that oral tradition parallels the written. Sola Scriptura is a misnomer. The real thing is to see who has the proper oral tradition with the written, which I think is the initial point of this thread

Agreed!

 

[buzuxi02]

I would say the biggest fallacy is the REASON some of these sects give for not celebrating anything at all. Usually the argument is God did not directly command it, and the second reason is that established festivals are all paganised events.

The first argument is beyond bizarre as this would limit any kind of celebration for the entire human civilization to the few holidays commemorated by (and for) the Hebrew race of the pre-Maccabean era.
Secondly the Old Testament makes clear that a primary reason for the moon and stars is precisely to not only order the days but also to be utilised by humans to order their holidays and feast days whatever they may be!

The second argument is the reason I started this thread. After 500 years why haven't they created their own calendar? Groups like Jehovahs Witness are probably the strangest in that they have relegated the human being to being on par with the rest of the animal kingdom. No celebrations, no feast days, no customs, no different than the lower species and computer programmed artificial intelligience, that feel or commemorate nothing..

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I would say the biggest fallacy is the REASON some of these sects give for not celebrating anything at all. Usually the argument is God did not directly command it, and the second reason is that established festivals are all paganised events.

The first argument is beyond bizarre as this would limit any kind of celebration for the entire human civilization to the few holidays commemorated by (and for) the Hebrew race of the pre-Maccabean era.
Secondly the Old Testament makes clear that a primary reason for the moon and stars is precisely to not only order the days but also to be utilised by humans to order their holidays and feast days whatever they may be!

The second argument is the reason I started this thread. After 500 years why haven't they created their own calendar? Groups like Jehovahs Witness are probably the strangest in that they have relegated the human being to being on par with the rest of the animal kingdom. No celebrations, no feast days, no customs, no different than the lower species and computer programmed artificial intelligience, that feel or commemorate nothing..

I was not even considering the non trinitarians (JWs deny the divinity of Christ). Maybe there is not need to have their own calendar as it does not matter? Calendar; old or new; praxis, East or West: as a Lutheran I am grateful that the celebration continues across our traditions; and in reality Easter is each and every Sunday!

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I don't know. I just know we've always celebrated them in the Baptist and other churches I've been in.

Same here. It was never questioned. Even though we didn't celebrate Christmas in church. :-/