Is celebrating Easter wrong?

[Mary_Magdalene]

Hey all,

Just something i have been thinking of lately.........

In your opinion do you think it is wrong to celebrate Easter since it has its roots in pagan worship, or do you believe that it is permissible to celebrate to bring glory to God because we are focusing on the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

thanks.

 

[Protoevangel]

Do you celebrate a pagan holiday or do you celebrate the ressurection of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus?

I celebrate Ressurection Day. Some call it Easter. I don't like the bunnies and eggs stuff, but I teach my children the truth, and allow them to have fun with the kids at church and at grandma's house.

Hold th the truth. The day or the title of the day is not important. Celebrate Christ, all else is fluff.

 

[Jenna]

God owns His days, not any pagans or their gods. Besides, God was around long before anyone tried to claim one of His days for worshipping their false god.

All in all, it's the celebration of the ressurection that is important. All else falls away in the end anyway. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. The best we can do is to put our hearts in the right place and get down to the business of

Loving and Praising God!

 

[pmcleanj]

There's very little evidence that Easter has pagan roots, other than the English name for the holiday. If the pagan goddess Ostara did have her own holiday, it probably was celebrated earlier in the year, round about the verna equinox. The bunnies have pagan associations too, but with Trideum, vigils, foot-washings, sunrise services and Exultet, bunnies are a trivial aspect of Easter.

All the non-English speaking Christians use some variation on "Pesach" -- Pasque, Pascha, and so on -- to refer to the Easter holiday, in recognition of its association with the Passover.

So if you want to avoid the pagan associations of Easter, call it Pascha as Eastern Orthodox Christians do. But the holiday itself is so thouroughly Christian that ignoring it for its pagan roots is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

 

[P_G]

I want to urge you to commemorate Resurection Sunday
And to wash the apostate pagan name of Easter and all of it's
trappings out of your life.

I know that this is going to be an unpopular thing to say
but why would you mix pagan images and theology into
a day that commorates and remembers the victory
over death of Christ Jesus?

G-d has never been real big on sharing his
space with pagan dieties.

1SA 5:1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.



Blessings

Much Love

Pastor George

 

[BarbB]

Actually, this is one Biblical holiday that we know when it happened - at Passover! I like the term Resurrection Sunday rather than Easter, though I just learned of it a couple of years ago!

 

[Mary_Magdalene]

I want to urge you to commemorate Resurection Sunday
And to wash the apostate pagan name of Easter and all of it's
trappings out of your life.

I know that this is going to be an unpopular thing to say
but why would you mix pagan images and theology into
a day that commorates and remembers the victory
over death of Christ Jesus?

G-d has never been real big on sharing his
space with pagan dieties.

1SA 5:1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.
[/font]

I have been studing the Old Testament lately and that what has made me really think about this.

Thanks.

 

[swedesweetie16]

I think that it is ok to celebrate Easter. After all, what would we as Christians have to base our faith on if we did not believe in the resurrection and if it did not happen? We need to celebrate this very important event that is vital to our faith and what we believe. We need to praise God for His love, for sending His Son to die for us and praise Him for the hope we have in Christ coming back for us because HE (Christ) HAS RISEN. We need to acknowledge this very important event that is so much a part of our faith.

 

[swedesweetie16]

I want to urge you to commemorate Resurection Sunday
And to wash the apostate pagan name of Easter and all of it's
trappings out of your life.

I know that this is going to be an unpopular thing to say
but why would you mix pagan images and theology into
a day that commorates and remembers the victory
over death of Christ Jesus?

G-d has never been real big on sharing his
space with pagan dieties.

1SA 5:1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.



Blessings

Much Love

Pastor George

Pastor George,
Cute Cartoon! I just wanted to say that we should not put pagan practices and how we celebrate Easter together. They are not similar. We are celebrating Christ's resurrection. So I agree with your statment about paganism.

 

[BarbB]

Hey, swedesweetie - WELCOME TO CF!

 

[swedesweetie16]

God owns His days, not any pagans or their gods. Besides, God was around long before anyone tried to claim one of His days for worshipping their false god.

All in all, it's the celebration of the ressurection that is important. All else falls away in the end anyway. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. The best we can do is to put our hearts in the right place and get down to the business of

Loving and Praising God!

I agree, we need to just worry about praising and loving God. Part of prasing Him is celebrating His resurrection and all that He has and continues to do for us. Just because Easter was used by the Pagans for worshipping a false god, does not mean that in our celebration we are doing the same.

 

[P_G]

I agree, we need to just worry about praising and loving God. Part of prasing Him is celebrating His resurrection and all that He has and continues to do for us. Just because Easter was used by the Pagans for worshipping a false god, does not mean that in our celebration we are doing the same.

Thats right there is no reason not to commemerate the day.

But why would we want to drag the pagan customs into it once
we have learned the truth?

All I am saying is this year consider leaving the fertility egg laying Ashtoreth bunny out of your joyus celebration of the risen son of the G-d of Y'sreal.


Blessings

Pastor George

 

[BarbB]

Thats right there is no reason not to commemerate the day.

But why would we want to drag the pagan customs into it once
we have learned the truth?

All I am saying is this year consider leaving the fertility egg laying Ashtoreth bunny out of your joyus celebration of the risen son of the G-d of Y'sreal.


Blessings

Pastor George

This brought to mind some PC nonsense I heard on the TV the other night. Some school district didn't cotton to the words - Easter eggs - so they are having an - oval - hunt! Ha ha ha!

 

[Lotar]

I don't think anyone is going to mistake you for a pagan for celebrating Easter

It is a good and Christian thing to do, to celebrate the holy days and feast days. I like to celebrate Reformation/All Saints day too

 

[Bulldog]

When is Reformation day?

 

[Lotar]

October the 31st

 

[Dark_Lite]

Well considering Christianity has a lot of roots in paganism for its traditions, it isn't wrong.

Plus it's when Jesus was ressurected so the pagan roots don't really mean anything.

 

[P_G]

Well considering Christianity has a lot of roots in paganism for its traditions, it isn't wrong.

Plus it's when Jesus was ressurected so the pagan roots don't really mean anything.

Actually the Pagan practices were added in about 300 or so years after the resurection so the really do mean something.

Now the Bible makes clear something and that is that we are not to adopt the practices of pagans and surely not any part of their religious practices

LEV 18:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.


1KING14:24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.


Most specifically we are warned NOT to mix the practices:

2KI 17:40 They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. 41 Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

2CHR 36:14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.


I could go on and on but you already know this

Here is the point no where and I do mean no where can you post one scripture that says it is ok to adopt the practices of pagans and that it is ok now that Christ has risen to honor him with detestible practices.

I am not saying to not commorate the resurection nothing could be further from the truth. But G-d says that adopting the practices of pagan worship is detestible. Maybe we should think about doing what G-d says rather than what the traditions of man say.


Blessings

Pastor George

 

[rooster]

Holidays are not only days where you get a break from work and watch some extra TV. Each holiday has a specific reason behind it and is in itself a cultural mechanism for passing on beliefs, traditions and memories.
Just imagine the kind of beliefs, traditions and memories that the present holiday of easter is passing on and in a sense educate the world about christianity. Just ask somebody on the street or even somebody in church what easter is about and they would give you vague references to Jesus, but inevitable the pagan parts of the holiday would come in and they would start to talk about ester eggs and bunnies and little pagan practices that had become associated with easter.
Thus the beliefs and traditions and the act of remebrance of our Lord and our God becomes tainted with pagan practices and time would only cement the erronous traditions and teachings concerning the death and resurrection of our Lord.
Further more these errors were not gradually introduced over time but from its inception and such syncretism with pagan thoughts is unacceptable.
Furthermore, why abandone the feasts of the OT when the pesarch is clearly the day to be associated with our Lord the Passover Lamb.
Some might say "as long as i know the true meaning and keep it in remembrance of the right things and loving my God on these day it will be alright even if others are mistaken by the pagan associations" There is nothing wrong with this statement except that holydays are not only meant to be personal subjective experiances but an objective universal expression shared by the body of Christ in honouring and loving our God.
Easter even from inception is tainted, and if we continue to force the syncretism of our Holy God with pagan traditions and beliefs then it would not be a very Holyday would it?

There is nothing wrong with easter as long as Our Lord is at the center of it and we realise and remove the pagn practises whatever they are.
But at the same time why separate it from the jewish passover.
But there is the problem of unbelievers who would misunderstand would we are celebrating easter for when there is so much junk attached together with easter. Easter had become shall i say a burdened holiday
There is no problem with christians eating choc bunnies since we know the bunnies mean nothing. problem is unbelievers think that easter is about looking for choc eggs. Thus i see easter as a problem in that sense because of what the world has done to it to make people forget that we are honouring our God with such a festival.
I believe its not about not practising easter but about taking a stand the things in the day which is not christians and about reeducating the masses about the holiday.

 

[simchat_torah]

I do not wish to argue here... but since the question was asked...

Might I make a comment or two? At least in the form of a couple of verses?


Duet. 12:30-31
"...be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, by saying "How do these nations serve their g-ds? We will do the same. You must not worship the HaShem your G-d in their way..."
Here we can see clearly that not only are we not to worship other dieties, but specifically we are not to worship OUR G-d in the SAME WAY.
Quite explicit.

Duet. 18:9&13
"When you enter the land your G-d is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there"..."You must be blameless before HaShem your G-d."
Here we see that we are not to even IMITATE pagan practices. On the contrary, we are called to stive to be blameless.


Shalom,
yafet