Is is just about the EASTER BUNNY?

[ToBeLoved]

IF a Christian doesnt see something wrong with a candy egg laying rabbit being tied to their Messiah, they need to really study the true origins of some of the things that are being done in Easter and how they were just rebadged by the RCC.

Ironically, there is not a darn thing that any one of us can do about the Easter bunny or Santa Claus or any of the other things that the world has done to incorporate Christian religious days into popular culture.

What is important is that instead of debating it endlessly among ourselves is that people would maybe talk more about God during those holidays. I can't tell you how many Christians have jumped on the 'Happy Holiday's" bandwagon which is the world cutting out "Merry Christmas" and having Christmas be a worldly holiday.

I say Christians put your speech where your belief is. Buy cards with Christ and religious sentiment, don't use "Happy Holidays" and don't buy your kids candy if you don't like it, but put some action into it and stop discussing it over and over

If people talk about Christ in their daily lives and He is important I don't think anyone thinks that someone is celebrating the Easter bunny. It is when we do not make a stand on what the holiday really is and don't discuss this on the holiday and with people in our churches that I think things get lost.

But I don't want to hear another thread about a bunch of Christains chastisinig another bunch of Christians without some action that makes it better and does some good. Let's not 'talk' only anymore.

 

[ViaCrucis]

We are to worship God (YHWH) per his terms, NOT our own.

Alright, help me select a female lamb without blemish and we can go find a kohen and offer it to the Lord together. Oh wait, I can't, I'm a Gentile, and I suspect you are too.

Well that's awkward. Well, maybe we can go hang out in the temple courtyard in the court of the Gentiles. Oh, right, no temple. Oh, gee, this is getting difficult.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[prodromos]

The bible given examples in Ezekiel about not not bowing down to the sun in the east, yet what is most sunrise service, bowing down and worshipping towards the rising sun in the east, because Jesus rose at sunrise, even though the bible makes it quite clear he rose way before then, right as the sun had set and the Sabbath was ending 12 hrs before.

Since you seem unaware, in the Orthodox Church we gather in the church building from about 10-10:30pm on Saturday evening for our Pascha service. At midnight the priest comes out chanting "Come receive the light" after which we chant the hymns of Christ's resurrection. Immediately following is the Divine Liturgy after which we go home. It is around 3am in the morning by then, long before the sun rises on Sunday morning.
As for facing East in Church, that is because of Matthew 24:27

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man.​

Our churches traditionally face East so that we are facing in the direction Christ will come when He returns. You might also notice that Christians are traditionally buried with their feet towards the East for the same reason. There is nothing remotely related to sun worship so for your own good you should cease propagating that falsehood. As the Scriptures say in Proverbs 19:

A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will not escape.​

 

[Goodbook]

View attachment 191172

Your thoughts on Easter and anything that you can add to this? I came across this yesterday. If I have posted this in the wrong forum I apologize and am open to it being moved to wherever is needed.

Not really. Its well known.

Its just that pagan spring festival of easter happened to fall around the same time as jewish passover. I dont know why everyone keeps referring to all the days celebrating Jesus cruxifiction and resurrection as easter when it should be passover time. I suppose its the gentile thing and a holdover from that calendar.

 

[prodromos]

Not really. Its well known.

If by "well known" you mean it is a popular falsehood, I can agree with you.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Its just that pagan spring festival of easter

Don't suppose you'd be willing to show us someone, anyone, in history celebrating a pagan spring festival called Easter would you? Any evidence, anything at all. A document, maybe an archeological site. All have you have to do is show a single piece of historical evidence that there was ever a pagan festival called "Easter".

-CryptoLutheran

 

[prodromos]

Don't suppose you'd be willing to show us someone, anyone, in history celebrating a pagan spring festival called Easter would you? Any evidence, anything at all. A document, maybe an archeological site. All have you have to do is show a single piece of historical evidence that there was ever a pagan festival called "Easter".

But it's "well known". Who needs factual evidence when multitudes have happily swallowed the myth without.

 

[1John2:4]

Romans 14 gives folks the room to honor God on any day AS LONG AS it does not stand in contrast to His character (name). Of course that does not give us license to abrogate the Appointed Days, but one can add days if they wish. A Jew can set Purim apart or certain fasts... just as a Christian can set apart his baptism day or the day they found the empty tomb. Nobody is doing anything pagan by honoring God for raising the son on the morning the tomb was found empty. Furthermore, this cannot be ignored:

Lev 23:15 'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

The word for Sabbath is Shabbat which denotes the weekly Sabbath not a High Sabbath. So, the day after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread is Sunday. This is the first day in the count of 7 Sabbaths until Shavuot. This is all tied, of course, to first fruits, and since Paul rightly shares with us that Yeshua, being the first born of the dead, is what all this points to... then for the Christian to gather on the Sunday after Passover is the closest mainstream Christianity comes to keeping a feast. There is NOTHING PAGAN HERE and to say there is, I really believe, is bearing false witness against brethren. All they are doing is celebrating the resurrection of the first born of the dead, first fruits. It is biblical even if not mandated as a holy convocation.

The eggs come from an Eastern Orthodox practice that began in the 300's and continues today. There is >>NO HISTORICAL EVIDENCE AT ALL FROM THE TIME PERIOD IN QUESTION<< that has eggs being dyed for ANYTHING before the Eastern Orthodox practice began. And they began the practice based on a Mary Magdalene story that they believe. I don't believe... maybe it happened... I don't care... bottom line is what they are doing is no different than a Jewish person celebrating Hanukkah. To them they are taking part in something that historically can't be proven but is believed and in their eyes gives additional honor to the one God of Israel. We KNOW the tomb was found empty BY sunrise Sunday morning, so, to gather in the morning on that day to tell God "thanks" is wrong or pagan? No, it is gratefulness!

The bunnies come late... like late 1800's from a series of short stories and like Coke using Santa at Christmas, the bunny was secularly and culturally adopted for commerical purposes. I see no reason to dye eggs and definitely no reason to have rabbits involved... but there is no tie to pagan worship and Ishtar like the Hebrew Roots/ Messianic world claim. Without TIME PERIOD evidence, then the claims can't be substantiated. And according to Torah, if they can't be substantiated, they can't even be made without crossing the line into Lashon hara. That is just letting Scripture guide my steps in dealing with this.



You're welcome to and I don't take it personal, not at all. But I am driven by two things and I would ask you to consider them.

1. We will be judged as we judged others. So if we have a brother who is in error and we judge him quickly, harshly, and without mercy... we can expect the same. Because of this, I made a decision through prayer a decade ago to err on the side of mercy. I think that is more consistent with the fruits of the Spirit anyway.

2. We cannot break Torah to defend Torah. I agree, the Feasts are what God desires, they remain pictures, teaching tools, and community builders. But... the awakening we see today is being done over time, a generation, and some simply won't see it all at the same time. If we assume and ascribe an evil intent to one who does not know better, we are breaking Torah because we are bearing false witness. We are treating them as if in rebellion when their sin is either unknown or unintentional, or both. Surely some pastors and layman know better, but MOST have no clue... YET.

Not only that... each of us have taken a path to get to where we are today. God knew we would use that path, He taught us along each step of the path in order to mold us into the person and servant we are today. If we then turn and call each step on the path pagan, lies, deception (etc.) then knowing God made use of those steps... how are we not profaning HIM and His name (reputation, character, authority) by destroying the method He used to allow you to even see what we have been blessed to see today?

Romans 14 gives folks the room to honor God on any day AS LONG AS it does not stand in contrast to His character (name). Of course that does not give us license to abrogate the Appointed Days, but one can add days if they wish. A Jew can set Purim apart or certain fasts... just as a Christian can set apart his baptism day or the day they found the empty tomb. Nobody is doing anything pagan by honoring God for raising the son on the morning the tomb was found empty. Furthermore, this cannot be ignored:

Lev 23:15 'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

The word for Sabbath is Shabbat which denotes the weekly Sabbath not a High Sabbath. So, the day after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread is Sunday. This is the first day in the count of 7 Sabbaths until Shavuot. This is all tied, of course, to first fruits, and since Paul rightly shares with us that Yeshua, being the first born of the dead, is what all this points to... then for the Christian to gather on the Sunday after Passover is the closest mainstream Christianity comes to keeping a feast. There is NOTHING PAGAN HERE and to say there is, I really believe, is bearing false witness against brethren. All they are doing is celebrating the resurrection of the first born of the dead, first fruits. It is biblical even if not mandated as a holy convocation.

The eggs come from an Eastern Orthodox practice that began in the 300's and continues today. There is >>NO HISTORICAL EVIDENCE AT ALL FROM THE TIME PERIOD IN QUESTION<< that has eggs being dyed for ANYTHING before the Eastern Orthodox practice began. And they began the practice based on a Mary Magdalene story that they believe. I don't believe... maybe it happened... I don't care... bottom line is what they are doing is no different than a Jewish person celebrating Hanukkah. To them they are taking part in something that historically can't be proven but is believed and in their eyes gives additional honor to the one God of Israel. We KNOW the tomb was found empty BY sunrise Sunday morning, so, to gather in the morning on that day to tell God "thanks" is wrong or pagan? No, it is gratefulness!

The bunnies come late... like late 1800's from a series of short stories and like Coke using Santa at Christmas, the bunny was secularly and culturally adopted for commerical purposes. I see no reason to dye eggs and definitely no reason to have rabbits involved... but there is no tie to pagan worship and Ishtar like the Hebrew Roots/ Messianic world claim. Without TIME PERIOD evidence, then the claims can't be substantiated. And according to Torah, if they can't be substantiated, they can't even be made without crossing the line into Lashon hara. That is just letting Scripture guide my steps in dealing with this.



You're welcome to and I don't take it personal, not at all. But I am driven by two things and I would ask you to consider them.

1. We will be judged as we judged others. So if we have a brother who is in error and we judge him quickly, harshly, and without mercy... we can expect the same. Because of this, I made a decision through prayer a decade ago to err on the side of mercy. I think that is more consistent with the fruits of the Spirit anyway.

2. We cannot break Torah to defend Torah. I agree, the Feasts are what God desires, they remain pictures, teaching tools, and community builders. But... the awakening we see today is being done over time, a generation, and some simply won't see it all at the same time. If we assume and ascribe an evil intent to one who does not know better, we are breaking Torah because we are bearing false witness. We are treating them as if in rebellion when their sin is either unknown or unintentional, or both. Surely some pastors and layman know better, but MOST have no clue... YET.

Not only that... each of us have taken a path to get to where we are today. God knew we would use that path, He taught us along each step of the path in order to mold us into the person and servant we are today. If we then turn and call each step on the path pagan, lies, deception (etc.) then knowing God made use of those steps... how are we not profaning HIM and His name (reputation, character, authority) by destroying the method He used to allow you to even see what we have been blessed to see today?

Thanks for your reply, I enjoy reading your posts, you take a lot of time and energy to post, that is the reason for my delay is I wanted to ensure I was giving you the same consiteration after reading your post.

The problem still stands, how can we be the salt and the light if we are not being the salt? If we are PC to our brothers and sisters in Christ how will they be lead to repentance? Easter is not biblical. Many sources claim that Bede's interpretation of the origin of the name of easter is accurate. It is plauseable that it did come from a pagan goddess and pagan people still worship in this way today yes with eggs and bunnies. The name originated out of the worship of creation not the Creator weather it is east, spring or some pagan goddess, the name has NOTHING to do with our Messiah and it did not come from Passover no matter how many linguistical gymnastics a person applies.

Easter is NOTHING like Purim or Chanukah. The story of Purim is deeply phophectic and it tells of God delivering His people with the strength of a godly brave woman. Chanukah is a story of deliverance as well, a small army lead by Judas Maccabee where God works through them to deliver His people and His temple from the Heathens.

Easter does not have a story like that, easter was added not to Judize and was followed by years of antisemitism and the blood of many Jews. 325 council of Nicaea "it was declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in he celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands have been stained with crime, the minds of these wrenched men are nessisarily blinded ,....Let us then have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries... Avoiding all contact with that evil way....Who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of thier minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by unrestrained passion, wherever thier innate madness carries them ..... A people so utterly depraved.... Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that may no more have anything in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord....No single point in common with the purjury of the Jews."

I am not really sure how I am breaking Torah to defend Torah by this but I do not claim to be any kind of expert in the law. I do know we are called to come out of her my people and to not partake of her sins and if we care for our brothers and sisters in Christ we will desire the same for them.

Shabbat Shalom dear brother in Messiah

 

[Greyy]

There was NO SUCH THING AS EASTER in the days of Jesus and the Apostles, it is a man made Catholic holiday that has been passed down.

Easter was celebrated almost immediately after the Resurrection. Each gathering on Sunday was a celebration of Easter.

In the bible they kept Passover and Unleavened Bread. Jesus died on Passover and Rose on First Fruit, NOT Good Friday and Rose Easter Sunday Morning

This has no relationship to the practice of Easter in the early Christianity that is continually practiced.

This still goes back to, stop and question why a bunny, egg, and hot cross buns are part of your remembrance of Jesus death, and it should make you ask why am I doing this and where did it really come from. The fact alone of a egg laying rabbit should throw up all sort of flags.

Frankly, it should raise flags if you are a unstable person paranoid about everything.

If you are true and honest with your self, and do honest research that actually dates back to before 300AD, you will see that the origins of Easter are from Paganism and just rebadged with Jesus name on top of it. Starting from 300AD and onwards, is what allows many to feel better about the nonsense they do that have ZERO to do with the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus.

So im using my same access to the internet as you and doing COMPLETE research, not just one to make me feel better and show profound ignorance like yours.

Thank you for proving my point. People will believe things even if they defy logic and history.

English speakers celebrate Easter with bunnies and eggs, because it is an Anglo-Saxon tradition.
Others cultures don't call it Easter. They don't have bunnies and eggs.
Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in 700-800 AD.

Resurrection Day, as celebrated by Christians around the world, has nothing to do with bunnies, eggs, or even the name "Easter." When Anglo-Saxons converted, they called Resurrection Day "Easter" and celebrated it with bunnies and eggs. Now people like you turn around and call it pagan because of the name "Easter", bunnies, eggs, babylonian hams, and other absurdities.

 

[Greyy]

Ken, the things that make me curious about this claim is.
1. This celebration of the vernal equinox has not gone anywhere, pagans still celebrate it to this day.
Here are some cites that show how to celebrate ostara and her customs along with other spring goddesses.

Those silly arguments are based on the notion that Easter is called Easter by Christians and everyone celebrates it with bunnies and eggs.

I don't know how to make this more clear. I imagine you don't even care, because you have a narrative you will defend against all logic and facts.

Jesus is Resurrected
Christians meet on Sundays
Christians pick one Sunday to represent Resurrection Day

200AD goes by, Resurrection Day is celebrated, but No bunnies, no eggs, no calling it Easter.

400AD goes by No bunnies, no eggs, no calling it Easter.

600 AD goes by NO BUNNIES, NO EGGS, NO ONE CALLS IT EASTER

700-800 AD - the English and Germans convert to Christianity.
The English call it "Easter" and celebrate it with eggs and bunnies.

2000 AD - Resurrection day is not called Easter by the rest of Christianity. Resurrection Day is not celebrated by non-English speakers with bunnies and eggs.

Nothing about easter is Biblical.

You shouldn't be posting here, if you deny the Resurrection.

 

[ChristianFromKazakhstan]

Chocolate rabbits and chicken eggs and fertility goddess Ishtar are the closest thing to Jesus Christ, of course.

 

[1John2:4]

Those silly arguments are based on the notion that Easter is called Easter by Christians and everyone celebrates it with bunnies and eggs.

I don't know how to make this more clear. I imagine you don't even care, because you have a narrative you will defend against all logic and facts.

Jesus is Resurrected
Christians meet on Sundays
Christians pick one Sunday to represent Resurrection Day

200AD goes by, Resurrection Day is celebrated, but No bunnies, no eggs, no calling it Easter.

400AD goes by No bunnies, no eggs, no calling it Easter.

600 AD goes by NO BUNNIES, NO EGGS, NO ONE CALLS IT EASTER

700-800 AD - the English and Germans convert to Christianity.
The English call it "Easter" and celebrate it with eggs and bunnies.

2000 AD - Resurrection day is not called Easter by the rest of Christianity. Resurrection Day is not celebrated by non-English speakers with bunnies and eggs.



You shouldn't be posting here, if you deny the Resurrection.

I don't believe you even concitered reading my post, it looks as if you just fired off your position in contrast to what I stated without any concern as to what I stated. I posted straight from the council of Nicaea you may want to take a second look. I did not deny the resurrection you are saying things that are just not true and I do not appreciate your accusations. What i deny is the boasting against the natural branches. Perhaps it would benefit you to read about the antisemitism and the church.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

It would be a pity if they cancelled Easter. because I love eating Easter eggs and hot cross buns. I don't care what they stand for. My taste buds and tummy just love enjoying them. Hey, what do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole at Easter time? Hot cross bunnies!

 

[ViaCrucis]

Chocolate rabbits and chicken eggs and fertility goddess Ishtar are the closest thing to Jesus Christ, of course.

Since none of those things have anything to do with Easter, then it's kind of a non issue. It would be like saying, "What does orange marmalade have to do with the topography of Norway?" Well, nothing, nothing at all.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ChristianFromKazakhstan]

Since none of those things have anything to do with Easter, then it's kind of a non issue. It would be like saying, "What does orange marmalade have to do with the topography of Norway?" Well, nothing, nothing at all.

-CryptoLutheran

Easter has nothing to do with Jesus

 

[ViaCrucis]

It would be a pity if they cancelled Easter. because I love eating Easter eggs and hot cross buns. I don't care what they stand for. My taste buds and tummy just love enjoying them. Hey, what do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole at Easter time? Hot cross bunnies!

And in the case of Easter eggs and hot cross buns, they have a Christian origin and a Christian meaning. The dying of eggs is a practice that has its origins among the Eastern Orthodox who have traditionally dyed eggs red; according to an ancient legend St. Mary Magdalene was once a guest at a dinner with the emperor and she was speaking of Christ--the emperor, incredulous that Christ had risen, picked up an egg from the dinner table and declared, "It is more likely that this egg will turn red than your Christ could have risen from the dead." At which point the egg miraculously turned red in his hand. The story is obviously apocryphal, but the association of the red egg and Mary Magdalene is a very long standing one, and traditional iconography depicts her holding a red egg on account of the story:

In Christian symbolism the egg represents Christ. In the West the practice of hiding eggs for children (and traditionally, women) to find dates back to at least to the Reformation where it was a way of re-enacting the women finding the empty tomb.

There's a fundamental problem when people assume that something is allowed only one meaning ever; the reality is that symbols, by their very nature, are a fluid aspect of human culture. One no doubt can find the use of the fish in all manner of symbolic contexts around the globe from diverse and entirely unrelated cultures--but for Christians the fish has a very specific meaning that has no relationship to whatever meaning other religions might have associated with it. The same goes with the use of the cross, we can find cross shapes across cultures and going back many thousands of years--it's a pretty basic shape--but it's use as a symbol in Christianity should be immediately obvious: Jesus was crucified on a Roman crux.

The attempt to make associations, when none exist and no evidence for which can be found, is the phenomenon known as parallelomania, it would be to say "Ancient Pagans used cross symbols, and therefore Christian cross symbols are pagan." Well, no, because there's no connection between the two, and no evidence of such a connection exists. The same is true when it comes to Easter eggs, Christmas trees, and many other things. It's the same with the Easter/Ishtar theory--there's simply no justification for making that connection, it's a purely imaginative connection, that is, it exists solely in someone's imagination, not in reality.

It's always important to keep these things in mind, because this is how critical thinking is to be done. The "X is pagan" claims are devoid of critical thinking, empirical evidence, objectivity, or truth; they are claims made by making bare assertion without any substance by which to back it up. One might as well claim that the moon is made of cheese or that pineapple is the devil's favorite food.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Easter has nothing to do with Jesus

It has everything to do with Jesus. Easter is the Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. That's what it is. To say it has nothing to do with Jesus is like saying grass isn't green.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ChristianFromKazakhstan]

It has everything to do with Jesus. Easter is the Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. That's what it is. To say it has nothing to do with Jesus is like saying grass isn't green.

-CryptoLutheran

Well, in my non-English speaking mind, Easter = bunny, Ishtar, egg hunt etc.

Because in my language, there is no equivalent of "Easter". Instead, we say, Paska, which is Pesach in Hebrew or Passover = Resurrection of Christ.

So, I must make that clear. But I understand now what you mean. There's a calendar day called "Easter", and celebrated as Resurrection of Christ in good churches, but there is the worldly Christian holiday "Easter" which is anything but Jesus-related.

Same with "Christmas". There is birth of Christ celebration, but then there is paganistic holiday of Santa Clausa, red-nosed Rudolph, decorated fur-tree, fireworks etc.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Well, in my non-English speaking mind, Easter = bunny, Ishtar, egg hunt etc.

Because in my language, there is no equivalent of "Easter". Instead, we say, Paska, which is Pesach in Hebrew or Passover = Resurrection of Christ.

So, I must make that clear. But I understand now what you mean. There's a calendar day called "Easter", and celebrated as Resurrection of Christ in good churches, but there is the worldly Christian holiday "Easter" which is anything but Jusus-related.

Same with "Christmas". There is birth of Christ, but there is paganistic holiday of Santa Clausa, red-nosed Rudolph etc.

Santa Claus is simply the modern mythical way of remembering St. Nicholas of Myra, he is a symbol of the season that represents kindness and charity representative of the historic St. Nicholas and, more importantly, of the kindness and generosity of God which; as the celebration of Christ's birth, we celebrate the gracious Lord who gives Himself freely to the world in order to save it. Jesus Christ is God's gift to us, and Christ offers Himself to us.

Santa Claus may be a popular secular symbol, but that doesn't mean he's a pagan one; and Christians shouldn't feel any shame in celebrating what the mythical Santa Claus, or the historic St. Nicholas of Myra, represent in a Christian context of joy, celebration, and generosity in response to the birth of Christ our God for the world.

The only way to make these things "pagan" is if one chooses to do so. Personally I don't see any reason to do so, and I'll happily celebrate all that gives glory to Christ our God and King.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ToBeLoved]

Easter has nothing to do with Jesus

It does in the hearts of millions each year. Christ cares about the heart. Even if you don't.