Actually, you are missing the point. The point, quite simply, is that "Easter" there is an interpretation of the passage rather than a translation. The word used is Pascha, which is translated 28 times as "Passover" and once as "Easter." It should be translated uniformly, seeing it is a PROPER NAME.
Now, from your first link:
Easter, as we know it, comes from the ancient pagan festival of Astarte. Also known as Ishtar (pronounced "Easter").
Agreed.
This festival has always been held late in the month of April. It was, in its original form, a celebration of the earth "regenerating" itself after the winter season. The festival involved a celebration of reproduction. For this reason the common symbols of Easter festivities were the rabbit (the same symbol as "Playboy" magazine), and the egg. Both are known for their reproductive abilities. At the center of attention was Astarte, the female deity. She is known in the Bible as the "queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25). She is the mother of Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) who was also her husband! These perverted rituals would take place at sunrise on Easter morning (Ezekiel 8:13-16). From the references in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we can see that the true Easter has never had any association with Jesus Christ.
Agreed.
Problem: Even though the Jewish passover was held in mid April (the fourteenth) and the pagan festival Easter was held later the same month, how do we know that Herod was referring to Easter in Acts 12:4 and not the Jewish passover?
He uses the Greek word Pascha which comes from the Hebrew word Pescha (or pesach) which means "Passover" and can only refer to the Passover of the Jews.
If he was referring to the passover, the translation of "pascha" as "Easter" is incorrect.
Yep.
If he was indeed referring to the pagan holyday (holiday) Easter, then the King James Bible (1611) must truly be the very word and words of God for it is the only Bible in print today which has the correct reading.
If he was indeed referring to the Pagan holiday, he would have used the name Ishtar, Astarte, or Easter rathar than the word Pascha. Pascha refers exclusively to the Passover.
The key which unlocks the puzzle is found not in verse 4, but in verse 3. (Then were the days of unleavened bread... ") To secure the answer that we seek, we must find the relationship of the passover to the days of unleavened bread.
The Passover, technically speaking, was the beginning of the days of unleavened bread, i.e. the first day. But, the Jews used the term Passover (Pascha) to refer to the whole period of time, just as we sometimes use Christmas to refer not merely to Dec. 25th but to the entire season and Easter to refer to a whole weekend rather than just to the Sunday. Thus, "then were the days of unleavened bread" and "intending after Passover" are not contradictory.
From your second link:
The use of the word "pascha" in early Christian writings dealt with the celebration of Easter, and not just simply the Jewish Passover
The early Christians did not celebrate the Passover in the Jewish manner but did celebrate it at the exact same time as the Jews, until the council of Nicea (in the 4th century) when a controversy arose in which some thought it should be observed on the exact day regardless of what weekday that fell on and others said it should always be observed on a Sunday. So, today, the Eastern Orthodox celebrate it on the exact day but the Roman Catholics (and Protestants following them) transpose it to the nearest Sunday.
Dr. G.W.H. Lampe notes that "pascha" came to mean "Easter" in the early Church.
It did not come to mean "the Pagan festival of Ishtar." It came to mean a celebration of Christ's resurrection that took place at the same time as the Jewish Passover and was seen as the fulfillment thereof. These are obviously not the same thing. Besides, what it came to mean centuries after the Bible was written has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING on what is means IN the Bible.
And, Dr. Gerhard Kittel notes that "pascha" came to be called "Easter" in the celebration of the resurrection within the primitive Church
Every language on the face of the earth refers to the celebration of our Lord's resurrection as Pascha, or a variation in spelling thereof, except Englsih and German. Dr. Kittel must be refering to the primitive Lutheran church or to the primitive Anglican church then, or simply lying. In Italian it is called Pasqua, in Spanish Pascua, in French Pâques, etc.
From your 3rd link:
One of the most interesting of these citations is the following, from Coverdale's Bible of 1535 (Ezek. 45:21): "Vpon ye xiiij. daye of the first moneth ye shal kepe Easter."
Your 3rd link disagrees with the first two! What we find there is that the term "Easter" was used consistenly in English translations prior to the King James to refer to the Passover of the Jews. In otherwords, in England Paganism had so completely taken over the nation's language that they refered to the Jewish Passover ALWAYS as Easter. Now, the King James rescued them from this ignorance in the majority of places; all but one passage.
