Easter no longer celebrated by some Protestants?

[Miserissima]

Fundamentalists have this obsession with the term “Easter.” They believe that those Christians who use this ‘E’ word are worshipping and following a pagan holiday and are not celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord. This just reveals to you the level of ignorance that exists in the minds of some.

I hate to get into the topic of Easter/easter, so I do my best to avoid it (and Christmas, and birthdays)…but I have found myself seriously thinking about the people who approached the OP.

1. I will ask – do you think the people who approached the OP were Fundamentalists, or perhaps a sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

1a. Or is that stupid question, because there really is a growing movement among Fundamentalists to boycott Easter, even the religious aspect of it?

I am NOT being facetions with my following question, which is a run-on sentence that I couldn’t break up any other way : **B. What if the same people who approaced the OP did their OWN calculations as to when Christmas would be (spring/summer) **

or when their own calculations to determine the dates of when the Passion and the Resurrection of Our Lord would have actually happened – (which I thought the Church actually did)

**taking into account the 2000 and change years since the original event(s) took place? Would THEN make Easter okay to celebrate, simply by moving by their calculations? **

(Please don’t get into the “moon cake” offering to Diana/Artemis birthday cake discussion, as I don’t want to derail this thread – it was only an example for the Christmas as Jesus’ birthday celebration.)

 

[peary]

Now then we as Christians honor this day as the day of the resurrection of the Lord Christ. If a few pagan tidbits coloring eggs and bunnies came along for the ride who cares. at one time or another every day was used by some pagan for something.

Coloring eggs and “easter bunnies” developed in our culture because of children - it was ‘fun’ for them! It certainly had nothing to do with any one celebrating a ‘pagan’ holiday LOL.

 

[jblake]

Miserissima;:

or when their own calculations to determine the dates of when the Passion and the Resurrection of Our Lord would have actually happened – (which I thought the Church actually did)

The Vatican 2 proposal for the date of Easter is obviously artificial. (2nd Sunday in April.) Pope Gregory’s suggestion for a date is equally artificial. (I think it was Sunday closest to 7 April.)

Current Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant Christian rule sets ignore when Pesach should be celebrated. Thereby celebrating it on a date other than the anniversary.

Orthodox Christianity does use Pesach, but moves the date of Easter, according to the day of the week that it falls on.

Some Christian groups observe Easter on 14 Nissan. There are two different rulesets to determine when that date occurs, Karaite Judaism, which has the Torah behind it, and Rabbinical Judaism, which has Tradition behind it.

Would THEN make Easter okay to celebrate, simply by moving by their calculations?

It depends upon their reason for not celebrating Easter. If it is a matter of getting the date right, then they would celebrate Easter. If it is based upon something in the New Testament, then they probably won’t. (I’m deliberately ignoring the festivals that are commanded to be obsrved in the Tanakh, because that raises a whole slew of other theological issues.)

xan

jonathon

 

[justinthemartyr]

have you read Jimmy Akins article on easter and the claim that Jesus died on a Wednesday that he refutes?

you should look it up on the homepage of CA

 

[Miserissima]

jblake nad justinthemartyr, thank you for the resources. I will definatly look them up. I knew about 14 Nisan, and understand the sundown argument…

…but wonder what date(s) wouls make the Fundamentalists “happy” with celebrating on the “correct” date. Guess I’m looking for a Fundamentalist to answer here, in light of the excellent resources you have provided.

 

[justinthemartyr]

Jimmy Akin lays it out plainly for you.

 

[Miserissima]

Sorry, only had time to skim. Will read more when I get home.

R/

Mis

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I hate to get into the topic of Easter/easter, so I do my best to avoid it (and Christmas, and birthdays)…but I have found myself seriously thinking about the people who approached the OP.

1. I will ask – do you think the people who approached the OP were Fundamentalists, or perhaps a sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

1a. Or is that stupid question, because there really is a growing movement among Fundamentalists to boycott Easter, even the religious aspect of it?

**The ultimate source for it (AFAIK) is this: **​

• Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.
  philologos.org/__eb-ttb/sect32.htm

**The book was written by a Scottish Calvinist minister, & the text is that of the third edition of 1863, which is the one printed since then. It has been very popular, among Calvinists, Calvinistic Baptists, JWs, “Messianic Jews”, Bahais, even a few Muslims. Fundamentalist Protestants of a certain sort rely upon it to argue against the sinfulness of Easter, Christmas, & other feasts - sometimes they go beyond it, to argue against belief that God is Triune (despite assertions to the contrary on some web-sites, the author certainly believed in the Blessed Trinity; as his book makes clear). **

**What is not explained is how people in “this country” (either Scotland or Britain) heard of Ishtar. How did people in Britain hear of an Assyrian goddess, or for that matter of the Syrian goddess Astarte ? **

I am NOT being facetions with my following question, which is a run-on sentence that I couldn’t break up any other way :**B. What if the same people who approaced the OP did their OWN calculations as to when Christmas would be (spring/summer) ****or when their own calculations to determine the dates of when the Passion and the Resurrection of Our Lord would have actually happened – (which I thought the Church actually did)****taking into account the 2000 and change years since the original event(s) took place? Would THEN make Easter okay to celebrate, simply by moving by their calculations? **(Please don’t get into the “moon cake” offering to Diana/Artemis birthday cake discussion, as I don’t want to derail this thread – it was only an example for the Christmas as Jesus’ birthday celebration.)

Almost certainly not - Easter would still:​

• be named after the false goddess Ishtar
• **have come from the “Babylonian Mystery Religion” **
• be uncommanded in the NT, & so, be forbidden to Christians
• have come from Babylon to Papal Rome, the Babylon of Revelation 17
• have been commanded by the Papal Antichrist
  As the book** proves (to its satisfaction at least), Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25 because the Pope corrupted the Gospel by contaminating it with - in this case - the Babylonian feast of the birthday of the false Messiah of Babylon (which didn’t exist, FWIW - but the book didn’t know that). **

**It seems to be taken for granted that once a day is associated with a non-Christian, “pagan” feast, that day can’t be redeemed for better purposes. **

**A Happy & Blessed Easter Season to All **

 

[Miserissima]

**A Happy & Blessed Easter Season to All **

And to you too - although this thread may never reach a concensus (sp?). And thanks to the poster who pointed me to Jimmy Akin’s writing.

Happy Easter!

 

[peary]

****## Almost certainly not - Easter would still:​

• be named after the false goddess Ishtar
• **have come from the “Babylonian Mystery Religion” **
• be uncommanded in the NT, & so, be forbidden to Christians
• have come from Babylon to Papal Rome, the Babylon of Revelation 17
• have been commanded by the Papal Antichrist
  As the book** proves (to its satisfaction at least), Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25 because the Pope corrupted the Gospel by contaminating it with - in this case - the Babylonian feast of the birthday of the false Messiah of Babylon (which didn’t exist, FWIW - but the book didn’t know that). **

**It seems to be taken for granted that once a day is associated with a non-Christian, “pagan” feast, that day can’t be redeemed for better purposes. **

**I think you make a mountain of a molehill. IT DOESN’T MATTER because Christians - CHRISTIANS - are celebrating the RESURRECTION OF THE LORD on EASTER SUNDAY which can - CAN - be called RESURRECTION SUNDAY if that makes anybody happier. Big deal in semantics.

As for Christ’s birth day, IT DOESN’T MATTER because Christians - CHRISTIANS - are celebrating the BIRTH OF THE LORD AND SAVIOR INTO THE WORLD.

The semantic game is something that is played to be divisive. I know of no Christians who worship Oester, or Ishtar or any other pagan god or goddess on these days. Christians celebrate and worship Christ. Get over it already.**

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

"peary:

Almost certainly not - Easter would still:​

• be named after the false goddess Ishtar
• **have come from the “Babylonian Mystery Religion” **
• be uncommanded in the NT, & so, be forbidden to Christians
• have come from Babylon to Papal Rome, the Babylon of Revelation 17
• have been commanded by the Papal Antichrist
  As the book** proves (to its satisfaction at least), Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25 because the Pope corrupted the Gospel by contaminating it with - in this case - the Babylonian feast of the birthday of the false Messiah of Babylon (which didn’t exist, FWIW - but the book didn’t know that). **

**It seems to be taken for granted that once a day is associated with a non-Christian, “pagan” feast, that day can’t be redeemed for better purposes. **

I think you make a mountain of a molehill. IT DOESN’T MATTER because Christians - CHRISTIANS - are celebrating the RESURRECTION OF THE LORD on EASTER SUNDAY which can - CAN - be called RESURRECTION SUNDAY if that makes anybody happier. Big deal in semantics.

To some Christians, it matters a great deal. (It’s not my mountain, BTW )​

As for Christ’s birth day, IT DOESN’T MATTER because Christians - CHRISTIANS - are celebrating the BIRTH OF THE LORD AND SAVIOR INTO THE WORLD.

Those who think that book is trustworthy won’t be impressed by that. **The book: **​

• is written to prove, in great detail, that we are not Christians - and
• **one of the arguments against the CC is exactly that - that it “celebrates the birth of the Lord & Saviour into the world” on December 25. So, the reason that we do so, would not be any defence. We have to deal with the objections that people make - however unjustified those objections may be. **

The semantic game is something that is played to be divisive. I know of no Christians who worship Oester, or Ishtar or any other pagan god or goddess on these days. Christians celebrate and worship Christ. Get over it already.

**The post was explaining to the OP why some people are very unlikely ever to celebrate Easter. The OP wondered why certain objections are made against the celebration of Easter. As I’ve read the book that appears to be the source of that kind of objection several times, I was able to answer the OP’s question. Giving arguments made by others does not mean that one agrees with them. **​

**You don’t find that kind of objection of convincing - & neither do I. But some people, such as the ones mentioned, do. **

The argument against the celebration of Easter is based partly on semantics; so semantics have to be mentioned. I was not saying that I agreed with those arguments, or with those who adopt them. I don’t. So you don’t need to convince me of anything

 

[peary]

Gottle of Geer;3476640 I was [COLOR=navy:
[QUOTE]
not
[/QUOTE]
saying that I agreed with those arguments, or with those who adopt them. I don’t. So you don’t need to convince me of anything

**Gotcha! **

 

[swariffin]

All my life, as a Catholic in the Bible Belt, I thought I heard it all.
But this one tops them all.
Last week I nicely wished a store person a “Have a Happy Easter” I was informed that she does not celebrate a that pagan holiday, that everyday is Resurection Day for her. Following that she went on about it and another two people piped in on it, and then the anti-Catholic stuff started and I am embarassed to say, that I just grabbed my buggy and walked away because I had no come back I really did not know how to repond, That is why I am here asking you all what do I say next time?
When this this happen? I notice still many of the Baptist churches, which this person is, had a sunrise service, the Methodist and Espiscolian as well had its services, so not all believe this.
I understand when the atheist with their refusal to celebrate Christian Holidays, but when Christians do this, I am at a loss.

Dear Kim,

I wonder which Christian denomination does not celebrate Easter? If a JW does not celebrate Chrismas, I can understand that. But, somebody claims to be Christian does not celebrate Easter? That is strange. It seems to me that their leader does not read the OT at all. No wonder he/she does not grab the meaning of Easter from the NT.

 

[geezerbob]

Dear Kim,

I wonder which Christian denomination does not celebrate Easter? If a JW does not celebrate Chrismas, I can understand that. But, somebody claims to be Christian does not celebrate Easter? That is strange. It seems to me that their leader does not read the OT at all. No wonder he/she does not grab the meaning of Easter from the NT.

An acquaintance works with the wife of a Church of Christ minister who doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter because they are “pagan rituals we got from those Catholics.”

 

[Zooey]

When the bible was being translated into the Latin language in the fourth century, when translating the word Pascha, which can mean both Passover and Easter, Jerome simply used the same Greek word without creating a new Latin word in its place, thus the word Pascha was basically un-translated. In fact wasn’t until Tyndale gave us the word Easter in his translation and then also inventing the term Passover.

Was it really Tyndale?? Because if so, that would be just too hysterically funny!! I know a man who “preaches” endlessly against Easter & Christmas, but he positively thinks Tyndale was the perfect Christian. It would be just:wink: too, too good, to be able to mention that “Easter isn’t the proper name for the day; that is one of Tyndale’s erroneous notions”!!

---

Seriously, though—have these people taken the book of Esther out of their Bibles yet?? Because, you see, Esther is the name of the heroine, but she was named for Astarte/Eoster/[variation-of-choice]!!

 

[deb1]

Dear Kim,

I wonder which Christian denomination does not celebrate Easter? If a JW does not celebrate Chrismas, I can understand that. But, somebody claims to be Christian does not celebrate Easter? That is strange. It seems to me that their leader does not read the OT at all. No wonder he/she does not grab the meaning of Easter from the NT.

Due to the Internet there seems to be a growth of people who are willing to take their religion to an illogical extreme. I think that in the future we will see more and more of these groups.They don’t always belong to anyone set religious denomination, some are just house churches led by a person who interprets the bible by their own whims.

 

[kim3260]

Dear Kim,

I wonder which Christian denomination does not celebrate Easter? If a JW does not celebrate Chrismas, I can understand that. But, somebody claims to be Christian does not celebrate Easter? That is strange. It seems to me that their leader does not read the OT at all. No wonder he/she does not grab the meaning of Easter from the NT.

I honestly don’t know because I learn at a very young age don’t ask because to ask them it is an open invatation to “save me fom the Catholic Church”

Most people here are Baptist that usually keep to themselves, as I normally do and we live in peace. They do celebrate Easter. I don’t know what type of Religion those other folks are.

They seem to be protesting the Protestans too.

 

[jblake]

peary;:

Almost certainly not - Easter would still:

I’ll just point out that in most, if not all other European languages, the word used is clearly derived as a cognate of “Pesach”. The interesting question is why English deviated from the norm. This is even more interesting considering that English usually does not create a new word, but merely anglicizes the pronunciation of foreign words.

Big deal in semantics.

A visit to your local botanica will demonstrate just how crucial semantics are.

The semantic game is something that is played to be divisive.

Now why do I think that if you understood the theology of those who worship Isthar, you wouldn’t be saying that?

xan

jonathon

 

[peary]

I’ll just point out that in most, if not all other European languages, the word used is clearly derived as a cognate of “Pesach”. The interesting question is why English deviated from the norm. This is even more interesting considering that English usually does not create a new word, but merely anglicizes the pronunciation of foreign words.A visit to your local botanica will demonstrate just how crucial semantics are. Now why do I think that if you understood the theology of those who worship Isthar, you wouldn’t be saying that?xan --jonathon

**It’s semantics; it makes no difference since ‘Easter’ as the time of celebrating the resurrection of the Lord has been with us as long as English has been around. Pesach or Pascha or Pasca or Pasc…for the vast majority of Christians it is the special time of the year to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior.

And WHO worships Ishtar anymore in this day and age? **

 

[jblake]

peary;:

It’s semantics.

Only if you think that the candle for Mary, Mother of Jesus, that is available from your local Botanica really is a candle that represents, and is usable to venerate Mary, Mother of Jesus.

And WHO worships Ishtar anymore in this day and age?

She is one of the more popular deities that neo-pagans worship. However, I was thinking more in terms of when she was universally worshiped.

xan

jonathon