Jesus of Nazareth was not a Christian!

[Sarah_Jane]

NewChristian27:

Sarah Jane:

There is nothing about a pagan lunar celebration in here. It has nothing to do with paganism, but everything to do with the Resurrection of Christ in its Jewish-Passover context.
Sarah Jane:

Does your church do an Easter egg hunt?

No.

 

[NewChristian27]

Sarah Jane:

Thus only in the highly Protestant countries of Germany (where the Reformation started) and England (where the intense persecution and martyrdom of Catholics was the harshest), does the term “Easter” have any pagan associations at all. So perhaps in these two Protestant countries paganism was not sufficiently stamped out to use the Judeo-Christian term for the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection that was used everywhere else in Europe.

-James Akin

So what do you say about Christmas?

 

[Sarah_Jane]

NewChristian27:

So what do you say about Christmas?

As to why December 25 is the date of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the basic idea is that the Church took a feast which was used by pagans to celebrate the Feast of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) and made it the Feast of the Unconquered Son instead. Taking pagan forms and filling them with Christian content is precisely what John did when he took the pagan idea of the Logos and referred it to Jesus. Taking a pagan feast to Sol Invictus changed an idolatrous celebration into a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and reminded pagans that the only Light which is truly unconquered is Christ. This pattern was set by St. Paul in Acts 17 when he took a pagan monument dedicated “To An Unknown God” and, instead of smashing it, declared, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23).

-Mark Shea