"When the hour had come, He, [Jesus] reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you I shall never again eat it, [the Passover] until it, [the [Passover] is fulfilled in the kingdom of God..." Luke 22:14-16
Although Christians celebrate it, [Easter Sunday] the Bible never suggests that Christians observe the resurrection.
"...do this [observe Passover] in remembrance of Me." vs. 19
Easter is neither a Biblical nor a Christian term.
Ishtar was both a fertility and a war goddess. Ishtar was seen as the personification of the planet Venus, and together with Shamash, the sun god, and Sin, the moon god, she formed an astral triad. Easter or Astarte is the worship of an old Babylonian sex cult instituted by Semiramis, a warrior queen who had a lust for blood.
Easter is not about Jesus.
A careful study of Scripture reveals that Jesus was in the tomb exactly three days and three nights as He promised He would be. Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon, [not on "Good" Friday] just before the "annual Sabbath" known as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He was buried and then resurrected 72 hours later, just before the end of the weekly Sabbath (near the end of the day, Saturday).
Easter was NOT observed by early Christians, nor by those who felt they needed to obey the God of the Bible rather than men.
The first Christians celebrated the death of Jesus with a Pascha meal on the lunar date of the Jewish Passover to remember our Passover Lamb.
"Get rid of the old yeast [sin] that you may be [become] a new batch without yeast [sin]--as you really are [delivered because of Him]. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed." 1 Corinthians 5:7
Repent - Get rid of the sin [yeast] in your life as you remember the Passover Lamb and His sacrifice. "...do this in remembrance of Me" Remember! The death angel has passed over, we have been delivered from the plagues and are now covered by The Blood.
Easter was and remains a result of compromise with scripture and paganism, combined with fear of man and antisemitism.
"We must obey God rather than man..." Acts 5:29
[many thanks to many people for their research without which this post would not have been possible.]
The claim that Easter is unbiblical and that the name came from Ishtar, is an old wive's tale. The more studying I have done on it the more I see the origin of this claim comes from the same ilk as the KJV onlyers. It came from those who were rabidly anti-Catholic to the point they'd make up things about that institution to make them look bad.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I have said many, many times - we don't have to make up things about false religious systems to make them look bad; they look bad enough already!
The word "Easter" comes from a German word for "resurrection."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/04/19/name-easter-pagan
And Easter bunnies and Easter eggs come from...?
ReplyDeleteThose have nothing to do with the Christian faith, and were not used in the Catholic church in any official capacity either. That some Christians began copying springtime celebrations at or near the same time as the celebration of Easter cannot be blamed on the Church, except to say that the Church should have spoken against it.
ReplyDeleteOf course they have nothing to do with Christianity. But as in the post a reminder that we are told to observe Passover and not Easter - what I hope will be taken from this post -
ReplyDeleteHe IS our Passover Lamb.
The Resurrection [in German]in
ReplyDeletedie Auferstenhung
Not sure what German word used for resurrection became Easter.
The word Easter derived from the German word - not that it is the same word. My understanding is that KJV translators used that word because it was an Anglo-Saxon derivative of the German word.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that is correct, we are not celebrating a pagan holiday, nor are we celebrating passover (Christians have never celebrated passover - at least I have never seen any reference to it in history). The fact that some people have brought in pagan spring rituals which the secular world (as well as immature Christians) see as connected to the resurrection day (bunnies, eggs, etc), it doesn't mean we should have to drop the name. Christians from the beginning celebrated the Resurrection by choosing to worship on the first day of the week, so that in essence is the origin of Easter celebrations.
It's sort of like the way many Christians (legalistic in my opinion) don't want to celebrate Christmas because of all the pagan trappings brought into the holiday. We can still celebrate the birth of Christ without the pagan trappings.
The main thing is that the Church needs to keep the proper focus on these celebrations and vehemently teach against the use of pagan trappings during such times so as to not cause confusion.
First century "Christians" observed Passover, because the vast majority of first century "Christians" were Hebrews/Jews. First century believers observed all the feasts as given by God in His Word.
ReplyDeleteWe are not told in scripture to celebrate Easter or Christmas, but we are told to observe Passover as well as all the other feasts.
We are one in Messiah, neither Jew nor Greek but His Word has not changed.
Antisemitism in the 2nd century forward was the foundation on which Easter was built.
You have to admit that, Biblically-speaking, the Passover was/is ONLY for the Jews - the nation of Israel. And, yes even the first century Christians who happened to also be Jews would celebrate the Passover. However, I have never seen any history where non-Jewish Christians celebrated it. It was never meant for anyone but Jews. It wasn't anti-semitism which led to gentile Christians not celebrating Passover - it was the simple fact that it was not a Christian celebration, while Christians DID celebrate the Resurrection.
ReplyDeleteFor a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart--by the Spirit, not the letter. That man's praise is not from men but from God. Romans 8:28-29
ReplyDeleteIn Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. Colossians 3:11
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
So are you saying there is no longer a nation of Israel set apart by God? That all the covenants between God and Israel are null and void?
ReplyDeleteIf Christians are required to honor the Passover, then by the same rules they would have to be circumcised and honor the Sabbath. All these are specifically signs of covenants between God and Israel.