“Christians should denounce Easter!” “Those who worship at sunrise are following the practices of pagans!” These kinds of comments clutter my inbox. No other holiday engenders such venomous e-mails, in my experience.
Two hundred years before Jesus, people from the Vatican hill area of Rome worshipped the Great Mother god Eastres and her lover, Tammuz. They believed that Tammuz was born of a virgin, died, and resurrected every year. The observance of his death and resurrection correlated with the coming of spring. It began with a day of blood called Black Friday, and ended three days later with rejoicing over the resurrection of Tammuz.
During the celebration, worshippers exchanged bright colored eggs, representing fertility and sunshine.
Early Christians–who were predominately Jewish–celebrated Passover in spring in remembrance of Jesus. The Christian Passover got intermingled with the pagan festival. The Great Mother became The Virgin Mary. Black Friday became Good Friday, and Tammuz became Jesus.In 325 CE, the Catholic Church decreed that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring.
Not so surprisingly, Christians, especially Messianics, object to the holiday more than non-Christians.
If you don’t want to celebrate Easter, by all means, don‘t. But please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t. Yes, some of what we do (OK, a lot of what we do) for Easter has pagan origins. A good deal of our way of life, such as the days of the week and giving birthday gifts, began in paganism. But following pagans down a rabbit trail can lead you into a dark hole. Why not live in the now?
Focusing on Easter origins is counterproductive because the holiday lends itself so easily to unity. Christians of all denominations, including Messianics, agree on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Using Easter as a soapbox to attack paganism seems pointless. Arrogant, even
Sometimes it takes an act of will to change the focus of a tradition. Do you know anyone who worships Eastres or Tammuz? I don’t. But I know people who pause at Easter time to remember the New Testament story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That’s what I choose to do.
Copyright 2009, Kathryn A. Frazier http://PreciousHolidays.wordpress.com
Filed under: Bible, Christian, Christianity, Easter, faith, History, Holidays, Interfaith Relations, Messianic Judaism, Paganism, Religion Tagged: | Bible, Christianity, Easter, Eastres, faith, History, Interfaith Relations, Messianic Judaism, Paganism, Religion, Tammuz
Good for you! Me too!
I remember the time when some advocated not having bumper stickers with “rainbows” on your car because it was the symbol of new agers!
Some pagans pray, fast and even worship! Go figure! Maybe we shouldn’t? Ha!
“Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is the man who does not condemn himself in the thing which he allows.” (James)
Good post.
Thank you for your kind words. I remember the rainbow thing, too.
Hi K
Speaking of my own experience with Easter… I don’t teach my kids about the ‘easter bunny’ and that assorted non sence.
Easter to me and my family is the resurrection of Christ and not all the silly past pagan worship.
Hi Critical!
Your sentiments about Easter are shared by many Christians.
Kathy
“The Great Mother became The Virgin Mary. ”
Nope; this seems to be a “just so” story, a creation of the reformation. There is no evidence in earthly Christian writers for this assertion.
dhydar- Thank you for your comment. Certainly. That is what I am saying. The celebration of one became the celebration of the other. I did not mean that The Great Mother of the pagans literally became the Hebrew maiden Mary, the mother of Jesus, nor that Tammuz literally became Jesus. Only that the holiday changed according to the object of worship.
Easter is NOT Christian.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-37026-Bible-Prophecy-Examiner~y2010m4d2-Should-Christians-celebrate-Easter
Craig- You seem like a straight-shooter, so I’ll shoot straight. This answer is probably not for you. This is probably for other readers. But your logic is so textbook flawed I feel the need to address it.
Whether or not you believe Christians should celebrate Easter has no bearing on whether or not it is a Christian holiday. The only religion that claims and promotes Easter is Christianity.
On to your linked argument: The idea that Paganism predates Christianity, so the last two thousand years don’t count, is invalid. Because one thing came before another, and they share some of the same elements, does not prove either association of the two, or validity of either.
Your blog starts by redefining (or throwing back to an archaic definition) of the term Easter, calling it by names of Pagan goddesses. Once you identify Easter as Pagan, then you go after Paganism. This is the standard straw man argument. You build up something that looks the same, but isn’t, then tear that down. Just saying that Paganism and Easter are the same doesn’t make it so.
Easter, as it exists in our time and culture, is not a Pagan holiday. In modern days, all over the world on Easter, Christians worship Jesus. Both Christians and non-Christians also have fun with bunnies and colored eggs and other things that people have been doing for millenia. You can make an argument that some who celebrate Easter are not Christian, but equating the celebration of Easter with worshiping ancient mythical gods is not logical or true.
Next, in an Appeal to Emotions, you assign to the Almighty the emotions of a man. The “imagine if you were God” argument can go nowhere good. Arrogance. God doesn’t have emotional trauma.
Then you reaffirm that God doesn’t want us to worship other gods. Again, no logical connection, since the modern celebration of Easter and the ancient worship of Pagan deities are not connected, except in your straw man argument.
Then you throw in a little Guilty by Association. You say that because Constantine and Catholics both embraced Easter—and you don’t like them—God must hate Easter. You might as well say that because both Constantine and Catholics drink water—and you don’t like them—God must hate drinking water. One does not logically follow the other.
You end with another Appeal to Emotion, saying, “Would you offer a plastic urinal to an honored guest in place of a drinking cup? . . .why offer something to God in the place of worship which was dedicated to the honoring of demons?”
That’s quite a word picture. It means nothing, but it’s an effective emotionally manipulative tool.
The error in that picture, however, lies in the Biblical principle that what God has made clean, man is not to call unclean. God is the one who chose gold forged for Pagan worship—in fact, dedicated to the honoring of demons—to be used as sacred vessels in the Tabernacle. If He so allows a tradition to be reclaimed in His honor, and sanctified to Him, it becomes clean.
I don’t say that you, or anyone, should celebrate Easter. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. But since you posted on my blog, I feel I must point out the emotional manipulation and illogic of your argument, for the sake of those who may be vulnerable to it.
kfrazier,
My answer is probably not for you either.
Your reasoning seems to be more sophistry than anything IMO. Since it is your blog, I am compelled to say no more about this. Each of us must decide the matter for ourselves.
It is not that I don’t like Catholics. Many of them are very lovely people. They are in error IMO because they have surrendered to the teachings of man over that of God’s word.
I do stand by my arguments and the supporting scripture. I do realize that not everyone can accept what I have said.
I do give you credit for having read the article before being critical. Many will reject notions outright without consideration in my experience.
May God lead you into all truth.
Right after you claim to be compelled to say no more. . . you say some more. That’s kind of funny. Kind of revealing.
I’ll bet some of your best friends are Catholic, eh?
And the textbook non-logic of your sophistry accusation is called Against the Man. It goes something like this:
Person A: I don’t support your position.
Person B: Of course you don’t. You’re a Sophist.
Person A: But what about evidence and facts?
Person B: Those don’t count. I don’t like the way you reason, so nothing you say matters.
May we all learn to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.
Kathy is right
The “imagine if you were God” argument can go nowhere good. Arrogance. God doesn’t have emotional trauma. He never does.
The error in that picture, however, lies in the Biblical principle that The error in that picture, however, lies in the Biblical principle that what God has made clean, man is not to call unclean. God is the one who chose gold forged for Pagan worship—in fact, dedicated to the honoring of demons—to be used as sacred vessels in the Tabernacle. If He so allows a tradition to be reclaimed in His honor, and sanctified to Him, it becomes clean. God is the one who chose gold forged for Pagan worship—in fact, dedicated to the honoring of demons—to be used as sacred vessels in the Tabernacle. If He so allows a tradition to be reclaimed in His honor, and sanctified to Him, it becomes clean.
Whatever God made is clean and His faithful servants have a right to enjoy His creation. Does anyone have a compulsion to ask whether the day was once sacrificed to an idol? i hope not. Acts 10:15The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
PaulRoxx- Thank you for your comments. I deleted the first one, because it was a very long article on Christmas, and not on the subject of this post. If you wish to resubmit, I’d suggest posting a linkto your article (rather than the entire article) as a follow-up to one of the Christmas posts on my blog.
Before the Israelites left Egypt, they were instructed to “borrow” gold, silver, and jewels
from their Egyptian neighbors (Ex. 11:1,2). Second, they were to make preparation for
celebrating the first Passover. They only had until midnight to accomplish these tasks (Ex. 12:3-
13). The borrowing of jewels and raiment by the Israelites becomes the seed-plot for God’s
people to make gifts: (1) to build the tabernacle, (2) to sustain the ministry of the tabernacle, and
(3) to support the priesthood.
This being the case it does not appear out of line to use objects that God created e.g. trees, eggs, gold, silver, etc, redemptively. God does not look at the outward appearance, in fact He looks at the motives of the heart.
Joseph- Thank you for stopping by, and for your insight.
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I celebrate Holy Week–Passover during Holy Week–and Easter, as well as PENTECOST. PALM SUNDAY is a great day and one of the joys of being a believer is celebrating all the biblical days AND all
our own days which help us to remember ALL theat Yeshua did for us!
PALM SUNDAY through EASTER is a GREAT time for me, and I’ve been “sederizing” during Holy Week since 1984!!! Love it ALL, and there’s a joy to “increasing the joy” as we remember the Exodus from Egypt and the Passion/Resurrection, the Exodus from Sin and Death!
All glory to the PASCHAL LAMB, Who redeemed us from hell and destruction!!!! HALLELUJAH! “Christos anesti–Alethos anesti!”
Oh yes–on the Christian Year/Church Year calendar, EASTER is not just a day–it is a 50-day SEASON OF THE RESURRECTION that culminates in PENTECOST–the Festival of Firstfruits, also called SHAVUOT and the “Feast of Weeks.” During the early church years, it was customary to worship at all services STANDING, in honor of Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead! This time of the church year is called “Eastertide”, and refers to all 50 days of the holiday.
Also, the word “eastre” does NOT mean Ishtar or even a spring goddess–that was a linguistic error made by the Venerable Bede in 741 AD, when he wrote the “Ecclesiastical History of England.”
“Eastre” literally means “spring”, and “eastre-monath” refers to APRIL, the month in which Spring returns to northern European countries.
Unfortunately, too many children’s books and other books retain this LINGUISTIC ERROR, caused by the similarity in sound between
“eastre” and “ishtar.” this produces what is called a “false cognate.”
“ISHTAR”, however, IS the root word behind the
name “Esther”, but we haven’t thrown THAT name out of the BIble!
“Ishtar” is Persian for “star”–although it was ALSO the name of a goddess, it literally means “star.”
The German language retained the word “ostern” (with an umlaut over the o) for the holy day/holiday of Easter–the root word for
both the Anglo-Saxon and German words is “ost”, the direction of the rising sun–”east.”
Other Germanic languages–as well as many Romance languages and some Slavic languages– use some form of “Pesach/Passover” for the holiday which celebrates Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead.
The traditional greetings-and-response for this period:
GREEK– “Christos anesti!– Alethos anesti!”
(Christ is risen–truly, He is risen)
LATIN–”Surrexit Dominus vere!–Deo gratias!”
(The Lord is risen indeed–thanks be to God)
HEBREW– “Mashiach qum!–Amen, qum!”
(The Messiah is risen–Truly, He is risen).
Truly, we are the children of the Resurrection and live in this reality
EVERY DAY!
HALLELUJAH! THE LAMB HAS CONQUERED SIN AND DEATH!