1
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- * This study is downloadable for free at: www.EasterTruth.info
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2
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- What do you think of when you hear the word "Easter"?
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3
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4
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- In North American Culture, when someone is speaking of Easter, they are
most likely referring to the events surrounding Jesus' death, burial and
resurrection.
- Why is it though, that thoughts of easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, and
pastel colours also run through our minds when we hear the term Easter?
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5
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- Are these things also related to the events surrounding Jesus' death?
- Where did they come from and how did they get associated with the
celebration we now call Easter?
- The purpose of this presentation is to find answers to these questions.
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6
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- As Bible believing Christians, it would make sense to start this search
in God's Holy Word, the Bible.
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7
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- Is the word 'Easter' found in the Bible?
- The word "Easter" is not found at all in most Bibles,
including the NKJV, NIV, NASB, NLT, ESV, CEV, NCV, ASV, YLT, TNIV and
many others.
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8
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- However, It is found once in the King James Version of the Bible (in
Acts 12:4).
- "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and
delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending
after Easter to bring him forth to the people." (Acts 12:4 KJV)
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9
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- Using Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
- The word "Passover" occurs 77 times in the KJV of the Bible.
- 49 times in the Old Testament as -> Strong's #6453 – ‘pesach’
- 28 times in the New Testament as -> Strong's #3957 – ‘pascha’
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10
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- The word "Easter" that appears in Acts 12:4 in the KJV of the
Bible is also Strong's Greek word #3957 – ‘pascha’, which means
passover.
- The scholars that translated the KJV of the Bible, translated the word
pascha as passover 28 times in the New Testament and then in Acts 12:4
they decided to translate it as easter.
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11
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- The word "Easter" in Acts 12:4 in the KJV of the Bible is
clearly a mistranslation of the Greek word "pascha".
- "Pascha" should be properly translated as "Passover"
and is done so in most other translations.
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12
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- "...intending after Easter to bring him forth to the
people." (Acts 12:4 KJV)
- "...intending to bring him before the people after Passover." (Acts 12:4 NKJV)
- "...Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover."
(Acts 12:4 NIV)
- "...intending after the Passover to bring him out to the
people." (Acts 12:4 ESV)
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13
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- “Pascha ... mistranslated ‘Easter' in Acts 12:4, KJV, denotes the
Passover ... The term ‘Easter' is not of Christian origin.”
- Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament
Words, 1985, p. 192,
"Easter".
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14
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- “As surprising as this may sound, nowhere in the New Testament can you
find any reference to Easter. In the King James Version of the Bible (in
Acts 12:4) you do find the word Easter, but it is a blatantly erroneous
mistranslation that has been corrected in virtually every other Bible
translation. The original Greek word there is pascha, correctly
translated Passover in virtually every modern version of the Bible
everywhere it appears in the Scriptures.”
- “Would Jesus Keep Easter?” by Jerold Aust (http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn75/easter.htm)
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15
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- How did such a large mistranslation come about?
- “The King James Version Bible was written by scholars whose orientation
was toward Catholic and Anglican church doctrines, and this caused some
of the errors in translation i.e., the translation of the Greek word
pascha, which means ‘passover’, as "Easter" in Acts
12:4.”
- Biblestudy.org
(http://www.biblestudy.org/question/what-does-the-word-easter-mean.html)
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16
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- Where did this term come from and what does it mean?
- So far, we have learned that the term "Easter" is not truely
found in the Bible.
- Let us turn to the dictionnaries to see what they say about the term
“Easter”.
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17
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- Easter: n. festival (held on a variable Sunday in
March or April) commemorating Christ’s resurrection. [Old English]
- The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, New Edition, “Easter”
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18
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- Easter:
- A Christian feast commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus.
- [from Old English : Eastre ]
- - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition (2000), “Easter”
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19
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- Easter: \Eas'ter\, n. [AS. e['a]ster, e['a]stran, paschal feast, Easter;
akin to G. ostern; fr. Anglo-Saxon. E['a]stre, a goddess of light or
spring, in honor of whom a festival was celebrated in April;
- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), “Easter”
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20
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- "The word Easter may come
from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of Spring and
fertility, whose festival was celebrated at the vernal
equinox."
- “Easter Word Origins” from Dictionary.com
-
(http://dictionary.reference.com/features/easter.html)
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21
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- “According to the
eighth-century theologian the Venerable Bede (who came up with the
dating system of AD and BC), Easter is named for Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon
goddess of spring. She is associated with the egg and with the hare,
both symbols of procreation that have been enduringly incorporated by
the church in the form of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny who brings
them.”
- “Easter”, from Answers.com
(http://www.answers.com/topic/easter)
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22
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- "Easter, Ostara, or Ishtar
was the goddess of Spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and
Saxons. Every April a festival
was celebrated in her honor. With
the beginnings of Christianity, the old gods were put aside. From then on the festival was
celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ, but was still known
as Easter after the old goddess."
- “Easter”, from The Encyclopedia Britannica (1934)
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23
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- Though we use the term (or name) “Easter” to refer to Jesus’ death and
resurrection
- “Easter” is clearly not connected with any sort of Hebrew or Christian
origins.
- The term is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess (Eostre,
Ostara, Ishtar) and has no relation whatsoever to the events surrounding
Jesus' death.
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24
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- Upon studying the terms used to refer to the events surrounding Jesus'
death and resurrection in other languages, we find that they use terms
that are slightly more meaningful than the term “Easter” (pagan goddess
of spring) that we use in English.
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25
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- In some languages the term used is “Great Day” or “Great Night”. Examples include:
- Bulgarian: Velikden
- Czech: Velikonoce
- Latvian: Lieldienas
- Polish: Wielkanoc
- Slovak: Velka Noc
- Slovenian: Velika no
- Ukrainian: Vjalikdzen
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26
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- In others it is translated as "Resurrection",
"Resurrection Day" or "Resurrection Festival". Some examples include:
- Croatian: Uskrs
- Chinese: Fuhuo Jie
- Korean: Buhwalchol
- Bosnian: Uskrs or Vaskrs
- Serbian: Uskrs or Vaskrs
- Vietnamese: Le Phuc Sinh
- Lakota: Woekicetuanpetu
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27
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- In some languages the term used is quite peculiar:
- Hungarian: Husvet
(literally "taking, or buying meat")
- Estonian: Lihavõtted
(literally "meat taking")
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28
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- However, in most other languages, the term used for the events
surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection is more precisely derived from
"Pesach", the Hebrew
term for Passover.
Some examples include:
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29
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- Hebrew: Pesach
- Greek: Pascha
- French: Pâques
- Italian: Pasqua
- Spanish: Pascua
- Portuguese: Pascoa
- Romanian: Paste
- Russian: Paskha
- Polish: Pascha
- Japanese: Seidai Pasuha
- Albanian: Pashket
- Danish: Paske
- Finnish: Paasiainen
- Icelandic: Paskar
- Norwegian: Paske
- Swedish: Pask
- Irish: Caisc
- Turkish: Paskalya
- Indonesian: Paskah
- Persian: Pas'h
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30
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- Almost every other language uses a relevant term when it refers to the
events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus.
- Why is it that we, English speaking Christians, still use the name of a
pagan goddess to refer to this sacred event?
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31
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- When is Easter?
- It is on a different
date each year.
- Always on a Sunday
- Always in the Spring
- Most people just check a calendar
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32
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- "Easter day, on which the rest of the movable feasts depend, is
always the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the calendar moon
which (fourteenth day) falls on, or next after, the 21st of March,
according to the rules laid down for the construction of the calendar;
so that if the fourteenth day happen on a Sunday, Easter day is the
Sunday after."
- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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33
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- "The day on which this feast is observed, the first Sunday
following the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal
equinox."
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003.
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34
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- Equinox is latin for “Equal Night”
- When daytime equals nighttime
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35
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- "Though the New Testament contains no reference to an annual feast
celebrating the Resurrection, the practice was well-established by the
second century. Early churchmen were divided on whether to hold a feast
on 14 Nisan (the date of the Biblical Pesach, which morphed into the
name for Easter in many languages) or on the following Sunday; disputes
and excommunications ensued in this Quartodeciman controversy until the
Council of Nicea in 325 decided it must fall on a Sunday. Eventually the
date was formulated roughly as "the first Sunday after the full
moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox." This can range
between March 22 and April 25."
- Easter, from
Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/easter)
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36
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- “Easter Sunday typically falls on a different date each year. Easter is
always the first Sunday after or on the first full moon, after the
spring (vernal) Equinox. The first Ecumenical Council was held at Nicea
in present-day Turkey in the year 325. It decreed that Easter would be
celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon that occurred
after the spring equinox. This retained a lunar connection as a sort of
'memory' of the Jewish calendar system, and ensured that the feast would
be on a Sunday. Because lunar phases occur independently of the solar
year, this means that there is a 'window' of several weeks during which
Easter may be celebrated. By this reckoning, in our calendar, Easter
must occur between March 22 and April 25.”
- How is the Date for
Easter Calculated, From WikiAnswers
(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_is_the_date_for_Easter_calculated_each_year)
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37
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- "The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) set the date of Easter as the
Sunday following the 14th day of the paschal full moon, which is the
full moon whose 14th day falls on or after the vernal (spring) equinox.
We know that Easter must always occur on a Sunday, because Sunday was
the day of Christ's Resurrection. But why the 14th day of the paschal
full moon? Because that was the date of Passover in the Jewish calendar,
and the Last Supper (Holy Thursday) occurred on the Passover. Therefore,
Easter was the Sunday after Passover."
- How Is the Date of Easter Calculated? By Scott P. Richert
(http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Calculate_Date.htm)
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38
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- "The rule of Rome was that the celebration must always be on a
Sunday - the Sunday nearest to the fourteenth day of the first month of
the Jewish year. And if the fourteenth day of that month should itself
be a Sunday, then the celebration was not to be held on that day, but
upon the next Sunday. One reason
of this was not only to be as like the heathen as possible, but to be as
unlike the Jews as possible."
- A.T. Jones, The
Two Republics, p.214
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39
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- Why does the calculation of the date of easter need to be so
complicated?
- What was the original method of calculating it and why did it change?
- And what is with the constant connection with Jesus’ death and the
Passover?
- Isn’t the Passover a Jewish thing?
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40
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41
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- "It is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of
Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon
the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you,
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the
land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye
shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall
keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."
(Exodus 12:11-14
KJV)
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42
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- "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them,
“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill
the Passover lamb." (Exodus 12:21 NKJV)
- "That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who
passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote
the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." (Exodus 12:27 KJV)
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43
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- “Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about
six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude
went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock.
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out
of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt
and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for
themselves.”
(Exodus 12:37-39
NKJV)
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44
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- "These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye
shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first
month at even is the LORD's passover."
-
(Leviticus
23:4-5 KJV)
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45
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- "Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed
season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it
in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according
to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it."
(Numbers 9:2-3 KJV)
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46
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- "And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the
passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and
according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one
ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the
land."
(Numbers 9:14 KJV)
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47
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- God commanded all believers (Israelites and strangers) to keep the
passover, which was to be observed on 14th day of the first month
(Abib/Nisan) of the biblical Hebrew calendar.
- They were to select a perfect lamb without blemish and then it was to be
sacrificed.
- They celebrated this as a memorial of what God did to save them from the
plagues and bondage in Egypt.
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48
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- "The annual festivals commanded by God all prefigured some event
relating to the Messiah. Also, something worthy of mention is that each
of the festivals which have been fulfilled met their fulfillment on the
actual day of celebration. That is to say, Christ was sacrificed as our
paschal lamb on the day of Passover. Christ presented Himself before the
Father on the day of Firstfruits. These parallels hold true to each of
the holidays. Type met anti-type on the very same day, and it was all
fulfilled in that day."
- Atoning for the Day of Atonement,
by Raymond Thompson, 20 April 2008 (http://www.spectrummagazine.org/collegiate/2008/04/20/atoning_day_atonement)
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49
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- Jesus observed the passover from his childhood.
- "Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the
passover. And when he [Jesus] was twelve years old, they went up to
Jerusalem after the custom of the feast."
(Luke 2:41-42 KJV)
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50
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- Jesus knew exactly when and how He would die.
- "And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he
said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the
passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."
(Matthew 26:1-2 KJV)
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51
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52
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- “Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be
killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover
for us, that we may eat.” So they
said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” And He said to them,
“Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a
pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you
shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where
is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ Then
he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.” So they went and found it just as He
had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.”
(Luke 22:7-13 NKJV)
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53
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- “When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.
Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer
eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks,
and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I
will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance
of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is
the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
-
(Luke 22:14-20 NKJV)
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54
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- Hey… that’s not Passover. That’s just communion.
- We do that all the time
- You know, whenever we feel like it
- Some people do it daily, weekly,
monthly, quarterly
- There’s no rule for that
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55
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- “The Passover meal Jesus ate with the disciples was without the paschal
lamb because the Savior wanted to institute a new Passover meal
commemorative of His redemption from sin through bread and wine, the new
symbols of His own body and blood soon to be offered 'for the
forgiveness of sins' (Matt 26:28).”
- Theologian Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, God's Festivals in
Scripture and History Part 2 - The Fall Festivals, 1996, p.33
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56
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- What else took place during this observance of the yearly Passover feast
that Jesus and the apostles took part in?
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57
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- “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had
come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved
His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil
having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to
betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from
supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded
Himself. After that, He poured
water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe
them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon
Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now,
but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash
my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part
with Me.” ”
- (John 13:1-8 NKJV)
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58
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- “Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and
my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his
feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all
clean.” So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat
down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You
call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have
given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most
assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor
is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these
things, blessed are you if you do them.”
- (John 13:9-17 NKJV)
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59
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- If we weren't taught otherwise, we would almost think that Jesus was
telling the apostles (and all believers) to continue observing the
passover
- But from then on to do it how He did it that day (with the footwashing,
and eating of unleavened bread and drinking wine).
- And every time we celebrate this Passover event (i.e. yearly), we should
do so in remembrance of Him and His awesome Sacrifice for us.
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60
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- The apostle Paul also indicated that we should still be keeping the
feast of Passover:
- "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as
ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth."
(1 Corinthians
5:7-8 KJV)
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61
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- "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took
bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this
is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After
the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this
cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it,
in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this
cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."
(1 Corinthians 11:23-29 KJV)
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62
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- "The meaning of the Christian Passover is both commemorative and
prefigurative, just like the Old Testament Passover. On the one hand, it commemorates the
past deliverance from bondage and sin through Christ's suffering and
death. On the other hand, it
prefigures the future celebration of the marriage Supper of the Lamb
(Rev 19:9) at the establishment of God's Kingdom. Christ Himself alluded
to the eschatological fulfillment of Passover when He said to the
disciples that He would not eat Passover again 'until it is fulfilled in
the Kingdom of God' (Luke 22:16)."
- Theologian Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, God's Festivals in
Scripture and History - Part 2 - The Fall Festivals, p.33
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63
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- Easter is not found in the Bible at all
- Passover is found all over the Bible
- Easter was not celebrated by Jesus
- Passover was celebrated by Jesus
- Easter observance was not commanded by Jesus or anyone else in the Bible
- Passover observance was to be done in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice
|
64
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- “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His
steps”
(1 Peter 2:21 NKJV)
|
65
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- Wait a second now…
- If all this is true, then wouldn’t the early Christians have kept the
Passover?
- And if so, would they have observed it on the Jewish Passover date or
the date we now observe as Easter Sunday?
|
66
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- “The earliest Christians celebrated the Lord's Passover at the same time
as the Jews, during the night of the first full moon of the first month
of spring (Nisan 14-15). By the middle of the 2nd century, most churches
had transferred this celebration to the Sunday after the Jewish feast.
But certain churches of Asia Minor clung to the older custom, for which
they were denounced as ‘judaizing'. The first ecumenical Council of
Nicaea in 325 decreed that all churches should observe the feast
together on a Sunday”
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol.
4, pp. 604-605, "Church Year".
|
67
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- “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the
New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity
of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first
Christians.”
- Encyclopedia Britannica, volume VIII, p.859.
|
68
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- “Some church historians assert that Easter observance began in the first
century (CE), but they must admit that their first evidence for the
observance comes from the second century.”
- BibleWorld.com (http://www.bibleworld.com/easter.pdf)
|
69
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- “By the later second century, it was accepted that the celebration of
Pascha was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. The
Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Paschal/Easter
controversies, then arose concerning the date on which Pascha should be
celebrated. The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice of
celebrating Pascha or Easter beginning on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew
calendar, "the LORD's passover" (Leviticus 23:5).”
- Easter, from Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter)
|
70
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- “The Quartodecimans contentiously keep Passover on one day, once per
year...They keep the Passover on whichever day the fourteenth of the
month falls...Christ had to be slain on the fourteenth of the month in
accordance with the law”
- Epiphanius. The Panarion
of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and III (Sects 47-80), De Fide.
Section IV, Verses 1,3;1,6;2,6. Translated by Frank Williams. EJ Brill,
New York, 1994, pp. 23-25).
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71
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- “There is no doubt that Apollinarius was a Quartodeciman...Those who
kept Passover in the evening understood it to be a repetition of the
Lord's Supper”
- Stewart-Sykes A. Melito of Sardis On Pascha. St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, Crestwood (NY), 2001, p. 81).
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72
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- “In Asia Minor most people kept the fourteenth day of the
moon...Moreover the Quartodecimans affirm that the observance of the
fourteenth day was delivered to them by the apostle John”
- - Socrates Scholasticus.
Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter XXII. Excerpted from Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 2. Edited by Philip Schaff
and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1890. Online Edition Copyright © 2005
by K. Knight.
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73
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- “Audians...they choose to celebrate the Passover with the Jews--that is
they contentiously celebrate the Passover at the same time as the Jews
are holding their Festival of Unleavened Bread. And indeed that this
used to be the church's custom”
-
- Epiphanius. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and
III (Sects 47-80), De Fide. Section VI, Verses 8,11; 9,2. Translated by
Frank Williams. EJ Brill, New York, 1994, pp. 410-411.
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74
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- “It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both
those who followed the Nisan 14 custom, and those who set Easter to the
following Sunday (the Sunday of Unleavened Bread) had in common the
custom of consulting their Jewish neighbors to learn when the month of
Nisan would fall, and setting their festival accordingly. By the later
3rd century, however, some Christians began to express dissatisfaction
with the custom of relying on the Jewish community to determine the date
of Easter. The chief complaint was that the Jewish communities sometimes
set their week of Unleavened Bread to fall before the spring equinox”
- Easter, from
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter)
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75
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- “Anicetus argued for Easter while Polycarp, a student of the apostle
John, defended observing ‘the Christian Passover, on the 14th of Nisan,
the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, regardless of the
day of the week’ ”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Micropaedia, Vol. 8, p.
94, "Polycarp".
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76
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- “The actual introduction of Easter-Sunday appears to have occurred
earlier in Palestine after Emperor Hadrian ruthlessly crushed the
Barkokeba revolt (A.D. 132-135)... The fact that the Passover
controversy arose when Emperor Hadrian adopted new repressive measures
against Jewish religious practices suggests that such measures
influenced the new Gentile hierarchy to change the date of Passover from
Nisan 14 to the following Sunday (Easter-Sunday) in order to show
separation and differentiation from the Jews and the Jewish
Christians”
- Samuele Bacchiocchi, God's Festival in Scripture and History,
1995, pp. 101-103
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77
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- “A whole body of ‘Against the Jews’ literature was produced by leading
Fathers who defamed the Jews as a people and emptied their religious
beliefs and practices of any historical value. Two major causalities of
the anti-Jewish campaign were Sabbath and Passover. The Sabbath was
changed to Sunday and Passover was transferred to Easter-Sunday. Scholars usually recognize the
anti-Judaic motivation for the repudiation of the Jewish reckoning of
Passover and adoption of Easter-Sunday instead. Joachim Jeremias
attributes such a development to ‘the inclination to break away from
Judaism.’ In a similar vein, J.B. Lightfoot explains that Rome and
Alexandria adopted Easter-Sunday to avoid ‘even the semblance of
Judaism’”
- Samuele Bacchiocchi, God's Festival in Scripture and History,
1995, pp. 101-103
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78
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- “We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away… Among these
are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, ... and, moreover, John, who was
both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the
Lord,... And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr... All
these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the
Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I
also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of
my relatives… And my relatives always observed the day when the people
put away the leaven… For those greater than I have said ‘We ought to
obey God rather than man’.”
- Eusebius. Church History, Book V, Chapter 24. Translated by
Arthur Cushman McGiffert.
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79
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- “Originally both observances [Passover and Easter] were allowed, but
gradually it was felt incongruous that Christians should celebrate
Easter on a Jewish feast, and unity in celebrating the principal
Christian feast was called for”
- The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 5, p. 8, "Easter
Controversy".
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80
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81
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- “The commemoration of the most sacred paschal feast being then debated,
it was unanimously decided, that it would be well that it should be
everywhere celebrated upon the same day... It was, in the first place,
declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of
this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime,
the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. By rejecting
their custom, we establish and hand down to succeeding ages one which is
more reasonable... Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews,
who are our adversaries. For we have received from our Saviour another
way”
- Theodoret of Cyrus. Ecclesiastical History (Book I), Chapter
IX. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume
3. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1892.
Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight.
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- “Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our
adversaries. For we have received from our Saviour another way”
– Constantine’s quote from the previous slide
- I don’t know what Constantine was drinking, but the Bible tells us
exactly what Jesus asked us to do
- And the last time I checked, worshipping on Easter Sunday was not one of
them
- Someone should also have informed Constantine that Jesus was Himself a
Jew
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83
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- “Edicts of Theodosius against the heretics, A.D.
380-394...Theodosius...decreed that...by the death of the offender; and
the same capital punishment was inflicted on the Audians, or
Quartodecimans, who should dare to perpetrate the atrocious crime of celebrating
on an improper day the festival”
- Gibbon E. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III,
Chapter XXVII. ca. 1776-1788.
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84
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- “The early development of the celebration of Easter and the attendant
calendar disputes were largely a result of Christianity's attempt to
emancipate itself from Judaism. Sunday had already replaced the Jewish
sabbath early in the second century, and despite efforts in Asia Minor
to maintain the Jewish passover date of 14 Nisan for Easter [or, rather,
the true Passover] (hence the name Quartodecimans [meaning
‘Fourteeners']), the Council of Nicaea adopted the annual Sunday
following the full moon after the vernal equinox (March 21)”
- R.K. Bishop quote, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1984,
Editor: Walter Elwell, "Easter".
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85
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- “From Rome there came now another addition to the sun-worshipping
apostasy. The first Christians
being mostly Jews, continued to celebrate, in remembrance of the death
of Christ, the true Passover; and this was continued among those who
from among the Gentiles had turned to Christ. Accordingly, the celebration was
always on the Passover day, the fourteenth of the first month. Rome, however, and from her all the
West, adopted the day of the sun as the day of this coloration.
According to the Eastern custom, the celebration, being on the
fourteenth day of the month, would of course fall on different days of
the week as the years resolved. The rule of Rome was that the
celebration must always be on a Sunday.”
- A.T. Jones, Great Empires of
Prophecy, 1898, p.389
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86
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- Bible has no record of Jesus or the apostles observing an Easter Sunday
service, dying easter eggs or going on an easter egg hunt
- The early Christians originally observed the Passover as a memorial of
Jesus' sacrifice
- Constatine and the church at Rome decided to change the Passover to
Easter Sunday
- But where did the easter bunny, easter egg and other easter customs come
from?
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87
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- “As with almost all ‘Christian’ holidays, Easter has been secularized
and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols,
however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication. Since its conception
as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its
non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan
festival.”
- The Traditions of Easter, by Jerry Wilson (http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm)
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88
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- “The reasons for celebrating our major feasts when we do are many and
varied. In general, however, it is true that many of them have at least
an indirect connection with the pre-Christian [pagan] feasts celebrated
about the same time of year — feasts centering around the harvest, the
rebirth of the sun at the winter solstice (now Dec. 21, but Dec. 25 in
the old Julian calendar), the renewal of nature in spring, and so
on.”
- The New Question Box - Catholic Life for the Nineties,
copyright 1988 by John J. Dietzen, M.A., S.T.L., ISBN 0-940518-01-5
(paperback), published by Guildhall Publishers, Peoria Illinois, 61651.,
page 554.
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89
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- “The early church fathers were also careful to emphasize that Christian
holidays should be very unlike pagan holidays. They were to be
characterized by solemnity and decorum, in sharp contrast to the
riotousness of pagan celebrations... Even more important to these early
writers was that Christians stay away from pagan celebrations
themselves, disobedience of which seems to have been a rather common
occurance... Despite this early concern about paganism infiltrating
Christianity, it seems that Christians began to develop a different
perspective on the matter of pagan holidays. Rather than seen as a
threat to Christianity, pagan holidays and customs came to be viewed as
a way to encourage and ease conversion to Christianity.”
- History of Christian Holidays. (http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/holidays/history.htm)
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90
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- “Eostre was the Saxon version of the Germanic lunar goddess Ostara. She
gave her name to the Christian Easter and to the female hormone
estrogen. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the vernal
equinox -- almost the identical calculation as for the Christian Easter
in the west. One delightful legend associated with Eostre was that she
found an injured bird on the ground one winter. To save its life, she
transformed it into a hare. But ‘the transformation was not a complete
one. The bird took the appearance of a hare but retained the ability to
lay eggs. ..the hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as gifts
to Eostre.’”
- Linkages between the equinox, Pagan celebrations & Easter
(http://www.religioustolerance.org/spequi2.htm)
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91
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- “Many Easter customs come from the Old World...colored eggs and rabbits
have come from pagan antiquity as symbols of new life...our name
'Easter' comes from 'Eostre', an ancient Anglo Saxon goddess, originally
of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her
honor. Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-christian
spring festivals.”
- Compton's Encyclopedia, 1956, Volume 4, “Easter”
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92
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- "In time an elaborate system of beliefs in such natural forces was
developed into mythology. Each civilization and culture had its own
mythological structure, but the structures were often quite similar. The
names of the gods may have been different, but their functions and
actions were often the same. The most prominent myth to cross cultural
lines was that of the fertility cycle. Many pagan cultures believed that
the god of fertility died each year during the winter but was reborn
each year in the spring. The details differed among cultures, but the
main idea was the same"
- Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary,
1995, "Gods,
Pagan," p. 508
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93
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- “The egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. They believed an old
fable about an egg of wondrous size which was supposed to have fallen
from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this marvelous egg -
according to the ancient story - the Goddess Ishtar (Semiramis), was
hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter”
- The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 309.
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94
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|
95
|
- “As Romans became familiar with the Greek myths of Aphrodite, they
increasingly identified Venus with that goddess. They also linked Venus
with other foreign goddesses, such as the Babylonian Ishtar. One result
of this connection was the naming of the planet Venus, which Babylonian
astronomers had earlier associated with Ishtar.”
- Encyclopedia of Myths,
"Venus" (http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Venus.html)
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96
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- “The egg has become a popular Easter symbol. Creation myths of many
ancient peoples center in a cosmogenic egg from which the universe is
born. In ancient Egypt and Persia friends exchanged decorated eggs at
the spring equinox, the beginning of their New Year. These eggs were a
symbol of fertility for them because the coming forth of a live creature
from an egg was so surprising to people of ancient times. Christians of
the Near East adopted this tradition, and the Easter egg became a
religious symbol. It represented the tomb from which Jesus came forth to
new life”
- Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p. 101
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97
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- “The origin of the Easter egg is based on the fertility lore of the
Indo-European races ... The Easter bunny had its origin in pre-Christian
fertility lore. Hare and rabbit were the most fertile animals our
fore-fathers knew, serving as symbols of abundant new life in the spring
season”
- Francis Weiser,
professor of philosophy
at Boston College,
Handbook of Christian Feasts
and Customs, 1958 , pp. 233, 236.
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98
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- “As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many
ancient pagan survivals—in this instance, connected with spring
fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter
hare or rabbit”
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol.
4, p. 605, "Church Year".
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99
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- “Motives of the same sort may have led the ecclesiastical authorities to
assimilate the Easter festival of the death and resurrection of their
Lord to the festival of the death and resurrection of another Asiatic
god which fell at the same season. Now the Easter rites still observed
in Greece, Sicily and southern Italy bear in some respects a striking
resemblance to the rites of Adonis, and I have suggested that the Church
may have consciously adapted the new festival to its heathen predecessor
for the sake of winning souls to Christ”
- Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 1993, p. 359.
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100
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- “When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant
the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise
that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted
upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis [the Greek name
for Tammuz], which ... was celebrated in Syria at the same season”
- Sir James Frazer, The
Golden Bough, 1993, p. 345.
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101
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- "Easter is different. The very name comes from the Babylonian
fertility goddess Ishtar, and the main attractions are eggs and rabbits,
symbols of fertility. There’s a tradition that colored eggs originated
in the dyeing of eggs with the blood of newly sacrificed children, whose
lives were given in the hope of a plentiful harvest. I can’t think of
anything more repulsive to God. The date of Resurrection Morning is well
known. It’s the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits. It’s by far the most
important event in human history and deserves our full attention in a
heart felt expression of praise and thanksgiving.” (continued…)
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102
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- “We might be able to convince God that we didn’t know the date of His
birth, but we have no such excuse with His resurrection. Various pagan groups have made
headlines lately accusing Christians of hijacking their holidays.
Sometimes I think that the only way to re-focus our attention on the
reason for their celebration is to give them back and to the best of our
ability memorialize the days on which the events we revere actually took
place.”
- The Pagan Origin of
Christian Holidays
(http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/the-pagan-origin-of-christian-holidays/)
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103
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- “So, once I got started reflecting on how Pagan holidays had been
kidnapped, I then thought of the old Pagan holiday Eoster, where the
return of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eoster from the Land of the Dead
bringing Spring in Her wake was celebrated. For centuries this Pagan
celebration’s rituals included things like Eoster eggs, the Eoster hare
(or bunny for us Americans) , and decorating our houses with Eoster
lilies and other beautiful flowers in celebration. I think it’s only
fair to talk about how we Pagans were there first, and how we’d like to
get some credit for all the Pagan contributions involved when other
folks celebrate the return of their own particular Redeemer from Death
with our borrowed trappings when springtime comes around.” (continued…)
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104
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- “But of course, now it’s time for the big one – Yule. You know,
celebrating with Yule logs, and holly, and mistletoe (not to mention the
stolen kisses!) . Singing those old Yule time carols. Putting up the
evergreen Yule tree and decorating it. Drinking a lot of mead - or these
days, spiced cider or spiked eggnog. Giving presents. Lots of presents.
The Sun [pause] of God being born with the New Year. Gathering together
and celebrating with family and friends…did I mention drinking a lot?
Yule’s a GREAT Pagan holiday! Yes, my friends, the Puritans were right –
Yule (by any other name smelling as sweet) is definitely NOT a Christian
holiday.”
- We Want them Back! (A
Pagan View of the Holidays), by Bluehawk, December 18th 2005 (http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usga&c=holidays&id=10378)
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105
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- Ostara (March 21st):
As spring reaches its midpoint, night and day stand in perfect
balance. (With light on the increase.) The young Sun God now celebrates
a sacred marriage with the young maiden Goddess, who conceives. In nine
months she will again become the Great Mother. It is a time of great
fertility and growth, and newborn animals. Ostara is the time of
Fertility of the Earth.
- Other Names: Eostre and Spring Equinox.
- A Beginner's Guide To
The 8 Wiccan Holidays
- Author: Silver Wolf Posted: October
28th. 2007
-
(http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usor&c=holidays&id=11776)
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106
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- Yule (December 21st):
- Yule has the longest night and the shortest day of the year. It is the
time when the Goddess gives birth to a son, the God. Witches and Wiccans
celebrate the Festival of the God’s Rebirth. It is a time to honor the
Holly King. Accomplishes of the past, love, togetherness, and love are
also celebrated. These things are celebrated by burning the Yule Log in
a bonfire.
- Other Names: Winter Solstice, Christmas, Alban Arthan, Finn’s Day,
Festival of Sol, Yuletide, Great Day of the Cauldron, and the Festival
of Growth.
- A Beginner's Guide To The 8 Wiccan Holidays
- Author: Silver Wolf Posted: October
28th. 2007
-
(http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usor&c=holidays&id=11776)
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107
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- "Ostara or Oestara... also known as the Spring Equinox, Ostara
falls on 21 March. Ostara is sacred to the Ancient Goddess Eostar or
Astarte, whose symbols are the egg and hare and who give rise to the
term Oestrus. She is probably the oldest Goddess of fertility and can be
traced back over 4, 000 years. Ostara is the first sign of spring; it
also is the Witches’ version of Easter. It is a time to celebrate that
spring is here and that the land is alive."
- How to Get the Most Out
of Your Year,
by Merlin EA, August 20th, 2006 (http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ukgb2&c=holidays&id=10898)
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|
109
|
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110
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- Without a doubt, the worship of Easter is of pagan origin and there are
still people today, even in modern cities, that observe the purely pagan
worship of the goddess of spring.
- Anyone professing to be a Bible believing Christian would admit that is
totally wrong and an abomination to God.
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111
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- However, most people still observe Easter, not as a pagan celebration,
but in remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus even though
there is no biblical command to do so.
- They also use the date that Constantine and the church at Rome declared
for this celebration at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
- They also often use symbols and activities that are directly taken from
pagan worship and then use them to worship the true God.
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- Who cares?
- What’s the big deal anyway?
- Does it really matter how and when we worship this sacred event?
- We know that we are worshipping Jesus' death and resurrection and that's
all that matters, right?
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114
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- “Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after
they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after
their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will
do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way”
(Deuteronomy 12:30-31 NKJV)
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- The very next verse states:
- “Whatever I command you, be
careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from
it."
(Deuteronomy
12:32 NKJV)
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116
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- "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For
the customs of the people are vain"
(Jeremiah 10:2-3 KJV)
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- Clearly, not all forms of worship are acceptable to God. Here are some examples:
- Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:3-5)
- Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-10)
- All involved claimed to worship the True God
- But what was God’s reaction?
- “That My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” (Exodus 32:10 NKJV)
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118
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- "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that
ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints."
(Jude 1:3 KJV)
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119
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- “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God,
follow Him”
(1 Kings 18:21 NKJV)
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120
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|
121
|
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122
|
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123
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- “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will
serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:15 NKJV)
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- Thank you for your time!
- Any Questions?
- Compiled by: FLO BORS (April 2009)
- email: floski@hotmail.com
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