The Origin Of Easter And The Bible
Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Easter came from the pagan celebration of Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. It originated not many centuries after the world wide flood and had nothing to do with Jesus Christ whatsoever. It, like our other religious holidays, started to be observed and "Christianized" by the Roman Catholic church when many of the pagans were being converted to Christianity yet refusing to give up their celebrations and merriment. Neither the term nor celebration are mentioned in the bible manuscripts of the first few centuries.
The long and confused background of this pagan celebration seems to have begun with the biblical Nimrod, great grandson of Noah. Nimrod was an evil king who caused his people to totally abandon Jehovah God and sink into the depths of idolatry. He was married to Semiramis, also called Ishtar, who was also an idolatrous queen who deified her husband after his death and called him the "Sun God". She had an illegitimate son whom she claimed was born miraculously and was the reincarnation of Nimrod. She assumed the title of "Moon Goddess" and named her son Tammuz the "saviour". He was killed by a wild boar while young and, according to his mother, by way of her tears of mourning, he rises from the underworld each Spring in the form of vegetation. These myths and legends have varied so much through the ages, it is difficult to describe for a certainty, just how they descended through time. It is evident however, that somewhere, the appearance of the Spring vegetation somehow became the Spring goddess rather than Tammuz.
"A Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre's chief symbols were the rabbit (she was often seen in this form at the full moon), and the egg (representing the cosmic egg of creation). She is the source of the customs of "Easter Eggs" and the "Easter Bunny". The name Eostre is said to be related to the word east, which many believe makes her a dawn goddess The goddess's original name has been lost, for the name of her springtime 'rising of the sap' festival was translated into Latin, before the Roman legions left in the 5th century, it would be reasonable to suppose. In the 8th century, Bede wrote : 'Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.' . The word Paschal comes from the greek word pascha - meaning Passover. Hence the drawing together of so many different cultural festivals at Ostara/Easter" (Pagan News.com)
The Passover Feast was commanded to be observed by the Jews each year on the fourteenth day of the first month. (Leviticus 23:5) The observance was never intended to be in recognition or remembrance of Jesus but rather of the last plague that God used to cause Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Each firstborn human or animal would die when the Lord would pass through the land of Egypt except for the Israelites who were required to sprinkle blood from their sacrificial animal on their door posts and lintels (Exodus 12:22). And when the Lord would see the blood, He would pass over that house.
There have been many innovations installed by men which are completely foreign to the teaching of the Bible and Easter is one of them. We are not instructed to observe the resurrection of Jesus in this manner. We are instructed to observe His death, burial and resurrection by partaking of the Lord's Supper upon the first day of the week. This was instituted by Jesus on the night of the Passover Feast before he was taken into custody by the Roman soldiers and crucified the next day. (Luke 22:19) (1 Corinthians 11:23-34)
We also have scriptures confirming that the Apostles and first century Christians did indeed observe this supper of fruit of the vine and unleavened bread on each first day of the week. (Acts 20:7)
The activities of the Easter celebration appear harmless enough, but all should be aware of the fact that it is not a celebration ordained or authorized by God but rather is the remnant version of an ancient idolatrous celebration.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Hi joel, well done. You stole my article! :-) I was thinking of writing about this, I will have to come up with something else. But you know, it's a good thing because you said it well and covered it all. I would only add that a 40 day mourning and fasting was instituted for Tammuz. Insteresting that the Catholic church instituted 40 days of lent before Easter-which was not instructed in the bible. (Not to offend catholics.) Again, well done. Very informative and gentle in delivery. Happy resurrection day! TeresaThank you Teresa, for reading and commenting. I'm sorry I stole your subject, but you go ahead and write yours anyway. It will no doubt explain the history of Easter better than I did. I really was expecting negative response on this. Lots of people don't want to hear anything negative about our religious holidays, but I do believe that it can be dangerous if one does not understand what it is all about. That includes Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. The Israelites began participating in those very things, and to the degree that God allowed them to be destroyed and their lands taken over.
You are correct. Not a popular subject, but one that should be shared in humility and I believe you did it well! I hope you know I was teasing about the story- I meant it when I said you did well and I am glad you wrote it. God Bless you.Thanks again Teresa. Yes I knew you were joking aout my stealing the article. I was very hesitant to write it. I dislike getting into arguments very much and I felt that I would over this. But you and Susan have made my day. I really appreciate it.
hi joel, it's a shame what society shames us into doing-if i knew the contents of your article, i could have saved thousands in all that is entailed with easter and christmas. thanks for letting me see it in a calm way. very well written article. best regards, sue thomHi Susan. Thanks for your comments. You know, I can readily understand why people get taken up in these things as they do. They are fun. Merry. But all too often they just enter into them without realizing where they came from, etc. The Old Testament is replete with occasions when the Jews (Israelites) strayed into idolatry...because it was enticing and fun. And God sent them prophets and judges to straighten them out, time after time. But finally, they went so far with it that they were all taken into captivity and scattered throughout the world. They have since been persecuted, slaughtered and many still live in misery and fear. It's frightening.
I think you were very informative about this and as I read the other day in another article it answered some important questions many were not aware of.Thanks Robert, for the kind words.
Dear Sir, Its intresting before going to this subject, I am aware of it, you can keep sending me the update information in this regard if you have any more, which may useful for me.Rev. PrasadThank you for reading and commenting Arthur, I don't know if there will be any updates on this particular subject. If you would like more articles on the subhject, you may contact me by going to the top of the page and click on the little light yellow horn picture to send me a message.
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