Passover v. Easter
Today, millions of people celebrate Easter as an important religious holiday, while Passover is almost universally ignored. Many people will be surprised to find that the day God commanded us as believers to observe in the Bible is the Day being ignored. In this essay, I will compare this observance (holiday) with the instructions about worship found in the Bible regarding His “Holy Day” of Passover.
The word Easter is the English word for “Ishtar” it is found only once in the King James Version Bible, (Acts 12:4) and there, it was mistranslated from the Greek work Pascha, which literally means Passover. In 325AD through a ruling council of the Roman Catholic Church, Emperor Constantine established “Easter” as their feast day. His prime motivation for establishing “Easter” as a replacement in practice and dating from Passover was a desire to abandon all things “Jewish”. When Constantine was questioned he stated, “Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews”. (Mason and Lane, 1839)
Easter celebrations were not new; it had been celebrated by pagans for thousands of years before the birth of Christ Jesus. This pagan festival “Easter/ Ishtar” originated from a religious celebration to the pagan “Queen of Heaven”, Goddess Ishtar. She represented fertility and life. (Jeremiah 7: 17-20) These festivals were filled with sexual overtones and ungodly indulgences.
For more than a century before the Easter tradition had fully prevailed in the church, thousands of Christians all over the Roman world use to observe what they called pascha “Passover”. This is the holiday which would correctly commemorate what God told his children. He commanded that it be obser...
... middle of paper ...
...y the sins of the world.” In Jerusalem that year they took the Lamb of God on the tenth day of the first month and sacrificed Him at the ninth hour of the fourteenth day, (Mark 15: 34) at the same time the priests were killing the Passover lambs in the temple.
By His crucifixion at the time of “Passover”, Christ became the final sacrifice for sins of those who would deny themselves and follow Him. Regardless of where we come from ethnically or what others my say on this issue, God himself commanded that His children keep this HOLY FEAST DAY. Passover is to be celebrated in remembrance of what God has done for us through Christ Jesus. Giving thanks to Him for delivering us from spiritual death and slavery to sin.
Mason, T and Lane G: A Historical View of the Council of Nice; 1839; pp.51-54 - New York
Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon. "Jewish Traditions." World religions: western traditions. 1996. Reprint. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011. 127-157. Print.
Popular culture was mixed with ecclesiastical culture in many ways. The story of St. John the Baptist is a good example of this. The ancient ritual of bathing and lighting fires during Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fire and water, symbols of purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, and therefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical culture was obvious. It looks as if the Medieval Church took over the festival and made it theirs. The same thing happened to the Midwinter Festival, which became linked with the birth of Christ, on 25 December.
Fellner, Judith B. & Co. In the Jewish Tradition: A Year of Food and Festivals. The. New York: Michael Friedman Publishing Group. 1995. The 'Se Raphael, Chaim. Festival Days: A Jewish History.
...Christ making it the most honored and important holiday in the Christian religion. But it does have its traditions that are a far cry from the original intent. It should come as no surprise to find that the Easter Bunny was not present and distributing multi-colored hard-boiled eggs to the twelve apostles two-thousand years ago.
In the Didache, a document that “indicates how the earliest Christian communities used the teachings of Jesus and reenacted Jesus’ most prominent practices with the first disciples,” we observe the development of a basic pattern of celebration and regulations. Justin Martyr describes the procedure as follows:
At this time of the year, back home in Ecuador, parents are planning vacations to go enjoy holly week with their families. As a family, we usually spend these days enjoying each other’s company at the beaches nearby our city. Being born and raced in Ecuador, a country with a majority of catholic population, I have observed that for the parishioners the path to holly week is very serious.
God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of the temptation of Jesus and how other sects defined the Messiah.
The Jewish tradition of the Passover has been very important for the welfare and freedom of the Jews since the Old Testament. Each part of the Passover brings forth the knowledge of what God promises to his people. “The name “Passover” is derived from the Hebrew word Pesach which is based on the root “pass over” and refers to the fact that G-d “passed over” the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt during the last of the ten plagues.” The Christian belief is that the Last Supper fulfills the promise made to the Jews through Jesus Christ. The Passover and the Last Supper are important in understanding the relationship between the Jewish belief and Christian belief. They are also important to help grasp what it means to be free with a God.
Holidays are a major part of culture around the world. No matter where someone goes, the culture that surrounds them may have their own unique holidays. In the culture that has surrounded me my whole life, we celebrate 18 holidays. Every holiday has their own reason to be celebrated, whether it’s a holiday to remember something or someone who has made an impact on our society, or if it is to celebrate pagan holidays that were established back in biblical times, we always have something to celebrate. The one holiday that stands out to me the most, is Easter.
Judah, with the help of their religious leaders, rejected the words of Jesus Christ. They would not believe the truth about who God is. They believed they already knew God through their own interpretations of the Old Testament scriptures. Year after year, the Jewish people used animal sacrifice during Passover in order to thank God for how Moses led them out of Egypt. They did not understand that the Passover was something far greater than a deliverance out of a slavery in Egypt. The paradox is that the Jewish people rejected the Lamb whom God had sent to deliver man from sin, their Passover
Although it was never celebrated in biblical times, Christmas is celebrated in local churches here in Visalia, California in praise of the fact that God loved us so much; he sent his one and only son to earth. He was wholey god and wholey man. Whereas we have succumbed to the temptations of this earth, Jesus was able to overcome all temptations and live a sinless life. He was then crucified as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. One cannot understand why we celebrate the birth of Christ without seeing the other end of his life. He was crucified for our sins and resurrected.
Every afternoon, floats parade through the city, some carrying a life size Jesus and Virgin Mary for hours. Semana Santa is primarily to celebrate the death of Christ. They took this week to commemorate his death and confess their sins. They value the thought of suffering and sacrifice. The holiday started in 1521 when Marqués de Tarifa came back from the Holy Land to Spain.
Easter is a religious holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his death by crucifixion about 2,000 years ago. For Christians, Easter is a day of religious services and the gathering of family. In many churches, Easter comes after a season of prayer, abstinence, and fasting called Lent. This is observed in memory of the 40 days fast of Christ in the desert. In Eastern Orthodox churches, Lent is 50 days.
Each of these has tremendous significance, however Wright brings out the truth that Easter has lost much of its importance. Easter is a wonderful holiday in which many families come together and celebrate. Candy, easter eggs, rabbits, gifts, are all a part of common Easter celebrations. This is certainly not a bad thing whatsoever. However, what is really celebrated during this holiday? I believe many people know the basic story of the resurrection of Jesus, and know that is why Easter exists, yet it has lost its significance due to the over publicity and retailer corruption. By this I mean that the news has spread the celebration of Easter to all people, non-Christians and Christians. This would not be bad, however, by doing so non-believers are not aware of the importance and significance of Easter. The sole purpose for the news spreading this holiday is for pure commercialism, to provide retailers with more ways to gain profit. This is very corrupt. With all this happening the direct effect is loss of Easter’s meaning. In Wright’s book he brings this truth out. He explains how we need to be “Easter people”. To me this means that we need to give back the meaning of Easter. Easter is the story of the resurrection of Christ. If this did not happen, Christianity would not exist. The resurrection is important for several reasons. It shows the magnificent power of God, it foreshadows the resurrection of human beings, and shows us that God has defeated Satan. Just briefly we can see how important it is. We must live as Easter people and celebrate it in a deeper and more significant manner. By doing so we strengthen our own faith and we also are a testimony to others. Talking about resurrection can be a very uplifting topic, conversely death is not usually thought about in that same
In the Christian religion, Easter has become a grand day of celebration in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after a specific time and varies on how the day is followed throughout. Each denomination of the faith varies on the celebration day, hosting various outings and activities. Specifically, the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox denominations of Christianity view and celebrate the Holy Day of Easter differently. In addition to the various amounts of changes throughout the denominations, Easter has become modernized to what the world now sees as a big bunny handling colorful, candy-filled eggs for little children, making smiles appear left and right. However, the real question