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Bible Study Easter events

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ezra

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i think we are all more than knowledgeable to realize east has pagan roots . i post this thread as a start.

my question is since we know all this do we derive the children of easter egg hunts bunny rabbits baby chicks. does all this make us partakers of the pagan celebration? this has nothing do about getting legalistic just gathering thoughts.. my biggest concern is Children know the truth about easter . even though as i posted in another place it is only used one time and that is by k.j. v i checked about 4 or 5 different versions they all us Passover which would be more Bible correct . i done had one more or less say i was allowing children to b partakers of the pagan events.. do we ban Santa Claus giving of Gifts.. off topic but we have commercialized Christmas.. i am not asking advice i know how i believe . that is teach the kids the truth tell them easter eggs and the other things are not related . to Christ Resurrection. might i add it is a tough job reaching smaller kids.. i tried that in a sunday school class i was over countered lol.. lets hear your thoughts.. plz no legalistic religious remarks.. i fear we get religious in our won laws... woman dont ever cut your hair always where a dress or skirt. men never have long hair or possibly shorts.. we soon lose sight of what Christ wants..

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism
 
Christ has conquered Easter.

Easter is the Latin word for Passover. It has no relationship with Astarte whatsoever.

Nothing whatsoever with a fertility goddess.

Pagan symbols mean nothing to me or mine. Except we are planning on having a lot of fun for kids with egg hunts and candy filled baskets to ensure they associate this time of year with fun, joy, and happiness.

So... others want to see evil in everything we do...and to the impure nothing is pure...but the Holy of heart see God everywhere at work.
 
I think its a matter of where your heart is. The pagan symbols or other gods that were made out of wood or stone are only important to people if they make them so by bowing to them, praying to them and praising them.
There is something in the old testament about people putting up a tree and decorating with gold and silver to worship Baal (?) so that's used to say the Christmas tree is evil.
I have never worshiped my tree though. I've always enjoyed have a real one with lights and some decoration because it smells good and brighten up the dark winter nights.
I consider it the same as cutting flowers from my garden to put in a vase indoors.
 
(1st off--sorry to lisa. my PC made "liking" your post really, really tricksy, for some reason)

CS Lewis wrote that God gave (some) pagans "good dreams" (or...something to that effect...) of a Savior. That would explain the rise of The Mystery Cults roughly around the same time as Jesus' ministry and the early church.

I'm --not-- trying to act as an expert here, but...The Mystery Cults are interesting, because they seem to be a 'higher form' of paganism. Instead of sacred (everything), one sees the gradual emergence of asceticism, an understanding the all mankind is in the wrong and in need of...what, exactly? And that's where, to me, it gets fascinating. Death, rebirth, transformation...one can see hints of it, even in the basic Greco-Roman mythology. Persephone, daughter of Earth Goddess Demeter, is kidnapped by Hades, dark lord of the underworld. She makes the mistake of eating some pomegranate seeds (they -are- tasty), and is thereafter doomed to spending a certain portion of each year as lady of the underworld. Demeter shows her despair by making the world grow cold while Persephone is in the dark realm. And then...

she returns to the land above, the sun shines and the flowers bloom and the crops grow. on and on it goes...

For Christians, Easter is not a Christianized pagan day; it is a celebration of Our Lord and, to a lesser extent, a fulfillment of humanity's deepest need: the need for Jesus, for forgiveness, for redemption, to be made right with God, even if it means God Himself must die, for us.

That's my take on it, anyway. :)
 
Not to take away from the children, but as adults we need to know the origins.

Part 1

The Easter Rabbit or Hare

Easter Bunny and Eggs. The rabbit is well known as a sexual symbol of fertility. In various parts of the world, religions which developed from Babel also associate the rabbit with periodicity, both human and lunar (Egypt, China, etc.). As you may remember, the Mother Goddess Semiramis (Easter) is associated with the Moon. In other words, the Easter bunny symbolizes the Mother Goddess. Annual Spring time fertility rituals are associated worship of the Mother Goddess and Tammuz, the reincarnation of her husband Nimrod.

The Easter Egg

Most children and families who color or hide Easter eggs as part of their Resurrection Sunday tradition have no knowledge of the origin of these traditions. Easter egg activities have become a part of Western culture. Many would be surprised and even dismayed to learn where the traditions originated.

“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 Astarte (Easter) [Semiramis], was hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter.

The idea of a mystic egg spread from Babylon to many parts of the world. In Rome, the mystic egg preceded processions in honor of the Mother Goddess Roman. The egg was part of the sacred ceremonies of the Mysteries of Bacchus. The Druids used the egg as their sacred emblem. In Northern Europe, China and Japan the eggs were colored for their sacred festivals.

The egg was also a symbol of fertility; Semiramis (Easter) was the goddess of Fertility. The Easter egg is a symbol of the pagan Mother Goddess, and it even bears one of her names.

This may be somewhat long, but needs to be to understand the paganism of the word Easter. It's easy to blow off what you do not know or understand and just say it's only a word and not what the whole celebration is all about for Christians as we do not celebrate a sun-god, or do we and not even know we are!!!

It was during an annual Passover celebration that Jesus was killed at Jerusalem. Passover was an annual Jewish religious celebration instituted by God (Leviticus 23:5). It dates from the time of Moses when God delivered the Israelite from bondage and spared their first-born when all first-born in Egypt died (Exodus 12:11f; Numbers 9:2f; Deuteronomy 16:1f; 2 Kings 23:21f). They would put the blood of an unblemished lamb over their door frames, which were anointed of God for the protection of their first-born.

The name “Easter” has its roots in ancient polytheistic religions (paganism). On this, all scholars agree. This name is never used in the original Scriptures, nor is it ever associated biblically with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For these reasons, we prefer to use the term “Resurrection Sunday” rather than “Easter” when referring to the annual Christian remembrance of Christ's resurrection.
 
Part 2

Ancient origin:

Most reference books say that the name “Easter” derived from the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. Although this relationship exists, in reality, the origin of the name and the goddess are far more ancient - going all the way back to the Tower of Babel. The origin begins not long after the biblical Flood.

Copyright, Eden Communications. All rights reserved. Photographer: Paul S. Taylor. The Flood was a divine judgment sent on mankind after evil had become all pervasive and all people everywhere were totally unresponsive to God. The Bible says that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5, NKJV). It is not difficult to imagine that life must have been almost unbearable at this time in history. God gave humankind a second chance by preserving the righteous man Noah and his family (a total of 8 people).

After the Flood, Noah had a talented, but evil, great-grandson named Nimrod (Genesis 10:6-10) who rebelled greatly against God. The Bible says that he was “a mighty one” [1] Jewish tradition indicates that Nimrod was a tyrant "who made all of the people rebellious against God."[2] It is evident from history that Nimrod was not only a political leader, but also the lead priest of a form of occultic worship. [3]

King Nimrod, Queen Semiramis (Easter), and Tammuz (the “reincarnated” Nimrod)

Nimrod built and organized major cities. The Bible notes that these included Babel, Asshur, Nineveh and Calah (Genesis 10:10-12). If you know anything about ancient history, the mention of these places may send shivers up your spine. For these were cities of great, almost unimaginable practices and perversion.

When Nimrod eventually died, the Babylonian mystery religion in which he figured prominently continued on. His wife Queen Semiramis saw to that. Once he was dead, she deified him as the Sun-god. In various cultures he later became known as Baal, the Great Life Giver, the god of fire, Balaam, Bel, Molech, etc.

“Later, when this adulterous and idolatrous woman gave birth to an illegitimate son, she claimed that this son, Tammuz by name, was Nimrod reborn.”[4] Semiramis “claimed that her son was supernaturally conceived [no human father] and that he was the promised seed, the 'savior'” - promised by God in Genesis 3:15. “However, not only was the child worshipped, but the woman, the MOTHER, was also worshipped as much (or more) than the son!”[5] Nimrod deified as the god of the sun and father of creation. Semiramis became the goddess of the moon, fertility, etc, etc.

"In the old fables of the Mystery cults, their 'savior' Tammuz, was worshipped with various rites at the spring season. According to the legends, after he was slain [killed by a wild boar], he went into the underworld. But through the weeping of his mother… he mystically revived in the springing forth of the vegetation - in Spring! Each year a spring festival dramatically represented this supposed 'resurrection' from the underworld.[6]

Thus, a terrible false religion developed with its sun and moon worship, priests, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with their gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, and more. Frankly, the practices which went on were so horrible that it is not fitting for me to speak of them here.

Copyright, Eden Communications. All rights reserved. Artist: Paul S. Taylor. It was at Nimrod's city of Babel that a towering structure was first built in defiance of God as part of their satanic religion. Archaeological evidence indicates that this was a spectacular pyramid-shaped structure (ziggurat). The Bible tells us that at this time there was only one language in the world and that most of the world's population centered in this area and participated in this religion. It was evident to God that all mankind would soon degenerate into a level of evil that would parallel that of the pre-flood world. For humanity's sake, something had to be done to slow and frustrate this organization of an evil one world, tyrannical government.

God confused their language, so that they could not understand each other (Genesis 11:7). (This is the ultimate source of the world's many languages.) As a result, many people moved away from the area in groups according to their particular new language. Most, if not all, of these people carried their evil Sun-God-based religion with them. They continued to worship the stars and practice all the other ungodly rituals of their religion. Some also continued to build pyramids reminiscent of the Tower of Babel as part of this mystery religion. Today, we can still find remnants of these throughout the world (e.g., Iraq, South America, Central America, Egypt, and Burma).

Babel was the origin of an idolatrous system that swept the world. The Bible says of her, “Babylon… the nations drank her wine; Therefore the nations are deranged” (Jeremiah 51:7). The Bible often speaks of the satanic religions which came from her. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus "witnessed the Mystery religion and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which ALL systems of idolatry flowed.[7] Austen Layard said “that we have the united testimony of sacred and profane history that idolatry originated in the area of Babylonia - the most ancient of religious systems.”[8]

Basically, almost every vile, profane and idolatrous practice you can think of originated at Babel with Queen Semiramis, the Mother Goddess and Nimrod. As the people scattered from Babel with their different languages, they, of course, used different names for Nimrod (Tammuz) and Semiramis. Some called the Mother Goddess “ISHTAR” (originally pronounced “Easter”). [9] In other lands, she was called Eostre, Astarte, Ostera, and Eastre. Other names for Semiramis, the Mother Goddess include: Wife of Baal, Ashtaroth or Ashtoreth, and Queen of Heaven. [10] The Mother goddess was frequently worshipped as the goddess of fertility - and as a sort of Mother Nature and goddess of Spring and sexual love and birth. She was also worshipped as a mediator between god and man. Sexual orgies and temple prostitutes were often used in her worship and in attempting to gain her favor.
 
I'm not really sure what this is doing in Bible study, (a more appropriate forum would probably be Christian Talk and Advice but hey that's just my opinion) but here are my thoughts on the matter. As long as why children know why we celebrate Christmas and Easter then I really don't see what's wrong with them putting out cookies for Santa and looking for eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny.




That is until they get old enough to start answering questions and that's when we need to tell them the difference between fantasy and reality and a good way to do that is by telling them this,.. I don't know of any adults that believe in Santa Claus (the spirit not the person) or the Easter Bunny (and or the tooth fairy) who didn't when they were little kids,.. but I know of plenty of adults that believe in Jesus who didn't when they were younger. (myself included at one point in my life)




That was a quote from somebody else that I know by the way I just thought it was really good so I posted it on here. :) Btw, every year I still look forward to coloring my eggs. It actually symbolizes Christ's death and resurrection as well. :yes I went on an adult Easter egg hunt before but that didn't work out as well. It was worse than when I used to go on those hunts at my old, old church as a kid. I'm just not competitive enough. :shrug
 
I'm not really sure what this is doing in Bible study, (a more appropriate forum would probably be Christian Talk and Advice but hey that's just my opinion) but here are my thoughts on the matter. As long as why children know why we celebrate Christmas and Easter then I really don't see what's wrong with them putting out cookies for Santa and looking for eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny.

















i had a friend...she's an only child...her parents would give her a one-child easter egg hunt, in their house, because...she's not competitive, either. I think they kept doing that thru college, actually. :)
 
It actually symbolizes Christ's death and resurrection as well.

Actually this is a Bible study as God reveals to us in scripture the origins of occult practices.

How does coloring eggs symbolize Christ's death and resurrection?
 
Actually this is a Bible study as God reveals to us in scripture the origins of occult practices.

How does coloring eggs symbolize Christ's death and resurrection?





Easter eggs were originally dyed red to symbolize His blood that was shed and the egg shell represents the tomb, and cracking the egg represents the stone being rolled away and the tomb being empty.



 
I think its a matter of where your heart is. The pagan symbols or other gods that were made out of wood or stone are only important to people if they make them so by bowing to them, praying to them and praising them.
There is something in the old testament about people putting up a tree and decorating with gold and silver to worship Baal (?) so that's used to say the Christmas tree is evil.
I have never worshiped my tree though. I've always enjoyed have a real one with lights and some decoration because it smells good and brighten up the dark winter nights.
I consider it the same as cutting flowers from my garden to put in a vase indoors.
that is how i feel w dont put up a christmas treee nor hunt easter eggs i would never find them lol .. as long as kids are taught the truth
 
Actually this is a Bible study as God reveals to us in scripture the origins of occult practices.

How does coloring eggs symbolize Christ's death and resurrection?
its all in how you practice it the goth movement wears black are we goth if we wear black?
 
i think we are all more than knowledgeable to realize east has pagan roots

The roots of easter are irrelivent. It is what it means to us that matters, not what people long ago believed.

Imagine if paganism realy took off and yule was celebtated on 25/12 or fertility goddess at Easter. How would that affect your Christian worship? Would you celebrate Christmas and Easter, stressing the Christian meaning or not celebrate at all?
 
I forgot to mention that the thing with The Easter Bunny (as well as Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy) is that it's a myth not an actual lie. Unless you tell the child they're real of course.
 
...my biggest concern is Children know the truth about easter ....
You are perfectly correct. Children can be taught to know that Christ is God who became Man, died on the cross for their sins, and rose again to give them eternal life. There are some good children's bibles with good illustrations that can be used.

Since Easter (in spite of all the worldly trappings and nonsense about bunnies and Easter eggs) is indeed a remembrance and celebration of the resurrection, one would think that somewhere along the way they will hear about this, since most people (even nominal Christians) attend church on this day.
 
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