The Pagan Easter

[Deborah13]

I'm jumpin in on this waaay late, but...here goes...

...I read something by (of course) CS Lewis once. Lots of things in various forms of paganism overlap with Christianity. The resurrected fertility deity, die to be born again (the mystery cults), the one true God (ancient Egypt, for a time...I think there was also mention of an altar dedicated to great unkown God in the NT somewhere...may be wrong...). Anyway...

...the overlap doesn't invalidate Christianity, or Christian holidays. Lewis called these things "good dreams," sort of like a faint revelation of what was to come, since so much of paganism pre-dates both Christianity and Judaism (Abram, as I recall, was called out of a life in Mesopotamia).

To strip Christianity of all pagan influences is unnecessary, because Christ is the fulfillment, the realization, of all those pagan "good dreams."

And there you have it...my 2 cents...

Good thoughts.
Maybe consider that God's ways came first and pagans copied and corrupted them.
Abel made offerings to God, so did Noah, Job was upright before God somewhere in there....before Abram.

 

[gr8grace3]

How is adopting their rituals a positive influence?

Not being argumentative. Just asking.

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How do you justify the cross? It was pagan in its origin. In fact, this very god in question(Ishtar?) had a cross symbol inside of a sun.

 

[Gary]

Maybe consider that God's ways came first and pagans copied and corrupted them.

Is this your belief regarding Easter?

Just curious.

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[gr8grace3]

Good thoughts.
Maybe consider that God's ways came first and pagans copied and corrupted them.
Abel made offerings to God, so did Noah, Job was upright before God somewhere in there....before Abram.

IMO, Deb you just nailed it. All of this stuff was counterfeited from the original source in the first place.

 

[Gary]

How do you justify the cross? It was pagan in its origin. In fact, this very god in question(Ishtar?) had a cross symbol inside of a sun.

If you're referring to a physical cross, I don't.

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[Gary]

All of this stuff was counterfeited from the original source in the first place.

So Easter originated in the Christian community?

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[Gary]

No Gary. This dude, he was tired of working and wanted a day off and so he sat down and ate a chocolate bar, so he demanded there be a holiday, same time, each year, and that is how easter originated.

Gotcha.

 

[Deborah13]

So Easter originated in the Christian community?

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Resurrection Day
Maybe the Christians got the red dyed egg from the Jewish tradition? The egg, beitzah, on the sedar plate represents the offering brought to the temple on passover.

 

[gr8grace3]

So Easter originated in the Christian community?

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No, God makes a plan and gives it to man. Then man and satan counterfeit the original idea and corrupt it.

 

[Gary]

No, God makes a plan and gives it to man. Then man and satan counterfeit the original idea and corrupt it.

Can this original idea be found within the scriptures?

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[Christ_empowered]

I was thinking Romans 1:21 onwards

 

[turnorburn]

From history..
Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country.

http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/sect32.htm

tob

 

[jasonc]

so I guess the Hebrew month of tammuz is verboten as well.

 

[turnorburn]

Found tammuz here..

Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the "month of Tammuz"; in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, some time in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity--now far sunk in idolatry--in this as in so many other things, to shake hands.

tob

 

[Gary]

Can this original idea be found within the scriptures?.

I was thinking Romans 1:21 onwards

Good call.

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[reba]

I grew up in church.. a short step into a child's head.... . small Pentecostal churches.. I grew up thinking /believing 'the world" was trying to take over Ester ..just like it did Christmas.. Ester was some how related to Queen Esther.. 2 Christmas was all about Jesus's birthday and the world was pushing Santa ...

 

[jasonc]

the Hebrew month is called tammuz, it has nothing to do with the other cult worship of the god tammuz. that was my point! a name can be the same and not have anything to do with that.

so I could call the use of the cross in churches being pagan since that was used by rome an Babylon as both as human torture and also pagan rituals.

 

[gr8grace3]

Can this original idea be found within the scriptures?

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Yes. I figured it would show up eventually. Read the link that TOB posted in # 154. The whole Idea is a counterfeit from the original.

Egg floating on the waters that contained the world? ........................the Ark?

A dove that hatched the Egg?

Sacred "bread"?

A pomegranate that would initiate you into her "mysteries?"

And I quit after that. There is nothing new under the sun. It is always a counterfeit of the original.

 

[jeff77]

My parents always stressed the importance that Christmas was not about Santa and Easter not about easter egg hunts. They never said anything about it being pagan, I ask my mom about easter today and she had never heard of it being pagan. Perhaps the worst thing would be if people cared more about the easter bunny than the resurrection. On the flip side, some people might initially celebrate Easter just for the Easter bunny and culture because everyone else is doing it. Then decide to go to an Easter Sunday service and get saved.

 

[Gary]

Egg floating on the waters that contained the world? ........................the Ark?

From the article: (highlights mine)

The occult meaning of this mystic egg of Astarte, in one of its aspects (for it had a twofold significance), had reference to the ark during the time of the flood,


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