Posted on 04/23/2011 10:25:07 AM PDT by patlin
As we come to the final days of Passover when we celebrate the Risen Christ and as I journey into a deeper study of the Christian faith, I find myself learning many eye opening truths that were never taught to me by my church leaders since youth. Truths that I did not teach my children & have not taught grandchildren because I failed to explore Christian doctrine outside of the church teachings.
For the 1st time in my life, I did not decorate for the Christmas season last December & for the 1st time, I am not decorating nor celebrating an Easter,"Estore", season either. Why? Well, let's start with the words of Martin Luther ...
"The world at the present time is sagaciously discussing how to quell the controversy and strife over doctrine and faith, and how to effect a compromise between the Church and the Papacy. Let the learned, the wise, it is said, bishops, emperor and princes, arbitrate. Each side can easily yield something, and it is better to concede some things which can be construed according to individual interpretation, than that so much persecution, bloodshed, war, and terrible, endless dissension and destruction be permitted.
"Here is lack of understanding, for understanding proves by the Word that such patchwork is not according to God's will, but that doctrine, faith and worship must be preserved pure and unadulterated; there must be no mingling with human nonsense, human opinions or wisdom." "Estore" is a sun goddess worshipped by the pagans during the spring equinox. Bunnies & eggs are her signs of the fertility of mother earth. So the questions begged to be answered are, why did the Roman Catholic Papacy use the name of a pagan god to define one of Christianity's most important events? Why are Christians all over the globe today still celebrating this pagan event at home & in the Church when God rebuled these pagan religious traditions?
When Judeo-Christian monks worked mendaciously to gain followers by destroying pagan history and defaming the elder gods as demons, they had no weapons to deface the innocence of Eostre. Instead, they adopted her holiday and attempted to graft their values onto it. As the Judeo-Christians could offer nothing better, they simply claimed what existed as their own, changed the story slightly, and then tried to cover up and break people's connection to the past.
"Ostara, Eostre seems therefore to have been a divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted to the resurrection-day of the christian's God. - Jacob Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology" 2 Corinthians 6: 14-16 tells us ...
"Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people." The resurrection is about baptism, the immersion into the waters, as a sign of renewel & rebirth the life of Christ. The Bible no where speaks of bunnies & eggs. The Lord told us that many will come, but few will enter His gates ...
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" When the Pilgrims first settled in American, these pagan customs were banned. These celebrations were deemed unlawful. The Christian Pligrims had fled Europe for a land in which they could establish Christian communites based on the biblical teaching of Jesus Christ. They wished to shred every heresy & pagan doctrine forced upon them by the Roman Catholic Papacy & the English Church who had become nothing more than Religious Political & Military entities that ruled with an iron fist & who kept their people under oppression. In Constantine's plight to rid the world of paganism, instead of banishing these pagan cutoms, he adopted them as Christian theocracy thinking that he could rid the worls of them by giving them a Christian definition that had no roots in Biblical Christianity. In 2 Corinthians 6: 17, we here this command...
" Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord."AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you" Now, what does this say of modern Christianity when these so-called Christians still cling to pagan traitiditions? It says that paganism is alive and well in the churches of all religions across the globe. The message it sends to me is that Christian churches must cling fast to pagan traditions in order to fill the pews so that they can keep their political & religious military alive. So that they can keep their monetary coffers filled to the brim.
If the Christian churches wished to truly celebrate Passover & Eternal Life through the resurrection of Christ, a more befitting celebration would be to usher in a season of global Baptism. A season of renewl & rebirth through cleansing. The washing away of the old so that one may arise with the new.
How glorious a sight would that be, to see thousands Baptized the same way they did during the times of Christ. This is what Passover & Pentecost is about. Isn't it about time Christians start standing for the truth instead of continuing to partake in pagan customs? The Scriptures give us the rule in no uncertain terms in Acts 5: 29 ...
'We must obey God rather than men' So, as you gather tomorrow with family & friends to celebrate, ask yourselves ... what are you celebrating & how are you celebrating it?
INteresting link - thanks for sharing.
It certainly is not the pagan earth worshipers
Free Republic needs a "like" button.
Generally I don't like such blunt disparagement of ignorant morons, but this is a classic anti-Catholic party-pooper argument advanced by those who think that history stopped around 100 AD and kicked back up in 1517.
It's truly astounding!
And the new anti-Catholic lexicon includes the word"hypocrisy" meaning apparent contradiction pertaining to something I not only don't know but am not interested in learning about.
The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to Baptism as enlightenment. We could stand a little light around here.
You and Linda Melin are right. Don’t let them Bamboozle you.
> Wasn’t Santa some kind of pagan god or something in the past and now he is a jolly old fat man.
Hardly. It is the anglicization of Saint Nicholaus, in German pronounced Sankt Nicklaus, which kind of sounds like
Sankt-Ni klaus
or “Santa Claus”. Nicholaus was a priest who started a tradition of giving gifts to poor children & orphans. Nothing pagan about the origins of Santa Claus, only in what we have done to his memory in the meantime.
When our children were old enough to understand, we explained that Santa did live (as Nicholaus), and continues to live in our hearts, when we maintain the spirit of giving.
So the Catholics don’t & never have referred to the season of Passover as the “Easter Season” There is NO USE of the term “EASTER” in ANY Catholic Church celebration?
News to me since I spent much of my youth sitting in the pews of a Catholic church.
And so your point is to throw mud on the Resurrection? Freeper Christians imho, post against the increase in commercialism attached to these days.
Once again - answer the mail - are you worshiping a pagan goddess? Secondly - Christians didn't "take over the name" of the pagan festival - read the history better, but the solar/lunar calendar date was fixed - just so happened to coincide with the pagan festival.
But then are you going to go nuclear over pagan names for holi (holy) days why are you stopping short - that we use the names for the days of the week? Heaven forbid we use the word "Sunday" for Christianity's primary day of worship. Heaven forbid we use the names of the months on our calendar - rename them ALL.
It tends to be hypocritical to drag out the whole paganism corrupted Christianity meme when you fail to address the whole picture. Christians will still be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the empty tomb as the centerpiece - not the Cadbury bunny or a multi-breasted pagan goddess.
Don't eat meat offered to idols then - 1 Cor 8:1-8
That sums it up nicely.
I hope you’re not a hyporcite. You see, today is Saturday. It’s named after the god Saturn. So, what day is it for you? Do I even need to explain to you the origins of Tuesday or Thursday and the other days?
What about the month of “May”? Like goddess worship do you?
Are you married? Do you wear a wedding ring? Pagan. Did you exchange vows with your spouse in public religious ceremony? Pagan. Did your wife carry a bouquet of flowers? Pagan.
Again, I sure how you’re not a hypocrite. Let me know when you give up all those things so you avoid being a hypocrite.
The need to learn to relax a little, like you said a chocolate bunny won't hurt anything and every sane Church I know is far more directed towards the Resurrection of Christ than an egg hunt, that just keeps the kiddies smiling and brings folks together.
Ya know, fellowship.
He told the Israelites that. Christians were given other guidance - 1 Cor 8 for starters. Otherwise, you better pack up your things and find an isolated island or something to separate your self from the world.
You can not rid evil if you use its name & pretend it has a different meaning. Period. Because by keeping the name, you keep the essence of its original definition alive.
I can't rid the world of any evil - that was accomplished at the cross. Then too, by your definition we should be taking our scissors to the dictionary as well
The Lord did not rise at sunrise, he had already risen so the use of Estore as a symbol of Christ rising is just plain hypocritical & is nothing but heresy.
Once again, you are displaying ignorance of both the use of 'easter' and the resurrection. Were you there? Easter is just a day on the calendar.
btw - the early Christians did a lot of taking existing words and changing their meaning - or didn't you know that either?
LOL, that’s my line.
You wrote:
“So the Catholics don’t & never have referred to the season of Passover as the “Easter Season” There is NO USE of the term “EASTER” in ANY Catholic Church celebration?”
why shouldn’t there be use of the commonly accepted name? Today is SATURN’S DAY. Saturn was a pagan god. What do you call today? Are you a hypocrite?
“News to me since I spent much of my youth sitting in the pews of a Catholic church.”
But apparently not learning to think clearly like the rest of us.
Again, today is SATURN’S DAY. What do you call it?
I look around me during the Triduum and I see happy tears that while our sin was SO dreadful that it required this death, yet God was willing to pay the price, and turned the universe upside down doing so, leading captivity captive.
But in some corner is a tightly corsetted, high-collared, lady of a certain age with her hair pulled back so tightly she cannot close her eyes, telling us, okay, you may for a few seconds allow a smile to play about your lips, but don't let me see any actual joy or eased hearts. No merriment now!
Instead, be paranoid. God may be strong enough to make death the way to life, but His mighty path which Psalm 77 says is laid through the Waters is blocked by chocolate bunnies and peeps. The God whose Son could have summoned ten legions of angels runs like a scared old lady from the mouse of mirth.
The dour and sour iconoclasts think it a dreadful miscalculation on God's part to have had Passover in the spring (in the northern hemisphere) and Easter in Passover, because somebody might make an association between the gift of new life in spring and the gift of new life in Christ. Another miscalculation of God's these people suggest, was to allow our Lord to be crucified in a place where there was a garden! What COULD He have been THINKING?
Didn't he realize that the Holy Spirit runs like a scared rabbit (if you'll pardon the mention of that carnal species) at the mere THOUGHT of a personification of Primavera?
What a fearful and crabbed religion these iconoclasts have! I follow the Lord Jesus Christ, VICTOR and CONQUEROR of DEATH and of gloom! All creation serves Him. HE is my gracious Lord, not this fearful, dainty thing who starts at earthworms.
You use an old covenant doctrine as if it is the new doctrine & you misconstrue the Gospel lesson which was not to force new Jewish Christians to partake in a custom that may effect them falling away into a life of unfettered sin.
Mud on the Resurrection?
Hardly, you obviously didn’t read the last few paragraphs of the article:
If the Christian churches wished to truly celebrate Passover & Eternal Life through the resurrection of Christ, a more befitting celebration would be to usher in a season of global Baptism. A season of renewal & rebirth through cleansing. The washing away of the old so that one may arise with the new.
How glorious a sight would that be, to see thousands Baptized the same way they did during the times of Christ. This is what Passover & Pentecost is about. Isn't it about time Christians start standing for the truth instead of continuing to partake in pagan customs?
thank you!
What is it with these new age Christian types. Toss some odd unrelated unproven facts around or have some "prophet" babble some nonsense and all the sudden they think 2000 years of Christian writing and study is bupkis, and they found the freaking holy grail of truth 10s of millions missed.
Funny thing is they are usually the same ones tossed aside every so often when the Christan outliers try and stir up things.
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