Skip to comments.
No, Easter Is Not Derived From an Ancient Pagan Holiday
Townhall.com ^
| April 10, 2020
| Ashley Herzog
Posted on 04/10/2020 3:01:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-80, 81-100, 101-120, 121-136 next last
To: gnarledmaw
The imagery of Lovecraft is pretty awesome, though the stories themselves are dreary. I prefer the imagery of Ctulthu in
www.userfriendly.org
81
posted on
04/14/2020 12:40:52 AM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Cronos
I guess
you don't believe YOUR OWN Catholic Encyclopedia.
As the article states;
Here is what the vaunted Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about Easter: “The English term, according to the Ven. Bede ( De temporum ratione , I, v) relates to Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring
that the Apostolic fathers [the apostles of Christ] do not mention it and that we first hear of it principally through the controversy of the Quartodecimans are purely accidental” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 224).
A “Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring” ?
Well, yes, but much, much more than merely a pagan goddess of the rising light of day and spring.
She was, in the demented minds of superstitious pagans, a goddess of sex and fertility; of fecundity and procreativity.
Her symbols were, most importantly, the egg, and, secondarily, the rabbit.
Of course, rabbits don’t lay eggs, but many a child does not learn this until a later age.
Bunnies are cuddly to little children.
So are tiny chickens, and gaily-colored eggs.
Concerning Easter eggs, the Catholic Encyclopedia somewhat reluctantly admits,
“The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring [and therefore directly related to SUN-worship], gravitated to Easter.
The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring
the Easter rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden.
The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility
In France, handball playing was one of the Easter amusements, found also in Germany
The ball may represent the sun, which is believed to take three leaps in rising on Easter morning” (ibid. p. 227).
Dozens of “quaint” customs derived from ancient superstitions and myths.
Most revolved around cupidity, and had suggestive fertility rites obvious in their execution.
The same source admits,
“On Easter Monday the women had a right to strike their husbands.
On Tuesday the men struck their wives, as in December the servants scolded their masters
In the northern parts of England the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman three times from the ground, receiving in payment a kiss or a silver sixpence.
In Neumark (Germany) on Easter day the men servants whip the maidservants with switches; on Monday the maids whip the men.
They secure their release with Easter eggs.
These customs are probably of pre-Christian origin.” (Ibid. p. 227).
These, and many other rituals, were pagan fertility rites, derived from worship of the sun.
For example, the same source says,
“The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter Mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from wood by friction; this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter
the church adopted the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the resurrection of Christ” (Ibid. p. 227, emphasis mine).
Note that admission carefully, for it lies at the very heart of the matter.
Now, notice the origin of the name “Easter.”
Hislop says,
“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 of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country.
That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar” ( The Two Babylons , Hislop, p. 103).
82
posted on
04/15/2020 8:45:18 AM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
To: Yosemitest
Did you even read that bub?
It says “according to Bede”
Perhaps English isn’t your first language, or you may not be able to read well.
Bede was the only one to note down a guess that there even was such a goddess. There is mo other attestation to that lady. There was no goddess called eostre
83
posted on
04/15/2020 8:59:08 AM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Yosemitest
As English isn’t your first language, and other languages aren’t known to you, let me also point out that it’s onoy in English and German that Pasqua is called Easter / Ostern.
Why don’t you, Bob, call it as the Church has always called it Pasqua or Paschal
84
posted on
04/15/2020 9:00:49 AM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Cronos
Read it yourself.
Here's the link
verifying the custom is PAGAN !
85
posted on
04/23/2020 8:11:26 AM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
To: Yosemitest
REad it - did YOU read it?
It states one source only for the existence of any “Eostre” - the guesses of Bede, who guessed it, 300 years after paganism died out in England
86
posted on
04/27/2020 12:19:02 AM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Cronos
Yes I read it.
Consider yourself warned about pagan rituals and
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
This deception has been know for a very long time. Yet ungodly people will cling to the customs of men, and NOT the Commandments of God.
Here is the quick, brief history of it, from the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edition, Vol. VIII, pp. 828-829): "There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers .. .. The first Christians [the original true Church] continued to observe the Jewish [that is, God's] festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it, of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb and the first fruits from the dead, continued to be observed.
"Although the observance of Easter was at a very early period in the practice of the Christian Church, a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the Christians of Jewish and those of Gentile descent, which led to a long and bitter controversy. With the Jewish Christians .. . the fast ended ... on the 14th day of the moon at evening ... without regard to the day of the week. The Gentile Christians on the other hand [that is, the beginning of the Roman Church, now sub- stituting pagan for true Christian doctrines] ... identified the first day of the week with the resurrection, and kept the preceding Friday as the commemoration of the cruci- fixion, irrespective of the day of the month.
"Generally speaking, the Western Churches [Catholic] kept Easter on the 1st day of the week, while the Eastern Churches [containing most of those who remained as part of the true Christian Church] followed the Jewish rule. [That is, observing Passover on the 14th of the first sacred month instead of the pagan Easter.]
"Polycarp, the disciple of John the Evangelist, and bishop of Smyrna, visited Rome in 159 to confer with Anicetus, the bishop of that see, on the subject, and urged the tradition which he had received from the apostles of observing the 14th day. Anicetus, however, declined. About forty years later (197), the question was discussed in a very different spirit between Victor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates, metropolitan of proconsular Asia [the ter- ritory of the Churches at Ephesus, Galatia, Antioch, Philadelphia, and all those mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 - the Churches established through the Apostle Paul]. That province was the only portion of Christendom which still adhered to the Jewish usage. Victor demanded that all should adopt the usage prevailing at Rome. This Polycrates firmly refused to agree to, and urged many weighty reasons to the contrary, whereupon Victor proceeded to excommunicate Polycrates and the Christians who continued the Eastern usage [that is, who continued in God's way, as Jesus, Peter, Paul, and all the early true Church had done]. He was, however, restrained [by other bishops] from actually proceeding to enforce the decree of excommunication ... and the Asiatic churches retained their usage unmolested. We find the Jewish [true Christian Passover] usage from time to time reasserting itself after this, but it never prevailed to any large extent.
"A final settlement of the dispute was one among the other reasons which led Constantine to summon the council at Nicaea in 325. At that time the Syrians and Antiochenes were the solitary champions of the observance of the 14th day. The decision of the council was unanimous that Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and on the same Sunday throughout the world, and that 'none hereafter should follow the blindness of the Jews.' [That is, in plain language, the Roman Church now decreed that none should be allowed to follow the ways of Christ - of the true Christian Church!]
". . . The few who afterwards separated themselves from the unity of the church [Roman Church], and continued to keep the 14th day, were named 'Quarto-deci- mani,' and the dispute itself is known as the 'Quarto- deciman controversy.' ''
Thus you see how the politically organized church at Rome grew to great size and power by adopting popular pagan practices and how she gradually stamped out the true teachings, doctrines, and practices of Christ and the true Church, so far as any collective practice is concerned.
87
posted on
05/01/2020 5:59:05 PM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
To: Yosemitest
nah, you’re reading fake news. Do you also believe that the Russians put President Trump in power?
Constantine was in Constantinople - not Rome for one.
Secondly, he didn’t make Christianity the state religion - that happened 60 years later.
Thirdly - that ain’t from the Encyclopedia Brittanica - you got fake news there bub
88
posted on
05/01/2020 10:05:51 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Yosemitest
oh and finally - you trying to say ishtar and easter are the same is hilarious and shows that you only know English.
Easter is the term for Pascal only in English and Ostern in German —> EVERY other language has pasqua/pasque/pascal/passover as the term (with the exception of polish which calls it wielkanoc - great night)
And Ishtar is pronounced ISH-tara.
Correlating two languages over 2000 years aparts (modern english only dates from the 1500s) is hilarious.
you really ought to read history and the bible
89
posted on
05/01/2020 10:08:10 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Cronos; Yosemitest
What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears the 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 of Ninevah, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments is Ishtar.
Source: The Two Babylons, by the Rev. Alexander Hislop, published 1943 and 1959 in the U.S. by Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, New Jersey, page 103.
The word Easter, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon, is a term derived from the pagan goddess of the dawn.
Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Revised and Updated, Copyright 1987, Robert C. Broderick, Editor, Thomas Nelson Publishers, page 177.
To: Cronos; Yosemitest
http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/easter.htm
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Jer 44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
To: Yosemitest
You are correct that Easter is pagan. No doubt about it. And, I appreciated reading the article you posted (Should Christians Observe Easter or the Passover?).
Some in the old testament worshiped the queen of heaven. And, many do to this day. Call it what they will. It doesn’t matter to God. Easter is pagan. Sola Scriptura is something Cronos knows nothing about and never will. Cronos will say “Nah, Bub, you’re wrong.” Pay no attention. You are correct.
Comment #93 Removed by Moderator
To: Yosemitest
To: Philsworld
Thanks for the references and the link.
95
posted on
05/03/2020 10:48:00 AM PDT
by
Yosemitest
(It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
To: Terry L Smith
Roman contemporary records of Jesus? He was put on trial, yet no legal of that time record exists, unless it is locked away in the basement in Rome”
Just to make it clear Jesus was not tried by the Romans, Pilate found that he did not violate Roman law, however he did send Jesus to the Cross.
Now if Pilate had known he was sending the Savior of the World to the Cross and not just a run of the mill Jewish dissenter I am sure he would have flooded the world with documents. But he seemed to be satisfied just washing his hands.
To: Philsworld
No one makes cakes to Astarte since 200 bc. You really should learn that just because something sound similar in two languages it ain’t the same
97
posted on
05/03/2020 12:39:51 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Philsworld
Easter is an English word.
The name for the feast is Pacal, pasqua.
English is a fairly new language.
And Eostre wasn’t anything more than speculation. There was no goddess by that name
98
posted on
05/03/2020 12:41:11 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
To: Cronos
The point you don’t seem to be able to grasp is that Easter comes from paganism and that’s a fact and re-branding it as a celebration of the day of the risen Lord doesn’t change anything. Others and myself have made that very clear. And you know very well that your church is built on baptized paganism. All of it is non biblical tradition and paganism.
To: Philsworld
The point you don’t seem to be able to grasp is that Pasqua comes from Passover and that’s a fact.
The death and resurrection of Jesus doesn’t come from paganism,
You may reject christ and consider Christianity pagan, but you are historically, factually and theologically wrong
100
posted on
05/03/2020 10:53:03 PM PDT
by
Cronos
(Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-80, 81-100, 101-120, 121-136 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson