Easter Eggs? No, "Spring Spheres".

[Anti Federalist]

L:collins:L...?



Seattle school renames Easter eggs 'Spring Spheres'

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=459668

A sophomore at a local private high school thinks an effort to make Easter politically correct is ridiculous.
Jessica, 16, told KIRO Radio's Dori Monson Show that a week before spring break, the students commit to a week-long community service project. She decided to volunteer in a third grade class at a public school, which she would like to remain nameless.

"At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that," Jessica said.

She was concerned how the teacher might react to the eggs after of a meeting earlier in the week where she learned about "their abstract behavior rules."

"I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay," Jessica explained. "She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat 'spring spheres.' I couldn't call them Easter eggs."

Rather than question the decision, Jessica opted to "roll with it." But the third graders had other ideas.

"When I took them out of the bag, the teacher said, 'Oh look, spring spheres' and all the kids were like 'Wow, Easter eggs.' So they knew," Jessica said.

The Seattle elementary school isn't the only government organization using spring over Easter. The city's parks department has removed Easter from all of its advertised egg hunts.

[ihsv]

:rolleyes:

[Agorism]

Sounds New Age.

[jclay2]

Slavery is freedom....War is Peace!

Political correctness never ceases to amaze me.

[Legend1104]

Yeah that is like at the school I teach at. On the calendar for next year instead of Easter Break it is called, "Spring Breather."

I live in the south which makes this a little unusual because we are usually one of the last to become politically correct in this nation.

[pcosmar]

http://unchealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/egg.jpg
^^^
Is not a sphere.

This is a sphere.
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/3/38/Sphere-wireframe.png/240px-Sphere-wireframe.png

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.

[LibertyRevolution]

http://unchealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/egg.jpg
^^^
Is not a sphere.

This is a sphere.
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/3/38/Sphere-wireframe.png/240px-Sphere-wireframe.png

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.


I loled, +rep

[Romulus]

good lord... this is too crazy.

[Vessol]

Sounds New Age.

Easter is pagan enough already.

This is just too silly though.

[ItsTime]

Teachers and the administration should be fired for not knowing what a sphere is.

[Krugerrand]

http://unchealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/egg.jpg
^^^
Is not a sphere.

This is a sphere.
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/3/38/Sphere-wireframe.png/240px-Sphere-wireframe.png

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.

Our children may fail geometry - but at least nobody graduates offended.

[Justinjj1]

Good, I'm glad they renamed them. Nothing about the "Easter" bunny or colored eggs derives from Christianity, nor will you find them mentioned in the Bible. Christians stole that holiday and its traditions from the pagans.

Calling them spheres is dumb, but that's probably not why most people are upset by this article.

[fisharmor]

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.

I actually don't, anymore.

[Bossobass]

Word Origin & History

Easter
O.E. Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre ), from P.Gmc. *Austron, a goddess of fertility and sunrise whose feast was celebrated at the spring equinox, from *austra-, from PIE *aus- "to shine" (especially of the dawn).


As·tar·te   
[a-stahr-tee] Show IPA
–noun
1.
an ancient Semitic deity, goddess of fertility and reproduction worshiped by the Phoenicians and Canaanites.

Rabbits (insert playboy logo) and eggs, anyone?

Spring Spheres indeed.

I think they should have dildo hunts, scarifice the one who finds the biggest dildo and be done with the charade.

Bosso

[moostraks]

Good, I'm glad they renamed them. Nothing about the "Easter" bunny or colored eggs derives from Christianity, nor will you find them mentioned in the Bible. Christians stole that holiday and its traditions from the pagans.

Calling them spheres is dumb, but that's probably not why most people are upset by this article.

Some people find commonality in their beliefs and see many pagan beliefs as a foundation stone. When seekers delve into understanding truths and one studies various religions one may come to a fuller understanding of their meaning within their own belief system. The division and anger is a result of tribalism and counter productive when one is seeking spiritual truths. A belief in a higher power at some point must through maturity acknowledge the capacity for a higher power to transcend cultures and the limitations made by man.

As for the word games, by sanitizing terms the state removes everyone's identity to the object in question and defines the matter as they see fit. Government schools provide government religious views.

[Krugerrand]

Rabbits (insert playboy logo) and eggs, anyone?

Spring Spheres indeed.

I think they should have dildo hunts, scarifice the one who finds the biggest dildo and be done with the charade.

Bosso

http://teacherseducation.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/hobbes_yikes.thumbnail.gif

[Jerkface]

You know, if they wish to be PC, fine. But they could have gone about it in a more sensible way. Spring Sphere sounds retarded.I wonder if anyone suggested the more practical term "Spring Egg"?

[moostraks]

Rabbits (insert playboy logo) and eggs, anyone?

Spring Spheres indeed.

I think they should have dildo hunts, scarifice the one who finds the biggest dildo and be done with the charade.

Bosso

"The dyeing of Easter eggs is a common practice and tradition in all Orthodox countries on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. The egg was a symbol of life in antiquity; the color of the Easter egg symbolises crucified and resurrected Christ’s life-giving blood.

According to the Romanian tradition, the Holy Mother of God had placed a basket full of eggs at the feet of the crucified Jesus, which turned red from the blood dripping from His wounds. The women in Romania would bring one of the eggs to church to be blessed by the priest. According to popular tradition, a blessed egg can remain unspoiled the entire year until next Easter. "

http://www.ellopos.com/blog/?p=189

[Roxi]

Hey they could have called them "Lucifer's testicles"

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/lt2.jpg

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/eastereggs.html :D

[Jerkface]

http://unchealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/egg.jpg
^^^
Is not a sphere.

This is a sphere.
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/3/38/Sphere-wireframe.png/240px-Sphere-wireframe.png

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.

Spring Ovate. Otherwise known as... an egg.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

But the third graders had other ideas.

"When I took them out of the bag, the teacher said, 'Oh look, spring spheres' and all the kids were like 'Wow, Easter eggs.' So they knew," Jessica said.

At least the kids have sense even if their teachers do not.

[Krugerrand]

At least the kids have sense even if their teachers do not.

Don't worry. They're young, yet. It should be drummed out of them by the time they graduate.

[BlackTerrel]

Spring Spheres is literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

They are really insulting our intelligence now.

[BamaAla]

Don't worry. They're young, yet. It should be drummed out of them by the time they graduate.

Indeed. The teachers end up spending more time with the kids than their parents do, so give them 9 more years of indoctrination and they'll be good little robots.

[jclay2]

Indeed. The teachers end up spending more time with the kids than their parents do, so give them 9 more years of indoctrination and they'll be good little robots.

sad...but true. Be a patriot and home school your kids if you can.

[Vessol]

Spring Spheres is literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

They are really insulting our intelligence now.

Honestly I think using 'sphere' is pretty unfair to all the other shapes out there. Why can't there be spring triangles or spring tesseracts? Shouldn't all shapes be equally represented?

I, as a Tesseractist, am offended by their use of the word sphere!

[axiomata]

The worst part? These poor kids will now thinking any rounded egg-shaped 3D form is a sphere. All for a little alliteration. The teacher must be an English major.

[Sola_Fide]

sad...but true. Be a patriot and home school your kids if you can.

+1776

True patriots try everything possible to keep their children away from statist indoctrinators.

[NewRightLibertarian]

It's not just a war on Christmas anymore, it's Easter now too! Is anything sacred?

[Carehn]

should have called them chicken fetuses.

[GunnyFreedom]

"The dyeing of Easter eggs is a common practice and tradition in all Orthodox countries on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. The egg was a symbol of life in antiquity; the color of the Easter egg symbolises crucified and resurrected Christ’s life-giving blood.

According to the Romanian tradition, the Holy Mother of God had placed a basket full of eggs at the feet of the crucified Jesus, which turned red from the blood dripping from His wounds. The women in Romania would bring one of the eggs to church to be blessed by the priest. According to popular tradition, a blessed egg can remain unspoiled the entire year until next Easter. "

http://www.ellopos.com/blog/?p=189

That's revisionist though - Oestra is the origin of Easter, bunnies, painted eggs, fertility rites, orgies and all. The Church should be keeping the Passover and Firstfruits as God commanded. I've already accepted that non Hebrew-Roots Christians will vehemently disagree with that and often as not excoriate me for the position...I guess they will not understand until He opens their eyes to it directly, or educates them at the Bema Seat. Mainstream Christians cling to this pagan ritual more strongly than Kristolian Neocons cling to interventionist wars, so I've given up on the educational part. Leave the info as we are required and walk away. Anything else is destructive.

[Krugerrand]

That's revisionist though - Oestra is the origin of Easter, bunnies, painted eggs, fertility rites, orgies and all. The Church should be keeping the Passover and Firstfruits as God commanded. I've already accepted that non Hebrew-Roots Christians will vehemently disagree with that and often as not excoriate me for the position...I guess they will not understand until He opens their eyes to it directly, or educates them at the Bema Seat. Mainstream Christians cling to this pagan ritual more strongly than Kristolian Neocons cling to interventionist wars, so I've given up on the educational part. Leave the info as we are required and walk away. Anything else is destructive.

My understanding of the ancient Hebrew people is they were generally nomadic in nature. As such, good bit of their stories and customs were taken from those around them and were corrective in nature. IE - A creation story modified or adjusted to reflect God, as they understood, to be more accurate. (God is good. Creation is good.) This would make a Christian practice of modifying/correcting pagan customs consistent with their ancient Hebrew traditions. IE - Your new life rituals are should be directed to celebrating new life in the Resurrection.

It's been a long time since I've hit a text book on the subject ... but I'm remembering that the Firstfruits offerings that you've mentioned may be one of those corrective examples.

[Madly_Sane]

This is pathetic and it just shows you how picky humans are. I hold little hope for humanity anymore.
Wonder what they'll change Halloween to, since it can be interpreted as either promoting either satanism or catholicism.

[moostraks]

That's revisionist though - Oestra is the origin of Easter, bunnies, painted eggs, fertility rites, orgies and all. The Church should be keeping the Passover and Firstfruits as God commanded. I've already accepted that non Hebrew-Roots Christians will vehemently disagree with that and often as not excoriate me for the position...I guess they will not understand until He opens their eyes to it directly, or educates them at the Bema Seat. Mainstream Christians cling to this pagan ritual more strongly than Kristolian Neocons cling to interventionist wars, so I've given up on the educational part. Leave the info as we are required and walk away. Anything else is destructive.

Way to have a dialog by stating basically your opinion is right and anyone who disagrees with you is clinging to misconceptions-end of story.No one knows everything about another person and I don't believe anyone has the ability to know everything about God, considering He is supposed to be a higher power.

Religion is a framework of a series of traditions created by man through the inspiration of a higher power to try to bridge the chasm. I love when people spit on tradition as irrelevant to the modern beliefs. Considering Eastern Orthodox hold themselves as the tradition keepers of the Church I usually look into their traditions to understand where current fads descended. It doesn't mean Eastern Orthodox are perfect but closer to the source due to the nature of regard they have for tradition.

When young children ask their parents questions, answers are usually very basic. When they grow the answers become more complex but it doesn't mean their parents lied to them, they just explained in a framework within which the young child could grasp the answer. If as they grow older there is no oversight some ideas will become perverted. It doesn't mean if you search deep down there isn't some kernel of truth.

There is nothing wrong with fertility and a celebration of life, but orgies are a debasement of the concept of being thankful for life. The way some modern Christians act it is as if they have no belief that God was in the world until the modern era and He sure didn't converse with anyone until their sect came into creation. I try not to be so arrogant in my belief of a higher power as to assume I know all the answers and He will teach others as I demand...

[Krugerrand]

sad...but true. Be a patriot and home school your kids if you can.

This is where the liberty types should be able to the the religious right on their side. This should help make clear to the religious right why they should not want public schools/ government teaching their children. They should join the liberty types in fighting against all funding for government schooling.

[Bossobass]

Way to have a dialog by stating basically your opinion is right and anyone who disagrees with you is clinging to misconceptions-end of story.No one knows everything about another person and I don't believe anyone has the ability to know everything about God, considering He is supposed to be a higher power.

Religion is a framework of a series of traditions created by man through the inspiration of a higher power to try to bridge the chasm. I love when people spit on tradition as irrelevant to the modern beliefs. Considering Eastern Orthodox hold themselves as the tradition keepers of the Church I usually look into their traditions to understand where current fads descended. It doesn't mean Eastern Orthodox are perfect but closer to the source due to the nature of regard they have for tradition.

When young children ask their parents questions, answers are usually very basic. When they grow the answers become more complex but it doesn't mean their parents lied to them, they just explained in a framework within which the young child could grasp the answer. If as they grow older there is no oversight some ideas will become perverted. It doesn't mean if you search deep down there isn't some kernel of truth.

There is nothing wrong with fertility and a celebration of life, but orgies are a debasement of the concept of being thankful for life. The way some modern Christians act it is as if they have no belief that God was in the world until the modern era and He sure didn't converse with anyone until their sect came into creation. I try not to be so arrogant in my belief of a higher power as to assume I know all the answers and He will teach others as I demand...

Way to have a dialog by dismissing a post using the "No one knows the truth, but I know the truth" argument.

Confusing children with age-old pagan ritualistic fairy tales is exactly how traditions of men are perpetuated. Since false worship is, well, false, then if a parent (assuming a professed Christian parent) answers a child's questions by telling him there is an Easter bunny that delivers eggs, that parent has lied through his teeth and endangered his child.

There's everything wrong with a professed Christian blindly participating in "fertility and a celebration of life" when it's roots are in false worship.

This one is a no-brainer to any reader of the Bible. To "know everything" about God is completely irrelevant to knowing exactly where He stands on anyone who worships the creation instead of the Creator.

Easter has its roots in the ancient Chaldeans who worshipped Astarte (or Ishtar, or Ashtoreth), a fertility goddess that found its way into modern holidays through the empirical "Christianizing" of various pagan rites in ancient Rome.

False worship, far from being adopted by ancient Israel, is instead always condemned and is an offense that carried the death penalty.

What sane Christian would not see that rabbits and eggs are not found anywhere in the Bible and have only to do with fertility? What cursory study of the subject won't reveal the simple truth as to what these symbols represent and how far back in human history they predate Christ by and from what false religious traditions they stem? What simple use of the many Bible concordances and study aids written over the centuries won't reveal the condemnation by God of anyone who participates in these rituals, much less attempts to "Christianize" them?

Bosso

[Deborah K]

This is what you get when you put your children in Government Indoctrination Centers (GICs). Cali just passed a law forcing GICs to teach Gay history. Nice. As if sexual preference is a topic that belongs in an academic setting.

[GunnyFreedom]

Way to have a dialog by dismissing a post using the "No one knows the truth, but I know the truth" argument.

Confusing children with age-old pagan ritualistic fairy tales is exactly how traditions of men are perpetuated. Since false worship is, well, false, then if a parent (assuming a professed Christian parent) answers a child's questions by telling him there is an Easter bunny that delivers eggs, that parent has lied through his teeth and endangered his child.

There's everything wrong with a professed Christian blindly participating in "fertility and a celebration of life" when it's roots are in false worship.

This one is a no-brainer to any reader of the Bible. To "know everything" about God is completely irrelevant to knowing exactly where He stands on anyone who worships the creation instead of the Creator.

Easter has its roots in the ancient Chaldeans who worshipped Astarte (or Ishtar, or Ashtoreth), a fertility goddess that found its way into modern holidays through the empirical "Christianizing" of various pagan rites in ancient Rome.

False worship, far from being adopted by ancient Israel, is instead always condemned and is an offense that carried the death penalty.

What sane Christian would not see that rabbits and eggs are not found anywhere in the Bible and have only to do with fertility? What cursory study of the subject won't reveal the simple truth as to what these symbols represent and how far back in human history they predate Christ by and from what false religious traditions they stem? What simple use of the many Bible concordances and study aids written over the centuries won't reveal the condemnation by God of anyone who participates in these rituals, much less attempts to "Christianize" them?

Bosso

Good call. Constantine was bent on an effort to outwardly label his empire as 'Christian' while leaving the people to inwardly remain unchanged. This, of course, is in direct opposition to the fundamental message of the Gospels. On another note, oddly enough, the faith traditions of aboriginal Americans (ie "American Indians") have way, WAY more in common with the God of the Bible than do the Chaldean and Mithraen practices that have attached themselves to the modern Church, enough to lead me to believe that those Native Americans were still connected at the very least to the Noachide structures once revealed to man, and quite possibly that the "Great Spirit" may be homologous with the Holy Spirit.

As to Moosetraks excoriation, I've been fighting this battle for over 14 years now, and after literally thousands of these debates, maybe 2 or 3 people did not part company with a hardened heart and in worse condition than when the conversation started. Clearly the awakening is not yet, and all I can do is plant a seed and try not to do further damage than the leaven has already done. The outrage expressed over a simple statement is exactly what I have come to expect whenever discussing the subject, and generally the more 'Christian' the person, the deeper the outrage.

You are exactly right Bosso, the Hebrews never incorporated external belief structures, nor did they 'correct and assimilate' other faith traditions. The penalty in that universe for trying to do so was death by stoning. Revisionist history is no better in religion than it is in politics.

[moostraks]

Way to have a dialog by dismissing a post using the "No one knows the truth, but I know the truth" argument.

:confused: No, I have an opinion and gave my reasoning why. Guess I had to write IMO again because people here are too reflexive and can't figure that one out on their own when someone says they don't proclaim to speak for someone else.:rolleyes:(Which is different from the person you are arguing for who believes that his way is the authority on the issue and naysayers will hear when his god tells us as he believes the truth.)



Confusing children with age-old pagan ritualistic fairy tales is exactly how traditions of men are perpetuated. Since false worship is, well, false, then if a parent (assuming a professed Christian parent) answers a child's questions by telling him there is an Easter bunny that delivers eggs, that parent has lied through his teeth and endangered his child.

There's everything wrong with a professed Christian blindly participating in "fertility and a celebration of life" when it's roots are in false worship.

This one is a no-brainer to any reader of the Bible. To "know everything" about God is completely irrelevant to knowing exactly where He stands on anyone who worships the creation instead of the Creator.

Easter has its roots in the ancient Chaldeans who worshipped Astarte (or Ishtar, or Ashtoreth), a fertility goddess that found its way into modern holidays through the empirical "Christianizing" of various pagan rites in ancient Rome.

False worship, far from being adopted by ancient Israel, is instead always condemned and is an offense that carried the death penalty.

What sane Christian would not see that rabbits and eggs are not found anywhere in the Bible and have only to do with fertility? What cursory study of the subject won't reveal the simple truth as to what these symbols represent and how far back in human history they predate Christ by and from what false religious traditions they stem? What simple use of the many Bible concordances and study aids written over the centuries won't reveal the condemnation by God of anyone who participates in these rituals, much less attempts to "Christianize" them?

Bosso

I gave you the reference of the tradition taken by the Church as edification for how the egg issue came to be passed into the various sects. You are displaying the tribalism I referred to with jealous regard that relays an attitude that your god wasn't present in the lives of his creation from the beginning. He exists only as you see fit to define him and only for those who you see as favored for having read the text that came about long after these unimportant, useless souls lived. Apparently it escaped you when I wrote that the extension of what it descended into became a perversion of what could have been God reaching early man in a means relaying spiritual truths but not at a higher level of understanding people grasp now.

How many references are there in the Bible that recount a period of knowledge followed by a period of regression to man's baser nature? Man perverts spiritual truths. However I give credence to the probability that man's conception of life renewed in an agrarian society wouldn't be far off the mark of something similar to seeing the re-greening and fertility as is displayed on the farm. Something basic for basic man becomes the foundation for understanding Jesus' sacrifice which should in turn cause us to reflect on being more like Him all the while being thankful for what has/will be sacrificed for ourselves. (For agrarian man this would be the animals and greens that will then see them through the next winter)

Don't make assumptions as to what traditions I relay to my family. You don't know me. As for celebrating Spring as a renewal of life and ones faith through sacrifice as Jesus did, well that there is just awful. I guess I shouldn't fill my family's heads full of such horrible fairy tales.:) We don't do easter bunnies here, nor tooth fairies, nor santa claus, so don't you worry. I am however perfectly open to discussing with them the traditions passed down through the ages and where they get there ideas to mass market crap in stores. My children are raised as followers of Jesus, fwiw.

[TER]

It is certain that one will universally find pagan antecedents to Christianity no matter where he might look. This is not a challenge to the faith but rather a confirmation of it. God has not left us alone in this world but rather, even from the beginning of history has provided glimpses of the truth and has prepared the world for the coming of the Truth. These pre-Christian ideas are simply the manifestations of the Truth which are seen incompletely and without proper context. They are therefore understood in error and lead to the pagan rituals and ideas that have similarities to Christianity. But with the coming of Christ, those who sat in darkness have been given the light and those former urges towards the truth can be seen in their proper context and in the proper light - that light is, of course, the Light of Christ which enlightens the world. Christianity only confirms these formers hints of Truth and the existence of these pagan rituals in the light of Christianity only serve to confirm that Christianity is the full and complete expression of that Truth.

BTW, in Eastern Orthodox, the Feast of the Resurrection has always been called 'Pascha' which is a transliteration of the Hebrew word pesach , both words meaning Passover.

The use of the term 'Easter' is a relatively new phenomenon and almost exclusively to the Anglo-Saxon language.

[TER]

A basic confession of the early (as well as many later) Fathers is namely, that Christ as Logos is the foundation of all that is logikos. To translate logos for the moment as 'truth', the confession that the Truth created the world according to His own truth, infusing it with truth (the 'logos spermatikos' of St Justin, 'the seed of Truth'), means that all who approach truth are indeed approaching Truth: Christ. As the Fathers took pains to show, what is unique about the Church is not that it is the sole place where truth is found, but that it is the sole place where Truth is known fully, completely, utterly. And while certain practices within which the truth was known in part prior to the incarnation are no longer healthy or tolerable, the Fathers tended to show a reverent respect for them as part of the history which God uses and redeems in Christ.

[TER]

Therefore we, before Him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending
For the newer rite is here.
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear.
-St. Thomas Aquinas hymn on the Eucharist

The Fathers of the Church have traditionally seen the religions that went before Christ came as revelations of specks of the Truth of Christ – what Thomas Aquinas referred to as “types and shadows” in the hymn quoted above. They were obviously not revealed in their fullness, because man was not yet ready for that but they were still elements of the Truth which were to be fulfilled when the fullness of Truth came: Christ Himself.

Therefore, when we look at the Old Testament, we see God’s interaction with His chosen people, the Jews. With them, He developed a covenantal relationship in a way that He didn’t with other peoples, and so we have a record of His saving works throughout Jewish history, in which we see “types and shadows” of the fullness that was to come with Christ.

In the Western Rite, when the faithful praise God for the Holy Eucharist and the Mysteries of His Body and Blood, there is an ancient hymn written for the feast which speaks of some of these “types”, these specks of the Truth that were to be fulfilled in Christ:


Lo! The new King’s Table gracing,
this new Passover of blessing
hath fulfilled the elder rite.

Now the new the old effaceth,
Truth revealed the shadow chaseth,
day is breaking on the night.

Truth the ancient types fulfilling:
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Paschal Lamb, its life-blood spilling,
Manna sent in agest past.

The manna feeding God’s pilgrims in the wilderness is seen as a type of the Body of Christ. Similarly, Isaac being Sacrificed by a willing and obedient Abraham is seen as a type of Christ’s Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross. The Passover Lamb that was to save the Israelites from the Egyptian death is a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, by the shedding of Whose Blood we, too, are saved from death.

This is just one example, and the Old Testament is riddled with things that we Christians see as being inferior glimpses into the Truth, revealed by God to His people when that was all they could handle.

Most Protestants would have no problem with this, as it is thoroughly Scriptural. In fact, St Matthew, who was a convert from Judaism, makes a point in his Gospel of showing how Christ fulfills the ancient Jewish prophecies. If you look at St Matthew’s Gospel, you will see that, time and time again, he quotes from the prophecies to show how they relate to Christ. He would have been brought up going to synagogue and would have known his scripture, and he was writing for a Jewish audience.

Where the Protestants would leave us Orthodox is in our understanding of St John’s Gospel. You see, these types and shadows did not appear in Judaism alone! Yes, it may well be the case that the Jews were God’s chosen people, and their Messiah would be the fulfillment of all things, but “all things” means so much more than just Jewish Scriptures. As Isaiah says:



The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
- Isaiah 52:10

St John is the person whose Gospel we should be looking at now because he was writing for a Greek (pagan) audience. The people he was writing for had no or little concept of Judaism. They didn’t know the Jewish history of a relationship with God. They did not grow up hearing the prophecies. They didn’t know of a Messiah who would be descended from kings and priests. If you look at St John’s Gospel, he takes this into account. He doesn’t waste time quoting prophecies that his audience would never have heard. He doesn’t waste any ink detailing Christ’s lineage back to the patriarchs of Judaism. He doesn’t even have an account of the Nativity of Christ. He leaves all that to St Matthew and his Jewish audience. No. St John wrote for the Greeks who had their own ideas and had their own revelations from God in the forms of specks of the Truth.

One thing common to the Greek philosophers and even some of the mystery religions that grew up in the Greek empire was the concept that there is a basic, foundational principle – the unspoken idea/word - according to which everything operates – the moon, the stars, the planets on their courses, human birth, life, death – everything. It all had one foundational principle beyond the understanding of man. They may not all have had the concept of God (although many of them did, and based mystery religions on this concept) but the basic groundwork was there. They called this concept logos.

St John shows no shame in drawing on their history and their culture to show them how Christ has come to them as much as He has the Jews. English translations of the Bible render logos as Word, which loses much of the original sense, but to somebody in pre-Christian Greece, whose world-view was that everything was founded on the unchanging and dependable logos, the first chapter of St John must have been mind-blowing. I’ll quote it here without the word logos translated:



In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Logos became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

I recently bought Bishop Hilarion’s The Mystery of Faith, which is essentially an Orthodox catechism written for non-Orthodox Christians and Orthodox Christians alike. (It relies on the reader already knowing about Christianity so wouldn’t be appropriate for someone new to it all). Near the beginning is a chapter entitled The Search for Faith, in which he explores different ways in which various cultures have had the Truth revealed to them. He cites St Justin Marty (2nd century) referring to the Greek philosophers as the “Christians before Christ”. Quoting from that chapter:


An early Greek Father, Clement of Alexandria, claimed that philosophy paved the way for Christ in the Greek-speaking world in the same way that the Old Testament prepared the Jewish world for the coming of the Messiah. Some of the Church Fathers came to Christianity through the study of philosophy and many of them thought very highly of it, in particular Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory the Theologian. In the narthexes of ancient Christian churches alongside the martyrs and saints, there would be portraits of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle as forerunners and heralds of the Truth.

For example, here’s a quote from Plato’s Timateus:


All that has come into existence needs a reason for its coming into existence. Of course, the Creator and Father of this universe is hard to seek, and if we find him, we should not tell everyone about him. The cosmos is beautiful, and its Demiurge is good. The cosmos is the finest thing that has come into being, and the Demiurge is the finest of all causes. In being good, he cares for all visible things, which abide not in peace but in disharmonious and disordered movement; he has brought them from disorder into order.

In pre-Christian mystery religion, for example, there was a religious cult called Mithraism. The similarities to Christianity are really quite astounding. The god-like figure of this religions was called Mithras. As the story goes, he was born of a rock, or in some sources, of a virgin - in either case it was without the need for sexual relations between biological parents. There is reason to believe that the date of his birth was celebrated on what would today be the 25th of December (according to some sources). And more astoundingly, the story goes that he commanded that his followers, after his death, to eat his body and drink his blood. Sound familiar?

It is only one of many examples.

Atheists often use this as their reason for being extremely dismissive of Christianity. They say that the early Christians just took bits and pieces from religions that already existed and made up their own.

By way of contrast, many Protestants would probably go into anaphylactic shock to read what I’ve just typed. They see it as pagan, unscriptural, dangerous, and unnecessary. Because many of them don’t understand the concept of theosis and revelation, they do not see the proper place of these precursors to Christ. I have read in the past one protestant view that these mystery religions were Satan’s way of pre-empting Christ’s saving work and deceiving more souls into hell. We can only pray for them and try to show them the truth.

The Orthodox heart, however, should rejoice at hearing these things because for us, it shows that the all-loving God revealed part of the Truth of himself to all people, Jew and Gentile alike, and that the All-Powerful Christ is the beginning and end of all these things – the Alpha and the Omega. These were the tiny specks of the Truth – the types and shadows - before He came to reveal the Truth in its fullness in His New Covenant brought about by his Incarnation, life, death, Resurrection and glorious Ascension.

(The above was written by a Protestant convert to Orthodoxy and can be found here in a thread which deals primarily with paganism and Christianity. I recommend all who have formulated an opinion on this matter to read this thread (http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?5959-Pagan-Christianity) for your own benefit.)

[TER]

Here is a writing from a prominent Protestant author who agrees. You might recognize his name: C.S. Lewis

I believe that in the huge mass of mythology which has come down to us, a good many different sources are mixed - true history, allegory, ritual, the human delight in story telling, etc. But among these sources I include the supernatural ...

If my religion is erroneous then occurrences of similar motifs in pagan stories are, of course, instances of the same, or a similar error. But if my religion is true, then these stories may well be a preparatio evangelica, a divine hinting in poetic and ritual form at the same central truth which was later focused and (so to speak) historicised in the Incarnation.

To me, who first approached Christianity from a delighted interest in, and reverence for, the best pagan imagination, who loved Balder before Christ and Plato before St. Augustine, the anthropological argument against Christianity has never been formidable. On the contrary, I could not believe Christianity if I were forced to say that there were a thousand religions in the world of which 999 were pure nonsense and the thousandth (fortunately) true. My conversion, very largely, depended on recognizing Christianity as the completion, the actualization, the entelechy, of something that had never been wholly absent from the mind of man.

And I still think that the agnostic argument from similarities between Christianity and paganism works only if you know the answer. If you start by knowing on other grounds that Christianity is false, then the pagan stories may be another nail in its coffin; just as if you started by knowing that there were no such things as crocodiles then the various stories about dragons might help to confirm your disbelief.

- C. S. Lewis, in "Religion Without Dogma?", 1946 (paper read at the Oxford Socratic Club as a reply to the paper "The Grounds of Modern Agnosticism"; published in "God in the Dock")

[moostraks]

The Fathers of the Church have traditionally seen the religions that went before Christ came as revelations of specks of the Truth of Christ – what Thomas Aquinas referred to as “types and shadows” in the hymn quoted above. They were obviously not revealed in their fullness, because man was not yet ready for that but they were still elements of the Truth which were to be fulfilled when the fullness of Truth came: Christ Himself....

By way of contrast, many Protestants would probably go into anaphylactic shock to read what I’ve just typed. They see it as pagan, unscriptural, dangerous, and unnecessary. Because many of them don’t understand the concept of theosis and revelation, they do not see the proper place of these precursors to Christ. I have read in the past one protestant view that these mystery religions were Satan’s way of pre-empting Christ’s saving work and deceiving more souls into hell. We can only pray for them and try to show them the truth.

The Orthodox heart, however, should rejoice at hearing these things because for us, it shows that the all-loving God revealed part of the Truth of himself to all people, Jew and Gentile alike, and that the All-Powerful Christ is the beginning and end of all these things – the Alpha and the Omega. These were the tiny specks of the Truth – the types and shadows - before He came to reveal the Truth in its fullness in His New Covenant brought about by his Incarnation, life, death, Resurrection and glorious Ascension.

(The above was written by a Protestant convert to Orthodoxy and can be found here in a thread which deals primarily with paganism and Christianity. I recommend all who have formulated an opinion on this matter to read this thread (http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?5959-Pagan-Christianity) for your own benefit.)

You explained much more elegantly than I. :D I guess in my study of Orthodoxy quite a bit wore off. I no longer have anaphylactic shock over the matter as I resolved myself to not confining Him anymore.

[moostraks]

As to Moosetraks excoriation, I've been fighting this battle for over 14 years now, and after literally thousands of these debates, maybe 2 or 3 people did not part company with a hardened heart and in worse condition than when the conversation started. Clearly the awakening is not yet, and all I can do is plant a seed and try not to do further damage than the leaven has already done. The outrage expressed over a simple statement is exactly what I have come to expect whenever discussing the subject, and generally the more 'Christian' the person, the deeper the outrage.


I didn't excoriate anyone. You have a very strong mindset and I feel a difference of opinion. You won't harden my heart to anything. The ferocity to which you hold your faith would be a wonderful thing if it wasn't preceded with so much arrogance about a being who is greater than our own limited understanding. Certain religious sects thrive on claiming omniscience. I stay clear of that in respect for knowing if I can't understand all of my spouse how much more may I not know of God's ways...

[TER]

You explained much more elegantly than I. :D I guess in my study of Orthodoxy quite a bit wore off. I no longer have anaphylactic shock over the matter as I resolved myself to not confining Him anymore.

Actually, it was someone else who wrote it. I merely cut and pasted it. Thank you nevertheless.

And I'm happy you don't go into anaphylactic shock over such writings. My bigger concern was I would put some people to sleep!

[Pericles]

You can't make this stuff up.

[Anti Federalist]

You can't make this stuff up.

I wish I could, I'd be a wealthy screenwriter if that was the case.

[Mach]

http://unchealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/egg.jpg
^^^
Is not a sphere.

This is a sphere.
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/thumb/3/38/Sphere-wireframe.png/240px-Sphere-wireframe.png

You would think a school teacher would know the difference.

Anybody that is so politically incorrect enough to correct a teacher....... spends a night in the box...... :cool:

[Icymudpuppy]

Equinox eggs predate christianity and easter by thousands of years. Who gives a $#!+?

[PatriotOne]

Spring sphere's is pretty lame but for those who really care what Easter is all about read the following. It has nothing to do with the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus (THAT didn't happen). For those who don't care to hear the truth, have fun at your Sunrise Service on Sunday Easter.

Easter: Christian or Pagan? by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

Contrary to popular belief, Easter does not represent the "historical" crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, the gospel tale reflects the annual "crossification" of the sun through the vernal equinox (Spring), at which time the sun is "resurrected," as the day begins to become longer than the night.Rather than being a "Christian" holiday, Easter celebrations date back into remotest antiquity and are found around the world, as the blossoming of spring did not escape the notice of the ancients, who revered this life-renewing time of the year, when winter had passed and the sun was "born again." The "Pagan" Easter is also the Passover, and Jesus Christ represents not only the sun but also the Passover Lamb ritually sacrificed every year by a number of cultures, including the Egyptians, possibly as early as 4,000 years ago and continuing to this day in some places.

Easter Around the World
Easter is "Pessach" in Hebrew, "Pascha" in Greek, "Pachons" in Latin and "Pa-Khonsu" in Egyptian, "Khonsu" being an epithet for the sun god Horus. In Anglo-Saxon, Easter or Eostre is goddess of the dawn, corresponding to Ishtar, Astarte, Astoreth and Isis. The word "Easter" shares the same root with "east" and "eastern," the direction of the rising sun.

"The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an 'Easter celebration' that occurred at Rome as well."

The principal Mexican solar festival was held at the vernal equinox, i.e., Easter, when sacrifices were made to sustain the sun. In India, the vernal equinox festival is called "Holi" and is especially sacred to the god Krishna. The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an "Easter celebration" that occurred at Rome as well. The March dates were later applied to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ: "Thus," says Sir Frazer, "the tradition which placed the death of Christ on the twenty-fifth of March was ancient and deeply rooted. It is all the more remarkable because astronomical considerations prove that it can have had no historical foundation…." This "coincidence" between the deaths and resurrections of Christ and the older Attis was not lost on early Christians, whom it distressed and caused to use the "devil got there first" excuse for the motif's presence in pre-Christian paganism.

The rites of the "crucified Adonis," another dying and rising savior god, were also celebrated in Syria at Easter time. As Frazer states:

"When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season."

The salvific death and resurrection at Easter of the god, the initiation as remover of sin, and the notion of becoming "born again," are all ages-old Pagan motifs or mysteries rehashed in the later Christianity. The all-important death-and-resurrection motif is exemplified in the "Parisian magical papyrus," a Pagan text ostensibly unaffected by Christianity:

"Lord, being born again I perish in that I am being exalted, and having been exalted I die; from a life-giving birth being born into death I was thus freed and go the way which Thou has founded, as Thou hast ordained and hast made the mystery."

Easter's Roving Date is Astrotheological
In the gospel tale, there are two dates for the crucifixion: the 14th and the 15th of the month of Nisan, and within Christianity the date for Easter was debated for centuries. There continue to be two dates for Easter: the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, thus demonstrating that this holiday is not the historical date of the actual crucifixion of a particular man. The dates are, in fact, astronomical, astrological and astrotheological.

In explaining this roving date, one "distinguished churchman," as Catholic Church historian Eusebius called him, Anatolius, revealed the meaning of Easter and of Christ, as well as the fact that astrology was a known and respected science used in Christianity. Said Anatolius:

"On this day [March 22] the sun is found not only to have reached the first sign of the Zodiac, but to be already passing through the fourth day within it. This sign is generally known as the first of the twelve, the equinoctial sign, the beginning of months, head of the cycle, and start of the planetary course.... Aristobolus adds that it is necessary at the Passover Festival that not only the sun but the moon as well should be passing through an equinoctial sign. There are two of these signs, one in spring, one in autumn, diametrically opposed to each other...."

In establishing the "Paschal festival," Church father Anatolius thus based his calculations on the positions of the sun and moon during the vernal equinox.

Christ as the Solar Hero
The need to time the Easter celebration - or resurrection - to coincide with the vernal equinox demonstrates that "Christ" is not an historical personage but the sun. This fact of Easter being the resurrection of the Sun has been well known for centuries, just as "the Savior's" birth at the winter solstice has been recognized as another solar motif. Another obvious clue as to Christ's nature is the fact that the "Lord's Day" is Sunday.

"Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, with 'divine beams.'"

Concerning Easter, in his "Letter I. for 329" Bishop of Alexandria Athanasius (c. 293-373) remarks, "Again, 'the Sun of Righteousness,' causing His divine beams to rise upon us, proclaims beforehand the time of the feast, in which, obeying Him, we ought to celebrate it…" Christ is thus the Sun of Righteousness, with "divine beams."

The Paschal Chronicle
The Easter calculations were recomputed in the seventh century by the Christian author(s) of the Paschal Chronicle or Alexandria Chronicle, which seeks to establish a Christian chronology from "creation" to the year 628. The Paschal Chronicle determines the proper date for Easter as March 21st and the date of Christ's resurrection as March 25th (or, midnight, March 24, three days after the beginning of the equinox). In his various calculations, the Chronicle author discusses solar and lunar cycles, including the 19-year lunar cycle, by which he reckons the crucifixion and resurrection, concluding: "This is consistent with the prior determinations of reputable men in the calculation of the heavenly bodies." To wit, Christ's death and resurrection are based on astrotheology.

The Chronicle author further confirms that Christianity is a continuation of the ancient "Pagan" astrotheological religion when he states that the "Annunciation of our Lady," i.e., the conception of Christ by the Virgin Mary, likewise occurred on March 25th, the vernal equinox, exactly nine months prior to the December 25th birthdate, the annual rebirth of the sun.

For more information, including citations, see Suns of God. http://www.stellarhousepublishing.com/easter-resurrection.html

Easter - Christian or Pagan?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNhGQYo4yZs&feature=player_embedded

[MelissaWV]

I'll just leave this right here...

http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2010/10/340x_roundegg.jpg

[Krugerrand]

I'll just leave this right here...

http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2010/10/340x_roundegg.jpg

How do we know that's not laying on its side?

[Chester Copperpot]

In NJ here I noticed that at one school at least they were making "Happy Spring" signs.. instead of "Happy Easter"... This happened the same day this thread was posted...

[roger_pearse]

Spring sphere's is pretty lame but for those who really care what Easter is all about read the following. It has nothing to do with the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus (THAT didn't happen).

I'm sorry to tell you that you've been deceived. Acharya S is well known online as a crank, and her claims as *factually* false.



For those who don't care to hear the truth, have fun at your Sunrise Service on Sunday Easter.


An unfortunate comment, given that you haven't verified any of this.

Let's examine a few points of fact, shall we?



Easter: Christian or Pagan? by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

Contrary to popular belief, Easter does not represent the "historical" crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.


Every ancient text that discusses the subject DOES state that it represents the death and resurrection of Christ.



In reality, the gospel tale reflects the annual "crossification" of the sun through the vernal equinox (Spring), at which time the sun is "resurrected," as the day begins to become longer than the night.


No ancient text says so.



Rather than being a "Christian" holiday, Easter celebrations date back into remotest antiquity and are found around the world,


No, they don't. If we want to refer to spring celebrations, we mustn't call them "Easter"; that word in English means something specific, which originates in the first century AD. If we want to refer to Easter, we mustn't claim that it derives from spring celebrations, because the evidence is otherwise.

In short, let's use language properly, and make statements based on fact, not wild insinuations of association.



as the blossoming of spring did not escape the notice of the ancients, who revered this life-renewing time of the year, when winter had passed and the sun was "born again."


The Roman "novus sol" did not take place in spring, but at the winter equinox. The remainder of this sentence appears to be devoid of meaning.



The "Pagan" Easter is also the Passover, and Jesus Christ represents not only the sun but also the Passover Lamb ritually sacrificed every year by a number of cultures, including the Egyptians, possibly as early as 4,000 years ago and continuing to this day in some places.


Lots of claims there, but no evidence for them. Quite why we should suppose Jesus "represents" the sun -- the insinuation, not stated because false, is that Jesus never existed and that the early Christians invented a myth based around pagan solar myths, unspecified. Since there is no evidence for this, and all the ancient evidence says something different, we need pay no attention to this claim.



Easter Around the World
Easter is "Pessach" in Hebrew


Says who?



"Pascha" in Greek, "Pachons" in Latin


Always amusing to see someone who knows no Latin. In Latin, as in Greek, it is "pascha".



and "Pa-Khonsu" in Egyptian, "Khonsu" being an epithet for the sun god Horus.


The Egyptian language has no word for "Easter". If the claim is that Coptic uses this word, I'd like to see evidence. I suspect it uses Pascha.

Khonsu and Horus are, of course, different ancient Egyptian gods.



In Anglo-Saxon, Easter or Eostre is goddess of the dawn, corresponding to Ishtar, Astarte, Astoreth and Isis. The word "Easter" shares the same root with "east" and "eastern," the direction of the rising sun.


You would never learn from this that the word "eostre" appears precisely twice in all anglo-saxon literature, and none of it says any of this. What it actually says is that the anglo-saxons use the word "easter" for the easter festival because the festival takes place in "eostremonath", the month of the spring festival. The idea that the word is connected to these oriental deities is pure imagination, as is the etymology.



"The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an 'Easter celebration' that occurred at Rome as well."


Attis was not a sun god. He was the boyfriend of the Phrygian goddess Cybele. One day he went off and shagged a nymph; and his missus found out. In a rage she cursed him with madness. He sat under (not on) a tree, and, under the influence, chopped his willy off (as you do). Then he died (as you do). Then his missus calmed down (as they do) and decided she had been a bit hasty. What to do on Saturday night, she no doubt wondered. So she asked Father Zeus to bring him back. Zeus, no mean shagger himself, disapproved of this "Adultery=castration" myth and refused. The most he would do was preserve the body.

In 350 AD, under Christian influence, the cultists of Cybele in Phyrgia started claiming "oh Attis is the crops, so when we have our spring castration festival to induct new priests we're just celebrating a resurrection". Firmicus Maternus records this; and says that they made this up, to avoid the police interfering with the, um, festivities. Every other Attis source says "no resurrection".

Any encyclopedia of mythology would give this, so it tells you how stupid Acharya S was not to check any of it.



The principal Mexican solar festival was held at the vernal equinox, i.e., Easter,


Which proves, of course, that the early Christians copied from ancient Mexico. Proof indeed.

The intelligent reader will notice how the odious Acharya sort of forgot what she was trying to prove. Otherwise she'd have omitted this one.




The Phrygian sun and fertility god Attis was annually hung on a tree, dying and rising on March 24th and 25th, an "Easter celebration" that occurred at Rome as well. The March dates were later applied to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ: "Thus," says Sir Frazer, "the tradition which placed the death of Christ on the twenty-fifth of March was ancient and deeply rooted. It is all the more remarkable because astronomical considerations prove that it can have had no historical foundation…." This "coincidence" between the deaths and resurrections of Christ and the older Attis was not lost on early Christians, whom it distressed and caused to use the "devil got there first" excuse for the motif's presence in pre-Christian paganism.


Didn't we have this one already? It's a bit desperate to get it again so quickly. Still false, tho; and precisely which ancient Christian writers say such a thing? Here's a clue: none.



The rites of the "crucified Adonis," another dying and rising savior god, were also celebrated in Syria at Easter time. As Frazer states:

"When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season."


Lots of claims there. No evidence. The early church was very hostile to paganism.



The salvific death and resurrection at Easter of the god, the initiation as remover of sin, and the notion of becoming "born again," are all ages-old Pagan motifs or mysteries rehashed in the later Christianity. The all-important death-and-resurrection motif is exemplified in the "Parisian magical papyrus," a Pagan text ostensibly unaffected by Christianity:

"Lord, being born again I perish in that I am being exalted, and having been exalted I die; from a life-giving birth being born into death I was thus freed and go the way which Thou has founded, as Thou hast ordained and hast made the mystery."


A new one on me. Wonder if it is true. But ... the Paris magical papyri are mostly post-Christian... <evil grin>

I won't bore you with more of this tendentious tripe. Just one more laugh:



For more information, including citations, see Suns of God. http://www.stellarhousepublishing.com/easter-resurrection.html


The pun between "son" and "sun" is only possible in English; a language which comes into being only in the 6-7th century. I fear that Acharya S sort of forgot that the Romans did not speaK English... :)

Be sceptical. There are all sorts of malicious people putting out twaddle. Ask to see the ancient sources that back up some claim, and verify them. No reference? No deal.

None of which means Christianity is true, of course. But we don't need stuff which is factually rubbish, whatever religion it is pushing.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

[TER]

All the best,

Roger Pearse
Welcome to the forums!!!

[Mach]

Easter: It's Roots and Symbols :cool:

http://www.featherlessbiped.com/6696/EASTER/easter.htm (fixed)

[LibertyRevolution]

I have no problems with "Happy Spring" ..
This is all this pagan holiday really is.. just the realization that spring has arrived and the world will be reborn.

Doesn't every religion celebrate about this time? Yeah winter over! Grass and leaves for our animals! We get to live again this year!
Now go prey to the village priest who told you this time would come again, give him your loyalty and money, or maybe next year, it wont.

[Brian4Liberty]

Rabbits (insert playboy logo) and eggs, anyone?

Spring Spheres indeed.

I think they should have dildo hunts, scarifice the one who finds the biggest dildo and be done with the charade.

Bosso

Is a "scarifice" anything like a circumcision? ;)


It's not just a war on Christmas anymore, it's Easter now too! Is anything sacred?

Officially sacred Holidays:

Memorial Day - May 30, 2011*
Independence Day - July 4, 2011*
Labor Day - September 5, 2011
Thanksgiving Day - November 24, 2011
Day after Thanksgiving - November 25, 2011
Christmas (observed) - December 26, 2011
New Year's Day (observed) - January 2, 2012

In addition, the following holidays are recognized, but not observed:

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK) - January 17, 2011
Chinese's New Year - February 3, 2011
Valentine's Day - February 14, 2011
President's Day - February 21, 2011
St. Patrick's Day - March 17, 2011
Passover - April 19, 2011
Earth Day - April 22, 2011
Easter - April 24, 2011
Cinco de Mayo - May 5, 2011
Mother's Day - May 8, 2011
Flag Day - June 14, 2011
Father's Day - June 19, 2011
Ramadan begins - August 1, 2011
Rosh Hashanah - September 29, 2011
Yom Kippur - October 8, 2011
Columbus Day - October 10, 2011
Diwali - October 26, 2011
Halloween - October 31, 2011
Veteran's Day - November 11, 2011
Hanukkah - December 21, 2011
Christmas Eve - December 24, 2011
Kwanzaa - December 26, 2011

[idirtify]

should have called them chicken fetuses.

OMG! How dare you imply that the unborn does not have the same right to life! It’s “Chicks”! :)

[idirtify]

OK, so who is to blame for the renaming? Just read this thread and you’ll see that it’s far from clear. Usually the secularists/atheists are blamed, but it could just as easily be the Christians who see any holiday stuff that’s not about Jesus as pagan/evil.

Christians accidentally siding with atheists... Now that’s funny. Just goes to show that every religious believer is mostly atheistic (only believes in a tiny minority of gods/religions), and it's the "hard" kind of atheism (which overtly asserts that other gods do NOT exist and other dogma is FALSE).

[IndianaPolitico]

That's revisionist though - Oestra is the origin of Easter, bunnies, painted eggs, fertility rites, orgies and all. The Church should be keeping the Passover and Firstfruits as God commanded. I've already accepted that non Hebrew-Roots Christians will vehemently disagree with that and often as not excoriate me for the position...I guess they will not understand until He opens their eyes to it directly, or educates them at the Bema Seat. Mainstream Christians cling to this pagan ritual more strongly than Kristolian Neocons cling to interventionist wars, so I've given up on the educational part. Leave the info as we are required and walk away. Anything else is destructive.
I agree with you on the Passover issue. Passover clearly shows the death, burial, and resurrection much better then the celebration of Easter. (And I am not Hebrew, I am a Christian.) But back to the main topic, it is truely amazing to what lengths they will go to be "politically correct". And in the end, they simply show how bad our government run education system is.

[TER]

Was Easter Borrowed from a Pagan Holiday?

By Anthony McRoy
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Christianity Today


Anyone encountering anti-Christian polemics will quickly come up against the accusation that a major festival practiced by Christians across the globe — namely, Easter — was actually borrowed or rather usurped from a pagan celebration. I often encounter this idea among Muslims who claim that later Christians compromised with paganism to dilute the original faith of Jesus.

The argument largely rests on the supposed pagan associations of the English and German names for the celebration (Easter in English and Ostern in German). It is important to note, however, that in most other European languages, the name for the Christian celebration is derived from the Greek word Pascha, which comes from pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter is the Christian Passover festival.

Of course, even if Christians did engage in contextualization — expressing their message and worship in the language or forms of the local people — that in no way implies doctrinal compromise. Christians around the world have sought to redeem the local culture for Christ while purging it of practices antithetical to biblical norms. After all, Christians speak of "Good Friday," but they are in no way honoring the worship of the Norse/Germanic queen of the gods Freya by doing so.

But, in fact, in the case of Easter the evidence suggests otherwise: that neither the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection nor its name are derived from paganism.

A Celebration With Ancient Roots

The usual argument for the pagan origins of Easter is based on a comment made by the Venerable Bede (673-735), an English monk who wrote the first history of Christianity in England, and who is one of our main sources of knowledge about early Anglo-Saxon culture. In De temporum ratione (On the Reckoning of Time, c. 730), Bede wrote this:

"In olden times the English people — for it did not seem fitting that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's — calculated their months according to the course of the Moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for the Moon is called mona and the month monath. The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath … Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month" and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance."

The first question, therefore, is whether the actual Christian celebration of Easter is derived from a pagan festival. This is easily answered. The Nordic/Germanic peoples (including the Anglo-Saxons) were comparative latecomers to Christianity. Pope Gregory I sent a missionary enterprise led by Augustine of Canterbury to the Anglo-Saxons in 596/7. The forcible conversion of the Saxons in Europe began under Charlemagne in 772. Hence, if "Easter" (i.e. the Christian Passover festival) was celebrated prior to those dates, any supposed pagan Anglo-Saxon festival of "Eostre" can have no significance. And there is, in fact, clear evidence that Christians celebrated an Easter/Passover festival by the second century, if not earlier. It follows that the Christian Easter/Passover celebration, which originated in the Mediterranean basin, was not influenced by any Germanic pagan festival.

What's In a Name?

The second question is whether the name of the holiday "Easter" comes from the blurring of the Christian celebration with the worship of a purported pagan fertility goddess named "Eostre" in English and Germanic cultures. There are several problems with the passage in Bede. In his book, The Stations of the Sun, Professor Ronald Hutton (a well-known historian of British paganism and occultism) critiques Bede's sketchy knowledge of other pagan festivals, and argues that the same is true for the statement about Eostre: "It falls into a category of interpretations which Bede admitted to be his own, rather than generally agreed or proven fact."

This leads us to the next problem: there is no evidence outside of Bede for the existence of this Anglo-Saxon goddess. There is no equivalent goddess in the Norse Eddas or in ancient Germanic paganism from continental Europe. Hutton suggests, therefore, that "the Anglo-Saxon Estor-monath simply meant 'the month of opening' or 'the month of beginnings,'" and concludes that there is no evidence for a pre-Christian festival in the British Isles in March or April.

There is another objection to the claim that Eosturmonath has anything to do with a pagan goddess. Whereas Anglo-Saxon days were usually named after gods, such as Wednesday ("Woden's day"), the names of their months were either calendrical, such as Giuli, meaning "wheel," referring to the turn of the year; metereological-environmental, such as Solmónath (roughly February), meaning "Mud-Month"; or referred to actions taken in that period, such as Blótmónath (roughly November), meaning "Blood Month," when animals were slaughtered. No other month was dedicated to a deity, with the exception (according to Bede) of Hrethmonath (roughly March), which he claims was named after the goddess Hrethe. But like Eostre, there is no other evidence for Hrethe, nor any equivalent in Germanic/Norse mythology.

Another problem with Bede's explanation concerns the Saxons in continental Europe. Einhard (c. 775-840), the courtier and biographer of Charlemagne, tells us that among Charlemagne's reforms was the renaming of the months. April was renamed Ostarmanoth. Charlemagne spoke a Germanic dialect, as did the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, although their vernacular was distinct. But why would Charlemagne change the old Roman title for the spring month to Ostarmanoth? Charlemagne was the scourge of Germanic paganism. He attacked the pagan Saxons and felled their great pillar Irminsul (after their god Irmin) in 772. He forcibly converted them to Christianity and savagely repressed them when they revolted because of this. It seems very unlikely, therefore, that Charlemagne would name a month after a Germanic goddess.

Spring Holiday

So why, then, do English-speaking Christians call their holiday "Easter"?

One theory for the origin of the name is that the Latin phrase in albis ("in white"), which Christians used in reference to Easter week, found its way into Old High German as eostarum, or "dawn." There is some evidence of early Germanic borrowing of Latin despite that fact that the Germanic peoples lived outside the Roman Empire—though the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were far very removed from it. This theory presumes that the word only became current after the introduction of either Roman influence or the Christian faith, which is uncertain. But if accurate, it would demonstrate that the festival is not named after a pagan goddess.

Alternatively, as Hutton suggests, Eosturmonath simply meant "the month of opening," which is comparable to the meaning of "April" in Latin. The names of both the Saxon and Latin months (which are calendrically similar) were related to spring, the season when the buds open.

So Christians in ancient Anglo-Saxon and Germanic areas called their Passover holiday what they did — doubtless colloquially at first — simply because it occurred around the time of Eosturmonath/Ostarmanoth. A contemporary analogy can be found in the way Americans sometimes refer to the December period as "the holidays" in connection with Christmas and Hanukkah, or the way people sometimes speak about something happening "around Christmas," usually referring to the time at the turn of the year. The Christian title "Easter," then, essentially reflects its general date in the calendar, rather than the Paschal festival having been re-named in honor of a supposed pagan deity.

Of course, the Christian commemoration of the Paschal festival rests not on the title of the celebration but on its content — namely, the remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection. It is Christ's conquest of sin, death, and Satan that gives us the right to wish everyone "Happy Easter!"

[GunnyFreedom]

As I said, moostraks, people's minds are completely solidified on this issue. To even try and argue it will do more harm than good. If you know ahead of time that making an argument will just cause people to harden their hearts then it is best to plant the seed and walk away, lest people continue to harden their hearts and stiffen their necks, a thing which the scriptures explicitly warn against, and I have no desire to contribute to. We will all know the truth when we reach the Bema seat.

[moostraks]

As I said, moostraks, people's minds are completely solidified on this issue. To even try and argue it will do more harm than good. If you know ahead of time that making an argument will just cause people to harden their hearts then it is best to plant the seed and walk away, lest people continue to harden their hearts and stiffen their necks, a thing which the scriptures explicitly warn against, and I have no desire to contribute to. We will all know the truth when we reach the Bema seat.

You might want to work on your method of planting seeds...:)

[Dr.3D]

You might want to work on your method of planting seeds...:)

I'll help him to some extent.