Choices

I was shopping at Fred Meyer when a lady looking at bathing suits struck up a conversation with me about the current coupon sale that would only last until 1:00 that day. I’m a talker and so was she so you can only imagine, our conversation lasted to the point that we almost missed out on the time limit. During the course of the conversation we both realized we were Christians and had something in common. It was the day before Easter and my cart was filled with eggs, chocolate bunnies and lots of pastels. By the end of our visit I learned she was a Jehovah Witness. Now I know just a little about this particular belief but the thing that stands out in my mind the most is when I was a child the Jehovah Witness kids couldn’t celebrate any of the holidays including Christmas and Easter or even their Birthday. I could never understand why they wouldn’t recognize the Christian holidays?
Today I have a better understanding of why some religions have made the choices they have in their teaching. If you are reading this please remember that I respect your belief and know you feel the same about mine. I’m so thankful to be blessed to have the choices to choose the way I worship and believe.
So this is what I have learned:

Easter
The word Easter can be traced back to ancient England.
Today Easter is a purely Christian term, however it has a very dark past indeed. Now I am sharing this with you not to ruin your Easter Celebration, but to share the truth with you. Also let us keep in mind that most Christian Holidays came from ancient pagan Holidays as well. The word "Easter" does not appear even one time in the Original Transcripts. After all there are no Hebrew or Greek words for it. In the Original Manuscripts it uses the Hebrew word [ pesach ] which means Passover, the same applies to the New Testament in the Greek Transcripts [ paschal ] as well. In fact the first time that Easter ever appeared in our Bible was with the very first King James Bible in the 1600's, and it was used only one time in that Bible, that was in ( Acts 12:4 ) where it was substituted for the word Passover, by whom we do not know. So where did the word "Easter" come from anyway? Surprise, surprise, a Pagan Holiday which was in honor of a their goddess of the dawn, of spring, and of reproduction. Now an ancient Babylonian legend had it that a giant egg fell from heaven, was rolled ashore by the little fishes, and hatched by doves into Ishtar, or Aahtoreth. This legend over time became known even in Europe, and became firmly entrenched in ancient Britain and was celebrated during the Vernal Equinox. The name Ashtoreth was transliterated into the Gaelic tongue as "Eastre." This was a form of Baal worship. ( One might note that whenever Baal worship was practiced, it included animal and human sacrifices involving children! During this festival pagan priests called Druids preformed religious rites involving dancing around phallic pillars, temple prostitution, and sacrifices in honor of Eastre. Also eggs have always been associated with her, and wherever Baal worship has appeared. Thus Easter eggs are part of the ancient celebration of the goddess as well. The Easter Bunny is a more recent twist on an ancient theme, inspired by the same spirit, rabbits have long been associated with reproduction and with Ashtoreth, or Eastre. Now since the pagans were already celebrating their holiday at about the same time as Passover, the Church once again decided to sanctify their holy day as a method of converting pagans to Christianity. So why not chance the name just a little, clean it up and get rid of their sacrifices, and make it a Christian Holy Day. It was then that Eastre's day became known as Easter. Also, remember our old friend Constantine the Roman emperor? The man who decided to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week, and then muscled the Church into accepting that. The man who dared to change God's Word, well he struck again. You see Constantine convened the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. a council that he hand picked I might add. This council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian World on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should by moved to the following Sunday. Therefore Easter and Passover would become separated, and have been ever since. Of course, in the modern World today the term Easter has become a purely Christian word. No one offers their children before phallic poles, or worships the statue of a woman with many breasts on Easter day. But Christ is equally pushed out, and I can't help but believe that our old enemy 'satan' is behind the whole affair. He simply kept introducing distractions such as eggs, bunnies, Easter baskets until the resurrection of Jesus became an afterthought, and finally not thought of at all, except by a very few. Thus the true significance, of Christ's triumphal victory over death itself, is lost in the shuffle I am sorry to say.

This was all new to me and helped me to understand all the different types of worship or choices not to celebrate the holiday.

I know that he died for me and Easter is a new day, a reminder that he has risen and I am forgiven.

Thank you Pastor Allen for this lesson.