What are the Origins of Easter?

 

Question: "What are the origins of Easter?"

Answer: The origins of Easter are rooted in European traditions. The name Easter comes from a pagan figure called Eastre (or Eostre) who was celebrated as the goddess of spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. A festival called Eastre was held during the spring equinox by these people to honor her. The goddess Eastre’s earthly symbol was the rabbit, which was also known as a symbol of fertility. Originally, there were some very pagan (and sometimes utterly evil) practices that went along with the celebration. Today, Easter is almost a completely commercialized holiday, with all the focus on Easter eggs and the Easter bunny being remnants of the goddess worship.

In the Christian faith, Easter has come to mean the celebration of the resurrection of Christ three days after His crucifixion. It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year because of the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the events upon which Christianity is based. Easter Sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day Easter season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost.

Because of the commercialization and pagan origins of Easter, many churches prefer to refer to it as “Resurrection Sunday.” The rationale is the more we focus on Christ and the less we focus on the pagan holiday, the better. As previously mentioned, the resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity. Paul says that without this, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). What more wonderful reason could we have to celebrate! What is important is the true reason behind our celebration, which is that Christ was resurrected from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life (Romans 6:4)!

Should we celebrate Easter or allow our children to go on Easter eggs hunts? This is a question both parents and church leaders struggle with. There is nothing essentially evil about painting and hiding eggs and having children search for them. What is important is our focus. If our focus is on Christ and not the eggs, our children will understand that the eggs are just a game. Children can participate in an Easter egg hunt as long as the true meaning of the day is explained and emphasized, but ultimately this must be left up to the discretion of parents.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/easter-origins.html#ixzz2P06vOpxt

My Response to Ten Things I wish the Church Knew About Homosexuality

I will be working on my response to the above "Ten Things I wish the Church Knew About Homosexuality" over the next short while. So stay tuned. I hope to post it here soon.

Who Can Find a Faithful Friend?

"A friend loves at all times."

(Proverbs 17: 17, NIV)

 

In today's world, true friends are in short supply, but in high demand, for there are many lonely people who are crying out for a true friend to walk by their side through life's journey. While other people have many friends, but are quite blessed if even one of them is a true friend. "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?" (Prov. 20: 6, NASB). Because of the selfish nature in man, often friendships are formed for the wrong reasons. Unknown to the potential friend, the other person may only want to be a friend because of what's in it for him or her.

 

Then there are friendships that we may make with people that are shallow. Such friends only want you to tell them what they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. Often, such friends will not say anything to such people in fear they may lose the friendship. The question needs to be asked in such situations: 'Is he or she really my friend if they are not open to receiving from me what they do not want to hear?' What such people don't realize is that such a friend never really was their friend to begin with. In friendships, there is to be expected a certain measure of conflict followed by a resolution. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Prov. 27: 17, NIV). True friendships are based on such principles. It's how we learn and grow. We should expect at times that our real friends are going to challenge us and tell us things about ourselves we don't want to hear. But it is only for our good. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy" (Prov. 27: 6, NASB). Did not Judas pretend to be our Lord's friend, but in the end betrayed him with a "kiss?" (see Matt. 26:47-49; Luke 22:47-48). Beware of such friends who only pretend, and hold on to the ones who are true and precious.



Freedom or Slavery?

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

(Galatians 5: 1, NIV)

 

When we think about such terms as "freedom" or "slavery." What comes to mind?  We usually think freedom means a license to do whatever we  like, while slavery is associated with restrictions, confinement, and bondage.  In a sense, people look at freedom and slavery as either a release or restriction associated with their present responsibilities and circumstances in life. For example: If you are a prisoner awaiting parole; no doubt you are looking forward to the day when you will be released from prison to once again enjoy freedom outside the walls and bars of prison life. If you are a teenager, you are probably looking forward to the time when you graduate from high school and are going to move away from the restraints and influences of your parents to take up residence at some dormitory, and enjoy the experience of freedom living on your own, while attending university. Then there is the restless house wife who is weary in the everyday demands of a mother of a few children. She is looking forward to the time when they grow up and leave home. Though she will miss them, she is looking forward to the freedom she will enjoy in not having to clean up after them. I'm sure many more examples could be given about freedom and slavery as it relates to every day life.  

As you can see from the three examples given above; each carries its sense of enslavement and longing for the time of escape to freedom. The question is "Freedom to what?" For each situation that we seem to think is a form of freedom carries its own set of rules and restrictions we are required to follow. Before we continue in this subject, let's take a look at the definitions to Freedom and Slavery.  

Freedom: "the quality or state of being free; independence; exemption; release; unrestricted use; a political right."

Slavery: "a condition of being a slave; the practice of owning slaves." 

It is interesting to note in Scripture that the Apostle Paul referred to himself as a "bond slave" or "servant" of the Lord Jesus Christ. (To be Continued...)

Man's Free Will in the Garden of Eden?

In this blog below is a response I had given today to a friend who is strongly opposed to man's 'Free Will' as seen in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

 

Johnny Soporno Larry makes an interesting point!

The 'Gift of Free Will' was unrealized by Mankind, who had been kept enslaved by God as docile and unreasoning/uncritical pets, in the Garden of Eden - given the freedom to do all they pleased, providing they didn't engage their 'Free Will'... (After all, there was only *ONE WAY* to experience free will, and that was to eat the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge!)

You'll remember, Lucifer got himself booted out of God's good books for complaining that Humans has this potential for Free Will (despite their unwillingness to utilize it) by alerting Eve to this truth...

Free Will, the application of which got Adam & Eve chucked out of Paradise, and condemned their entire breed to damnation from that point forward...

Anyway, Man is commanded by God to drink alcohol, and forbidden by God to have anything other than unprotected sex, so essentially the only way to defend oneself is to operate OUTSIDE God's boundaries, no?

Jerry Douglas Sheppard Johnny, you make an interesting point about man's free will. However, I disagree with your conclusion about the matter. Man was never "kept enslaved by God as docile and unreasoning/uncritical pets, in the Garden of Eden. That's a gross exaggeration. God did give us a brain to think and reason with. The truth is God gave man the "gift of free will" for a reason. Not for enslavement as you suggested, but for the freedom to choose. Everyday we all make decisions based on the freedom of our will to choose. However, there are consequences associated with the choices we make in life. For example, If I choose to shoplift at some store and get caught in the act, and end up going to court to suffer the consequences. Remember, I made the choice according to my free will to do so. It was a bad choice on my part. However, if I exercise my free will to help a friend who is in desperate financial need. I chose to do so, which is a good use of my free will. So in referring to God "chucking" Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and suffering the consequence of their choice they had made as being somehow unfair of God to do that. Not so my friend. To begin with, Adam and Eve's free will was already in operation before they chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

This of course leads me to the rest of the point you had made: “given the freedom to do all they pleased, providing they didn't engage their 'Free Will'... (After all, there was only *ONE WAY* to experience free will, and that was to eat the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge!)” Your statement, “given the freedom to do all they pleased” is a contradiction, because you are assuming Adam and Eve never “engaged their ‘Free Will’...” and then you added that “there was only ONE WAY to experience free will,...was to eat the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge!)”  You argue that Adam and Eve had “the freedom to do all they pleased,” but on the other hand, you say they never “engaged their ‘Free Will’” and that “there was only ONE WAY to experience free will” and that was to partake of the forbidden fruit that God had warned them not to eat of. Do you not see the contradiction in your statement here? The fact Adam and Eve had “the freedom to do all they pleased” in the Garden of Eden clearly indicates by your own admission that they had free will. For example, Adam and Eve by the exercise of their ‘Free Will’ could choose to eat of the number of other fruits available to them on the various trees in the Garden of Eden.

God’s command for Adam and Eve to not eat the ‘Forbidden Fruit’ from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil (see Genesis 2:9, 15-16) was a test to see if man would freely choose to love God by obeying His command. “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23). Man was not made for himself, he was made for God. He owes his existence to God period. “Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his...” (Psalm 100:3). If man can convince himself that God does not exist, then he is not responsible to Him. Apart from God, man seeks to set himself up as god.

Preterism: Is it Biblical?

Recently within the Church the prophetic teaching "preterism" has arisen to challenge the pretribulational, mid-tribulational, and post-tribulational views on the prophecy of the end times according to the Scriptures. According to Thomas Ice, he gives three groups of preterists: mild preterism, moderate preterism, and extreme preterism. This last group which is sometimes referred to as full preterists will be the primary focus of this blog. The term "preterism" comes from the Latin word preter which means "past." This of course refers to the preterists understanding of certain eschatological prophecy that they believe have already come to fulfillment. Full preterist teach that all Biblical prophecy in regards to the tribulation, second coming of Christ, and the final judgment of the wicked, etc. has been all fulfilled just prior to 70 A.D. (To be Continued...)

Comfortably Numb?

Over the past while now, I have dealt with some problems within the Church in some of my past blogs. I do not take joy in writing about and exposing current issues affecting the Church, such as the problems of social cliques, spiritual snobbishness, and spiritual pride, etc. This of course is nothing new, for the Church has been plagued with such problems since its inception. However, in order to fix a problem, one needs to first reveal what the problem is in order to face and resolve the trouble confronting the Church at large.  

Having said the above, let's consider today's question in the above title of this blog that has no doubt caught your attention. Comfortably numb? So how does this relate to the Church? First, let's look at the meaning of the words "comfortably numb" to see what we can learn. The word comfortably means: "providing comfort or security; feeling at ease." The term numb conveys: "lacking sensation or emotion."