Posted by Otter at 2:19pm Apr 13 '09After a recent discussion with [private] and again today another discussion with a co-worker of mine about the origins, traditions, etc... around Easter I was caused today to go back and do some more studying about what I truly personally believe.
The co-worker actually asked me what I thought or knew about the purpose behind Easter Eggs and the Easter bunny, etc... as it relates to Christianity. It seems she finds me a reliable and "safe" source of information... scary (for me).
I answered that I thought they were probably pagan fertility God symbols but I didn't see anything wrong with hunting for Eggs if they don't get between you and God.... but I was also sure to tell her that I wasn't certain about this.
Later I went and did some more reading.
It seems I was somewhat right... but that the definitive TRUTH that I could find was not definitive at all. It seems nobody actually knows for certain.
That leads me to the creation of this thread.
I want to know what you guys think - how you feel - or what you believe to "know" about these things. From your perspective, however offensive you might think it is to me (or not).
Specifically:
1.) The origins of Easter
2.) Symbolism or traditions of Easter when considering Easter Eggs and an Easter Rabbit (not when considering the obvious Christian symbolism - a cross, etc...).
3.) Is there a real symbiosis of these and Christianity or do they simply coincide? If they coincide - can they do so without conflict or hypocritical behavior?
----
some seeds.... C.S. Lewis on Easter:
There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began 'Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.' This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat. They will have taken on an independent, and therefore a soon withering, life.
A Christian Apologetic pastor's writings (that I found interesting and useful... not my writings and not that of anyone I know personally). Of particular interest the sections "When did it happen?" and "Easter Symbols"?.
----
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?
The traditional belief that Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday has problems with regard to scripture; the key problem being what Jesus said specifically about His death:
"But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:39, 40
He would be like Jonah, three days and three nights in the grave. The traditional way of measuring the days, even taken the Jewish way of counting, does not fit in with this clear statement. Many Christians would argue that, according to the Jews, before 6 p.m. Friday would be one day, Saturday would be two days and Sunday is the third. This might work if Jesus had just said three days but he adds and three nights; you can only get two nights maximum from this calculation. So was Jesus correct? Before we answer that please also note these verses in Matthew:
"Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, 'Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, "After three days I am to rise again." 'Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last deception will be worse than the first.'" - Matthew 27:62-64
These events took place the day after the crucifixion and are described as, "the day after the preparation". This day of preparation is Nisan 14, when, according to Exodus 14, any leavened bread was removed from the home and food was readied for the Passover meal. This means that the grave of Jesus was not sealed until Nisan 15. John 19 tells us that the body of Jesus needed to be removed from the cross because of the Sabbath and verse 31 tells us that it was a 'high day'.
"Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
Does this mean the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) in which case the Good Friday idea might be right? The added words in John don't seem to indicate a regular Sabbath and so what could it be? These significant Old Testament scriptures tells us:
"'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'" - Leviticus 23:5-8
This is talking about the Passover when Jesus was crucified - the 14th day of the first month - Nisan 14. Notice that the above verses show that on Nisan 15 there is a Sabbath - the start of Unleavened Bread. Therefore this could well be the high day Sabbath referred to in John 19 and shows that it is not necessary for Jesus to have died on Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath.
VARIOUS CALENDARS
The exact correlation between dates in the Jewish and the Gregorian calendar, prior to its full acceptance in the sixteenth century, is difficult; this makes the exact pinpointing of the day, Wednesday or Thursday difficult and I have seen good scholarship for both. It is also complicated by the fact that the Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset and not midnight to midnight as ours do. What is clear is that Friday is impossible but both Wednesday and Thursday are possible.
Below I list the dates using the Jewish days for the month Nisan and, if my understanding is correct 10 Nisan must be the weekly Sabbath, sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.
Nisan 10 - Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-44). Interestingly, it was on this 10th day that Exodus 12:3-6 tells us that the lamb was first taken from the flock and set aside for the sacrifice 4 days later. John 12:23-33 shows that this was clearly the aim of Jesus and these were the final days of His ministry on earth.
Nisan 11 - 13 - Jesus continues His teaching (Matthew 21:10ff) during the last days of His ministry. Before sunset the preparation for the Passover meal went on.
Nisan 14 - Here again we run into a problem as to exactly when the Passover meal was celebrated. Was it at the beginning of Nisan 14 - after sunset or towards the end of the day? There is a problem here and it is the same whether you look for Jesus to be crucified Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
scripture shows that the body of Jesus had to be removed from the Cross before the start of the Sabbath, which would have started at sunset on Nisan 14. In other words by the end of Nisan 14 Jesus would have completed His work on the Cross. It is therefore impossible for the Passover meal to have been celebrated late in the afternoon of Nisan 14 and must have been celebrated at the beginning of the day after sunset of Nisan 13.
Jesus and His disciples appear to have celebrated the meal a day early in order for Jesus to fulfil the clear Old Testament picture and actually die at the same time as the Passover Lamb was being slain - the ninth hour (3 p.m.) Nisan 14. That it was a day early can be seen from John 18:28 where the Jews would not enter the Praetorium because they wanted to eat (future) the Passover.
Having celebrated the meal which was clearly at night (John 13:30) Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where He is betrayed and His trials begin. His interrogation would last until He was placed on the Cross around noon of Nisan 14 and died at 3 p.m.
John 19:31 indicates that the Sabbath approaching was a special one and gives clear evidence for the fact that it was Nisan 15 the first day of Unleavened Bread. Therefore Jesus' body was removed from the Cross and placed in the tomb.
Nisan 15 - the 'High Sabbath' is the first day and night that Jesus spends in the tomb.
Nisan 16 - was not the weekly Sabbath but Friday and so at this point the women bought the spices and prepared them (Mark 16:1). Some feel that they bought the spices and went straight to the tomb however I feel this could not happen for two reasons. First, Mark 16:2 says that it was very early on the first day of the week that they went to the tomb. It is unlikely that they had time to buy the spices prepare them and get there all in the same day. Second, is once again the problem of Jesus being in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights.
This would be the second night and day that Jesus spent in the tomb.
Nisan 17 - The weekly Sabbath and the third night and day Jesus spent in the tomb.
Nisan 18 - The first day of the week the woman come to the tomb (Mark 16:2) and Jesus has risen.
Whether you accept this version or not, please be aware that we must not just accept the traditions of man and must check the relevance of scripture. Please be aware that for the first three centuries of the church Christians did not celebrate the death of Christ on Friday. They celebrated it on the Jewish Passover which of course meant different days of the week. It was Emperor Constantine that fixed the Easter Sunday on the first full moon of spring; church leaders then made the mistake of assuming the death of Christ was on Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath.
EASTER SYMBOLS
Although Easter is now a time that the Christian Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the origins of this festival are pagan and we must be careful not to get reality mixed up with myth. The name Easter is derived from the Saxon, Eostre, a goddess of spring and the deity who measured time. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honour. Some Easter customs have come from this and indeed other pre-Christian spring festivals.
Does this mean we should not celebrate Easter? Some may want to take that action but the relevant point is not which day we use to celebrate but at that day we choose we celebrate properly and clearly centre on the Lord of Glory and have nothing to do with pagan deities or man-made myths.
If the Easter egg hunt and other symbols (even religious ones) become more important than developing my relationship with and understanding of Jesus then something has gone wrong. If you feel able to enjoy the eggs etc but still are centred on Christ that must be a decision you make before the Lord; however, it might help to be aware of the origins of some of these things.
The Easter Bunny
The earliest recorded use of a rabbit as a symbol of Easter appears to have been in Germany in the 1500s; although it was probably a much earlier folk tradition.
In the 1700s the Pennsylvania Dutch brought the Easter Bunny to America and children eagerly awaited Oschter Haws and his gifts.
We should be aware that to many other cultures and religions, especially in the Far East, the rabbit had a 'sacred' message and it is likely that these traditions spread to the West. I think it is impossible to see the Easter Bunny as Christian and, my conclusion is, we should not use this symbol.
Easter Eggs
The egg, by its very nature and purpose has long been a symbol of fertility, but this neither makes it good nor evil, it is what it is! The decorating of eggs is a long established practice in many countries and they make a beautiful table decoration.
The first chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France in the early 1800s and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. By the 19th Century mass manufacturing was made possible by new manufacturing methods.
Nobody seems to know exactly when the Easter egg hunt was started but some claim it goes back to the 4th century. The traditional hunt is not for chocolate eggs but for the coloured variety.
With the Easter egg there seems to me to be no reason why Christians should not hunt them or eat them providing it is in the right balance with the Lord and the true meaning of Easter
There are other symbols and traditions of Easter. For instance the cross and the lily, both Christian symbols relating to the religious significance of the season and the renewal of faith. There is nothing wrong with such outward symbols providing they demonstrate what has happened inwardly. If we trust simply in the outward and revere the symbol we have missed the reality of the teaching of Christ.
Another more recent custom is the Easter bonnet and the wearing of new clothes on Easter Sunday. Being smartly dressed is to be encouraged but again if the 'Sunday best' is simply outward show it is of no profit.
---
TL/DR - Easter, you like? Y/N? You agree? Y/N? WRY??!?!
The co-worker actually asked me what I thought or knew about the purpose behind Easter Eggs and the Easter bunny, etc... as it relates to Christianity. It seems she finds me a reliable and "safe" source of information... scary (for me).
I answered that I thought they were probably pagan fertility God symbols but I didn't see anything wrong with hunting for Eggs if they don't get between you and God.... but I was also sure to tell her that I wasn't certain about this.
Later I went and did some more reading.
It seems I was somewhat right... but that the definitive TRUTH that I could find was not definitive at all. It seems nobody actually knows for certain.
That leads me to the creation of this thread.
I want to know what you guys think - how you feel - or what you believe to "know" about these things. From your perspective, however offensive you might think it is to me (or not).
Specifically:
1.) The origins of Easter
2.) Symbolism or traditions of Easter when considering Easter Eggs and an Easter Rabbit (not when considering the obvious Christian symbolism - a cross, etc...).
3.) Is there a real symbiosis of these and Christianity or do they simply coincide? If they coincide - can they do so without conflict or hypocritical behavior?
----
some seeds.... C.S. Lewis on Easter:
There is a stage in a child's life at which it cannot separate the religious from the merely festal character of Christmas or Easter. I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began 'Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.' This seems to me, for his age, both admirable poetry and admirable piety. But of course the time will soon come when such a child can no longer effortlessly and spontaneously enjoy that unity. He will become able to distinguish the spiritual from the ritual and festal aspect of Easter; chocolate eggs will no longer seem sacramental. And once he has distinguished he must put one or the other first. If he puts the spiritual first he can still taste something of Easter in the chocolate eggs; if he puts the eggs first they will soon be no more than any other sweetmeat. They will have taken on an independent, and therefore a soon withering, life.
A Christian Apologetic pastor's writings (that I found interesting and useful... not my writings and not that of anyone I know personally). Of particular interest the sections "When did it happen?" and "Easter Symbols"?.
----
WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?
The traditional belief that Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday has problems with regard to scripture; the key problem being what Jesus said specifically about His death:
"But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." - Matthew 12:39, 40
He would be like Jonah, three days and three nights in the grave. The traditional way of measuring the days, even taken the Jewish way of counting, does not fit in with this clear statement. Many Christians would argue that, according to the Jews, before 6 p.m. Friday would be one day, Saturday would be two days and Sunday is the third. This might work if Jesus had just said three days but he adds and three nights; you can only get two nights maximum from this calculation. So was Jesus correct? Before we answer that please also note these verses in Matthew:
"Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, 'Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, "After three days I am to rise again." 'Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last deception will be worse than the first.'" - Matthew 27:62-64
These events took place the day after the crucifixion and are described as, "the day after the preparation". This day of preparation is Nisan 14, when, according to Exodus 14, any leavened bread was removed from the home and food was readied for the Passover meal. This means that the grave of Jesus was not sealed until Nisan 15. John 19 tells us that the body of Jesus needed to be removed from the cross because of the Sabbath and verse 31 tells us that it was a 'high day'.
"Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
Does this mean the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) in which case the Good Friday idea might be right? The added words in John don't seem to indicate a regular Sabbath and so what could it be? These significant Old Testament scriptures tells us:
"'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'" - Leviticus 23:5-8
This is talking about the Passover when Jesus was crucified - the 14th day of the first month - Nisan 14. Notice that the above verses show that on Nisan 15 there is a Sabbath - the start of Unleavened Bread. Therefore this could well be the high day Sabbath referred to in John 19 and shows that it is not necessary for Jesus to have died on Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath.
VARIOUS CALENDARS
The exact correlation between dates in the Jewish and the Gregorian calendar, prior to its full acceptance in the sixteenth century, is difficult; this makes the exact pinpointing of the day, Wednesday or Thursday difficult and I have seen good scholarship for both. It is also complicated by the fact that the Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset and not midnight to midnight as ours do. What is clear is that Friday is impossible but both Wednesday and Thursday are possible.
Below I list the dates using the Jewish days for the month Nisan and, if my understanding is correct 10 Nisan must be the weekly Sabbath, sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.
Nisan 10 - Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-44). Interestingly, it was on this 10th day that Exodus 12:3-6 tells us that the lamb was first taken from the flock and set aside for the sacrifice 4 days later. John 12:23-33 shows that this was clearly the aim of Jesus and these were the final days of His ministry on earth.
Nisan 11 - 13 - Jesus continues His teaching (Matthew 21:10ff) during the last days of His ministry. Before sunset the preparation for the Passover meal went on.
Nisan 14 - Here again we run into a problem as to exactly when the Passover meal was celebrated. Was it at the beginning of Nisan 14 - after sunset or towards the end of the day? There is a problem here and it is the same whether you look for Jesus to be crucified Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
scripture shows that the body of Jesus had to be removed from the Cross before the start of the Sabbath, which would have started at sunset on Nisan 14. In other words by the end of Nisan 14 Jesus would have completed His work on the Cross. It is therefore impossible for the Passover meal to have been celebrated late in the afternoon of Nisan 14 and must have been celebrated at the beginning of the day after sunset of Nisan 13.
Jesus and His disciples appear to have celebrated the meal a day early in order for Jesus to fulfil the clear Old Testament picture and actually die at the same time as the Passover Lamb was being slain - the ninth hour (3 p.m.) Nisan 14. That it was a day early can be seen from John 18:28 where the Jews would not enter the Praetorium because they wanted to eat (future) the Passover.
Having celebrated the meal which was clearly at night (John 13:30) Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where He is betrayed and His trials begin. His interrogation would last until He was placed on the Cross around noon of Nisan 14 and died at 3 p.m.
John 19:31 indicates that the Sabbath approaching was a special one and gives clear evidence for the fact that it was Nisan 15 the first day of Unleavened Bread. Therefore Jesus' body was removed from the Cross and placed in the tomb.
Nisan 15 - the 'High Sabbath' is the first day and night that Jesus spends in the tomb.
Nisan 16 - was not the weekly Sabbath but Friday and so at this point the women bought the spices and prepared them (Mark 16:1). Some feel that they bought the spices and went straight to the tomb however I feel this could not happen for two reasons. First, Mark 16:2 says that it was very early on the first day of the week that they went to the tomb. It is unlikely that they had time to buy the spices prepare them and get there all in the same day. Second, is once again the problem of Jesus being in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights.
This would be the second night and day that Jesus spent in the tomb.
Nisan 17 - The weekly Sabbath and the third night and day Jesus spent in the tomb.
Nisan 18 - The first day of the week the woman come to the tomb (Mark 16:2) and Jesus has risen.
Whether you accept this version or not, please be aware that we must not just accept the traditions of man and must check the relevance of scripture. Please be aware that for the first three centuries of the church Christians did not celebrate the death of Christ on Friday. They celebrated it on the Jewish Passover which of course meant different days of the week. It was Emperor Constantine that fixed the Easter Sunday on the first full moon of spring; church leaders then made the mistake of assuming the death of Christ was on Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath.
EASTER SYMBOLS
Although Easter is now a time that the Christian Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the origins of this festival are pagan and we must be careful not to get reality mixed up with myth. The name Easter is derived from the Saxon, Eostre, a goddess of spring and the deity who measured time. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honour. Some Easter customs have come from this and indeed other pre-Christian spring festivals.
Does this mean we should not celebrate Easter? Some may want to take that action but the relevant point is not which day we use to celebrate but at that day we choose we celebrate properly and clearly centre on the Lord of Glory and have nothing to do with pagan deities or man-made myths.
If the Easter egg hunt and other symbols (even religious ones) become more important than developing my relationship with and understanding of Jesus then something has gone wrong. If you feel able to enjoy the eggs etc but still are centred on Christ that must be a decision you make before the Lord; however, it might help to be aware of the origins of some of these things.
The Easter Bunny
The earliest recorded use of a rabbit as a symbol of Easter appears to have been in Germany in the 1500s; although it was probably a much earlier folk tradition.
In the 1700s the Pennsylvania Dutch brought the Easter Bunny to America and children eagerly awaited Oschter Haws and his gifts.
We should be aware that to many other cultures and religions, especially in the Far East, the rabbit had a 'sacred' message and it is likely that these traditions spread to the West. I think it is impossible to see the Easter Bunny as Christian and, my conclusion is, we should not use this symbol.
Easter Eggs
The egg, by its very nature and purpose has long been a symbol of fertility, but this neither makes it good nor evil, it is what it is! The decorating of eggs is a long established practice in many countries and they make a beautiful table decoration.
The first chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France in the early 1800s and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. By the 19th Century mass manufacturing was made possible by new manufacturing methods.
Nobody seems to know exactly when the Easter egg hunt was started but some claim it goes back to the 4th century. The traditional hunt is not for chocolate eggs but for the coloured variety.
With the Easter egg there seems to me to be no reason why Christians should not hunt them or eat them providing it is in the right balance with the Lord and the true meaning of Easter
There are other symbols and traditions of Easter. For instance the cross and the lily, both Christian symbols relating to the religious significance of the season and the renewal of faith. There is nothing wrong with such outward symbols providing they demonstrate what has happened inwardly. If we trust simply in the outward and revere the symbol we have missed the reality of the teaching of Christ.
Another more recent custom is the Easter bonnet and the wearing of new clothes on Easter Sunday. Being smartly dressed is to be encouraged but again if the 'Sunday best' is simply outward show it is of no profit.
---
TL/DR - Easter, you like? Y/N? You agree? Y/N? WRY??!?!
Of Heresy and Easter Eggs - Otter