What Really Happened at ''Easter''?

KOINONIA HOUSE ^ | March 2007 | Chuck Missler Ph.D.

[Uri’el-2012]

What Really Happened at ''Easter''?

Most reasonably informed Christians are well aware that many of the traditions
that surround the Christmas holidays have pagan origins and very little correlation
with the actual events as recorded in the Bible. However, most of us are surprised
when we discover that some of what we have been taught about “Easter”
is not only in error, but deliberately so!

Many, of course, are aware that the name “Easter” actually originates with the
pagan worship of Ishtar (or Astarte) that was traditionally observed at the time
of the vernal equinox, nominally about March 21 or 22. Traditional pagan fertility
symbols of both rabbits and eggs continue to be associated with this holiday.

However, the name as commonly used is also currently associated with the events
surrounding the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which actually
occurred on the Jewish Passover and is clearly defined in the Scriptures as the 14th of Nisan.

Read more here

[gondramB]

>>Perhaps the return will come on the 30th.

Does Nissan have a 30th? Months in lunar calendars generally have 28 days. ;-)<<

I had to look this up to be sure but it looks like the Jewish calendar isn't lunar.

Month Length Gregorian Equivalent
Tishri 30 days September-October
Cheshvan 29 or 30 days October-November
Kislev 30 or 29 days November-December
Tevet 29 days December-January
Shevat 30 days January-February
Adar 29 or 30 days February-March
Adar II 29 days March-April
Nisan 30 days March-April
Iyar 29 days April-May
Sivan 30 days May-June
Tammuz 29 days June-July
Av 30 days July-August
Elul 29 days August-September

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/calendar.htm

[Ping-Pong]

Hi Diego,

I was reading another thread and someone there said Passover was part of the old covenant and once Jesus was crucified it became the new covenant so easter was for us now. I'm paraphrasing but you get the general idea.

He became the Passover Lamb on Passover (I suppose that was an accidental occurance) so now we can honor the Holiest Day
of Christianity by observing it on Ishtar, complete with her fertility bunnies and colored eggs.

Even when I was a child I wondered what does a rabbit have to do with colored eggs on the day Christ rose.

There is a reason for His feast days and being Jewish or Christian doesn't matter in that regard. He set those times for a reason.

[zerosix]

"Messiah Yeshua," "Adonai Yeshua"

[maryz]

From your own source:

The Jewish calendar is primarily lunar, with each month beginning on the new moon, when the first sliver of moon becomes visible after the dark of the moon. In ancient times, the new months used to be determined by observation. When people observed the new moon, they would notify the Sanhedrin. When the Sanhedrin heard testimony from two independent, reliable eyewitnesses that the new moon occurred on a certain date, they would declare the rosh chodesh (first of the month) and send out messengers to tell people when the month began.

The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year and a 13-month lunar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar "drift" relative to the solar year. On a 12-month calendar, the month of Nisan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, occurs 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again. To compensate for this drift, an extra month is occasionally added: a second month of Adar. The month of Nisan would occur 11 days earlier for two or three years, and then would jump forward 29 or 30 days, balancing out the drift.

In the fourth century, Hillel II established a fixed calendar based on mathematical and astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19-year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years. Adar II is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of the cycle. Jewish year 5758 (beginning October 2, 1997) is the first year of the current cycle.

[Diego1618]

.it was evidently a meatless "Essene" Seder eaten on Monday night as Tuesday

Now I'm all mixed up....This should say "A meatless Seder eaten on Tuesday night as Wednesday was the preparation." I'll get it right.

[gondramB]

Thanks for catching that - actually glanced through those paragraphs but obviously didn't do a good job with comprehension.

[Diego1618]

I was reading another thread and someone there said Passover was part of the old covenant and once Jesus was crucified it became the new covenant so easter was for us now.

Yes....isn't this amazing....and with no scriptural direction or authority....at all! These folks actually believe this....and that is a tragedy.

[Diego1618]

Sorry....I meant to ping you here also.....regarding the meatless Seder....post#65

[Cicero]

Unfortunately, there's no way that Christ could have been crucified on any day but Friday unless you argue that the Bible is just plain wrong in several places.

It is made clear by all of the gospels that Jesus and the thieves were taken down from the crosses and buried before sundown, because that was the start of the Jewish Sabbath, which begins Friday evening at sundown and runs over into Saturday. All of the gospels make this point clearly.

Therefore, it is not just a later Catholic convention that Good Friday took place on a Friday, but it can be established by the Bible itself.

The Bible also makes clear that Easter took place on Sunday, because that was the third day after the Crucifixion. Again, this can be established by the biblical text.

Changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday was, of course, in honor of Easter. The day that Christ rose from the dead was taken as the new day to be celebrated as holy.

Jews, of course, continue to observe the sabbath on its original Saturday. But from the earliest days Christians marked Sunday as their holy day.

There have been various debates over the centuries about the proper date for Easter. As I said earlier, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches do not have the same rules for establishing the proper day. And in the middle ages there was a disparity between the Church of Rome and the Church in Ireland, which was settled by making the Irish observe the Roman calendar. To some degree, this is arbitrary. Since Easter has always been observed on a Sunday, the date inevitably varies, and rules have to be made to determine when it should be observed. The Roman Catholic Church could, conceivably, change its method of calculation, but as yet it has not. And I can't conceive that they would move it from Sunday, since that is when the Bible indicates that the first Easter took place.

[maryz]

Calendar stuff can be in the MEGO (my eyes glaze over)category! ;-)

[Ping-Pong]

There is a Sabbath and there can also be a "High Sabbath", both in the same week. The weekly Sabbath of course is Saturday.

The Four Gospels agree in stating the the Lord was laid in the Sepulchre on the Preparation Day, Nisan 14th, immediately before the High Sabbath of the 15th. Therefore He must have been crucified on Wednesday, 14th of Nisan. E.W. Bullinger (Companion Bible)

You stated: The Bible also makes clear that Easter took place on Sunday, because that was the third day after the Crucifixion. Again, this can be established by the biblical text.

Nothing to do with God took place on "easter" or Sunday. It was on Passover, on the Sabbath, Saturday. Sunday was to worship the sun, easter was in honor of a pagan fertility goddess Ishtar and if you knew the rites connected with it you would be ashamed that Christianity observes that day. Please look easter up in your dictionary for it's true meaning.

You will find easter mentioned only one time in the Bible and that was a mistranslation. It should have been Pascha, Greek for Passover.

Christians marking Sunday for their holy day was because they wouldn't give up their sun god worship. I wonder what God thinks about that?

[Uri’el-2012]

Ps. 118:14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Ps. 118:15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!

Ps. 118:16 The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”

Ps. 118:17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

Ps. 118:18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

Ps. 118:19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

Ps. 118:20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.

Ps. 118:21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

Ps. 118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;

Ps. 118:23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

Ps. 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Ps. 118:25 LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.

Ps. 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

b'shem Yah'shua

[Uri’el-2012]

The Bible also makes clear that Easter took place on Sunday, because that was the third day after the Crucifixion. Again, this can be established by the biblical text.

The correct reading is early on the first day which would be saturday after sundown.

b'shem Yah'shua

[Uri’el-2012]

Please re-read my posting to you of #18

[Diego1618]

Unfortunately, there's no way that Christ could have been crucified on any day but Friday unless you argue that the Bible is just plain wrong in several places.

Why, then.....do you believe the Apostle John makes this distinction? [John 19:31] The Jews, therefore, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, since it was the preparation, (for that sabbath day was a great one,) asked of Pilate that their legs may be broken, and they taken away.

Then, to complicate your theory all the more....why do the women rest for the Sabbath after preparing spices [Luke 23:56] that they had to wait until the Sabbath was over..... to purchase? [Mark 16:1]

The obvious answer of course is the fact there was Two Sabbaths crucifixion week with a day in between....the day they purchased the spices after resting on the first (High) Sabbath.

Calendar for 30 A.D.

In case you did not notice it on an earlier post I'm showing you the calendar again with the day of preparation on the 14th(Wednesday). The First Sabbath of Unleavened on the 15th(Thursday). The day in between to purchase spices, the 16th(Friday) and the weekly Sabbath on the 17th(Saturday)....which also was the day of resurrection.

I'm sorry, but your Friday/Sunday theory is nothing but false tradition. I have just given you Biblical proof that Our Lord was crucified on a Wednesday and resurrected three days later on a Saturday. The fact your Church does not teach this simple Bible truth should cause you great concern.

[Titanites]

Chuck Missler? Isn't he the guy who was caught stealing passages from someone?

Well, he did get his "doctorate" at a known diploma mill, Louisiana Baptist University.

[vladimir998]

Yep. Another "fine" fundamentalist scholar.

[Diego1618]

Well, he did get his "doctorate" at a known diploma mill, Louisiana Baptist University.

You folks need to come up with some scripture supporting your position, instead of just casting aspersions. That is, if you expect anyone to take anything you ever say... seriously! And I'm no supporter of Chuck Missler.

Come on! Defend your pagan traditions! Show me from scripture where Our Lord was crucified on a Friday. I know you cannot....you know you cannot....everyone knows you cannot!

[Uri’el-2012]

They are just "good" catholics practicing catholic "charity"

Or are they "bashing"... Naw

They are correct that LBU does not look to the World for certification.

But LBU does teach Hermeneutics and exegesis not eisegesis.

[Diego1618]

Or are they "bashing"... Naw

Didn't you get the word? The "Mods" only allow Catholic bashing.