that said why mess with what works:
Posted on 04/03/2007 6:31:28 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Do you worship the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?or do you worship the Evil One?
Even we Proddies recognize a good solution when we see it!
There’s nothing in error about it. It’s easily checked out.
It is NOT called Easter in France, Italy, Spain, etc.
It’s called Pasca or some similar term.
And I know German and English well enough to know that the words Son/Sohn, Sun/Sonne, and East/Oest are similar in pronunctiation and in word play. (A “SonRise” Service is very familiar to you...correct?)
Your theory doesn’t hold together.
They DO NOT call it Easter in MOST European countries. They simply don’t.
celebrating every day is a great thing. i wish more parishes (orthodox as well) were literally open every day. it’d be nice to be able to walk in and say some prayers on my saint’s day/name day for instance... though i guess that’s what having a home alter/icon corner is for...
so why do some folks call it that here? (we call it pascha as well btw...)
**If Easter isn’t found in the Bible, where exactly did it come from?**
The Resurrection of the Lord is mentioned in the Bible.
These people are Christians in Name ONLY.
Again, you can call a Suburban a Lexus all you want to, it is still a Suburban. You bend your knee to the Holy Roman Church every “Easter” whether you call it Passover or not. It is not a theory, my belief is grounded solely on scripture and the re-enactment thereof.
I believe he is referring to our practice of offering the Mass/Liturgy every day (except Good Friday, and Holy Saturday). And yes, it is a ‘bonus’ that most Catholic Churches are open pretty much all the time.
You’re welcome to drop by any time. I just hope you don’t accidentally wander into some house of modernist architectural horrors.
Since your use of Elohim has not been clarified, I can't answer your question directly.
In still other cases, the meaning is not clear from the text, but may refer to powerful beings (e.g. Genesis 6:2, "... the sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them for wives... ," Exodus 4:16, "... and you [Moses] will be as Elohim to him [Aaron]... ," Exodus 22:28, "Thou shalt not revile Elohim, or curse a ruler of your people... ," where the parallelism suggests that Elohim may refer to human rulers). See Sons of God for more insight into this suggestion.
You still haven't answered my question.
I've seen a few of those. There is one in my hometown that looks as much like a planetarium as anything else. They demolished a beautiful church when they built it, too.
Do not post to me ever again. I will have nothing to do with someone who says Christians worship "the evil one."
(shakes dust off his metaphorical feet).
i wish more orthodox churches wer open/had liturgy daily. for most its a matter of resources but even many large cathedrals don’t. (though many of these are open more often...)
Take heart ... many of those houses of modernist architectural horrors were poorly constructed. I see a demolition crew in their not too distant future.
The word God is very fuzzy.Some people call Allah by the name God.
Please clarify your answer.
I don't know ... but some folks insist on trying. I'm surprised that the wheels on their cars are round.
Well no, Allah is actually Arabic for God. Arabic speaking Christians worship Allah, which in English means God.
By God, I mean the triune God of the Father, His only Son, and Holy Spirit.
You've still avoided my question.
Xzins, Easter has never been considered cognate to Passover, which celebrates the sacrifice of the Lamb (and which is observed, if at all, by most Christians as Good Friday), but to the Feast of Firstfruits, the day when our Lord Yeshua was raised as the Firstfruits of the dead (cf. 1 Co. 15:20, 23). It's true that the King James' translators put "Easter" instead of "Passover" in Acts 12:4, but this was simply one of the many documented errors of the King James Version, an example of reading an anachronism back into the text.
Xenia, while it's true that Constantine mandated Sunday worship and also the Easter-based date of the Resurrection Day--and he was pretty blunt that he didn't want any of the Church's practices linked to those of the Jews--he was in many ways simply ratifying the majority position of the churches at that time. The fact is that many Christians were already worshiping on Sunday (which is not in and of itself a sin, since we should worship every day) and ignoring the Biblical Sabbath (which is a problem) and had adopted and adapted some pagan holidays into their practice.
But let's be fair to those early believers: When they adopted the Feast of Ishtar (Easter) or Saturnalia (Christmas), they were not attempting to bring idols into the Temple like Solomon, so to speak. Rather, they were engaged in a type of cultural "one-upmanship" and outreach. Since those were the days on which everyone was released from work, it made sense to them to co-opt those days--especially in a time when keeping the Jewish Feasts instead only increased the level of persecution.
So they could say, "You celebrate the Feast of Ishtar because you think she brings life*? Well our Lord rose on this day from the dead, and He truly gives eternal life!" Or, "You celebrate the 'rebirth' of the Sun on Saturnalia. But we celebrate the birth of the Son of God, who truly is the Light of the World."
* As in fertility; hence the eggs and bunnies, as the article points out. And that, xzins, is why I respectfully don't buy your alternative explanation for the origin of the name Easter. Even if you are right that the name is merely a coincidence (and to be honest, your explanation seems rather contrived), the symbols of a cult of fertility are all over Easter to this very day.As a side-note, December 25th was probably chosen because it was roughly equivalent to Kislev 25th on the Jewish Calendar--the beginning of Hanunkkah, and the time of our Lord Yeshua's conception, though not His birth.
Now, do I agree with that decision even though I'm sympathetic to the motives of the early believers and difficult situation they were in? No. I think it was a very human solution in a difficult situation--which is exactly the problem with it. God condemns making up our own appointed times in lieu of His (1 Ki. 12:33, Dan. 7:25), and even in such a time of persecution, the Ekklesia, empowered by His Spirit, should have kept the Biblical Feasts:
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Messiah. (Col. 2:16-17)This isn't about legalism. One is saved by grace received through faith, not by observing all of the right holy days--Abraham was saved by faith 430 years before Passover even existed, after all. However, I remain firm in my belief that by giving up keeping God's Appointed Times, that the Church has lost a great blessing, for the entire plan of Salvation, from the birth of the Messiah and His Forerunner (Elijah/John the Baptist) to the Crucifixion, to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the destruction of the Temple, to the Second Coming/Rapture, to the restoration of God's covenant relationship with Israel, to God dwelling in Jerusalem is played out every year in the Feasts, and we are just now rediscovering this after so long an absence.Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Co. 5:7-8)
We--and here I'm specifically speaking to my fellow Messianics--need to regard this restored gift as a matter of great joy, a blessing to be shared, not as a matter for contention among our brothers and sisters in the Messiah.
It's in his addendum to the Council of Nicea. I've got to go run an errand, but I'll try to pull the exact quote when I get back.
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