Easter and the Resurrection?
I was not ‘born and raised’ in the Lord’s church. I was, growing up, one of those Gentiles who was without Christ, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:11). But during our mid-twenties, someone cared enough to share the truth of the written word of God with my wife and I, and we obeyed the gospel, being born again of the water and the Spirit, and arose to walk in newness of life; learning, loving, believing and seeking to live the word of the living God. And even though I was one of them at one time, it still amazes me when I walk into a department store and see people purchasing products exhibited, which seek to imply that “Easter” has anything whatsoever to do with a biblical and God-pleasing celebration of Christ’s resurrection. It doesn’t!
Easter has no Biblical relationship with Christ and the resurrection.
As we all know, the celebration of, or even the word “Easter” itself, is not found anywhere in the bible – except as a translatory error in the King James Version in Acts 12:4 where the Greek word “pascha,” meaning “Passover,” is used. As history tells us, Easter was actually a pagan celebration of the false goddess of fertility, “Eastre,” which the apostate Roman Catholic Church sought to somehow re-shape into a “Christian” holiday, some number of centuries after the last apostle died and the bible was completed. This, plus the fact that we know how God has always felt about the worship of false gods (or the practice of idolatry), makes the celebration of the fertility goddess, or “Eastre,” a very scary deception and proposition for New Testament Christians indeed! Especially in light of the fact that God has told us precisely how and how often we are to celebrate Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, until He comes (Luke 22:14-20; Acts 20:7).
And so, I am now so very grateful to finally know the truth of God’s word, which sets me free from such dangerous and idolatrous error and ignorance. But even for those like I used to be, who claim to want to know God but don’t know their bibles very well, this year’s calendar had ought to speak volumes about the fact that something is not quite right or matching up to the biblical record. The biblical gospel record reveals to us that 1) Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on Thursday evening; 2) was later arrested and then crucified on Friday morning – eventually breathing His last at about 3:00 on Friday afternoon, and then, 3) after spending “three days” (or parts of Friday, all day Saturday, and part of Sunday morning in the tomb), He arose.
However, according to this year’s calendar and its man-made origins and calculations, this is how the record reads: Friday, March 30th is so-called “Good Friday,” or the day Christ died for our sins. And then, a day later and after His death, on Saturday, March 31st, is the Passover (according to our 2018 calendars)… or, when Christ celebrated with His disciples the night before he died for our sins… (?) So… He died on Friday… to then arise to celebrate the Passover on the next day – Saturday – with His disciples… (?) the night before He was crucified… which He had already been the previous day…? So… He wasn’t in the tomb three days then? Because according to the same 2018 calendar account, He then arose on “Eastre” Sunday…? How exactly does that all work again? And folks say God’s word is confusing? Really?
I am so grateful, that by the grace of God, I am now blessed to rely completely on the perfect, pure, and totally inerrant wisdom of the word of the living God and that alone, for everything relating to both earthly as well as eternal life (Psalms 19 & 119). I am so very grateful, that by the grace of God, I now know the truth, and the truth has set me free; free from man-made, clerical, calendrical, and denominational error and doctrine that affects my eternal soul, health, and well-being. Because I now know and believe God’s word, I know that no one will ever be saved by simply saying a prayer and welcoming Jesus into their heart (and all other such man-made error and doctrine), because the bible never once, anywhere, teaches that either – this false doctrine, which I also used to believe before knowing the truth and being set free from it as well.
However, perhaps the calendar this year isn’t completely erroneous in all of its computations and insinuations. After all, the celebration of the false goddess of spring and fertility which we commonly refer to as “Easter” in English, actually also falls directly on April first, or, “April Fool’s Day,” as we all also commonly refer to it. Hmmm. Now, how about that?