Christians not celebrating Easter?

[Jolixte]

My friend told me the other day that her church doesn't celebrate Easter. I'm curious if this is a well known practice. I certainly have never heard of it. She didn't even know what good friday or easter stood for, so I (who hasn't been to church in over 8 years) explained it to her. I thought that the death and resurrection of the christian christ was a major event for them, hence my confusion.

[LittlePerson]

my guess is she is jehovas witness?

[Jolixte]

my guess is she is jehovas witness?
No, she attends a chinese non-denom. church.

[OneStayed]

well typically that is a HUGE thing for the church, you know it is kinda the point of our religion and all. But some churches, especially non-denominational churches tend to emphasis other things, or chose not to celebrate the current typical Christian holidays because of their heritage in Paganism, or just don't do it for no good reason. That is one thing i learned while attending a non-denom church is to expect nothing, because they will do the opposite. it was WAY weird, but you get use to it. i am sure that they celebrate the death and ressurection in some way, it just may not be at that time, or in the typical way. maybe she meant that they just werent doing the whole easter egg thing or something.

JayMo from the Block

[Djiril]

Some Christians don't go for the traditional Easter celebrations because they recognise it's Pagan origins and don't what to be associated with anything Pagan. It seems kind of odd for a nondenominational church to do that though. :whatmewor

[Mindflayer]

Some Christians don't go for the traditional Easter celebrations because they recognise it's Pagan origins and don't what to be associated with anything Pagan. It seems kind of odd for a nondenominational church to do that though. :whatmewor
I thought Easter was kinda the one TRUE christian holiday?

Don't mean the eggs and fertility and all that... but the death and resurrection of Christ/etc is purely Christian, why not celebrate it?

[Paracelsus]

& of course let us remember that many different Christian denominations do not agree over exactly when Easter is...
But seriously, it does seem a little odd for Christians not to celebrate this - guess this flags up the astonishing diveristy of practice

[Mishka]

Actually I'm not surprised at all. Easter has been so americanized and materialized that the religious meanings aren't really there, pagan or not. I jokingly refer to it as Ishtar weekend. (Unless you do worship Ishtar, in that case no offense)

Supposedly it is to remember the resurrection of the christ. And as with christmas as well, many of the celebrations have paganism mixed in with it. When Constantine legalized christianity (yes you may believe in it and NOT get thrown into the lion's den or sent to be target practice for gladiators) they made some compensations. Hey, we already have this winter festival and we have this spring festival, so let's just combine it all and make everyone happy. So with it went some cultural (i.e. pagan) celebrations and traditions. As the pagans converted to christianity (some willingly others not) they found new meaning in some of their celebrations. For example the christmas tree coming from a story in Germany. They already worshipped the tree. When they were "saved" they still decorated the tree with candles to celebrate that the light of the world (Jesus) had come into their hearts and they now worshipped Him and not the tree, also the cross is referred to as a 'tree' in the Bible.

My friends and I (I used to be a fundamentalist christian and was in the messianic movement for a short time) did not celebrate Easter because bunnies and colored eggs found its roots in pagan cultures and traditions that worshipped the goddess of fertility. We saw the Jewish symbolism instead (and mind you, plenty of christians would balk at this idea as well and the messianic movement annoys the Jews).

We celebrated his last supper instead because he was crucified when most jews were in Jerusalem for Passover. (they would make aliyah there about 3 times a year if they didn't live there) The theory is that he was born during sukkot (festival of booths) and died around Passover, hence he is the Passover lamb that was slain to remove sin. Easter is quite a slap in the face of this kind of Jewish history. Many christians celebrate easter with doughy hot cross buns and a big ol' ham, where the feast of Passover is eating unleavened bread (matzah) and of course the Jews didn't eat pork at all. Some christians have tried to change it to "Resurrection Day" which is a noble attempt to keep the celebration true to its core meaning for them.

I haven't studied the pagan influences on the Passover seder meal, supposedly there are some Babylonian traditions mixed in. For the more fundamentalist denominations (and non-denominational churches usually fall into that category, they aren't typically liberal) the more adament they are about not having ANY pagan symbolism in their celebrations. The more liberal christians don't mind because they don't notice, don't know about it or because they simply believe that the extras are just part of American culture and feel no threat to their beliefs with it.

In short, it's really what you make of it. If it matters to you, then I guess it matters.

Hope that made some sense.

[orgtigger]

If you notice most major christian holidays happen about one week after major solistice/equinoxes.
Was this part of a PR campaign by the christians trying to get converts
(one week would would allow for travel back then)
And one Question
do the other branches of judeo-christianity worship the same holidays

[Sleet]

The more liberal christians don't mind because they don't notice, don't know about it or because they simply believe that the extras are just part of American culture and feel no threat to their beliefs with it.

Or, some are like my wife ( a liberal Catholic), who embraces the pagan influences in Christianty, believing her religion richly benefits from the wisdom of the older religions that have influenced it.

[Mishka]

If you notice most major christian holidays happen about one week after major solistice/equinoxes.
Was this part of a PR campaign by the christians trying to get converts
(one week would would allow for travel back then)
And one Question
do the other branches of judeo-christianity worship the same holidays


Such as?

[Protagonist]

If you notice most major christian holidays happen about one week after major solistice/equinoxes.
Was this part of a PR campaign by the christians trying to get converts
(one week would would allow for travel back then)
I don't know about the travel thing, but a lot of it was PR. The Christians wanted to make their practices resemble the dominant (Pagan) religions of the time to hopefully gain converts (Great Commission) and to avoid persecution.


And one Question
do the other branches of judeo-christianity worship the same holidays
Well, actually, I don't think any Judeo-Christian (or Pagan, or anything else) religions worship holidays. But, yeah, many faiths have holidays around the same time, usually near solstices and equinoxes. Not all, but many do.

[orgtigger]

Such as?





Christmas (21st-22nd is winter solistice)
Old hallow's eve (21st-22nd is Autumn equinox)
Easter (21st-22nd is spring equniox)
They missed summer solistice

[Mishka]

I think that covers it.

[banondraig]

Christmas (21st-22nd is winter solistice)
Old hallow's eve (21st-22nd is Autumn equinox)
Easter (21st-22nd is spring equniox)
They missed summer solistice

yes, they did.

also, the autumn equinox is on the 22nd or 23rd of september, so really not that close to all hallows eve.

[Mishka]

I wouldn't call All Hollow's Eve a Judeo-Christian celebration corralating with the autumn equinox, the Catholics turned the day after into All Saints Day for an alternative they could live with. Some Christians celebrate "Harvest Day" instead of the scary, pagan-influenced, evil Halloween.

Judaism's Sukkot probably coincides with the autumn equinox more closely.

[orgtigger]

Ahhh, close enough darnit, I find it horrbly amusing every year when this or that christian group boycotts Halloween calling it a 'pagan' holiday. I figure they should boycott all of them. :) but what do I know I'm just a silly pagan :deviltail

[Mishka]

As long as you're passing out chocolate I don't care WHAT you are! :)

[orgtigger]

:fofftopic what is it about women and chocolate? And shoes? I figured if I can break 'the shoe code' the universe will become clear to me.

[Valz]

Most of the fundamentalis and biblical literalist don't celebrate it because of it's pagan origins. Well, too bad , I am glad to celebrate them and knowing their pagan origin merely enriches the experience. It was very exiting to celebrate the same holidays with a friend of mine who is a Pagan.

I have run into conflict about it mostly with 7th Day Adventists, they just hate The Catholic Church.

[BlackMagicalCat]

Well,Im a christian,Im not much on holidays,I love the Lord every day,and am grateful he rose from the dead.I sorta love christmas because of the lights,the snowmen,santa and all the good stuff that comes with it,but nobody knows when Christ was born ,and all of our holidays have pagan roots.The same with easter,I think God would rather we love him every day and I dont think he cares much for our holidays,which we have made to try and please him.He wants us every day.But,maybe im wrong,ohwell.

[Karma Chameleon]

My friend told me the other day that her church doesn't celebrate Easter. I'm curious if this is a well known practice. I certainly have never heard of it. She didn't even know what good friday or easter stood for, so I (who hasn't been to church in over 8 years) explained it to her. I thought that the death and resurrection of the christian christ was a major event for them, hence my confusion.

Back when I was a Christian I didn't celebrate Easter either because I considered it a Pagan holiday (which it is after all.) I celebrated a sort of Christian passover, pentacost I think? Now I know that a lot of Christians think Easter is all about Christ's resurrection but then turn around and have Easter egg hunts and such like. Back then I considered those people to be such hypocrites mixing Pagan stuff with Christianity. I considered it blasphemy. (Keep in mind I no longer have that view as I am not a fundie). Your friend's church most likely thinks something like that which is why they don't celebrate Easter.

Now, I just think a lot of Christians don't really give it much thought about where the eggs and bunnies come from.

However...
One person I had argued with on another forum tried rationalizing the bunny rabbits and eggs as symbols of Christ. He said that the egg represents the resurrection and the bunny the holy spirit.

[Valz]

One person I had argued with on another forum tried rationalizing the bunny rabbits and eggs as symbols of Christ. He said that the egg represents the resurrection and the bunny the holy spirit.

And that is all good because if they had no meaning for the Christian they would have not used/adopted it in the first place. What happened is that it was Christianized but that doesn't mens that it was done with no theological importance for the Christian. It is a festival as equally important to the Pagan as to the Christian.

Valz

[Karma Chameleon]

And that is all good because if they had no meaning for the Christian they would have not used/adopted it in the first place. What happened is that it was Christianized but that doesn't mens that it was done with no theological importance for the Christian. It is a festival as equally important to the Pagan as to the Christian.

Valz


Yes, I agree. Just that was the first time I had ever heard that the bunny was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. I always thought the Holy Spirit was represented as a Dove.

[Valz]

Yes, I agree. Just that was the first time I had ever heard that the bunny was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. I always thought the Holy Spirit was represented as a Dove.

Normaly it is, but the dove is just a symbol used to represent the Holy Spirit but it is not the Holy Spirit itself. So other symbols can be used as well.

Valz

[Mishka]

And that is all good because if they had no meaning for the Christian they would have not used/adopted it in the first place. What happened is that it was Christianized but that doesn't mens that it was done with no theological importance for the Christian. It is a festival as equally important to the Pagan as to the Christian.

Valz

I'm not so sure I agree with you. The bunny and eggs are an American, materialistic way of celebrating, quite benign and without meaning. It's just fun and it's ok for it to just be that.

Sounds to me like this christian was trying to justify things any which way he could. I am familiar with that...find an answer to everything. Even if it's a bunch of BS. I can remember trying to justify everything by giving it spiritual meaning. Doesn't mean there really was any.

I'll agree with the last part. It is valued by the Pagan and Christian alike and if they find meaning in it then good.

[Valz]

I'm not so sure I agree with you. The bunny and eggs are an American, materialistic way of celebrating, quite benign and without meaning. It's just fun and it's ok for it to just be that.

The objects and symbols carry no meaning by themselves, people give them the meaning and even their names. So even saying that it has no meaning is actually adding meaning to it.


I'll agree with the last part. It is valued by the Pagan and Christian alike and if they find meaning in it then good.

Yeap, that is what I meant, each one has a different meaning for the same thing, it is all fine. :)

Valz

[Mishka]

:fofftopic what is it about women and chocolate? And shoes? I figured if I can break 'the shoe code' the universe will become clear to me.

Women and chocolate: it supposedly has a similar neurological response as an orgasm. I don't care if that's a myth or not, it "hits the spot", inuendo intended.

"The Shoe Code": I am not a follower of this code. Unless they are chocolate shoes. My observation of women with lots of shoes is a sort of pampering-bellum. A part of the brain that needs "a fix" much like my desire for chocolate. We allow ourselves certain "treats", things that pamper us in little ways, whether it's good makeup, a certain lotion, a splurge on a new perfume or a great sale on shoes. There's something so comforting at the thought of having shoes to go with every outfit, a trend my grandmother kept to, including a scarf that matched.

Perhaps I should try this uncharted territory myself. It may be just the neurological stimulation I need.

Though I'd save more money if I just stick to my yoga.


_cookie_ Oh yes. Yes! YES!! :loveduv:

[omar]

No, she attends a chinese non-denom. church.
There is a United Buddhist Church of America & other Oriental churches around,that are modern like any other American church. Correction, it is called the Buddhist Congregational Church. They sit on the carpeted floor Burmese style and,sing hymns & have organ music,with Sunday services.

[Xentor]

Do Buddhists celebrate Easter (or a temporal variation)?

[Protagonist]

I know very little about Buddhism, but I believe they go by a lunar calendar, and that their New Years Celebration sometimes falls close to Easter.

[Luminessence]

Do Buddhists celebrate Easter (or a temporal variation)?

No, they don't, at least Tibetan Buddhists don't. Sometimes the Tibetan New Year falls close to Easter, but usually it's earlier.

[Dusk]

For me, Easter represents the eating of chocolate and the subsequent buying of larger-waisted pants.

Reeses peanut butter egg(S). :hearthear

and I don't mean the bite sized ones!