Easter vs Christmas

This Easter Sunday is always a joy, but every Sunday is a joy for me. This year I will be talking about Easter and Christmas. Easter...the resurrection.. all that goes with this season...is an everyday event for me. My life is the resurrected life of Christ in me..."it is not I who live, but Christ in me, the hope of glory." Christmas...that's a once a year event where we/I celebrate his birth. And notice...Christmas can fall on any day, but only once a year, whereas Easter..always falls on a Sunday...and is an everyday celebration. The gift of Christmas...wears out, is broken, goes by the way, but the gift of Easter is new every morning. Just some thoughts...nothing earth shattering, just sensible...practical...and worth thinking about. Enjoy the weekend... enjoy the Life...talk to you soon.

[duhast]

Yep. Good stuff.

[THEBEAR]

Have a blessed Easter Pastor!

[racindude]

Happy Easter to you Pastor...........



quick question for you....... last night my stepson called his Mother, and told her he would not be celebrating Easter with us this year. Seems someone told him it was all started as some kind of pagan celebration or such?, and he didn't want to be a part of it. In the last year he has became really religious (nothing wrong about that) and seems to read too deep into some stuff........



can you elaborate?.........

Happy Easter Bro Pat.

[QUOTE=racindude;40025]Happy Easter to you Pastor...........can you elaborate?.........
The celebration of Easter was originally a pure Christian holiday...in fact our only one. But over the centuries, other cultures, not religions persay...brought their cultural celebrations to it...the egg things..definetly from pagan cultures...new birth fertility issues and such...and have lessened the power and magnitude of the resurrection celebration. They weren't meaning to take away from the celebration...but misguidedly did so anyway. Therefore...confusion...skepticism...and the attitudes as seen in your stepson. Always love to see such questions...thanks for asking, and I hope it helped a little. He is risen...He is coming back!

[QUOTE=Pastor Pat;40296]

Originally Posted by racindude

Happy Easter to you Pastor...........can you elaborate?.........
The celebration of Easter was originally a pure Christian holiday...in fact our only one. But over the centuries, other cultures, not religions persay...brought their cultural celebrations to it...the egg things..definetly from pagan cultures...new birth fertility issues and such...and have lessened the power and magnitude of the resurrection celebration. They weren't meaning to take away from the celebration...but misguidedly did so anyway. Therefore...confusion...skepticism...and the attitudes as seen in your stepson. Always love to see such questions...thanks for asking, and I hope it helped a little. He is risen...He is coming back!

Good post, pastor..a little more on the subject.

The word easter comes from the Syrian word Astarte, goddess of fertility. She was Isis in Egypt and Ishtar in Babylon. The legend said that an egg was pushed up out of the Euphrates River by a fish and she hatched from it. She, supposedly had the tail of a fish and the torso of a woman with multiple breasts.

When Constantine made it illegal "not," to be a Christian,..the Roman church absorbed many pagan customs and over the years it diluted the resurrection message. Jesus was crucified during the Jewish Passover, become the, "Lamb of God." The Passover celebrates the "passing over" of the spirit of death of the Jewish households when they were enslaved in Egypt. Anyone who followed God's directions in apply the blood of a lamb on their door posts and jambs, firstborn was spared. The NT idea is that the blood of Jesus, the Lamb, is applied to our hearts causing the spiritual death to, "passover." Jesus gave up the ghost at the exact moment the high priest slew the Passover lamb.

Because of Jesus' sinless life, Satan was unable to hold him after illegally crucifying Him....and He got up! Those who receive Him by faith, share in His resurrection.

That was a good post, Gray...and hey, it's all about Jesus...when we step away from all the stuff...it comes right back to Him. It's amazing what the mind of man does with the simplicity of God. He is risen...He is coming back.