Friday, April 14, 2017

But Easter Is In The Bible! Why, If It Is A Pagan Word?

As always, I agonizingly want to search out the history and real history and/or meaning of many festivals and holidays we grew up celebrating. In the last few years, we have felt similar to what Lea does in the video in a previous post (click here) and even after what we learned today, still concur that paganism is at the root of this particular time of year as it relates to Easter the event, bunnies, eggs
and Ashtoreth. But not when people are honouring what Christ did for us during passover. Going by the passover dates would be the perfect way to follow the specific time period, of the resurrection of Jesus, because that is a celebration done every year, even to this day, ever since the Israelite's exodus out of Egypt.

Well, Today as my husband and I discussed why only the King James Translation, uses the pagan word Easter in Acts 12:4.  Since the original Greek word used is Pascha , which from Greek to English has been translated to Passover, not Easter. The Easter word only appears once, in the KJV,  and every where else in the KJV, the word Passover  is used (where Pascha in Greek is used in the original Biblical language) . In other translations, the word Passover is used in every occurrence where "Pascha is used in Greek).

What was confusing, is how the KJV only folks, say Herod meant the pagan festival Easter in Acts 12:4,  and could not have meant the Jewish Passover. The feast of unleavened bread precedes the Passover meal. The explanations from KJV only folks, state that Herod is saying he will bring Paul forth out of prison for judgment after Easter, is because Passover is already over, so he must mean the Pagan Easter. If you read Acts 12, you will see it is not. In fact the Bible clearly says: 
[Act 12:1-5 NLT] 1 About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. 2 He had the apostle James (John's brother) killed with a sword. 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.) 4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. 5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

It appears, they are trying to justify why the word, Easter is used (because it is pagan after all). But, the more we researched this, the more their explanation did not match Scripture. The Bible is always our plumb line. Here is a decent article we found about the origins of the word Easter." 
Ask God for guidance, He leads us into all Truth.

Remember this always, as we are asked to by Jesus....
[1Co 11:23-34 NLT] 23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me." 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people--an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it." 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. 27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 33 So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord's Supper, wait for each other. 34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won't bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I'll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

Out Of Interest, here is a link to the Jewish Calendar. Much different from ours.

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