Reason no. 1: Easter is not found in the Bible
Easter is no doubt one of the most popular Christian celebrations in our modern times. But won’t you be surprised to know that Easter isn’t mentioned in the Bible not even once? If Easter is such an important Christian festival, shouldn’t we read specific commandments to celebrate it?
Now, some of you might say, “Hey, you’re wrong. I read Easter in Acts 12:4:
“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.”
I hate to break it to you, but that is a glaring mistranslation. History shows us that some Bible translators can’t believe that they can’t find Easter in the Bible. Thus, as a desperate move, they deliberately mistranslated the Greek word Pascha, which is properly translated elsewhere as “Passover.”
Here’s what some Bible commentaries have to say about Acts 12:4.
“There never was a more absurd or unhappy translation than this. The original is simply after the Passover. The word “Easter” now denotes the festival observed by many Christian churches in honor of the resurrection of the Saviour. But the original has noreference to that, nor is there the slightest evidence that any such festival was observed at the time when this book was written.”
He would do this after Easter– after the Passover, certainly so it ought to be read, for it is the same word that is always so rendered; and to insinuate the introducing of a gospel-feast, instead of the Passover, when we have nothing in the New Testament of such a thing, is to mingle Judaism with our Christianity.
The term Easter, inserted here by our translators, they borrowed from the ancient Anglo-Saxon service-books, or from the version of the Gospels… Other examples occur in this version. Wiclif used the word paske, i.e. passover; but Tindal, Coverdale, Becke, and Cardmarden, following the old Saxon mode of translation, insert Easter: the Geneva Bible very properly renders it the passover. The Saxon Earten, Eartne, Eartno, Eartna, and Eartnon are different modes of spelling the name of the goddess Easter, whose festival was celebrated by our pagan forefathers on the month of April; hence that month, in the Saxon calendar, is called Easter month. Every view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety of retaining a name every way exceptionable, and palpably absurd.
The majority of Bible translators and scholars agree that Easter is a gross mistranslation. Thus, if you read modern Bible translations today, you will read Passover instead of Easter.
Reason no. 2: Easter originated in paganism
So, if Easter didn’t originate in the Bible, where did we get it?
It came from an ancient form of pagan worship in Babylon. If you have thought all your life that Easter means “resurrection of Christ,” then you need to review what history and scholars have to say about this term.
The word Easter came from the ancient Assyrian goddess name Ishtar, pronounced by the Assyrians in the same way as we pronounce “Easter.” If that’s not surprising enough, the Babylonian name of this goddess includes Astarte and in Hebrew, it is Ashtoreth, the queen of heaven.
Here’s an interesting fact: Easter is actually found in the Bible but it was written in Hebrew as Ashtoreth, also referred as the queen of heaven. But instead of a festival promoted by God, it is actually a pagan worship denounced and condemned by Him.
Read the following passage to get an idea how detestable and abominable Easter is to God.
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger (Jeremiah 7:18).
Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows (Jeremiah 44:25).
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites (I Kings 11:5).
And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile (II Kings 23:13).
Moreover, notice what Easton’s Bible Dictionary has to say about Easter:
Originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version (1611) was formed, the word “passover” was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, “passover,” is always used.
You can check any encyclopedias, books, or sources and see what they have to say about Easter. I believe I have said enough to prove that Easter is truly rooted in paganism.
Reason no. 3: Easter encourages lying
Just like people lie about Santa Claus to children, it is also common for parents to lie to their children about the Easter bunny. They tell children that Easter bunnies lay eggs for them to look for.
While grown-ups might think that this is just one of those harmless lies, it is still counted as a lie. The Bible warns us about lying. Here are some of the relevant passages:
“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25).
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:9).
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 12:16).
As you can see, a lie is a lie, whether it is for fun or not.
If we are to really live up to the standards set by our Master, then we must put away all forms of lying in our lives and that includes the lies we say during Easter.
Reason no. 4: First-century Christians didn’t keep Easter
If you have been led to believe that Christians have been keeping Easter since the death of Christ, then think again.
The first-century Christians never celebrated Easter or anything that resembles any of its traditions. If early followers of Christ saw it is really important to celebrate Easter or it was commanded by Christ that they should commemorate His resurrection, then we should find a passage in the writings of the Apostles and other New Testament authors about Easter.
But we don’t.
This is another indication that Easter isn’t really a Christian celebration to start with.
Here’s another interesting fact: the pagans have been celebrating Easter thousands of years even BEFORE the resurrection of Christ!
In an effort to convert more people to Christianity, the false church incorporated the pagan celebration of Ishtar and gave it a Christian flavor, making the new religion more palatable to the taste of pagan worshippers.
However, instead of Christianity overcoming paganism, THE OPPOSITE HAPPENED. That’s why we now see Christianity as we know it today as a mixture of paganism and Biblical practices.
Reason no. 5: We are not free to add any religious holidays and celebrations
Some people argue that we are free to add religious celebrations as long as we have the “right” motivation. They further use as proof of their arguments how Christ didn’t correct the Jews in His days when they added Hanukkah and Purim to their religious holidays (John 10:22-23).
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Of course, this is a weak argument. For one, if we compare the origins of these Jewish holidays to Easter, we can immediately see the stark difference. Purim was instituted to commemorate the Jewish deliverance during the time of Esther while Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple after it was defiled during the Syrian invasion.
On the other, Easter was rooted in paganism, which God hates and detested. Like the American Thanksgiving Day, Hanukkah and Purim, in their original form, are not against God’s commandment. However, this isn’t the case with Easter.
As long as a particular celebration does not replace, alter, or obscure God’s biblical truth, then we can deem that celebration as acceptable.
Reason no. 6: Easter Symbolisms have nothing to do with Jesus/Yahshua
If we will just be honest with ourselves, the symbolism associated with Easter does not have anything to do with Jesus Christ.
Ask yourself:
“What does the Easter bunny has to do with Christ’s resurrection?”
“What about colored eggs and hot cross buns? Are they related in any way with Jesus?”
Bunnies, eggs, and buns are undeniable remnants of the dark origin of Easter. Bunnies and eggs have long been used by the pagans to symbolize fertility. The buns or cakes are used in the worship of the “queen of heaven” mentioned in Jeremiah 7:18.
While it is true that there’s nothing inherently evil in bunnies, eggs, and buns, but it is certainly not acceptable for Christians to use pagan emblems to worship the Living God!
We DON’T see Christ, the Apostles, and early Christians using bunnies and eggs when worshiping our Heavenly Father. Then why should we do it?
Notice what Alexander Hislop wrote in his book The Two Babylons: “The festival, of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third and fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish Church, and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter…That festival [Passover] was not idolatrous, and it was preceded by no Lent. ‘It ought to be known,’ said Cassianus, the monk of Marseilles, writing in the fifth century, and contrasting the primitive [New Testament] Church with the Church of his day, ‘that the observance of the forty days had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate.’”
Lent was not observed by the first-century Church! It was first addressed by the church at Rome during the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, when Emperor Constantine officially recognized that church as the Roman Empire’s state religion. Any other form of Christianity that held to doctrines contrary to the Roman church was considered an enemy of the state. (To learn more about true Church history, read our book Where Is the True Church? – and Its Incredible History!) In AD 360, the Council of Laodicea officially commanded Lent to be observed.
Originally, people did not observe Lent for more than a week. Some kept it for one or two days. Others kept it for 40 consecutive hours, falsely believing that only 40 hours had elapsed between Christ’s death and resurrection.
Eventually, it became a 40-day period of fasting or abstaining from certain foods. “The emphasis was not so much on the fasting as on the spiritual renewal that the preparation for Easter demanded. It was simply a period marked by fasting, but not necessarily one in which the faithful fasted every day. However, as time went on, more and more emphasis was laid upon fasting…During the early centuries (from the fifth century on especially) the observance of the fast was very strict. Only one meal a day, toward evening was allowed: flesh meat and fish, and in most places even eggs and dairy products, were absolutely forbidden. Meat was not even allowed on Sundays” (Catholic Encyclopedia).
From the ninth century onward, Lent’s strict rules were relaxed. Greater emphasis was given to performing “penitential works” than to fasting and abstinence. According to the apostolic constitution Poenitemini of Pope Paul IV (Feb. 17, 1966), “abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of the year that do not fall on holy days of obligation, and fasting as well as abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday” (Catholic Encyclopedia).
Today, Lent is used for “fasting from sin and from vice…forsaking sin and sinful ways.” It is a season “for penance, which means sorrow for sin and conversion to God.” This tradition teaches that fasting and employing self-discipline during Lent will give a worshipper the “control over himself that he needs to purify his heart and renew his life.”
However, the Bible clearly shows that self-control—temperance—comes from having God’s Holy Spirit working in the life of a converted mind (Gal. 5:16, 17, 22). Fasting—of and by itself—cannot produce godly self-control.
Paul warned against using self-denial as a tool to rely on your own will. He called it “will worship.” “Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh” (Co
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