Easter is pagan?!

[at0m1c]

Ok, this guy keeps saying that Easter is pagan. But not just Easter, but Lent and Christmas... you get the picture...

Also, he keeps harping on the fact that we should celebrate Passover, not Easter. Now, can someone educate me on the relation of Passover and Easter?

(Oh, he's Protestant, but his wife is messianic Jew.)

[thessalonian]

Well there is a funny thing about the way Catholicism views things that are "pagan". It does not always condemn all that is "pagan". For instance, unlike protestantism, Catholicism did not try to make indians Europeans. What is not contrary to Catholicism is allowed and redeemed in Catholicism, i.e transformed. We are told to test all things
and hold on to what is good in the scriptures.

Paul gave us an example of this method in the Aeropogus in Acts 17. He did not go in telling the Athenians they were all going to hell and to throw away everything the knew. He instead chose an altar they had to an "unknown god" that he used to explain Christ to them.
A modern day example I heard in a sermon was from a priest from New Gunea. As late as the 1940's canabalism was common in New Gunea. Fr. your assigned to be a missionary in New Gunea. Oh boy. Well the funny thing is that the New Gunea people readily accepted the Eucharist because of this odd practice of theirs. Of course the canabalism had to go. You see truths about God, however distorted show up in all cultures. They need to be redeemed and transformed. Not completely rejected. They need to be used to help the people understand what would be very difficult for them if you just did a brainwashing and started over. Elements of the truth can be seen in ancestor worship (communion of the saints), the idea of nirvana, and in just about every world religion. All religions have some form of the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have done unto you". This is a manifestation of the laws of God written in the hearts of all men (see Romans 2:15).

St. Francis Xavier was perhaps the best known for applying this method of evangelization. He converted nearly 1 million people in his lifetime without the aid of Mass media.

So to your question about Catholicism, Easter, and Paganism. It is true that both Easter and Christmass do coincide with pagan holidays. So what? Easter as I recall is a pagan feast having to do with new life. Certainly applicable to the resurrection. These pagan days have been transformed to reflecting on the birth and resurrection of Christ. We read scripture on those days and reflect on events in Christ's life so how is that pagan? The pagan holiday has been transormed in to a Christian one. Now is your protestant friend going to accept this explanation? Probably not. By Catholicism has fared far better in converting pagan cultures to Catholicism. Protestantism has generally come in in a parasitic fashion afterward.

Oddly enough however the Jews celebrate passover at the same time we celebrate Easter. So it seems to me that one cannot say that the Easter holiday is purely pagan. If you look in scripture it is quite clear that passover coincides with Christ's resurrection. In Matt 26 for instance it says that the apostles were preparing for the passover.

Blessings

Edited April 18, 2006 by thessalonian

[jezic]

how about the devil tried to make Easter pagan. God was first.

And Easter is kind of a wierd translation, in many languages the holiday seems to be related to the same root we use for the word paschal.

In French it is Paques.

[Fidei Defensor]

[quote name='jezic' date='Apr 18 2006, 12:11 PM']how about the devil tried to make Easter pagan. God was first.

And Easter is kind of a wierd translation, in many languages the holiday seems to be related to the same root we use for the word paschal.

In French it is Paques.
[right][snapback]952124[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Spanish, pasuca. Latin, pascha.

[Charms717RM1]

[quote name='thessalonian' post='952064' date='Apr 18 2006, 10:32 AM']

Oddly enough however the Jews celebrate passover at the same time we celebrate Easter.

[/quote]

I was under the impression that the Passover coincides with Easter because the Last Supper, Pasion, and Ressurection all occured during the Pasover. The Passover celebrates the Jews' delivery from the slavery of Egypt, and Easter fulfills and perfects the passover because it celebrates our delivery from the slavery of sin.

[phatcatholic]

several links in this entry relate to the topic of this thread:
[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/265"]http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/265[/url]