Celebrations pointing to events of ultimate meaning

Although other holidays sometimes get more attention, Passover and Easter/Pascha are truly the most important times of remembrance and reflection in the corresponding Jewish and Christian faiths. These celebrations point to events of ultimate meaning and call for observers not only to reflect but to prepare.

The name “Easter” is not biblical, so we better let us get that out of the way first, because the Divine Creator wants us to worship Him properly and has given us orders and a set of feasts we should celebrate. We do not to use other day and certainly not days which are connected with false gods.

Easter bunnies and Easter-eggs have nothing to do with Jesus and most of all also nothing to do with God. Easter/Estra “ostara” or “eostre“ comes from the goddess of fertility Eostra, Estra or Esdra and Ishtar the pagan Babylonian and Assyrian deity of fertility and sexuality, later adopted by the Romans, and formally introduced into Christianity by Emperor Constantine. The goddess of fertility was celebrated with elements that showed the fertility and that’s why there are “Easter eggs”, to represent new life.  Instead of the eggs, let’s focus on the real new life.

Little lambs may also present new life, but here the lambs have come in the picture by the event of warning for the Peple of Israel, who had to stroke the blood of the lambs on their doorposts to make sure the wrath of god would not come in their house.

Those who loved the only one God where asked to select lambs and to bring them in the house on the 10th of Nisan for inspection and to slaughter it the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan to roast it, and have it for dinner. When the animal would be stricken in the neck to kill it and to let the blood run out of it, it had to be collected and applied to the wooden doorposts of their houses, using a hyssop branch to apply the blood.  That evening all lovers of God had to stay indoors until God had finished smiting all the firstborn males of any household where there was no lamb’s blood applied, causing the Destroyer to Pass Over those houses.  This is the reason for the name of “Passover”.  That blood was absolutely necessary for the protection of the household.

According to the famous historian, Josephus, the day that Jeshua (Jesus Christ) was put on the stake, there were 250,000 lambs brought into the temple to be sacrificed.  At the conclusion of all the sacrifices, the high priest yelled out “It is finished.”  According to the historical record, it was 3:00 pm.  At that precise moment, Jeshua also yelled out “It is finished”, and died.

After the Egyptian shedding of blood the Pharaoh at last gave in to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Three days the Israelites travelled to the Sea of Reeds, being led to their escape on the third day. And when we look at Christ he was laid in a tomb for three days, and on the third day, he arose from the dead.  In fact, he was seen alive by thousands of eyewitnesses over the next forty days.

When the Exodus happened, God told Moses that the Israelites were to commemorate this Passover event every year, for all generations, and that includes our generation.  We are supposed to commemorate this event — that we are protected from the Destroyer by the blood of the sacrificed Lamb!
Scripture also says that anyone who is not an Israelite, but is a follower of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, must gather together on this day to commemorate the event of Passover.  In fact, this is so important to the heart of God that He commanded that anyone who misses Passover on Nisan 14 must have their commemorative gathering one month later, on the 14th of the next month!

Jesus and his disciples also came together in the upper-room to celebrate Passover. It was there that Jesus took the bread and broke it as a sign of the new covenant and asked his friends to remember that moment. Each follower of Jesus therefore should also remember that special moment and have such memorial meal.

Not all of us may have their own Christian community which celebrate on the by god given days. But today there are more Biblestudents around  and more groups can be found who know about the days of God.

I strongly encourage any one of you who is reading this article to attend a Passover gathering near you, to enjoy the blessings of God that come from participating in this holy celebration.
If you are unable to attend someone else’s hosted gathering, then be sure to gather together as a family, with friends, in your own home, and read the Passover story that begins with Exodus 12.

The Bible does not call Passover a “feast of the Jews” — it is called a “feast of the LORD.” GOD is the host of the party. Be sure to attend HIS party!

This year, Nisan 14 falls on Friday evening, March 30.  If you don’t have a group to celebrate with, consider joining the co-meeting of the Belgian Christadelphians, Belgian Biblestudents and International Biblestudents, their gathering in Mons showing their unity as members of the Body of Christ.
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Find to read:

1. 9 Adar and bickering or loving followers of the Torah preparing for Pesach
2. Preparing for 14 Nisan
3. Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter
4. Most important weekend of the year 2016
5. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
6. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
7. Making sure we express kedusha for 14-16 Nisan
8. The flood, floods and mythic flood stories 2 Mythic theme 1 God or gods warning
9. After darkness a moment of life renewal
10. Objects around the birth and death of Jesus
11. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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In Dutch 

1. Neem afstand van heidense vastenperiodes
2. 13 Adar opening naar 14 Nisan
3. Vrijdag 3 april 2015 een dag voor verenigde samenkomst ter herinnering
4. Belangrijkste weekend van het jaar 2016
5. Zeven Feesten van God de belangrijkste feesten van de hele Bijbel
6. Fragiliteit en actie #14 Plagen van God
7. Verwaarloosde geboortedag en sterfplaats 1 Rabbijn Jeshua en Romeinse weerstand
8. 2017 Nisan 10, uitkijkend naar 14 Nisan
9. Messiaans Pesach 2017 en verharde harten
10. Na de sabbat na Pesach, de verrijzenis van Jezus Christus

14-15 Nisan and Easter

Today many people in the western world celebrate Easter with luscious chocolate eggs, fragrant hot cross buns and newborn chicks, Easter bunnies, yellow ribbons, and have a lot of decoration that have more to do with fertility rites and nature coming back to life instead of picturing the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The Feast of Easter itself is a moveable celebration, and can fall anywhere between 22 March and 25 April.
But the date in which the faithful celebrate Christ's resurrection has been surrounded in controversy from early Christian times

Lutz Doering, a reader in New Testament and an expert in calendars and festivals from the University of Durham, confirms: "According to the New Testament, Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. However, it is unclear on what day or date the earliest Christians celebrated Easter."

The Resurrection of Christ (Kinnaird Resurrection) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In history can be found many examples of the first Christians celebrating on 14 Nisan the death and resurrection of Christ. After Jesus’ sacrifice, the apostle Paul assured the early Christian community at Corinth that they have been saved “for Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Various Christian communities followed the “14 Nisan” rule and just asked their local Jews when Passover started, but after controversies in the second and third centuries, many Christians ended up settling the matter at the Council of Nicaea in 325.

Dr Doering explains that there is evidence that, in the middle of the 2nd Century, some Christians celebrated Easter on 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan - that is, on the preparationnight for the Jewish Passover. They were hence known as Quartodecimans, from the Latin word for '14'.

This group saw Easter as a "Christian form of Passover, celebrated at the same time as Jewish neighbours would get ready for the Pesach meal" like we all still should do, remembering the first Passover and the second Passover.

Those in favour of the Roman leaders and not wanting to go against their will, preferred to celebrate on the Sunday after Passover, not to have as such a connection with the Jews and being more in accord with the heathen feasts of the seasons, having the celebration of Spring.

So several Christian churches started to coincide their celebration with the traditional feasts of Springtime and basically tried and created their own “Christian Nisan” — figure out the full moon after the spring equinox — but also add on an extra rule, which is that Easter should fall on a Sunday, though originally the Passover feast was always on a different day.

The problem also was that full moon is not everywhere at the same moment. So it was easier to take the first  Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox, so that everywhere in the world could be celebrated the same event on the same day. In principle, that still means that Western Easter should fall within Passover, but since Hillel II’s reforms in the 4th century, the Jewish calculations for Nisan are based on a formula and not on astronomy — see Gauss’s formula for the date of Pesach. Thus, in 2008, Western Easter fell on March 23, while Passover didn’t start until April 20.

But there is also a problem with the name the festival is be known today as well.

Normally God did ask to remember the Passover for ever. Jesus also celebrated it as a good faithful  believer. The Exodus was to be taken at heart and to be remembered for ever. At first the followers of Jesus, mostly Jews, kept to their Jewish feasts and so the group of 'The Way' like the followers were called, celebrated the Passover on the same date as the Jewish community. The day before the actual seder meal the Christians also came together to remember the Last supper of their master, rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ).

But the name in the English-speaking world is something else again. The word “easter” is probably a modified version of either “ostara” or “eostre“, which is a Pagan festival, based around the March equinox. It was the celebration of the goddess of fertility Eostra, Estra or Esdra and Ishtar the pagan Babylonian and Assyrian deity of fertility and sexuality, later adopted by the Romans, and formally introduced into Christianity by Emperor Constantine. Also the cross, the sign of Tamuz, the god of evil was taken over to become a symbol of bringing Jesus to his end. Jesus was namely impaled on a wooden stake, which was not in the form as it is known today and certainly should never be adored

Sasha Volokh questions also the difference between dates and does find it not at all obvious why Christians should differ as to the date of Easter. "We can observe the spring equinox using astronomy. We can observe the full moon using astronomy (though that might differ by a day or two depending on where one is in the world). And everyone has the same Sunday. So why should there be any (significant) difference?"

According to her:

The answer is that “Sunday” really does mean “Sunday,” but “full moon” doesn’t necessarily mean “full moon,” and “spring equinox” doesn’t necessarily mean “spring equinox.” The equinox rule is the biggest factor in the East-West date divergence. For purposes of calculating Easter, we use March 21 instead of the true date of the equinox, which could be March 19 or March 20. (The complexities behind “full moon” will be in a later post.) So we immediately see how the Western and Eastern churches can differ: March 21 is considered to fall on a different day depending on your calendar, and March 21 in the Julian calendar is what we in the West would call April 3.
Sometimes there’s no full moon between March 21 and April 3, so the relevant full moon for Easter-computation purposes is the same. For instance, in 2011, there were full moons on March 19 and April 18, so both calendars celebrated Easter on (Gregorian) April 24, the Sunday after (Gregorian) April 18. But sometimes there is a full moon between March 21 and April 3, so the relevant full moons will be about a month off. For instance, in 1997, the full moons were March 24 and April 27, so the Western churches celebrated Easter on March 30, the Sunday after March 24, while the Eastern churches celebrated Easter on April 27 itself (which happened to be a Sunday).

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Please do find more about this:

1. Impaled until death overtook him
2. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
3. Why 20 Nations Are Defending the Crucifix in Europe
4. Easter: Why is it so early this year?
5. Orthodox Easter: What’s up with that? + Orthodox Easter: What’s up with that? — Part 2
6. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
7. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
8. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
9. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
10. 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
11. A Holy week in remembrance of the Blood of life
12. High Holidays not only for Israel
13. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
14. Jesus begotten Son of God #2 Christmas and pagan rites
15. A Great Gift commemorated
16. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation

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Een Konijn dat Paaseiren legt

Waar haalt men het vandaan dat een konijn eieren zou leggen?

Morgen, paaszondag voor velen, zal dat de traditie zijn om overal eieren te verstoppen. Het zal een gezellig samen komen zijn en chocolade smullen zijn. Maar kunnen ware Christenen hier werkelijk aan mee doen?

Morgen, en niet op de 14de van Nissan, vieren verscheidenen wat zij "Pasen" noemen. Enkele christenen nemen aan dat het feestmaal van de Pascha komt. Voor vele is Pasen de volgende belangrijke vakantie of gebeurtenis na Kerstmis.

Sommige jaren na de dood van Jezus werden oude heidense feesten  als kerkfestivals geïntroduceerd met verandering van naam en eredienst door zo genoemde Christenen. Ongeveer in 405 van de huidige tijdrekening kwamen meer afbeeldingen van heiligen en martelaren in de kerken, eerst als monumenten, maar dan volgde snel de heiligenverering, alhoewel God en zijn zoon Jezus duidelijk hadden gemaakt dat enkel God mocht aanbeden worden.
Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, een belangrijk auteur in de protestante stroming erkent dat over de periode tussen 313 GT en 476 GT de vorm en ceremonies van het heidendom geleidelijk in de eredienst kropen. (Zoals u ook in het opkomende artikelen bij  de Belgische Bijbelstudenten op WordPress zal kunnen vinden)

Alle geleerden staan toe dat het woord "Pascha" waarvan het woord "Pasen" is vertaald correct weergegeven kan worden als "Passover" of "Pascha" en totaal geen relatie heeft met het Katholieke Pasen. En, praktisch herkennen alle geleerden dat het woord "Pasen" eenvoudig een afleiding van de naam van de oude godin Ishtar of "Isis" is, de godin van seks en vruchtbaarheid van het oude Midden-Oosten. Het woord "Pasen" is geen betrouwbare vertaling volgens de Heilige Schrift, hoewel het verkeerd als Pasen (Easter in de KJV) van het oorspronkelijke woord pascha is vertaald, welk 'Pascha' is. In de oude Angelsaksische mythe heeft men de godin Eostre/Ostara/Astarte, enz., welke geassocieerd wordt met de lente en vruchtbaarheid, de maan en ook en verpersoonlijking is van de stijgende zon. Het gaat daar om het feest voor de begroeting van de wederkerende zon

Of het nu klokken zijn die eieren overal rondstrooien of konijnen of paashazen die vreemd genoeg eieren zouden leggen is het allebei volledig onnatuurlijk. Het is natuurlijk dat oude heidense gebruik   waar "paaseieren" vandaan komen — de heidense eredienst van seks en vruchtbaarheid.

Wij als Christenen moeten ons er echt over beramen of wij aan dat heidense gebruik willen deelnemen. Wij zouden moeten weten dat Jezus ons verduidelijkt heeft hier van af te houden.
Ware Christenen zouden zich aan die heilige dagen moeten houden welke God heilig maakte. En wij zijn genoodzaakt het voorbeeld van Jezus en de oorspronkelijke apostels te volgen en zoals hen te doen.
Kijken wij even naar Paulus brief aan de Efeziërs: “Want Hij heeft ons zijn geheim raadsbesluit doen kennen, de beslissing die Hij in Christus had genomen. ter verwezenlijking van de volheid der tijden: het heelal in Christus onder een hoofd te brengen, alle wezens in de hemelen en alle wezens op aarde, in Hem. In Christus hebben wij ook ons erfdeel ontvangen, daartoe voorbestemd door de beschikking van Hem die alles tot stand brengt naar het besluit van zijn wil,” (Efeziërs 1:9-11 WV78)
Laten wij er daarom werkelijk naar leven om door onze eenheid met Christus het eigendom van God waardig te mogen zijn. God zowel als zijn zoon hebben ons steeds duidelijk gemaakt ons af te houden van afgoderij en daar mee verwante zaken. Een heidens feest is voor God iets afgrijselijk en is dan zeker iets waar wij niet aan moeten mee doen.

Ook moeten wij kinderen niets wijs maken en het vertrouwen van geloofwaardigheid wegnemen door onzinnige verhalen als werkelijk te gaan voor stellen, zoals klokken die eieren zouden gooien of konijnen die niet konijnen jongeren maar eieren leggen.

De Levende Kerk van God heeft een artikel geplaatst op het internet dat veel Christenen eens in overweging zouden moeten nemen. Zij waarschuwen betreft het belang zich te herinneren wat aan het einde van het menselijke leven van Jezus gebeurde en wat hij duidelijk deed en wat hij aan spoorde. Jezus hield zich aan het Joodse Pascha en voor ons is het belangrijk die handeling die hij die avond deed in herinnering te nemen. Het Breken van het Brood en het nemen van de Beker wijn waarover hij zei dat iedereen dit ter herinnering moest doen, vormt het hoogtepunt van de bevestiging van het Nieuwe Verbond en Hét feest dat wij zouden moeten vieren.  en dat zou dan ook op die dag moeten gebeuren welke Jezus gebruikte, namelijk 14 Nisan.

Een Engelse versie over dit eireleggende konijn kan u vinden op onze zustersite: Christadelphians.multiply.com in het artikel: Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
Wees wel voorzichtig als u klikt op de linken in het artikel van de Living Church of God

Easter Bunny or Eostre Hare

. Ga eerst na dat uw Viruschecker updated is.
So before you click on the links in the article of Church of God check your virus program that it is updated. It was good  my Avast blocked it.

Easter Bunny or Eostre Hare

Most people are familiar with British author Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Many are also familiar with the children’s song, “Here comes Peter Cottontail.” It’s part of the Easter holiday celebrations. Where did Easter come from, and what does the rabbit have to do with Easter celebrations? Surprisingly, more than meets the eye! Read more »

Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs

Flemish version / Vlaamse versie: Een Konijn dat Paaseiren legt

Where does one gets it from that a rabbit would lay eggs ? 

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday for many, will be that tradition to conceal eggs everywhere.  It will be a pleasant coming together and a chocolate feast.  Only can Christians participate really at that festival? 

Tomorrow, not on the 14th of Nissan, some celebrate what they call 'Easter'. Several Christians take it as the feast coming from the Pascha. for many Easter is the next important holiday, after Christmas.

Some years after Jesus' dead old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and worship by so called Christians. About 405ad images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored, and worshipped. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, a mainstream Protestant author, writing about the period between 313ad and 476ad acknowledges that the forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. (As you also shall be able to find in the coming up articles on Belgian Biblestudents WP)

All scholars concede that the word "Pascha" from which the word "Easter" is translated is correctly rendered "Passover" and has no relation to Easter whatsoever. And, virtually all scholars recognize that the word "Easter" is simply a derivation of the name of the ancient goddess Ishtar or "Isis"—goddess of sex and fertility of the ancient Middle East. That, of course, is where "Easter eggs" come from—the pagan worship of sex and fertility.

"The word “Easter” is not in any reliable translation of the Bible, though it has been incorrectly translated as Easter (KJV) from the original word pascha, which is Passover.
In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, the goddess Eostre/Ostara/Astarte, etc., is associated with the spring and fertility, the moon, and also personifies greeting the rising sun. To amuse children, Eostre changed her pet bird into a hare that layed brightly coloured eggs which the goddess gave to the children. Saxons held the pagan festival for Eostra on the vernal equinox, the beginning of spring."

Also we must make children nothing wise and take away our credibility through inept stories which we would present for real,  like clocks which would throw eggs or rabbits that would lay eggs. 

The Living Church of God has placed an article on the internet lots of Christians should took under consideration. They warn about the importance to remember what happened at the end of Jesus' human life and what he clearly did and instigated. Jesus observed the Passover and for us it is important that he that evening Break the Bread and took the Cup and said to all present to do it in remembrance.

> Easter Bunny or Eostre Hare By Roger Meyer


Warning: be carefull before you link to the article links in the Living Church of God Website: Compared to the past, when email was the key method for spreading viruses and spyware, now more than 80% of malware spreads via the internet. In fact, latest avast! Virus Lab research shows that 99% of it spreads through legitimate websites, with only 1% coming from suspicious or ‘dodgy’ sites. Personal information can be stolen in transit by spyware such as keyloggers and via infected websites through insecure internet connections. While internet users sometimes have the option of selecting secure DNS or HTTPS connections, multiple layers within many sites make this a complicated process. This security vulnerability is most critical for people that extensively shop and bank online.
The link URLS in the article were one from the 68,152 infected websites discover. So before you click on the links in the article of Church of God check your virus program that it is updated. It was good  my Avast blocked it.