I have a genuine question for the religious guys on ATS

Hi guys

I'm not religious

I do benefit from the religious holidays and am grateful for the respite.

My question is how many of you celebrate Easter with the same fervor you celebrate Christmas ?

From the outside I can appreciate that celebrating Jesus' birth is a wondrous thing.

But surely His Resurrection and the birth of Christianity is is an even greater cause for celebration is it not ?

I know my family on both sides enjoy the sunrise mass as their favourite one of the whole year, and we all gather and and feast, yet strangely, they don't say grace

Please don't take offence and I hope I got the capitals correct.

Cody

I don't know about Christianity .

Didn't you say that Jesus is god ?

So , you really believe that god resurrected himself ?

Christmas is pagan, Easter is based on the Jewish pass over, thats why it falls on different dates every year.
Christ died before the Passover day, that is recognised, Christs birth date is not recorded.
Easter is another day in the Christian calendar as Christ is worshipped every day, not just holidays.

Originally posted by borntowatch
Christmas is pagan, Easter is based on the Jewish pass over, thats why it falls on different dates every year.
Christ died before the Passover day, that is recognised, Christs birth date is not recorded.
Easter is another day in the Christian calendar as Christ is worshipped every day, not just holidays.

To my understanding Christ was celebrating Passover at the last supper and therefore could not have died beforehand.

I know the theology and the history and interconnections between religions

But the question was do you celebrate Easter as much or more so than Christmas ?

Or maybe Easter is a personal thing

I dunno that's why I asked

Cody

In church tradition, Easter probably has the edge, for the reason you mentioned.
The celebration of Christmas has always been more variable, and in Cromwell's time the Puritans tried to abolish it.

Originally posted by cody599

Originally posted by borntowatch
Christmas is pagan, Easter is based on the Jewish pass over, thats why it falls on different dates every year.
Christ died before the Passover day, that is recognised, Christs birth date is not recorded.
Easter is another day in the Christian calendar as Christ is worshipped every day, not just holidays.

To my understanding Christ was celebrating Passover at the last supper and therefore could not have died beforehand.

I know the theology and the history and interconnections between religions

But the question was do you celebrate Easter as much or more so than Christmas ?

Or maybe Easter is a personal thing

I dunno that's why I asked

Cody

edit on 31/3/13 by cody599 because: (no reason given)

Touche, you got me there

This bunny and egg thing has perverted easter, hell even the name easter sounds strange
dictionary.reference.com...

The reality is Christians do consider easter a high holy day even in the Protestant churches, but reality God wants us to make every day about loving Him and others unconditionaly

reply to post by cody599
At church Easter is placed above Christmas in importance, especially in Catholicism. Both are held with the highest esteem in my family- and we say "grace" before every meal, not just on religious holidays. The whole bunny and eggs thing ties into Pagan traditions, and the reason so many Christian holidays coincide with Pagan celebrations is because in the past it was easier to get Pagans to adopt Christianity (at least publicly) if the celebrations were incorporated.

Easter is a Catholic holiday with pagan traditions. Christmas is also. True Christians should avoid them and keep the Christian Passover.

reply to post by cody599


I'm a Christian, but not religious. My faith and trust is in Christ and my personal relationship with Him. Don't go through the motions and don't care about repetitive rituals. Now, as far as Easter and Christmas go I celebrate neither. They're pagan holidays adopted by the church. The most I would do is buy gifts for my family and loved ones, but I see nothing inherently evil in blessing someone with a gift.

Originally posted by cody599

Originally posted by borntowatch
Christmas is pagan, Easter is based on the Jewish pass over, thats why it falls on different dates every year.
Christ died before the Passover day, that is recognised, Christs birth date is not recorded.
Easter is another day in the Christian calendar as Christ is worshipped every day, not just holidays.

To my understanding Christ was celebrating Passover at the last supper and therefore could not have died beforehand.

No, Passover is a 7-8 day celebration. With the first and last day of that celebration carrying special significance.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


This is true but when I lived in Israel I remember the 'seder' being one of the most important meals of the year.
We would sit and the male head of the household would say a prayer and start the reading of the exodus of the Jews from egypt.

I still remember with great pride watching my boy being offered his first reading at the table and my heart aching for his every word.

I'm not jewish but his mum is.

It was that one night that I assume Christ was celebrating

Originally posted by cody599
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

This is true but when I lived in Israel I remember the 'seder' being one of the most important meals of the year.
We would sit and the male head of the household would say a prayer and start the reading of the exodus of the Jews from egypt.

I still remember with great pride watching my boy being offered his first reading at the table and my heart aching for his every word.

I'm not jewish but his mum is.

It was that one night that I assume Christ was celebrating

If you remember He died on the day before the "Day of Preparation". The final day of Passover is a high holy day, it was on a Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath day. So that week there were two "Sabbaths", the feast ending holiday Sabbath, and the weekly 6th day Sabbath.

So He died before "Passover" which would have begun that Friday, the whole week they were celebrating was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by cody599

 

I'm a Christian, but not religious.

It is not possible to be a real Christian and not be religious.

Originally posted by truejew

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by cody599

 

I'm a Christian, but not religious.

It is not possible to be a real Christian and not be religious.

How do you figures that? Jesus was the most anti-religious person ever born. Religion is about man's attempt to justify himself to a particular deity. Christianity is a redemption-based belief system. Christianity is NOT about man taking the initiative and making himself justified to God based on his works and rituals, it's about God taking the initiative and reconciling us to Himself via grace through faith on the basis of His Son's substifutionary atonement on the cross.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Jesus was not against all religion.

James 1:27 (KJV)
27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

I am a Christian and I do not celebrate any of those holidays because they have very Pagan origins, and have nothing to do with God and Jesus.

reply to post by truejew


I never said I had any problem with helping the widow or orphan.

I am a Roman Catholic and
Christmas is an important
Holy day in the church Calender.
Easter is more important.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by truejew

 

I never said I had any problem with helping the widow or orphan.

So, you don't have a problem with religion?

Originally posted by truejew

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by truejew

 

I never said I had any problem with helping the widow or orphan.

So, you don't have a problem with religion?

I have a problem with what is passed off as genuine today. Which is WAAAAAAAAAY more than caring for the poor, widows and orphans.