What I find interesting is that when I look up the word Easter in my dictionary, there is no direct mention of Christ’s dying on the cross as a witness to the righteousness of God, our sinful condition which was the cause of such a thing, Christ’s obedience throughout, though the resurrection of Christ is mentioned.
Also of interest is that when I look up the word Passover in my dictionary, there is no mention of the work of Christ by his ministering through his own physical body in the days of his flesh here upon this earth, though the deliverance of the Hebrews from the slavery of Egypt is given mention.
I wonder how other dictionaries define these terms.
I
I see my post was sent because of a typing error.
I will continue where I left off.
It seems to me that many believing Jews who kept the Passover after that most notable day (which we read of in Acts 2) of Pentecost, did in fact remember the sacrificial life of Jesus the Son of God and his obedience to God even unto death at the cross as well as his resurrection, and the spiritual significance of it all, calling it (and most properly so) the Passover.
It also seems to me that at the time when the KJV was made, (though I don’t know much of the history of that time) that many Christians observed the time of Passover, remembering the sacrifice and obedience of Christ which he did for us and our salvation, as well as his resurrection, and referred to it as Easter.
It seems to me that both the word Passover and Easter are acceptable terms for those days which are celebrated.
Bo, do you consider Christians who observe Easter today in rememberance of Christ and his works as written in the scriptures, as apostates, necessarily? I’m not talking about eating chocolate bunny rabits, colored boiled eggs, hot crossed buns, Easter egg hunts, and such like activites which are not mentioned in the scriptures.
I look back at the phrase “for us and our salvation” of my previous post and think about how terrible it sounds. Everything Jesus did was for our salvation.
Ray,
I do not consider someone apostate for committing sins. I consider organizations to be apostate for blatant disregard of scripture. A person could become apostate by continuing to walk in sin after knowing the truth.
Acts 17 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Hebrews 10 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
1 John 3 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
James 1 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
We can deceive ourselves. We can be deceived by apostate organizations. The devil’s main tool is to trick people into thinking that they are doing fine when they are actually transgressing YHWH’s instructions…”Has YHWH really said?” The devil’s power resides in deception. The power of deception is in it not being recognized as deception by the one deceived by it. That is why we must know and do what the scripture says. Subjecting our minds and bodies to YHWH’s perfect law is the only way to know that we are not deceived. Both John and James declare this…and so does Paul.
Romans 8 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Romans 12 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
And yes, it is sin to participate in Easter. That sin may or may not be charged to the individual depending on what they know.
Luke 12 47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Passover is YHWH’s prescribed way to celebrate Messiah’s death till He returns. That is what the early believers practiced, whether they were Jews or gentiles. Polycrates gives ample witness to this, as do the New Testament writings.
It is important to translate “Pascha” as Passover so as to not add to the devil’s deceit.
Shalom
Ray,
Shabbat Shalom (Happy/peaceful Sabbath)
Bo, Wishing you a blessed Sabbath. (Saturday to me) Ray
I believe Easter to be more than just celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, though that is certainly a central theme of the message of the season to many Christians.
I believe Easter to be connected also to his suffering and death on the cross that we might be made free from sin.
If people want to call Easter Passover I think that’s fine for it was first called Passover.
It’s not uncommon for new words to appear among people groups which may speak of the same thing which has been called something else.
I believe it’s permissible to do so as long as it properly honors God and does not violate his word.
I believe God gave us that liberty by Jesus Christ.
If anyone has a problem with that, I think they should talk to him and tell us what he said about it, (if anything) as long as we are able to receive it.
Ray,
Have you considered that Easter is basically the name of a false god? Could it go against the scripture?
Exodus 23 13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
It could be one thing to call a person by the name of a pagan god, but it might not quite another to call one of YHWH’s holy days by a pagan god’s name or after the name of a pagan god’s feast. What do you think?
Shalom
Bo, it’s not at all uncommon for words to have several meanings.
Is it right to throw away a word because of one way it has been used, or might that be unjust?
What I find interesting is that when I look up the word Easter in my dictionary, there is no direct mention of Christ’s dying on the cross as a witness to the righteousness of God, our sinful condition which was the cause of such a thing, Christ’s obedience throughout, though the resurrection of Christ is mentioned.
Also of interest is that when I look up the word Passover in my dictionary, there is no mention of
the work of Christ by his ministering through his own physical body in the days of his flesh here upon this earth, though the deliverance of the Hebrews from the slavery of Egypt is given mention.
I wonder how other dictionaries define these terms.
I
I see my post was sent because of a typing error.
I will continue where I left off.
It seems to me that many believing Jews who kept the Passover after that most notable day (which we read of in Acts 2) of Pentecost, did in fact
remember the sacrificial life of Jesus the Son of God and his obedience to God even unto death at the cross as well as his resurrection, and the spiritual significance of it all, calling it (and most properly so) the Passover.
It also seems to me that at the time when the KJV was made, (though I don’t know much of the history of that time) that many Christians observed the time of Passover, remembering the sacrifice and obedience of Christ which he did for us and our salvation, as well as his resurrection, and referred to it as Easter.
It seems to me that both the word Passover and Easter are acceptable terms for those days which are celebrated.
Bo, do you consider Christians who observe Easter today in rememberance of Christ and his works as written in the scriptures, as apostates, necessarily? I’m not talking about eating chocolate bunny rabits, colored boiled eggs, hot crossed buns, Easter egg hunts, and such like activites which are not mentioned in the scriptures.
I look back at the phrase “for us and our salvation” of my previous post and think about how terrible it sounds. Everything Jesus did was for our salvation.
Ray,
I do not consider someone apostate for committing sins. I consider organizations to be apostate for blatant disregard of scripture. A person could become apostate by continuing to walk in sin after knowing the truth.
Acts 17
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Hebrews 10
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
1 John 3
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
James 1
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
We can deceive ourselves. We can be deceived by apostate organizations. The devil’s main tool is to trick people into thinking that they are doing fine when they are actually transgressing YHWH’s instructions…”Has YHWH really said?” The devil’s power resides in deception. The power of deception is in it not being recognized as deception by the one deceived by it. That is why we must know and do what the scripture says. Subjecting our minds and bodies to YHWH’s perfect law is the only way to know that we are not deceived. Both John and James declare this…and so does Paul.
Romans 8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Romans 12
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
And yes, it is sin to participate in Easter. That sin may or may not be charged to the individual depending on what they know.
Luke 12
47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Passover is YHWH’s prescribed way to celebrate Messiah’s death till He returns. That is what the early believers practiced, whether they were Jews or gentiles. Polycrates gives ample witness to this, as do the New Testament writings.
It is important to translate “Pascha” as Passover so as to not add to the devil’s deceit.
Shalom
Ray,
Shabbat Shalom
(Happy/peaceful Sabbath)
Bo, Wishing you a blessed Sabbath.
(Saturday to me)
Ray
I believe Easter to be more than just celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, though that is certainly a central theme of the message of the season to many Christians.
I believe Easter to be connected also to his suffering and death on the cross that we might be
made free from sin.
If people want to call Easter Passover I think that’s fine for it was first called Passover.
It’s not uncommon for new words to appear among
people groups which may speak of the same thing which has been called something else.
I believe it’s permissible to do so as long as it
properly honors God and does not violate his word.
I believe God gave us that liberty by Jesus Christ.
If anyone has a problem with that, I think they should talk to him and tell us what he said about it, (if anything) as long as we are able to receive it.
Ray,
Have you considered that Easter is basically the name of a false god? Could it go against the scripture?
Exodus 23
13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
It could be one thing to call a person by the name of a pagan god, but it might not quite another to call one of YHWH’s holy days by a pagan god’s name or after the name of a pagan god’s feast. What do you think?
Shalom
Bo, it’s not at all uncommon for words to have several meanings.
Is it right to throw away a word because of one way it has been used, or might that be unjust?