Easter/Passover are they the same?

Dear Wisdom seeker,

It seems to me that "easter" in Acts, although "pascha" in the original language correlates to the Emperor's New Clothes.

Many seem to see something, which is not there (or maybe it is there and we/I don't see it).

We are told by some which are considered radical by others that "easter" in the Acts passage is a kind of "prophetic word" because Herod was not Jewish.

I just don't see it.

But from Luke's point of view this was the post-resurrection of Christ and James had been killed and Peter was in jail for the gospel's sake and the KJV translators wanted to accentuate the "Christian" nuance of this experience of the church. To me that's more feasible

I guess that's possible but then that makes the KJV Translators practitioners of "Dynamic equivalence" or worse.

My opinion of course.

HankD

 

Oh, Wisdom! You have opened a Major Can of
Worms!! Easter and Passover are as different
as 1 a.m. and 1 p.m.; their only similarities are
that they are set aside by differing groups as
holy days.

The original Scriptures did not say "Easter";
there was no Easter when they were written.
The original words should have been translated
"Passover" or "Pesach."

Regarding Passover, when believers observe it
properly, we do observe with it the death and
resurrection of our Lord. Of course, this is also
observed at Yom Kippur as well---two different
holy days. The next holy day after that, Sukkot,
is used to also celebrate His birth, because this
is thought to be around the time He was born,
and we camp outside in little booths we make
from branches and leaves.

Believe me, we celebrate Him, just not on the
same days as you probably do!

 

Well, Wisdomseeker...I am not wise but I do try to use my cottonfield common sense!

Easter and passover are NOT the same! We have been DUPED all these years of having easter egg hunts at our churches! UGH!

Easter is a pagan holiday and the KJBible is correct in using this term in Acts 12:4. Think about this...If easter was a 'christian' celebration then why would Herod wait until after easter to bring Peter forth to the people to be killed? Was Herod gracious?? you know..."Peter, I'm gonna kill you for being a christian, but go ahead and celebrate and enjoy your christian holiday first!" However, since easter is a pagan holiday...then it makes since for Herod to wait until after easter. He didn't want to disturb *his* fun! Remember John the Baptist rebuked Herod for "his women", therefore, signifying to me that Herod more than likely did participate in the fertility celebration called easter.

Also, in Acts 12:3 the KJBible says, " ...(Then were the days of unleavened bread.) If I'm not mistaken, these days of unleavened bread followed passover. So, in Acts 12:4, passover had already "passed over" .

Now, that's just my everyday thinking and that's all I have to say on this subject. So, I'll quietly bow out now and let the scholars talk!

 

Actually, we don't eat leavening on Passover
either. It is commemorated with matza, be-
cause all the leaven has been put out of the
house before Passover.

 

But Farmer's Wife, the scholars have already talked. The KJV translators were all scholars.
Almost everyone (about 70, it varied) had a string of degrees and pedigrees and most were renoun in the Church of England as clergy or laymen.

HankD

 

If you are a KJVO, you have to say that Easter is the correct word used. If you didn't, you would be honest with yourself and admit that the KJV is not really a perfect translation.

If you embrace truth and reality, you can easily recognize that the correct translation is Passover. The "christian" day, Easter, is a catholic idea that sought to combine paganism with "christian" terms (like they always do).

The fact that the KJV includes Easter instead of Passover, just shows its catholic bias.

 

Yes, I have seen that in you, in the short time I have
been on this forum, and I like it. --Typical Californian! 8oD

[ July 26, 2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Wisdom, could you please explain, though, your
own first to sentences in the last post? I think I
am misunderwstanding them. Tthank you.

 

Wow! I can see why you were confused, Wisdom!
I am totally amazed at your Messiannic friend, too;
usually, there is no question among Messianics
about this.

Your Messianic friend is wrong: the word, Easter,
should never have been in any Bible text: it is, for
one thing, anachronistic, because Easter did not
exist at the writing of the Bible.

I just grabbed my Greek Bible off the shelf so that
I could read it directly. The Greek word is Pascha;
translated into Hebrew, it is Pesach; translated
into English, it is Passover.

Easter is all about bunny rabbits, eggs, and a little
about our Lord arising, in the eyes of the general
world. To all those who observe Passover, it is
about remembering how, when the people ap-
plied the blood as commanded, the death angel
spared them. No eggs, no bunnies. We Messi-
anics only commemorate our Lord's death
along with Pesach because we live after the
fact--we know that this immediately preceded
His giving His live for us as the Passover Lamb.
This is, of course, also the time when we do
what Christians call "Communion" or the
"Lord's Supper."

I am a bit surprised at your Messianic friend.
Is s/he new to Messianism? Most (if not all)
Messianics do not celebrate Easter.

Regarding my comment about California, it is
my beloved home-state. I was born in Eureka.
Oh, just the people I knew there--people who
enjoyed getting to the bottom line without all the
fluff and the maybe stuff.

[ July 26, 2002, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: Abiyah ]

 

Hank, perhaps I chose the wrong word when I said 'scholars'. I was referring to people here on this board that had more knowledge about Jewish holidays and therefore, were more able to answer the rest of Wisdom's question.

 

Farmer's Wife...

Oh, me sorry, mea culpa, mea culpa...

HankD

 

That's quite alright, HankD, it was my fault for not being clear!

Now, about this "mea culpa" thing....mea don't understand anything but English! ha,ha,ha

 

Farmer's Wife,

I am a former Roman Catholic.
The "mea culpa" is (or was) part of the mass.

During the elevation of the Host (the communion wafer) I was instructed as a lad by the nuns to strike my breast three times and say "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" which is Latin (yes I go back that far to the Latin mass) for "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault".

The saying has found its way into society and usually has the meaning of lamenting something one has done.

HankD

[ July 27, 2002, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

Just some thoughts:

This is not true. It is possible, I am not sure, that the ceremony of easter (which always falls in correlation with the vernal equinox) may have existed before passover. (hold down your gasps while I explain)

You see the whole thing has its roots in the worship of a false god named Ishtar. I did some research (not alot) and it seems like this worship existed before the time of jewish captivity in Egypt, which would make it predate the passover proper.

Now why is "easter" in the KJV of the Bible? One can only guess and here is mine based on my limited research. It appears that a group of people from the middle east may have migrated up into the European area and settled there back in the time of early germanic settling or much earlier. These people were at some point called "Istaeuones". I am not dead on with the spelling but it does seem to resemble ishtar, no? Furthermore, after this area was settled, the Catholic church came in and assimilated...um, I mean evangelized (holding back laughter) the area. Because of the way the Catholic church does things some of the cultural traditions were incorporated into Catholic worship (see prayer beads, confession booths, etc.). One of these practices, IN MY OPINION, was the connection to Ishtar with eggs, bunnies, etc. The connection was in regards to Ishtar being able to give new life and probably the churches in the area took the practice as their own but ascribed it to Christ, the giver of new life.

Basically a pagan practice used in Christian worship. Now all of this was.....BEFORE....1611. That means when "easter" came around, it was the time of the passover (as held to by traditional scholarship) but was the merged (and now) pluralistic worship. This explanation seems to show why "easter" would be in the scriptures rather than "passover", but again this is based on limited research.

SoCM