Easter: A Combination of Two Very Different Religious Celebrations

1. Easter: A Combination of Two Very Different Religious Celebrations Easter is a Catholic and Protestant holiday. The Catholic Church leaders say Easter is the most important holiday of the year.

2. In ancient religions across Europe, they worshipped a goddess with various similar names. • She was associated with spring and light in some places and with sex and fertility in others. In England, she was called Eostre.

3. In the spring, the fertility of the land and its crops was tied in with this goddess and with various fertility symbols such as hares (rabbits) and eggs. As the Catholic Church tried to convert these people of other religions, they often combined their holidays with Catholic holidays. The spring time worship of Eostre was combined with “Resurrection Day,” a Catholic holy day. How Easter Came to Be

4. Easter is calculated as being on the Sunday following the full moon which falls on or after the March 21st. This year, 2011, it falls on April 24th. Easter is always on a Sunday. Easter is supposed to celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection. The Biblical story is as follows: When is Easter and Why is it Important to People?

5. Jesus died on Passover, but what is Passover? • Jesus died on Passover on the Jewish Lunar Calendar date of Nisan 14. • 1545 years prior to Jesus’ death, was the first Passover. On that date the tenth and last plague was done by God against the Egyptian people.

6. The First Passover • At that time, Moses told the Hebrew people to sacrifice a lamb, called the “Passover victim”, and put its blood around their doorsways.

7. An angel killed all of the firstborn children of Egypt in every household that did not have blood on their doorways. This foreshadowed the death of Jesus Christ.

8. The Exodus • For the Hebrew people, the day began at sundown (about 6:00 P.M.). The first Passover occurred in the evening of Nisan 14, 1513 B.C.E. That same day, Moses led the Hebrew people out of Egypt. They were free after more than 100 years of slavery!

9. Jesus: was like a “Passover lamb” • Just as the shed blood of the lambs protected the faithful Hebrew people, the shed blood of Christ would protect faithful people from all over the world, past and present. • But how?

10. Originally, the first created couple was perfect. They were put into a beautiful paradise garden. If they obeyed God, they could live forever and raise a family with perfect minds and bodies. Because they were perfect, they had perfect free will, and they could only disobey on purpose.

11. The first two people • The man, Adam, was created first. Probably several decades later, a mate, Eve, was created for him.

12. A rebellious angel, called Satan, approached Eve knowing she was less experienced. He used a serpent to fool Eve into disobeying God.

13. Adam had greater love for his wife than for God and joined her in disobeying God. As a result, they lost perfection for themselves and their children who would be born in the future.

14. As a result, they were expelled from paradise and lost perfection for themselves and their children who would be born in the future.

15. Was there a way out of this dilemma? • God could not take back his punishment because if he did, it would encourage rebellion. So, he made a way out for those who choose to obey him: the ransom sacrifice.

16. Adam was the same as Jesus. How? Both were perfect men. • (1Corinthians15:22)  For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive. • (1Corinthians15:45) . . .It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. • The “first Adam” was created as a perfect man could have had perfect children. But he rebelled against God. The “last Adam” was Jesus Christ. Only three perfect people ever existed on the Earth: Adam, Eve and Jesus Christ. The Bible calls angels “the sons of God.” (Job chapters 1 & 2) There were many millions of perfect angels. Jesus, the “firstborn son” was also the first angel created in Heaven. He was transferred into a virgin Jewish woman and born without a human father. As a result, he was the exact equivalent of Adam: a perfect man.

17. Jesus can take the place of Adam as our forefather. • Adam was unfaithful, but Jesus was completely faithful. Adam lost his perfection, but Jesus remained perfect. Jesus could have raised a race of perfect humans. Instead, he adopts faithful humans as his own children, taking Adam’s place as our forefather. One prophecy said, “And his name will be called … Eternal Father...” --Isaiah9:6

18. The Lamb of God • Jesus has become the perfect Passover lamb: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The blood of the Passover lambs protected the Hebrew people from death. Jesus’s blood can protect billions of people from death.“Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed.” • (1Corinthians5:7)

19. The Resurrection! • Jesus died on Friday, Nisan 14 (April 1st), 33 C.E. He rose from the dead two days later on Sunday, Nisan 16 (April 3rd). He showed himself to hundreds of his followers after his resurrection.

20. Christ’s resurrection is a guarantee for us. • His resurrection showed that all faithful people could be redeemed from imperfection and death. This is what Easter (or “Resurrection Day” in some languages) is supposed to help us remember. “…[God] has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead. . .” (Acts17:31)

21. Easter is supposed to remind us of this hope for billions of living and dead people: • The Apostle Paul said, ‘…there is to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.’—Acts 24:15 • Even our dead ancestors (of any religion) can be “adopted” as descendants of Christ after they are resurrected into paradise.

22. Celebrate what, his death or his resurrection? • Actually, Jesus did not tell his followers to celebrate his resurrection. He told them to remember his death, on Passover. Every year, they were to use unleavened bread and red wine as symbols of his body and blood asa memorial of his death. Although Easter is always on Sunday, the Passover is not. This year, 2011, the Memorial on Passover does fall on a Sunday. It is on April 17th, after sundown.

23. Why Rabbits and Eggs? • Easter is celebrated with eggs and rabbits. Rabbits are unusual animals in that the females can get pregnant when they are already pregnant. Eggs are a symbol of the germinating life of early spring.

24. At Easter, many people paint hard boiled eggs many colors.

25. Some designs are very fancy

26. Chocolate Easter Eggs and Chocolate Bunny Rabbits

27. Easter Baskets • Parents may also give Easter baskets to children full of candy eggs, painted hard-boiled eggs candy rabbits, and jelly beans.

28. Easter Egg Hunts • They may also hide these candy and hard-boiled “Easter eggs” for little children to find on Easter Egg Hunts. They often collect them in baskets.

29. Easter: Is it Really Christian? • Because Easter mixes the holiday of a fertility goddess and fertility symbols (eggs and rabbits)with Christian beliefs, it is not really a Christian celebration. But it is about the right time of year to remember the death and resurrection of the “Lamb of God,” Jesus Christ, and the hope of the resurrection into paradise.