Can Easter Eggs really walk on water?

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Permalink Reply by Jim Brown on March 24, 2008 at 8:52am

Chris - I think you are in the wrong forum.

No one has implied that Easter (or Christmas) are the end all be all historical dates of Christian events. It is well known that both holidays are of Pagan descent. However there is no reason why we can't have dates meant for certain rememberences.

Think Independence Day, we celebrate it on the 4th of July, when in all actuality 55 of the 56 delegates at the time, signed it on August 2nd. Does that make that a laughable holiday as well?

What about Labor Day? Memorial Day? When are we allowed to celebrate those?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Flener on March 24, 2008 at 9:12am

My posts were in response to others. Look back over the thread.

With regard to your other holidays, Independence Day is still accurate, it only took one signature, the others signing later really meant nothing (they were only signing because they were involved, not the writers).

Labor Day and Memorial day are made up holidays, no different than Halloween and St. Patrick's Day. The difference is that Christians hold easter and christmas to be significant religious events/dates. They do not accept the fact that neither is rooted in Christianity, but as you mentioned with the Pagans instead. MOST do not have the information you have, that is for sure. I've only stated that Christians should know WHY the dates are when they are, and not just accept them because they are told to!

I'm not in the wrong forum for this. The topic was opened, and comments were made. I responded to the comments and the forum continued on.

My original point was that I don't have easter traditions, and I listed my reasons for this. The forum goes where the forum goes, and it has come to this. I'm just excited to see someone else on here that at the very least understands that the holidays are rooted in Paganistic celebrations.

Thanks Jim!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Johnson on March 24, 2008 at 8:32am

Yikes! A lot of interesting conversations going on here.

Easter Sunday has been and is a meaningful day to me. While I grew up with Easter baskets, candy, eggs, etc., the day was truly focused on what was truly important - Christ's resurrection. My family, church, friends are not so naive to believe that Easter was "the" day that Christ rose again. We do understand how the "holiday" came to be. But it's much deeper than that. For believers, this fact is actually celebrated everyday in many ways.

Hope. Because He is alive, I have hope for tomorrow. No fear of death. A bright future. Second chances. Redemption. I can take it all to the bank. It the reason to believe and live.

Not that I walk around in a "holy fog", though. Yesterday started off with my 2 1/2 year old son acting like a devilish 2 year old. He hollered when I put on a sweater vest on him. He hollered when he wasn't allowed to punch his sister. He hollered when he had to put on his coat.

My 4 year old daughter looked wonderful in her new dress. When I told her how great she looked, she replied, "I know." My little diva.

My wife looked gorgeous. She exhibited great patience. We did church, hit her family's home stead for lunch, got home for a quick nap, and then drove off to my folk's for dinner.

Easter for me in 2008? Holy and holy cow, what a day!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Flener on March 24, 2008 at 8:35am

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on how the holiday came to be. Just curious about this.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Bolenbaugh on March 24, 2008 at 9:11am

I would like to thank Chris for his challenges to this discussion. It has provided an "energy" boost to my Monday morning. I am a committed follower of Jesus, the Christ. We have few if any Easter traditions (other than attendance at services, family dinners, quiet reflection and heartfelt worship). We have done a specific cookie recipe that is completed overnight and has a lot of symbolism to the Christian faith. Unfortunately/fortunately most of these "traditions" occur at multiple times throughout the year and are not specific to the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

Chris is absolutely correct that a number of the traditions of the Christian faith, have either direct or indirect ties to pagan, non-Christian practices. These include things such as timing (the dates of events), decorations (christmas trees, wreaths, bunnies, etc.), along with many other rituals. Sometimes these were added/adpoted for appeasement reasons, sometimes they were done to conceal a Christian truth while allowing the follower to still openly celebrate, and sometimes they developed genuinely, but simply mirrored practices done in other cultures. None of these things changes the underlying event being celebrated unless the practitioner chooses to magnify the practice over the event.

Chris's position tends to turn on the logical argument as follows (and I overly simplify not to insult, but to make the point) 1. Christians believe in Easter. 2. Easter is a shallow fictional Jesus celebration about fertility gods and gorging on chocolate. 3. A priori - Christians are shallow and believe in a fictional Jesus event.

Again, no offense to Chris. I applaud thinkers. This is a common position and is actually reinforced by many so-called Christians. Two key issues have to be considered. First, how I celebrate/interpret/practice an event says something about me, but does not change the truth/non-truth of the underlying event. (If I choose to use every Colts game as an excuse to get rip-snorting drunk, that does not change the fact that a very real football game occurred.) Second, I better be darn sure of what I consider facts. Many people have a "Da Vinci Code" understanding of the topic. While this was a gripping and entertaining book (and a not so hot movie), even five minutes on Google will show that Dan Brown's "Facts" page to start the novel is made up of non-facts. Unfortunately many of the positions people take tend to overly generalize the development of the Christian Faith, development of what we refer to as the Bible, and Christian practices, a lot of which occured over the first several centuries. They then use this wrong or incomplete information to make bad generalizations, which do not reflect a historically correct understanding of original documents that are available today for review, or their relevance in the context of the period. Even most Christians do not take these steps.

Without using scripture, (why would a non-christian care what the bible says?) you can effectively document accurately, the historical life and death of Jesus. You can also present a great circumstantial case for the things I take on faith. But lets face it, there were no webcams or embedded CNN reporters at Gethsemane. While the cross is verifiable fact, the empty tomb is circumstantial. At some time in my spiritual progression, I had to step out and believe things that I could not see.

Chris, I hope you have a great week and I thank you for your comments. I love to debate, but will not debate in this forum further (but it has been a fun intellectual exercise). No one is "debated" into a belief system. I simply challenge you and everyone reading this threaded discussion to step back and understand your faith. AND, more importantly, recognize its importance and the consequences. Just because I take a position that I do not believe in the law of gravity, does not mean that I am immune to the consequences of stepping off a tall building. All people (even those who claim no faith) are banking "eternity" on their beliefs. Some will be right and many will be wrong.

As for Easter traditions . . . I'll stick with my quiet reflection and heartfelt worship to celebrate this event.

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Lacy on March 24, 2008 at 9:16am

Not to turn something serious into something funny but.. let's just be honest...
where the hell did easter EGGS come from? What's up with a bunny and why eggs? I may be missing the point but

A. A bunny doesn't lay eggs.
B. Oh Jesus has risen, HIDE THE EGGS!

Sorry. I needed a pick-me-up.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Flener on March 24, 2008 at 9:22am

Google it!

I have work to do, lol. It started long befor Jesus even lived, and has nothing to do with him at all.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Arnold on March 24, 2008 at 9:53am

kyle that made me actually laugh out loud...a pick-me-up, indeed. thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Flener on March 24, 2008 at 9:20am

Excellent post, but yes, you over-simplified my comments, and distorted them a good bit. I have never even suggested that Christians are shallow and believe in a fictional Jesus event.

My family are Christians, and I respect them as well as all other Religions.

I agree that the Da Vinci Code is inaccurate. I also agree that historical documents describe the life of a man named Jesus. However, many documents also contridict many, many of the stories in the bible. If a Christian is willing to open up to some other historical documents to "prove" Jesus' work, then they must also open themselves up to the other historical documents that tend to "disprove" many events and stories in the bible.

I'm not out to change people's minds here. I've stated this many times...I just ask that a person educate themselves about their Religion before blindly accepting it as fact.

With regard to your right and wrong comments at the end...I completely disagree. I don't think there is a wrong way! It's a personal choice between the individual and whatever they believe in, and that personal choice/relationship cannot be wrong on any level.

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Lacy on March 24, 2008 at 9:55am

I'm glad to be of service

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Permalink Reply by Stephen James on March 24, 2008 at 11:23am

I'm not sure how a forum question about Easter traditions digressed into whether the Biblical account of the Resurrection was true. Maybe it's has something to do with the third question, "Or is there a deeper meaning to this day?" Nikki already asked about Easter Eggs a few weeks ago, so I won't comment on that tradition. My family has never been very big on holidays. No easter egg hunts, new clothes or large meal with family. Those traditions are similar to celebrating Santa Claus and family around Christmas-time.

For me, I've always enjoyed the agony of the week prior to Easter more than than Easter itself. Maybe that is my personality or introspective nature, but as any viewer of Gibson's Passion of the Christ knows, pain and suffering is a lot easier to communicate and be related to mere mortals. It's a lot easier to understand and comprehend than returning from the dead. On top of that, "Holy Week" hijacked the previous Judeo tradition of Passover: the slaughtering of animals and the coming of a deliverer which dates back another few more thousand years ago.

I've always seen Easter as a halt to the pain and loss of Holy Week. . .a breather. . .a break. Unless someone realizes what he or she has stopped having to to do (by passing through the events of Holy Week/Lent) because of the events of Easter, there's really not much reason to celebrate Easter.

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Benshoof on March 24, 2008 at 2:26pm

Except the fact the Christ rose from the dead, just a little minor thing, that's all....

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