Easter

Loads Crowan, but it's almost a month away and tonight I'm thinking about Valentine's Day! :p

Love and peace,

Judy

Loads Crowan, but it's almost a month away and tonight I'm thinking about Valentine's Day! :p

Love and peace,

Judy

Nice article today in The Guardian about making today a time to think about a society run on love rather than money.

Nice article today in The Guardian about making today a time to think about a society run on love rather than money.

Hey Crowan - could you give a link to it please? I just tried to find it, but there seem to be several articles today - one on the shocking science of love, one on gay marriage and another on the power of love, written in by readers.

The link may not work - I've never successfully posted a link onto HP yet!

If it doesn't work, then you need The Guardian website. Do a website search for 'Jeanette Winterson' and a list of her articles will come up. The one you want is: The money has gone, so make love our alternative currency

Maybe someone cleverer than I could put the link up properly. I'm going to have to learn how to do it.

[url]The money has gone, so make love our alternative currency | Life and style | The Guardian[/url]

Hope this works!

Edited to say, Crowan you just highlight the http bar at the top of the page, right click and copy it, then go to your post, right click and paste.

Crowan, You just had a double http:// in your link that all... so it didn't work. If you delete that from the Insert Link box before copying and pasting like Kiga has said, then....TaaaaDaaaa!!! :D;)

Thank you, Kiga and Wild Strawberry.:)

Great article Crowan - thanks for bringing it here - with a little help! 🙂

Love and peace,

Judy

Ahhh- Easter,
I’m no historian – so the following is what I think I know...know what i mean.
Easter eggs – yum, where did they come from, and what of the easter bunny? Well the eggs at least seem to have some history relating to lent, the easter bunny may well be a pagan introduction/insertion from spring rites.
The eggs are all about giving things up, and that goes to the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness. Eggs were seen as something that could be given up, but for 40 days? Before lent therefore as many as possible were eaten, and a good way to do this - pancakes.
In order to do this and still keep them edible they had to be preserved, after all the chickens just kept laying, so the eggs were boiled. During a time of abstinence the temptation was great to say the least, so the village priest (who surly could be trusted) was charged with the job of looking after them, the problem was at the end of lent that no one could tell who’s were who’s, so they were painted. This solved the problem. So today we have hard boiled eggs all prettily painted at the end of easter – and a development of chocolate prettily wrapped in foil.
I think the bunny is an interloper (or perhaps an interlopper) – and of course the original was probably a hare rather than a rabbit.

What though of the lent period? Well here was a person who became noticed as a potential danger, a political/religious (who can separate them even now) figure even when he was only 12 years old. It can not have gone un-noticed that this chap was dangerous to the establishment. He knew his stuff and he had the voice of the people, not the high priests’ – a worrying time for those in charge. Just as today the established church did little healing, while he turned away no one, he preached love and compassion at a time of violence and racial hatred.
Jesus knew this. He could see what was coming – and he needed to prepare and be sure that he was ready for the storm he would create, and of course for his inevitable death – for what other conclusion could there be if he would not side with the establishment?
Who could not be frightened or worried by this? Who would not need some time to prepare and consider and find inner resolve? You see he could just join the ranks of the establishment, become one of them and he would do well, even become a great leader of the religious institution, this must have had its tempting side, a life of relative luxury, of control of the masses and given his ability to preach the life of a well respected cleric.
It took time to prepare for the alternative, long and deep thinking and a time for gathering courage, for he would not swerve, not from showing that the life he led, the way in which he led it and the truth in the way he lived was the way that we should all live, it was the way to the kingdom of heaven.
I’m not sure what the gap was between leaving this contemplation and the ‘easter’ event, today we run them together but that is how things have developed.
So it all unfolded, the long walk, the challenges, the arrest, the torture, the crucifixion, and finally the resurrection.

The real question is why we celebrate not his life, not his wisdom, but his brutal death – for surly his life was the lesson, not his death – his death was just further example of refusing to compromise on how he lived. We seem to have a habit of this, burning effigies on a fire and cheering for instance, and using death as a sign of celebration – this is more akin to gladiatorial festivity than adoring reverence, but that is where we are.
love
chris

Well the eggs at least seem to have some history relating to lent, the easter bunny may well be a pagan introduction/insertion from spring rites.

The word ‘Easter’ is pagan, anyway.

The real question is why we celebrate not his life, not his wisdom, but his brutal death – for surly his life was the lesson, not his death – his death was just further example of refusing to compromise on how he lived. We seem to have a habit of this, burning effigies on a fire and cheering for instance, and using death as a sign of celebration – this is more akin to gladiatorial festivity than adoring reverence, but that is where we are.

I’m not a Christian – just an interested onlooker – but my understanding is that it is the resurrection of Jesus that is being celebrated, rather than his death.

Nice article today in The Guardian about making today a time to think about a society run on love rather than money.

I haven't read the article (I resist reading too much, if at all)... but surely, if any person beleives society would be better run on love than money, then (firstly) why the need to think about it - surely, just do it - run yourself on love.

Secondly, by just doing it rather than thinking about, if you run on love, then surely everyone you encounter will be greeted with love, job done - no need to wait for wider society to catch up, or to expect wider society to step in line with your belief.....:)

Hi Crowan,
“the resurrection of Jesus that is being celebrated, rather than his death.” - yes – this is the common view from a Christian point of view. I think it is a viewpoint though that has been generated to construct the great religious edifice that keeps ‘the faithful’ under control. By that time Jesus had raised people from the dead, healed leprosy (something we still have not learned to do today) so performing his own resurrection was different but similar to raising others. Of course the carrot of continual forgiveness of sins derived in some way from the crucifixion/resurrection keeps people coming back (I’ve never understood this – the reasoning is beyond me) – so one can sin and sin, and confess and confess and each time somehow this resurrection makes it all ok.
So yes – we do celebrate easter, at least from a christian point of view, as if it is about his death or rebirth, and yet I do not believe that is what Jesus saw or meant. The true value of his death and resurrection was in that he continued, right to the end, to live in the way he had told us to – he never swerved from the truth and he never compromised to make things easier.
Anyway – my view only – lol.
love
chris

Personally, Christianity has no place in Easter. As Crowan said, Easter comes from Ostara, the Germanic goddess.
[url]Ä’ostre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]
I personally can't wait for it, it's a prelude for the fire festivals and I love the circle of life and all the baby animals being born, the baby goats and lambs are my favourite

Personally, Christianity has no place in Easter. As Crowan said, Easter comes from Ostara, the Germanic goddess.

Hi Finalshine, yes, the word Easter indeed comes from the pagan worship. However, the Christian festival celebrating Life overcoming death, with Jesus' triumph over his death by crucifixion is held at the correct time of the year.

Jesus' crucifixion came during the celebration of the Jewish Passover, or Pesach. The gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke state that Jesus' last supper was a Seder - a Passover celebration at the start of 15th*Nisan, just after sundown. (Jewish days begin at sundown and continue until the next sundown). Jesus was executed later that day. In many Christian communities in other countries, they do indeed use the Jewish word - I can only guess that in English it was decided to separate it / make a distinction from its Jewish origins.

Here is a list of how many other countries term it:

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are etymologically related...

Based on Pagan name: The English word, "Easter" and the German word "Ostern" are derived from the name of an ancient Pagan Goddess Eostre. Alternate, less common, names for the holy day in English-speaking contries are the "Sunday of the Resurrection," "Pascha," and "Resurrection Day."

Based on "Pesach:" *In most of the remaining languages in countries with a Christian heritage, the name for Easter is derived from "Pesach" ("פסחא" in Hebrew) the name for Passover:*

This is a link to the names for Easter in various languages: [url]Easter - Its Origins and Meanings[/url]

Love and peace,

Judy

Hi Crowan,
]So yes – we do celebrate easter, at least from a christian point of view, as if it is about his death or rebirth, and yet I do not believe that is what Jesus saw or meant. The true value of his death and resurrection was in that he continued, right to the end, to live in the way he had told us to – he never swerved from the truth and he never compromised to make things easier.
Anyway – my view only – lol.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your posts (though I had to go to View and Zoom twice in order to be able to read them!)

From a Christian Science perspective, we view Easter in yet another way. Here are a couple of observations from Mary Baker Eddy:

Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; but he allowed men to attempt the destruction of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accomplished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, was found forever the same. (Science and Health 51)

Our Master bore the cross to show his power over death; then relinquished his earth-task of teaching and demonstrating the nothingness of sickness, sin, and death, and rose to his native estate, man's indestructible eternal life in God. (Miscellaneous Writings 64)

He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate. (Science and Health 44)

Love and peace,

Judy

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been around for a while... computer problems. 😉

Chris, I enjoyed all your observations! Yes, as far as I know, the rabbit (or hare) is a spring festival symbol from older cultures - representing fertility, for obvious reasons. 😀 It doesn't have any connection with the Christian celebration (unlike Santa Claus at Christmas, who is at least partly derived from the Christian legend of St Nicholas).

As a side note, in Australia, where I come from, there's been a big move to replace chocolate Easter Bunnies with Easter Bilbies, since rabbits are an introduced species that causes a lot of environmental damage. (A bilby is a kind of bandicoot with long, rabbit-like ears - very cute, and endangered too. At least some of the chocolate bilby manufacturers donate profits towards protecting real bilbies in the wild.)

Your explanation about the eggs was very interesting, too - I hadn't heard that one. I always assumed that eggs became part of the Christian festival because they're an obvious symbol of new life - the message both of Christianity, with the resurrection of Jesus, and of the older spring celebrations. (As Judy pointed out, we do know that Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection happened in spring, during the Jewish Passover.)

Back to what you said here, Chris:

The real question is why we celebrate not his life, not his wisdom, but his brutal death – for surly his life was the lesson, not his death – his death was just further example of refusing to compromise on how he lived. We seem to have a habit of this, burning effigies on a fire and cheering for instance, and using death as a sign of celebration – this is more akin to gladiatorial festivity than adoring reverence, but that is where we are.

I couldn't agree with you more. Growing up knowing the Christian "Easter story", but not being involved with any church or taught any ponderous theological stuff, I always assumed the whole point of the story was Jesus' resurrection - his overcoming of death itself, as the ultimate proof of all he taught and did. It saddens me, too, when I see this emphasis on the crucifixion in all its brutality, with little or no reference to what came after.

I see Jesus as putting himself through the crucifixion not because God wanted or needed him to suffer (a common theological explanation), but because he had to subject himself to the worst that evil could wreak - hatred, violence, torture, death in one of the most brutal ways possible - in order to prove that divine Love, which he submitted to selflessly and utterly, overcomes all these things.

I love this article from The Christian Science Journal as a reminder of the all-importance of Jesus' resurrection: [url]How the story ends[/url]

Love to all,

Charis

Well I said I'd be back on this thread - and as it's Good Friday, I guess this is a good time to wish all Christians here a very joyful Easter.

What was it that made the Jewish religious leaders feel so threatened by Jesus that they felt they had to kill him in order to put an end to his mission (they thought) Well, to me it was these 6 little words: "I and my father are one" (John 10:30)

Did Jesus mean by this that he was God Himself? How could the infinite, immeasurable, incorporeal and eternal be found inside a fine, corporeal body? Surely, Jesus was pointing to his ONE-ness with God, the All-in-all. A ray of light is one with the sun, but is not the sun itself.

I've been re-reading an article that was actually written for Christmas, but I feel is very pertinent for Easter too in trying to understand Jesus and his mission. Here are a couple of excerpts, but the title is a link to the whole article:

[
[url]Christ Jesus and true sonship*/*The Christian Science Journal[/url]

The impact of the distinctive contribution Christ Jesus brought to mankind will be felt in human consciousness throughout time. He proved the full implication of man's sonship with God....

.... to define Jesus as God would disguise the purpose of Jesus' presence on earth....
*
Jesus' life was not an illustration of how God could be manlike. Instead, his life afforded incontestable proof that man's true identity is Godlike. Jesus illustrated how each individual can realize himself to be the likeness of God. To define Jesus as God would misrepresent the nature of God, who is All, infinite Spirit.
*
On the other hand, to define Jesus' true nature as a mortal is to misrepresent his real identity. Jesus came not to show us that God can be a man but to disprove the belief that God's man is a mortal...
Nathan A. Talbot
December, 1978

Love and peace,

Judy

Hi again everyone,

I know Easter was some weeks ago, but since we were discussing the origin of the term earlier on, I thought of this discussion again when I found this interesting little snippet from a book called The Pedant's Revolt: Why Most Things You Think Are Right Are Wrong, by Andrea Barham. It's a fairly miscellaneous collection of debunkings of commonly accepted beliefs and assumptions that are actually erroneous - including this:

Easter gets its name from a pagan goddess

The eighth-century chronicler Bede, in De Ratione Temporum, claimed that the word 'Easter' came from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre or Eostrae. The Encyclopaedia Britannica disputes this notion, stating that: 'Given the determination with which Christians combated all forms of paganism, this appears a rather dubious presumption.' Rather, it is widely believed that 'the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis'.

If you can't see the connection that's because it hinges on a mistranslation.

German scholar J. Knoblech explains: 'Among Latin-speaking Christians, the week beginning with the Feast of the Resurrection was known as hebdomada alba [white week], since the newly-baptised Christians were accustomed to wear their white baptismal robes throughout that week. Sometimes the week was referred to simply as albae [white].'

According to Knoblech, when the word was translated into German, it was mistaken for the plural of alba meaning 'dawn', and so the 'white' connection was forgotten: 'They accordingly rendered it as Eostarum, which is Old High German for "dawn".' And thus came the word 'Easter' in English.

I don't know how reliable this book is either, but it's certainly an intriguing new take on it!

In any case, however you acknowledge it in your own tradition or culture, enjoy this season of new life! 😉

Charis

PS By the way, I just realised that the article I posted a link to just before Easter has now been moved - here's the updated link, if anyone's interested: [url]How the story ends[/url]