After Adam and Eve rejected God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), humanity looked for other explanations for life. 233, 236).įertility rites and customs were incorporated into religious practices early in history. Hare and rabbit were the most fertile animals our fore-fathers knew, serving as symbols of abundant new life in the spring season" ( Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, 1958, pp. She is referred to as "Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians" (2 Kings 23:13) and, as Vine's mentions, "the Queen of Heaven," whose worship God condemned (Jeremiah 7:18 Jeremiah 44:24-28).įrancis Weiser, professor of philosophy at Boston College, provides these facts: "The origin of the Easter egg is based on the fertility lore of the Indo-European races.The Easter bunny had its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Chaldean deity Astarte is in fact mentioned in the Bible. The festival of Pasch held by Christians in post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast.From this Pasch the pagan festival of 'Easter' was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity" (1985, p. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. Notice what Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says about the term Easter here: "Pascha.mistranslated 'Easter' in Acts 12:4, KJV, denotes the Passover.The term 'Easter' is not of Christian origin. Modern translations correctly translate this word "Passover"-as even the King James Version does in other verses (see Matthew 26:2, Matthew 26:17-19 Mark 14:12 1 Corinthians 5:7). Reputable scholars and reference works point out that the Greek word rendered "Easter" in this verse is actually pascha, meaning Passover. The word Easter appears once in the King James Version of the Bible, in Acts 12:4, where it is a mistranslation. The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us, "As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals-in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit" (15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. Where, then, did these practices originate? A day with unchristian originsĪs with Christmas, we find that the popular customs associated with the Easter celebration-rabbits, Easter-egg hunts and sunrise services-have nothing to do with the biblical record of Jesus Christ's life, in this case His rising from the dead. The first is that its customs and practices are based in ancient paganism, not in the Word of God. There are two main problems with the Easter celebration. It's a day built on a lie, not on the great truth of Jesus' atoning sacrifice. But if you look more closely at this holiday you'll see that, despite its Christian veneer, it has done much damage in obscuring the truth of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
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