What Is Easter?

Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 1 month ago to Culture
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There's a lot I don't get about religion. However, one thing that I don't get the most is the popular manifestation of Easter. Supposedly, It commemorates when God in the form of a man was asphyxiated by being nailed to a cross and left to hang on the upright cross until death overcame him. A particularly hideous way to die. So in order to commemorate this grisly act, we are inundated with cute bunnies laying candy coated chocolate eggs and having our kids pictures taken at the malls with 6 foot tall rabbits who if they were real would scare the pants of kids more than the myriad of Santas during Christmas. Can anyone explain this phenomenon to me?


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  • Posted by 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    You have obviously made a study of this. I have not. I shall defer to your greater knowledge, and simply allow my ears to let my brain enjoy the sounds.
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  • Posted by ewv 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The authentic New Orleans sound is very different in several ways than what has been known as dixieland for decades. It's hard to find today even in New Orleans now that a couple of new generations has taken over Preservation Hall and the street music.

    One place to hear this is in the opening episode "Gumbo" of the Burns documentary Jazz. But in some ways he failed to make the distinction because he used some anachronistic modern recordings trying to illustrate it. But there are still the recordings from the 1940s-60s and a few from the 1920s.

    I was fortunate to hear in the 1990s the Percy Humphrey band from Preservation Hall live at Boston Symphony Hall. It was so crowded that some of us sat up on the stage behind them. Many of the players were in their 80s and 90s.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Were there professional boulder rollers back then?
    How many men does it take to roll a boulder? I think I need a drink.
    Prune Juice.
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  • Posted by infinitybbc 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    ah ha! yes, now that you mention it, i do recall the name Zacharias being associated with this issue. thank you for the clarification and i apologize again for my conveying erroneous data about this. 8-)
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Actually, the man serving a course--the eighth--was Zacharias. Joseph was a tradesman, not a priest. But your analysis is sound. I have seen it before.
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  • Posted by infinitybbc 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    interesting. also, there's another indicator besides the mention of census, the inns all being filled, and the sheep grazing in the fields into the evening/night, that has to do with the "courses" of the priests. i'd have to again look up the details to really convey the matter, but basically it has to do with a mention of the unborn John (i think it was) leaping in the womb when the pregnant Mary drew near to his pregnant mother. i recall there is a method of determining the approximate birth time of Christ based upon the "course" (as i believe it's referred to in the Hebrew) that Joseph was serving at that time. i apologize for not having the details on hand, but i do believe it's something that one can search out if they really want extra prooftext that Christ was born in the fall.

    some might also find it interesting that there is no indication in the scriptures that Christ's birth was to ever be observed by way of any kind of celebration or ritual. His example was the same found in the OT, which was observance of the same annual "appointed times" and Sabbaths that were commanded for His people (Israel) to observe from the onset. as you alluded to above, the replacement of Biblical "holy days" for various pagan days, including the weekly "Sunday" rather than the weekly "Sabbath", were by the edicts of the Holy Roman Empire, or Roman Catholic Church, rather than being Biblically based. various other pagan doctrines followed, like that regarding "hell" and even including the doctrine of trinity, which most Christian denominations erroneously hold as being a "sacred" and/or Biblical doctrine.

    it has been quite amazing for me to discover the various differences between what is often commonly taught from the pulpits of mainstream Christianity and the doctrines found within the Bible itself. 8-)
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, I'll buy all of the above. And by the way: the great census wasn't a one-off event, either. It was a regular census. The particular tense forms of the Greek infinitives translated "to be taxed" (or more properly, "to enroll" or "to be counted in a census") tell that tale.
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  • Posted by infinitybbc 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    very accurate info here regarding the inclusion of various pagan holidays into the visible Holy Roman Empire's "Catholic" (Universal) Church. thank you for sharing! many people, including Christians, are not aware of all this. 8-)

    my only comments for consideration, mostly for those here who are believers in Yahshua, is that He wasn't actually born on or near Dec 25. rather, he was born in the Fall, most likely during the Feast of Tabernacles. further, He was buried in the grave for 3 days & 3 nights beginning on the evening (beginning) of the annual Sabbath of the First Day of Unleavened Bread. He was already gone (had already risen) by the time Mary and the others visited the grave and found the stone had already been removed.
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  • Posted by H2ungar123 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I looooovvvvveee what your grandson told
    his grampa!! Kudos to savy grandson!!! And Happy Easter to all and to all a good night!!
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  • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Neither points nor people's opinion of me matter to me. I'm just like Popeye: I yam what I yam. You don't like what I yam? Thar's 7 billion more you can turn to instead.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm not putting it down, just wondering about the connection. Lots of erudite answers. Lots of off topic answers. Lots of stupid answers And, more answers and posts than I ever suspected. I was talking to my 23 year old grancdson about it over dinner last night, and he thought I was being naïve for even posting the subject. I guess he was right.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm also type 2
    I buy those mix-it-yourself Italian dressing packs and add my own vinegar and oil. Extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar.
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  • Posted by H2ungar123 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    So how come the bombardment of
    chocolates & flowers on St. Valentine Day?
    And Rudolf & Santa's helpers at Yule time?
    Why not bunnies & eggs? "What's the
    difference" anyway, if it brings joy to some....
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Being a Type 2 diabetic, I use extra virgin olive oil for salad dressing these days. Sometimes even apple cider vinegar.
    Only at home, though.
    I'll ask for Italian in a restaurant.
    I recently mixed salad dress8ings up when my stepson threw a little birthday part for me.
    For health reasons, I asked his family to keep half the birthday cake.
    For stupid reasons, I bought ice cream to go with the rest of my cake.
    A birthday only comes once a year.
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  • Posted by $ Suzanne43 9 years, 1 month ago
    I MIGHT reply to your comment in the future, but right now, I want you to know that I did not take a point away from you. And BTW, Happy Easter!
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 1 month ago
    I think she indicated how she copes when she said bye to me with a Bible quote.
    Some would call that a crutch but not me.
    What good is a deity if you don't use him, her or whatever?
    I ask God to keep me and my car safe and not hurt anybody just before or after I crank up.
    Did I just break a board rule by admitting that? What the hey! The whole post is about a religious subject and I didn't start it.
    I know all about genuflecting. I was raised a Catholic but went my own way when I reached my 20s.
    My dear departed mother would write me in a letter, "You're independent but we love you" more than once.
    Ask me to genuflect and I'd more likely smack my right fist against my left shoulder and yell, "Hail Herb's Caesar Salad!"
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  • Posted by 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    Poor Susanne. I think she was overly sensitive. I gave her friggin' point back, and tried to explain our differences. I wonder how she copes with the real world. I have a friend who years ago converted to Catholicism. I kidded him for years asking him to genuflect for me. I told him he can't enter my house unless he genuflects first. He calls me J.K. It stands for Jesus Killer. We've known each other for 65 years. He asked me why I always want him to genuflect and I told him I just like saying the word.
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    • allosaur replied 9 years, 1 month ago
    • Suzanne43 replied 9 years, 1 month ago
  • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 1 month ago in reply to this comment.
    I agree. Our only difference appears to be that of a mystical faith issue.
    Well--
    I'm a mystic! I'm a mystic!
    Ooga freakin' booga!
    No one here is gonna intimidate me with that.
    Someone calls me the zombie that caused Susanne43 to leave?
    Well, I'm The Bulletproof Monk (I actually saw that forgettable flick).
    In other words, save for faith, I love the way most people think in the Gulch.
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