The prophet Jeremiah wrote approximately 2,700 years ago: “Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them”’ (Jeremiah 10:2, KJV).
Each spring, we hear a great deal about Jesus’ resurrection at Easter time. Most religious leaders know that the word Easter is derived from the name of an ancient pagan goddess (lshtar), and some even know that the custom of Easter observance is totally un-Christian! Yet, most excuse observing Easter as a Christian worship service. They teach that it was “Christianized” by its association with Jesus’ resurrection.
How is it acceptable to worship Christ through pagan customs? How can we take symbols of fertility—which all the world recognizes as such—and hold them up as symbols of Christ? Does Christ accept Christians worshipping Him as the heathen’s chief god?
One well-known encyclopedia states: “Easter, a Christian festival, embodies many pre-Christian traditions. The origin of its name is unknown. Scholars, however, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th century scholar St. Bede, believe it probably comes from Castre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to our April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored Easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter egg rolling contests or given as gifts” (“Pre-Christian Traditions,” cited in Microsoft Encarta ‘99).
Yes, Easter was about sunlight worship! Sun worship is religious devotion paid to the sun either as a deity or as the symbol of a deity. In the Americas, sun worship was practiced by the Iroquois, Plains and Tsimshian peoples of North America, and reached a high state of development among the native Americans of Mexico and Peru. Sun worship persisted in Europe even after the introduction of Christianity, as is shown by its disguised survival in such traditional Christian practices as the Easter bonfire and the Yule log on Christmas.
Most scholars accept that Easter embodies a number of “converging traditions,” now associated with the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach. In Acts 12:4, the King James Version even mistranslates pesach (Greek for “Passover”) as “Easter.”
Apostolic Christians celebrated the Passover. Gentiles, who became predominant among professing Christians, clung to their pagan Easter celebration and tied it to a calendar of their own devising. At present, Eastern Orthodox and Western Christians dispute the date of Easter. And to this day, neither has it right. Truly, “the way of the heathen” has not been easy, or pleasing to God!
This commentary can be found on the Church Web page, www.livingcog.org, in the Commentary Library, along with many other commentaries on key topics facing our world.