Billions of people around the world are preparing to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. However, many of those marking Easter Sunday may not realize that this sacred holiday has a fascinating – and deeply pagan – history.
Believe it or not, many of the popular Easter traditions people know and love have pagan origins... and little connection whatsoever to Christianity.
So how did ancient pagan celebrations evolve into the holiday we know as Easter today?
It's a wild story, complete with pagan goddesses, huge bonfires, lots of orgies, and the real reason the Easter bunny is a thing.
Let's dive in.
Ostara Blessings
Humans have been ritualistically celebrating the changing of the seasons for thousands of years. Many ancient cultures greatly revered the vernal equinox – the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Among them were pre-Christian pagans living in Europe, for whom the changing seasons and the onset of spring represented a time of rebirth, and that meant a lively period of celebration known as Ostara.
As part of the Ostara festivities, pagans lit great bonfires and performed sword dances paying tribute to Eostre, the Germanic goddess of dawn, light and rebirth.
Eostre. Study that name carefully, because it's an important piece of this puzzle.
But first let's take a step back. How did a pagan festival celebrating the coming of spring get intertwined with a Christian holiday about Jesus’ resurrection? And how did a mischievous egg-producing bunny get involved?
Well, the answer involves a lot more sex than you might imagine.
Do As The Rabbits Do?
Ostara celebrations were heavily focused around fertility and the creation of new life. According to some historical accounts, this revelry and excitement for procreation periodically resulted in wild orgies.
That’s certainly different from Easter Sunday as we know it now.
While that particular tradition wasn't passed down through the ages, others absolutely were – and you'll recognize them immediately.
Two pagan symbols of fertility are still associated with the Easter holiday today: the egg and the rabbit.
One popular myth from pre-Christian times tells how the Goddess Eostre entertained a group of children by turning a bird into a rabbit. But to the children's surprise, this rabbit was special – it could still lay eggs just like a bird!
Sound familiar? Many scholars believe this was the origin for the legend of the Easter Bunny (another fascinating story deserving of its own post).
Bunnies remain closely associated with Easter for other reasons as well. Eostre’s sacred animal symbol was the hare, a creature well-known for its high fertility and quick reproductive cycle. Perhaps no wonder that it's an obvious symbol of the, ahem, vitality of spring.
The link between Easter and bunnies remained over time, even as the original rationale – their rather prolific sexual habits – was forgotten.
During the commercialization of the Easter holiday during the 20th century, candy makers produced chocolate eggs and bunnies, card makers created Easter greetings featuring egg and bunny designs, further cementing these ancient pagan fertility symbols as images of the holiday.
Okay, but where does Christianity come into play?
Mission Impossible
For that, we'll have to jump back in time again to introduce Pope Gregory the Great. In an effort to Christianize Britain’s Anglo-Saxons, Pope Gregory sent a mission to the British Isles in the year 596. It was the Gregorian mission that helped permanently intermix the pagan traditions with Christian ones, scholars say.
The pope understood that pagans were unlikely to simply accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior at the drop of a hat. Instead, he instructed his missionaries to initially embrace local pagan traditions and to carefully weave in Christian influences.
For example, at some point it was discovered that these pagan peoples celebrated the holiday of Ostara and the Goddess Eostre during the spring. Experts speculate that missionaries, hoping to win converts, created a Christian celebration during the same time of year and called it "Easter," then melded the traditions together.
It was arguably quite underhanded, but the tactic worked. As Christianity spread across Europe, the pagan traditions slowly morphed into Christian ones. "Eostre" eventually became “Easter”.
The goddess of the dawn was essentially erased, and the pagans' celebration of spring was co-opted into a new holiday with a different (although parallel) symbol: that of Jesus coming back to life after his death on the cross.
And, the rest is history.
61 comments
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Rev. Dr. G. Waldron
The article fails to mention that the Easter Sunday follows the Jewish Passover calendar generally. The commemoration of Christ's resurrection has been know since the beginning of the church, well before the Romans tried to convert pagans. Also, by the way the easter bunny and eggs is not part of the scripture. If it became a custom to brighten the Easter Sunday, then why not?
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William Waugh
Well, the word missing is crusade. Christians have been on it since jump. ...I bet the miles of documents stored by christian catholic library's, when viewed in scientific light, would demonstrate a slow descent into a hell of their own making!........
Oh no I said too much. I havn't said enough. I thought I heard you laughing. I think I thought I saw you cry. Every whisper. Every waking hour, I'm losing my religion.
It all makes so much sense now.
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Michael Allen Smith
Great song reference!
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Douglas: the only (primary) reason any religion still exists (especially Christianity) is because the USA still allows parents, to brainwash (indoctrinate) their offspring, into one religious mythology, or other.
As the Holy Ghost told a Catholic missionary, during the German Inquisition, "give me a tender little-bitty mind, until the child is five or six, and his mind (especially the religious part) will be mine for eternity (especially in the Christin heaven).
You're correct, Douglas, if the USA really wanted to have "freedom of religion" -- all parents must be charged with childabuse for religiously-brainwashing their naive' little-bitty vulnerable little kiddies.
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Angela Maria Gaviria
The USA???The USA is not the only country where religion still exists...Even the Astecs believe in something...Even if you do not "brainwash" your offsprings, they will compe up with something to believ e or worship.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
To the contrary William, when I was knee high to a grasshopper, when my Roman Catholic mother, and a great-aunt told me about the father and son, I said "What about the mother"? To that they replied "There isn't a mother". From that moment on I knew they were thrown, but played along anyway, until I was old enough to get away with rejecting such absurd notions.
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Pastor George Day
@Carl Bernard Elfstrom, the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) is femminine in Hebrew. 'She' is the mother in the Godhead.
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Joe R Day
I just found this historical recitation about Easter. "Easter goes back over 4000 years when the Son-of-God, Tammuz, was killed by a wild boar. Tammuz raised rabbits and the Assyrians believed that the rabbit was reincarnated from the phoenix bird and still had the ability to lay eggs. After finding his body his wife, Ishtar buried his body and three days later he rose to join his father, the sun God- Baal (Nimrod). Ishtar decided to make that day a holiday and named it after herself…Ishtar Day. They decided to have rabbit egg hunts. The pagan part of Ishtar Day was nine months before the holiday a girl would volunteer to become pregnant so they could kill the baby and use its blood to dye the eggs." I was intrigued by it. Happy Spring to all who read this!
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Cherise Day
Yes this is the origin and Roman Catholic Pope Greg melded all the holidays together to try to unify the people for better control. The Christmas tree n wreaths stem from Tammuz as well. It’s all lies. Had nothing to do with Jesus or Passover or anything other than satisfying the sheeple with some calendar to unite us by fake meaning and now it’s all monetized anyway. Save your money n save your souls! Don’t fall for this crap! God is a jealous God
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Nicholas J Page
How come after all of these years have we Never got taught about other religions Pagan., Wiccan etc.Did our teachers know about this.Or were they warned to only teach Christianity in the 1960s when I was a child or were pagans etc Not around theses times here in the UK answers on a postage stamp.
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Teresa de Jesús Cruces
Hi everyone, Happy Easter for everyone; it is a day we all can celebrate something good; our thoughts and prayers align with the same idea. It has been a slow process of evolution within our consciousness for our consciousness to learn and grow. I had an Awakening that removed my blindfold, and now I can clearly understand everything from another perspective. This experience guided me here to become a Minister of the Church. Purpose: I was in the dark, and through Christ, I am in the Light. Christ is the Universe itself, and the foundation of the Universe is Love. We cannot ask a newborn to give us the solution to a mathematical equation, right? Everything in time, through cycles. The same happened with Bonny and Easter. On Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, along with Easter/Bonny, because the Bonny represents new cycles, new beginnings, and fertility; it is not only the legends behind the story. It is the way for us to evolve our consciousness. What does the Spring Season represent: On the first day of Spring, the layer of ice has begun to thaw, nourishing the soil and giving life to the seeds; Rebirth, Fresh Start, Growth, and what do we do? We welcome the Light of our Solar hero—the source of Light and Life. Christ. Please you can visit my website www.luzimperium.com. I have written six books and am finishing my 7th book named CHRIST. Blessings and Peace Profound Teresa de Jesús Cruces
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Lewis Michael Lands
Well said Teresa.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Ignorance is no excuse.
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Cathy
Nicholas Page: I can't speak for the UK but in my little chunk of earth in the US I was raised Catholic (my mother's faith). At a young age I started asking questions and eventually I got thrown out of the church and went to a Baptist church (my father's faith). I was still very inquisitive, but they were a little better about "questions". When I became a young adult, I realized I did not share my mother's or father's faith and quit going to organized churches in my area.
When I attended university I was asked by one of my Catholic friends why I was no longer attending, and she went white in the face and said I was going to Hell. Specifically that I was going to Hell because I learned about other religions. It could just be the area that I grew up in, but that's what I remember being the theme throughout my search for spirituality. It's frowned upon to learn and ask questions.-
Pastor George Day
@Cathy, she didn't do a very good job. In our church you wouldn't be treated that way. At the end of the day, here you are. You can make ULC your church.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Christianity owes its very existence to the myth that the Christian God arranged with Judas and the Romans (who worshipped Jupiter) to have his (the Christian God’s) only begotten son, tortured to death for two days, during the time that used to be the new year (which is now the Easter Season)
Orwell is proud of how the Christians turned their God, from a brutal executioner, who arranged to have his son tortured to death, into a merciful caring, loving Christian God, which billions of Christian God believers will praise on Easter Sunday.
Love, worship and adore, a God who arranged to have his son killed — at least fro two days???
That a ULC Bishop, such as me, can’t believe in such dodo, shouldn’t be hard to understand.
What is real (true) is that those who worship a God who arranged to get his son tortured to death, are the ones responsible for Trump’s being elected.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@William Dusenberry Take this one step further... The definition of Christianity is let up to the person or group of people who want to call themselves Christian. There is no one agreed upon definition of what it means to be a Christian.
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Renee Pells Cyr
Technically Christianity is one of the only religions that does have a definition. Or at least necessary and sufficient conditions. To be a Christian is to accept the literal resurection of Christ. That is how they defined themselves to differentiate from Judaism and Pagan beliefs. Everything else in Christianity is up for interpertation.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Renee Pells Cyr That is your definition of Christianity. With over 35,000 different religions all claiming to be "Christian" allows for a very broad definition of what it means to be Christian.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I thought all christians had to accept that Jesus and Judas were (and still are) gay lovers. And they both take turns bouncing up and down on the father's lap, while he's sitting on his throne, in heaven (when they aren't busy doing each other).
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Pastor George Day
@Douglas Robert Spindler, first of all, what you call 'Christian religions' are simply known as 'denominations,' i.e., organizations of church government which embrace a specific theology. Second, a denomination, in order to be Christian, must accept the resurrection of Jesus (= kerygma). If they don't, they're something else).
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Pastor George Day
@Douglas Robert Spindler, a Christian is someone who follows in the footsteps of Christ. The first to be given this name were the believers of Antioch, when the kerygma of the apostles began to spread outside Israel into the nations. It used to be known simply as 'the Way.'
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Pastor George Day When you say "a Christian is someone is someone who follows in the footsteps of Christ" what does that mean? According to Mormons Jesus is living as a God on a planet or a start called Kolob, If you follow in the footsteps of Jesus you too will be living on your own planet or star as a God.
Sort of violets some of God's 15, ummm, I mean 10 commandments doesn't it?
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Pastor George Day
Douglas Robert Spindler, have you ever heard of figurative language? It confers the meaning of the message better than with a plain discourse... a bit like the story of Adam and Eve. So, if you cannot grasp it, that tells me why you may have a problem with that story too.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Pastor George Day Yes I know and understand figurative language. But that's one of the big rifts in the Christian religion. Is the Bible literal or figurative? You have Christians on both sides of that argument. If you take the Bible as figurative they you need to take a look at the work of Joseph Campbell. You know who he is, don't you? He spent 40-50 years studying the world's religions and was a brilliant man. If you believe the Bible to be figurative then you will find the stories are just a retelling of stories which are in many other older religions from thousands of years before the birth of Christ. And if you look at the Oxyrhynchus Papyri you will see he is correct. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri provides us with the written record showing he Bible is just the retelling or recycling of stories.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Too many things I agree with to even comment, I’d simply recreate your post. (Although I am tempted to elaborate on the Trump view. But the development of Easter isn’t the only aspect of Christianity that finds its origins in pagan myths. The very basis of Christianity, the virgin birth, is found in many pagan myths. Christianity is just another pagan belief system for ignorant, fearful, and often vile, humans to just ‘accept’ rather than think for themselves.
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Pastor George Day
@William Dusenberry, first of all, to be a 'bishop' you need to oversee other churches. Is that the case for you? Second, Jesus gave up his life willingly.
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Gary James Thomas Garrett
Whether it was willing or not, God still arranged to have his own son tortured - What kind of great plan is it to torture and kill your own son? You'd think he could have come up with something that wasn't as cruel. But God's really into suffering and torture - At one point he drowned all the pregnant women and babies, it must have been awful for the mothers to watch the rising waters come to eradicate their families very existence and not be able to do anything for their children because God was displeased. And I'm sure that I will now be tortured forever, along with almost everyone else that has ever existed, just for writing this. What a good egg of a god you got.
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Krystina S.
This is a good article. I have one caveat: The actual Resurrection of Christ happened toward the end of the Jewish Passover holiday. Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. The Last Supper is a kind of Passover Seder meal. So the concept of the celebration of the Resurrection was not created merely to coincide with Ostara, it did basically coincide. The idioms of New Life In Christ and the Vernal Quickening of Life were melded. Being raised Orthodox Christian, I could never understand how those "upstart" Catholics and Protestants could celebrate Easter basically before Passover. Our Easter was generally a week later, at the end of Jewish Passover. Now, if you REALLY want a made-up Christian Holiday, go for Christmas. (and yes, Orthodox celebrate "Christmas" with the gifts later than December 25.) Of course, I am now Ecumenical in perspective, actually Interfaith- a student of many faith practices with deference to our Earth.
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Lionheart
Do we in fact know if the Jesus mentioned in the Bible ever really existed?
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
A man could have been named Jesus, Lionheart, even though it's an unusual name, and I've only heard of one person ever having been called that. I can't imagine how his parents came up with it. I seriously doubt that the bible contains any facts. As far as I can tell it's only an ancient fictional novel, and seriously doubt the author ever meant for it to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, I very much liked receiving those Easter baskets full of candy and stuff that the easter bunny left for us kids on our dining room table every Easter morning, when I was a kid, so I'm glad the holiday exists.
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Lionheart
Yes, I see where you are coming from Carl. I wonder how many middle eastern natives were named Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Thomas, Timothy, Martha, et al. Just doesn't sound very Arabic/Middle Eastern to me. Know what I mean?🤔
It would have sounded more plausible if they'd had some unusual weird names like Voldemort, Severus, Draco, Sirius, Remus, Bellatrix, Alastor, Lucius, Nymphadora, Dumbledore, Narcissa, Gellert, Cornelius, Quinus et al. They sound more middle eastern than the ones drummed up by those clerical shepherds. 🤷🏼
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Thomas
Carl and Lionheart - Determining the validity of religious views, history, and names requires a bit more study than what is reflected here. Ancient religions, such as Judaism and to a lesser extent, Christianity, started as oral traditions before sacred stories and tenets were written down. This is pertinent to your viewpoints on names. "Jesus" is a name that morphed and was both Romanized and "Englishized" over time by the dominate culture of the times, as we still do today with names of people and places with origins in other countries and languages. The name Jesus originates in the Hebrew name Yehoshua, which likely had Aramaic roots. Yehoshua was adapted and is often Anglicized as Joshua. When the New Testament was written in Greek, the predominate culture was Roman, and the name Iesvs (Romains dropped the "sh" and added an "s") was frequently used in oral references. When written down, the texts were written in Greek, the predominate academic language of the time and when translated to Greek, Iesvs became Iesous, pronounced "ee-ae-sus." We now say Jesus. My name Thomas, derived from Koine Greek "Thaumus," Matthew from Mattias, etc. So original Biblical names represented and adapted in subsequent cultures and translations of historical and sacred texts are not so far off from real, valid, plausible names of ancient times. And, by the way, many people who are off-put by modern Christianity, because of its many flaws and corrupted leadership throughout history, are not able to go past their negative experiences to delve into serious study or practice of its more solid sacred principles and the wisdom it may offer. Understandable. For a serious assessment of validity or plausibility of a "sacred" belief, religious history, or even a name, it helps to go a further, deeper in research...perhaps even some time with a wise person you trust to study with objectively. Dig a little and we may find that not everything we were told, and not every negative experience we may have had, and not every belief presented to us is representative of a true, core, religious principal or factoid. Very interesting posers you both have, so I am thankful for being a part of this discussion. Thomas
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Thomas, I've been digging deeper and deeper into the Pagan religion/life path of Wicca, which I was initiated into when I was sixteen years old in 1980, for by far most of my life, and don't have any desire to deeply delve into any other religion, but only care to have an overview of the, which is helpful in being an interfaith minister.
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Thomas
Wisdom is not colloquial; the spiritual quest for universal truths will find good dust in many corners. A narrow quest will bring narrow results, so yes...it all depends on what you care about.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
My landlord's real first name is Hussein, but ever since 2001 he's been going by Joe, so I sometimes call him Guissepe. He's originally from Iraq, where nobody knows him by Joe. I also knew a man from India whose name was Gurdeep, and one from Palestine named Mahmood (said in Arabic with heavy emphasis an the h). I'm glad Jesus' supposed disciples didn't have names like that, for the regular names you mentioned that they name babies in this part of the world are called christian names, which I'd much rather be called than any of those other ones.
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Pastor George Day
@Lionheart, here goes to prove the level of your argumentations! The names you list are pure linguistic translations from the original ones: Yeshua -> Jesus; Yochanan -> John; Myriam -> Mary etc.
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Lionheart
Yes, George, I’m totally aware, and understand, how names were translated. Some of my comments are meant to be very tongue-in-cheek. I’m guilty of having a sense of humour 🇬🇧that emanates from the roots of my birth, England. 🤭
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Pastor George Day
Early Christians, like the Celtic Christians, had the Jewish date. Rome made it coincide with the pagan holiday.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Easter is just Christmas Part 2.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
That's a nice Christian thing to say, Douglas. Lol!
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Makes perfect sense doesn't it?
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Annamarie
Such interesting responses to this article. It appears the manipulation has been going on since the beginning of time. Simply add man, and watch the show!
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Pastor George Day
@Annamarie, I don't think you are right. Read the article from a pastoral perspective towards Gentiles.
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Carl A. Hankins
Once apon a time... there was was an Ester bunny whose uncle was named Mordecai. They hopped all over the kingdom hiding from all the great hunters because they always wrecked their nests. They were captured by a king who liked Ester bunny but Ester layed a rotten egg named Darius and that's why it's such a mess to this day.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I thought Darius was a monk, and one of Duncan McCloud's mentors, Carl (even though Adrian Paul eventually beheaded him).
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John Casillo
Here comes Peter CottonTail.....hippitty hopping down the bunny trail.....Easter's on its way.....who will care about "anything else" when all the candy is taken by our governments....the sugar haters will make all kids sad.....rev john
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Christian mythology wouldn't exist today -- if it were not for the myth, that the mythological Christian God arranged for his only begotten son to commit suicide (the altruistic-type) on Good Friday (it's called "Good" for if Jesus hadn't committed suicide, there would be no Christianity today.)
Christianity is no better, nor worse, than any other religion now called "mythological" -- such as the Greek, Roman, Norse, or Hebrew myths.
Religions become classified s mythological -- once science proves that all the creation stories of such religions are mythological -- because they're easily proved to be mythological -- due to paleontology, geology, astrophysics, astronomy, and common sense, and the use of basic logic.
If any of my fellow ULC clergy, have any primary data, that a Christian Jesus ever existed in Roman, Hebrew, Greek or Egyptian history -- they should post if -- otherwise all of us should call the Christian religion, Christian mythology.
PS. according to the St. James version of Christianity, Jesus died about 3 PM -- then died for two nights -- then was resurrected about 36 hours later. So, Christian mythology should note that Jesus died for 36 hours, to save mankind from the likes of Ganges Kahn, Nero, the Christian Crusaders, the English Inquisition, the 100 Year's Wars, ' World War I, and II, and Trump and his Rasputin, Putin.
Think its a coincidence that Rasputin and Putin's names end in "putin??
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Jeffery Wayne Weatherholtz
The following Non-Chistian sources documented the existence of Jesus, his miracles and death: Thallis- Samaritan Mara bar Serapion- Syrian Josephus - Jewish Tacitus - Roman Mishnah- Jewish The Talmud-Jewish
Another excellent study was done on the Apostles that died for their belief in Christ. People will die for ideas but only if they believe it is true. These men witnessed the life, death and resurrection of Christ and died horrific deaths for their conviction. Experts agree that if Christianity were a myth that the Apostles created, when faced with death they would have admitted the ruse. Only people convinced they are speaking the truth would voluntarily die for their belief.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Jeffery, don't forget to include delusional schizophrenics.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Jeffery Wayne Weatherholtz You are correct when you say Jesus did exist, but there's more to the story than you are telling. The name Jesus was very popular 2,000 years ago as were magic tricks which like today many people at the time called miracles. Just as people are fooled by magicians today, they were fooled 2,000 years ago. I can easily turn water into wine. You can buy the trick on Amazon for $24.95.
The stories in the Bible are not about one person named Jesus, but all of the people named Jesus who were doing magic tricks.
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Lionheart
Jeffery, you list non-contemporary witnesses of Jesus, so they are not valid as they had no first hand knowledge of Jesus.
Samaritan Mara bar Serapion is dated after 73 AD, but before the 3rd century.
Josephus wasn’t born until AD37.
Tacitus wasn’t born until 56AD
Roman Mishnah is 3rd century
Jewish Talmud Mishnah 200 CE
You need more compelling evidence than what you have quoted
Persius, Petronius, Philo, Marcus Cluvius, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Columella, Florus Lucius, Geminus, Phaedrus, Titus Livius, Marcus Paterculus, Pomponius Mela, Valerius Maximus, Lucius Seneca, Apollonius of Tyana, Musonius Rufus, Pliny the Elder, Sillius Italicus, Quintillian, Martial, were all historians during the time Jesus was alive. NONE of them wrote about him.
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Jeffery Wayne Weatherholtz
Want to convert pagans? Incorporate a few old religious celebrations into the new Christian celebrations. For Easter it doesn't change the Holy meaning of the resurrection, it just makes it a bit more familiar to the newly converted pagans. And guess what? Some of those traditions stuck. Does it make the crusifiction of Christ less important? Does it make the resurrection a lie? NO! As far as the timing, that's just happy coincidence and well documented that Christ's death and resurrection happened in conjunction with Passover.
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Stephen Ray Cornelison
Eostre herself may have been invented during a mischievous moment by the Venerable St. Bede. This well-known monk mentioned her in connection with the pagan festival Eosturmonath in a book written in 750 AD — but extensive research has failed to find a trace of her prior to that. Could he possibly have been fibbing?
Maybe this whole Eostre/Waster connection needs more research.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Then again Stephen, it might be better for everyone to quit thinking about it. It doesn't really seem to do anyone any good.
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Cindy L Edgar
All of the holidays are pagan holidays that were stolen from Christianity very sad that it's taken it's long for anybody to recognize it it's all pagan holidays
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Pastor George Day
Cindy L Edgar, Christianity isn't a religion by its very nature, and because of that we adapt to the surrounding culture. Rather than claiming that we 'stole' your celebrations, I would say we kept and adapted them, if that makes sense. We keep and attach the kerygma (aka good news of salvation) to already existing practices.
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Pastor George Day
This article is very interesting indeed. This goes to prove that Christianity isn't a religion but a message of salvation, even extended to pagans as we read in Acts 15! Bingo!
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Robert M Carter
That figures. Keep the bunny and the egg, but leave out all the sex. Damn prudes.
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Marie Grace Maroney
Some have no idea why Easter falls on the first Sunday after the Full moon and after the Spring Equinox. That’s from Pagan practice of Ostara. Placing brightly colored eggs on a Full moon to help Persephone find her way out of the Underworld and to bring life back to the dead world of winter. Legend says she was kidnapped by Hades the brother of Zeus her father and he in turn made every growing thing die. When the Old Kings were commissioning the writings of the Bible, (Constantine I think being the first), they would incorporate Pagan and Christian traditions together to appease the Pagans and make them celebrate their Religious ways. Christmas being the most combined of them all. Yule was Pagan “Christmas” if you want to call it that. The 12 days of Christmas came from 12 days of Pagans burning the biggest log they could find for 12 days. Starting on the Winter Solstice. Celebrating the Harvest being in, the days getting longer, and a time of rest. Gifts were given on each day getting exponentially bigger and better each day. Even Church practices were taken from the Pagans, The Alter, the candles, the incense, the prayers (pagan chants) and even the Purple Vestments worn by Priests were taken from Pagans. And need I mention Halloween? All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Saints Day. There’s a plethora of “borrowed” traditions taken there.
Finally Easter has been recognized as a pagan holiday