Easter: Christian, Pagan, Jewish Holiday Season in the Spring

Easter Holiday Season:
A very popular spring holiday, Easter has roots not only in Jewish and Christian traditions, but also in ancient pagan beliefs. Although Easter is ostensibly viewed as a Christian holiday today, much of it is arguably more pagan than Christian — and many of the Christian elements have pagan parallels as well.Some Christians don’t celebrate Easter, believing that the Christian takeover of this pagan holiday resulted in an unacceptable adoption of pagan themes, beliefs, and practices.

What is Easter?:
Easter is treated not simply as a commemoration of events that occurred at one time in the past - instead, it is regarded as a living symbol of the very nature of Christianity.

• Christian Easter Celebrations
• Dating Easter
• Days of Easter Season
• What is a Resurrection?
• What is the Passion of Jesus?
• The Lord’s Supper

Pagan Easter vs. Christian Easter:
Many of the most important holidays in all religions and cultures are essentially calendar-based, which means that they are set to the rhythms of regular changes that occur throughout the year

• Equinoxes, Solstices, and Calendars
• Easter: Pagan or Christian?

Contradictions in the Gospel Accounts of Jesus’ Passion Narratives:
The gospels are supposed to record the events in the life of Jesus Christ. If that’s the case, why do they contain so many errors and contradictions? Even when dealing with the Passion narrative, there are problems.

• Historicity of Easter: Take the Easter Challenge
• Passion Week in Jerusalem
• Last Supper of Jesus and his Disciples
• Judas’ Betrayal of Jesus
• Jesus’ Arrest and Peter’s Denials
• Jesus’ Arrest and Trials
• Crucifixion of Jesus
• Jesus’ Burial & the Empty Tomb
• Jesus’ Resurrection & Ascension