Easter (also called Pascha) is generally accounted the most important holiday of the Christian year, observed in March or April each year to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead after his death by crucifixion (see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at about this time of year, almost two thousand years ago.
Historical accounts of the death of Christ reveal he was not crucified in March or April. The traditions that make up the festivities of the Easter Holiday have no relation to the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ but pagan practices that were sort of brought into mainstream christianity over time.
The older European and pre-European holiday traditions were not based upon claimed religious phenomenon, but rather upon the seasonal characteristics of nature. The ancient traditions were founded by people who were highly aware of seasonal change and arranged their lives and festivities around them accordingly, explicitly marking the spring and fall equinoxes as well as the summer and winter solstices.
When Christians attempted to convert pagans from their traditional beliefs, the native people of Europe were initially resistant to discarding the beliefs and values that had guided them successfully for thousands of years. Realizing that it was difficult to get people to give up their relation to nature and the recollection of their past, the Christian conversion effort adopted and modified the pagan traditions, while replacing cyclical nature with an invisible, inert god and a personal, linear human idol to worship as its representation.
As Catholicism could offer nothing better, they simply claimed what existed as their own, changed the story slightly, and then tried to cover up and break people’s connection to the past.
The 40 days of Lent can be traced to worship of the Babylonian fertility god Tammuz, as well as similar traditions in Egypt (Osiris), Syria (Adonis). There are answers hidden in the Biblical dislike for Tammuz:
So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
– Ezekial 8:14
But the story goes like this: Eggs were decorated and offered as gifts and to bring blessings of prosperity and abundance in the coming year; this was common in Old Europe. As Christianity rose and the ways of the “Old Religion” were shunned, people took to hiding the eggs and having children make a game out of finding them. This would take place with all the children of the village looking at the same time in everyone’s gardens and beneath fences and other spots.
It is said, however, that those people who sought to seek out Pagans and witches would bribe children with coins or candy , and once those children uncovered eggs on someone’s property, that person was then accused of practicing the old ways. Punishment back then was Death or Jail which usually ended in Torture or being Tortured to death to force Pagans to convert to Christianity In other Words Easter Eggs hunts were used to hunt Pagans and Witches by using Children to search for Eggs .
Now the Easter festivities have gone so widespread across different Christian groupings that everyone is practicing one form or another of honoring this pagan holiday. And like years before, some Seventh-day Adventist Churches and Institutions are also part of the Easter egg hunt.
New Hope Adventist church is suggesting you bring in your Easter eggs into your living room. What a disaster! When God demands we take out all pagan idols from our lives, we are being advised to bring new idols into our homes.
Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church has a special Easter hunt for kids who should instead be taught about the pagan roots of the holiday celebration. here is what they say on their promo image on facebook.
In many places Easter egg hunts are a staple when it comes to springtime events. And while kids love running around collecting as many plastic eggs as they can, it’s easy to forget the significance of Easter – namely, Jesus. Our Flashlight Scavenger Hunt is a fun, new twist to the traditional get-together.
La Mesa SDA Church too has joined the Easter hype.
“But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority,—not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain ‘Thus saith the Lord’ in its support”
― (Great Controversy, p 595). Ellen G. White
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.
― Ellen G. White
But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man.
The youth need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are not their own. Strength, time, intellect, are but lent treasures. They belong to God, and it should be the resolve of every youth to put them to the highest use. He is a branch, from which God expects fruit; a steward, whose capital must yield increase; a light, to illuminate the world’s darkness.
Every youth, every child, has a work to do for the honor of God and the uplifting of humanity.”
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