Every year it comes up about whether Christians should celebrate Easter or not. People have seen parallels in pagan religions and have concluded that Easter should be forgotten. I think that some of the parallels have been overstated, but for the sake of argument, let us assume that all the claims are true. Let us say that it was named after a pagan goddess, was timed according to a pagan date, that it originally was a celebration of pagan hopes of renewal and that it was filled with all kinds of other pagan stuff. Does this make Easter something to avoid?
I think we need to get some perspective. Does any Christian attempt to celebrate the original pagan elements? Since most Christians don’t even know about the parallels, that is unlikely. What is it that most Christians are consciously thinking about at Easter? Most would be thinking of Jesus’ death on the cross, his atoning sacrifice, the mourning of the disciples and the resurrection of Jesus. I cannot see anything sinful in celebrating our hope in Christ. As far as I am concerned, biblical truth of the crucifixion and resurrection trumps any supposed pagan origins that have been buried for centuries. The church has long been active in Christianizing what was there before and I hope we keep doing it.
- crucifixion
- Easter
- Pagan Origins
- Pagan Parallels
- Resurrection of Jesus
