Wednesday, April 4, 2007

About Easter

Well I had a friend give me some websites on the origins of Easter so I did some research myself and here is the site I think has the best description of Easter and how Christians relate to it:

www.gotquestions.org/easter-origins.html


The name Easter comes from a pagan figure called Eastre (or Eostre) who was celebrated as the goddess of spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. A festival called Eastre was held during the Spring equinox by these people to honor her. The goddess Eastre’s earthly symbol was the rabbit, which was also known as a symbol of fertility. Originally, there were some very pagan (and sometimes utterly evil) practices that went along with the celebration. In our day, Easter is almost a completely commercialized holiday, with all the focus on Easter eggs and the Easter bunny being remnants of the goddess worship.

In the Christian faith, Easter has come to mean the celebration of the resurrection of Christ three days after His crucifixion. It is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year because of the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the events upon which Christianity is based. Easter Sunday is preceded by the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance culminating in Holy Week and followed by a 50-day Easter season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost.


Because of the commercialization and pagan origins of Easter, many churches prefer to refer to it as Resurrection Sunday. The rationale is the more we focus on Christ and the less we focus on the pagan holiday, the better. As previously mentioned, the resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity. Paul says that without this, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). What more wonderful reason could we have to celebrate! What is important is the true reason behind our celebration, which is that Christ was resurrected from the dead, making it possible for us to have eternal life (Romans 6:4)!

Should we celebrate "Easter" or allow our children to go on Easter eggs hunts? This is a question both parents and church leaders struggle with. There is nothing essentially evil about painting and hiding eggs and having children search for them. What is important is our focus. If our focus is on Christ and not the eggs, our children will understand that the eggs are just a game. Children can participate in an Easter egg hunt as long as the true meaning of the day is explained and emphasized, but ultimately this must be left up to the discretion of parents.



For those interested in information about current celebrations of Passover, I thought they did a great job explaining that as well:

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christians-celebrate-Passover.html

I encourage you to use this site if you have any questions about Salvation, the Resurrection or any other Godly truths. I think they do a great job providing biblical, well-researched answers. What a great ministry!

I love this group and site, it's so encouraging... I pray that all the Jewish friends I have crossed over my 23 years do sincerely seek out the truth and answers to the fulfillment of scripture they study. They will see that Jesus IS the Messiah they seek..... http://www.jewsforjesus.org/

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Resurrection Week

As I keep reading and talking to others - we who love the Lord all feel the same this week. Heartbroken yet put back together. Depressed yet full of joy and hope. Unworthy yet Forgiven. This week always is a week full of emotion for me.


Sometimes I just find it hard to believe that Jesus would go through the worst torture, pain, condemnation and loneliness for me. I am not worthy of any gift He gives--- but I accept them. I don't want His sacrifice to be in vain and I would never want to turn away a gift He freely gives yet the voice of the devil loves to tell me that I shouldn't accept the gift since I am not worthy. But the devil cannot separate me from the Lord, once I made that commitment for the Spirit to live in me, the devil no longer had a grip on me. I KNOW I'm not worthy by myself - but with Him I am.

Along with accepting the Gift, I also accept the blame for all Jesus had to endure. I believe that one of the biggest vice (is that the word) the devil TRIES to have on me is guilt - guilt of my past, guilt on my daily actions, guilt to keep me down from having confidence to help others. But I also believe that some guilt is a great thing. Guilt is what makes me want to do everything I can to become more like Jesus daily - I don't ever want to be as far away from Him as I once was - the guilt I felt was too much to bear. I feel guilt because I'm such a compassionate person. Like all things --- God can use anything for good - even guilt. The devil is the one that tries to abuse and manipulate everything! Guilt & compassion is what 'gets me' at the crucifixion scene. I know that Jesus had to go through what He did - but watching it each year doesn't ease the compassion and guilt I feel that I am to blame for what I'm watching.

But I HAVE to believe. He is offering me, each of us, the gift of eternal life, eternal acceptance and eternal love - but the only stipulation is we have to believe.

I believe! I believe He died on the cross and on the 3rd day He ROSE!

He is the only thing that makes me worthy of His sacrifice - and THANK GOD He died and rose again!!!!!!!!!

It's a time of CELEBRATION - He DID rise and death no longer has a sting on Him or any of us who believe!!



My only question is now - WHEN and HOW did the focus turn from the Lord this Easter week? I want to know when Easter bunnies, eggs and candies became more important than the Lamb, His teachings His death and resurrection? Are Easter Egg Hunts now more important than life for eternity? Where have we gone wrong? HOW and WHEN did this happen!?!

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Rosie

Since there has been a bunch of "talk" about Rosie on some of my favorite blogs - I thought it was so ironic to open up my weekly townhall.com email and see that this was one of their top 10 articles for the week:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=rosie_o_donnell_is_bad_news&ns=LorieByrd&dt=03/30/2007&page=1

I mean here's the thing: Is Rosie funny? YES
Is that what makes her so dangerous? YES!

Like my previous post...... the author of this article agrees it's SCARY that we get our NEWS from the Entertainers in the media! It's scary that the minds of future generations are influenced by biased entertainers! The most effective way to change a complete culture is to alter the minds of the youth (ask Stalin or Hitler that) - and the minds of the youth are under attack in this country!

Do I believe that all these secular progressives know what they are doing!!? NOO I seriously believe that SOME of them have NO clue what is going on - and just do what they FEEL is right . But here is what I know ---your personal satisfaction and ultimate happiness is not what life is about!! Sometimes the RIGHT decision isn't what makes YOU immediately and temporarily satisfied!!!!!! There is a MORAL code and it is NOT based on the happiness of the majority!!! It's based on the TRUTH from the ONE Creator who created it once!

I have a lot of friends that are secular-progressives --- and here's what I realized:

A lot of us all see the same problems - we just have different solutions! and I base my solutions (like the majority of traditionalists/conservatives do) on Judeo-Christian principles which are what this country is founded on. We LOVE what America IS and what it stands for - and are proud of it - but these progressives like Rosie think there is something inherently wrong with it. They want to change EVERYTHING about America to make it fit what THEY believe in. They are trying to create a new country, a new religion, a new moral code!!! SCARY STUFF!!!

Please God give me peace about this country that I have now born a son into. I am terrified for what the future might hold unless we get across to people that there IS a right or wrong - and it can't be changed because of a person's personal opinions. The Constitution is a 200 + year old document ---- you think YOU, Rosie, stand for what this country believes in more than this document which our founding fathers put together to be a timeless truth!??!!?

The majority of this country ARE traditionalists and love this country --- why do you pretend, ROSIE, that your opinion and the opinion of your HOLLYWOOD FRIENDS have more weight than an "average Jo"!?

I pray that this lady will drop to her knees and ask the Lord to fill her with Truth! I believe that anybody who truly seeks out the Truth will find it --- but I promise you it won't be found in the Media and it won't be based on an individual's personal immediate gratification!

and if she doesn't find out the truth and continues on her 'crusade against Christ' --- then my only words to her is that YOU ROSIE are helping to cause disUNITY in our UNITED States of America ---- If you don't like our country, then LEAVE and leave U.S. alone!!!! You have enough money to......

AHHHH :)