Do Christians Really Need to Celebrate Easter?

The Celebration of Easter - Christian or Pagan?

For Christians, Easter has come to represent the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. After having been crucified-mercilessly massacred-under the hands of the Romans in the early days of the first century, Christians believe after three days in the grave that God miraculously raised Jesus back to life. This resurrection from the dead is the basis of the Christian religion. Christians believe that they were sinners alienated from God and that by the death and resurrection of Jesus they have had their sins washed away, been reconciled back to God and have become His children. Thus the high significance of the day and the joyful celebrations associated with it in so many Christian churches.

While Christians have taken the celebration of Easter as a commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a closer look at the origins of the day might cause them much alarm. The celebration of Easter has its origins in pagan religion dating back to truly ancient history just after the time of the flood as recorded in the book of Genesis. Ishtar-pronounced "Easter" was the name for Queen Semiramis the wife of Nimrod an evil descendant of Noah and the mother of Tammuz who was believed to be Nimrod reborn. When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar his mother, Queen Semiramis, wept so profusely that he revived in the springing forth of vegetation. Thus springtime rituals commemorating this supposed resurrection began. Queen Semiramis also became an object of worship, revered as the Mother Goddess bringing blessings at springtime, blessing the crops as a "Mother Nature." Many vile and profane practices ensued in worship of these deities, including orgies, prostitution and human sacrifices. The egg and rabbit were both considered objects of fertility. Queen Semiramis was believed to have hatched from a huge mystical egg that had fallen into the river Euphrates. This was the origin of the Ishtar "Easter" Egg.

Some Christian groups, having educated themselves concerning the evil origins of Easter, have taken to calling that one Sunday in the spring, "Resurrection Sunday" in an attempt to dissociate from any connection with pagan beliefs and practices.