Happy Easter

Originally posted by divegeester
Why can't you just explain it here simply for the benefit of the forum?

why cant you research something and find the reasons why people profess the things they do? you were provided with a link and over six hundred pages of information. It is clear to me you have no interest in finding out the reasons why and i will waste my time on the matter no further. Of course you are free to do what you usually do that is insinuate all kinds of things, after all, its your entire modus operandi, but i have better things to do than remonstrate with people who refuse to learn.

If anyone wants to learn anything about Jehovahs witnesses they are free to go to jw.org and research these things for themselves.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
why cant you research something and find the reasons why people profess the things they do? you were provided with a link and over six hundred pages of information. It is clear to me you have no interest in finding out the reasons why and i will waste my time on the matter no further. Of course you are free to do what you usually do that is insinua ...[text shortened]... about Jehovahs witnesses they are free to go to jw.org and research these things for themselves.

What's the matter with you? You seriously expect me to read 600 pages to find an answer to a simple question.

Are you personally permitted to partake of the emblems of the Lord's evening meal?

You post about this event every year in this forum and seem to take great pride and pleasure in it, so why is it such a difficult thing for you to discuss? Are you embarrassed or ashamed of it in some way?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
No you are a pagan/christian, your worship is full of pagan symbols, form Easter eggs to crosses! from pagan doctrines inherited from the Greeks through to Roman and Celtic festivals to the ancient pagan Gods.

I have already told you that all pagan symbols have been redefined to make them Christian; and the pagans have been converted to Christians. Therefore, EASTER is now primarily a FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE AND REMEMBER JESUS in His BODILY RESURRECTION TO LIFE, NOT DEATH.

I know you JWs can not celebrate EASTER because you do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, but Christians do.

Originally posted by RJHinds
I have already told you that all pagan symbols have been redefined to make them Christian; and the pagans have been converted to Christians. Therefore, EASTER is now primarily a FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE AND REMEMBER JESUS in His RESURRECTION TO LIFE, NOT DEATH.

Using capitalisation does not make you more coherent or more right. Robbie carrobie is correct, no matter how you look at it Easter is of pagan origin and serves the goddess Ishtar. I pay no religious significance to Easter or Christmas for this and similar other reasons.

Last Trumpet Ministries are pretty reliable:

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

Originally posted by divegeester
Using capitalisation does not make you more coherent or more right. Robbie carrobie is correct, no matter how you look at it Easter is of pagan origin and serves the goddess Ishtar. I pay no religious significance to Easter or Christmas for this and similar other reasons.

Last Trumpet Ministries are pretty reliable:

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

Christianity has defeated those pagan religions that served the goddess Ishtar; and those redefined pagan symbols to serve Christ are the spoils of war to prove it. The goddess Ishtar is no more.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Christianity has defeated those pagan religions that served the goddess Ishtar; and those redefined pagan symbols to serve Christ are the spoils of war to prove it. The goddess Ishtar is no more.

Did you read the article in the link Ron?

Originally posted by divegeester
Did you read the article in the link Ron?

Yes, and I already made reference to it in a reply to Suzianne. However, have you read the following in the Holy Bible:

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

(Matthew 16:15-19 KJV)

Notice that Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. It was the Christian church that conquered pagan worship, not the other way around. So there is no need to worry about the Easter bunny, eggs, or pagan worship for the gates of hell will not prevail against His church.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Another pagan festival masquerading as Christianity!

Robbie - what festivals do JWs celebrate? Any?

I've just given my son his Easter Egg and I'm neither Christian
nor Pagan - so what am I celebrating?

Surely celebrating something that had its roots in Paganism or Christianity
or ... anything doesn't make one a Pagan, Christian or ... ?

Originally posted by RJHinds
EASTER is now primarily a FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE AND REMEMBER JESUS in His BODILY RESURRECTION TO LIFE, NOT DEATH.

EASTER is now primarily a FESTIVAL TO CELEBRATE CHOCOLATE

Originally posted by divegeester
Using capitalisation does not make you more coherent or more right. Robbie carrobie is correct, no matter how you look at it Easter is of pagan origin and serves the goddess Ishtar. I pay no religious significance to Easter or Christmas for this and similar other reasons.

Last Trumpet Ministries are pretty reliable:

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

You state that the Last Trumpet Ministries are pretty reliable. Let me show you why you can't rely on everything they say. They say the following:

Some have wondered why the word "Easter" is in the the King James Bible.

It is because Acts, chapter 12, tells us that it was the evil King Herod, who was planning to celebrate Easter, and not the Christians.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

The truth is that it is a mistranslation of the Greek word for "Passover" a feast of the Jews. At the time of the King James translation the Christians had already replaced the Passover of the Jews with Easter to celebrate the Resurrection. The translators were just following that tradition of the Church.

The New King James Version corrects that error as shown below:

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

(Acts 12:1-4 NKJV)

It should be clear that the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover are Jewish feasts that occur at the same time. Notice that King Herod, a son of King Herod the Great, saw that killing a Christian pleased the Jews and was saving Peter to be killed after the Passover, not Easter.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
your opening title is happy Easter, is it not, Easter being what, a derivative of Ashtoreth and Astarte, pagan goddess of fertility, which you either unknowingly or unknowingly invoked in your title. . . i rest my case until i get an acknowledgement of truth!

"Easter" may or may not be a pagan festival celebrating Ashtoreth and Astarte in Glasgow, or wherever it is you are. I cannot say. I have not been to Glasgow since 1986. Here in Indonesia, however, Easter is a Christian commemoration of Christ's death and his resurrection, and the two days involved are the most important days in the Christian calendar. Indonesians do not worship ~ or even acknowledge ~ Ashtoreth and Astarte. If it is your claim that Christians in Britain do, then I will let British Christians discuss it with you. If some anachronistic cultural bric-a-brac that has filtered down here from Europe has you dismissing Indonesian Christianity as "...masquerading as Christianity" then that is a matter for you. Whatever pushes your buttons, I suppose.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Robbie - what festivals do JWs celebrate? Any?

I've just given my son his Easter Egg and I'm neither Christian
nor Pagan - so what am I celebrating?

Surely celebrating something that had its roots in Paganism or Christianity
or ... anything doesn't make one a Pagan, Christian or ... ?

It certainly does not make one a christian that is for sure. Does it make one a pagan? perhaps not, but the pagan elements are hard to ignore.

Now one can either embrace these pagan elements and admit they are what they are, or one can live in denial like the majority of Christians as is evidenced on this forum, or one can try to justify as Hinds attempted to do with little success, saying that it does not matter that these elements were once pagan, they have been bathed in the Holy water of church tradition and sanctified.

Originally posted by FMF
"Easter" may or may not be a pagan festival celebrating Ashtoreth and Astarte in Glasgow, or wherever it is you are. I cannot say. I have not been to Glasgow since 1986. Here in Indonesia, however, Easter is a Christian commemoration of Christ's death and his resurrection, and the two days involved are the most important days in the Christian calendar. Indonesia ...[text shortened]... erading as Christianity" then that is a matter for you. Whatever pushes your buttons, I suppose.

and yet we are left with the rather disturbing evidence of your fellows carrying huge Easter eggs through the city! why not simply acknowledge effhim that it has pagan elements?

Originally posted by divegeester
Using capitalisation does not make you more coherent or more right. Robbie carrobie is correct, no matter how you look at it Easter is of pagan origin and serves the goddess Ishtar. I pay no religious significance to Easter or Christmas for this and similar other reasons.

Last Trumpet Ministries are pretty reliable:

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

Thank you divesjeester you are the only christian so far who can bring themselves to admit it!

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
and yet we are left with the rather disturbing evidence of your fellows carrying huge Easter eggs through the city! why not simply acknowledge effhim that it has pagan elements?

If you believe that the two guys you saw in that photo are "pagans" because they had an "egg" and if you seriously believe that the events I described in the OP were a "pagan festival" involving the worship of pagan deities "Ashtoreth and Astarte", then that ~ I suppose ~ is your perception of Christianity in Indonesia. So be it. 🙂