answersLogoWhite

0

Jehovah's Witnesses believe firmly in the death and resurrection of our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. We believe that since his resurrection, he was raised to heavenly life, where he received his kingdom, and is now reigning as a mighty king on his heavenly throne. We also believe that based on Jesus sacrifice, obedient humans have a hope of eternal life.

However, we do not believe that the Easter holiday has anything to do with this. The word "Easter" does appear in some modern translations of the Bible, including the King James Version where it appears once at Acts 12:4. Howvere, a little research on the matter reveals that the Easter holiday did not come into existence until several hundred years after all the scriptures were fininshed, so this holiday would have been unknown to the Bible writers, therefore, it could not have been in the original Bible writings and was added by translators later.

Further research reveals that the holiday was actually pagan in origin. It was taken from pagan springtime fertility rites which included symbols such as the rabbit and the egg, both viewed as symbols of fertility by pagan adherants.

The Catholic Encyclopedia reports: "A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility."-(1913), Vol. V, p. 227.

The book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, tells us: "What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, . . . as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now."-(New York, 1943), pp. 103, 107, 108.

How did this get accepted into the church? According to Jennifer Emick, a religious educator, "The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices."

While Jehovah's Witnesses rest their hope on the death and resurrection of Christ, we do not share in any Easter practices.

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago

What else can I help you with?