Councils & Creeds

PSALMS to God · Councils & Creeds

Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 CSB

After the first century, the Church continued to have disagreements. When the Constantine declared he was a Christian, the Church became mainstream. With that change, there was an influx of people into the Church that may or may not have been truly converted—Christianity was now "hip." It was during this time that modern Christianity took form.

The Roman religion I mentioned and failed to pronounce is Mithraism. It was the dominate religion until the legalization of Christianity.[1] Much of the sun worship that has crept into the modern church comes from Mithraism.

The first 7 ecumenical councils

1. The First Council of Nicea (325ad)
2. The First Council of Constantinople (381ad)
3. The Council of Ephesus (431ad)
4. The Council of Chalcedon (451ad)
5. The Second Council of Constantinople (553ad)
6. The Third Council of Constantinople (680–681ad)
7. The Second Council of Nicaea (787ad)

Important decisions from the First Council of Nicea include a stance against Arianism (the belief that Jesus is a created being) and officially abandoning Passover for the pagan holiday of Easter.[2]

The Council of Laodicea was held in 364ad. Although it is considered a minor council by scholars, the major decision to "move" the Sabbath to Sunday was made.[3][4] (Note: only God can transfer holiness, we will dive deeper into this in the next episode)

Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ. Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea[4]

References

1. Reinhold Merkelbach. "Mithraism". Encycolpædia Britannica. February 5, 2020
2. "First Council of Nicaea". Encycolpædia Britannica. November 29, 2019
3. What happened at the Council of Laodicea?". GotQuestions.org; visited July 8, 2020
4. "Synod of Laodicea (4th Century)" New Advent; visited July 8, 2020
5. "First Seven Ecumenical Councils". Wikipedia; visited July 8, 2020

Passover & the Resurrection

The Passover and it's connection to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is the foundation of Christianity. So, why are we more concerned with "Easter" than Passover? How did we manage to get to the point where the only two holiday Christians are known for are actually pagan holidays?

Season 1 Episode 17

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.1 Corinthians 5:7 CSB

00:01:16	Hey guys welcome back to PSALMS to God podcast. Last week I was planning for this particular episode, and I was studying and researching all of these things to do an episode that would have been part of the high school yearbook superlative series—and I had the person, I had the superlative; I was really excited about this episode. But then I looked at a calendar and some people mentioned some things to me and the Spirit started tugging on my heart to talk about a different topic. And there was a part of me that felt like I didn't need to talk about that topic because I do have a post about this on my blog,[1] and I felt like that covered it. I don't want to beat a dead horse and I was like I don't really need to talk about that again, but of course now that I have a podcast, I feel like they're people who listen to the podcast that don't necessarily read the blog and I'm pretty sure that post came out like four or five years ago. it's pretty old. so things were tugging on me, and then I went to Sabbath School, Saturday, and we talked about some verses from Hebrews. We started at the end of Hebrews 5, in verse 11 and went through the first couple of verses in Hebrews 6. And we were talking about how these established Christians, these people who were supposed to be mature in the faith, were basically still on milk. They were basically still babes, and they weren't able to spread The Word, because they didn't know The Word themselves. And we got into a discussion about our responsibility to spread knowledge and to spread the gospel of Christ, and how we are supposed to continually grow and how we're supposed to push believers around us to grow. And after having that discussion, I felt like what I would wanted to talk about was not as important as what we're going to talk about.
00:03:20	So today we’re talking about the Passover, the resurrection, and this pagan holiday called Easter. I'm pretty sure that most of you are aware that Easter comes up this Sunday. You may not however be aware that the Passover starts this Friday night, and... That’s what you would expect because most people think of Easter as being a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, which happened right after the Passover. This year that seems to be the case, however that is not a guaranteed order of events, for instance in 2016 Easter was on March 27th, the Passover was on April 22nd[3]. How can the Passover happen after Easter? Let alone a month after Easter? Well it's simple Easter has absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ. It's a pagan holiday, and the way Easter is calculated is not by making it the Sunday after Passover. It's not by making it 3 days after the Passover. Easter has nothing to do with the Passover.
00:04:46	Easter is calculated as the first full moon—well, the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21st.[19] No. That makes no sense from a Biblical standpoint. That's because it has to do with some sort of equinox and the stars aligning and all of this Pagan stuff—let's not say it's quite like that, because the stars were given for signs, but my point is Easter is not calculated the way the Passover is calculated. The Passover, the date of the Passover. was given by God. If you go into the Old Testament that is repeatedly telling the Israelites when the Passover is, how to celebrate it, all of these things. So Passover is the 14th day of the month of Nisan, I think it's called—don't quote me on that one,[4] but it is a month that was from the Israelites calendar. Basically it started off their year, because it was the start of their Exodus from Egypt. So that's where they're calendar start—or at least their religious calendar started at that point. And because they have a lunar calendar, which means they base their months off the cycles of the Moon, as opposed to the sun and all of these other crazy things that we have in our current calendar, such as the fact that there were some kings who wanted months named after themselves and they wanted their months to have 31 days and not 30 days, which is why February only has 28 days[5]... Yeah, y’all it's a whole thing. Yeah we're not, we don't have time for all that, but basically that is why Passover occurred at varying dates in Western calendars. But if you were going by the Israelite calendar, or if you went by the Jewish calendar, Passover happening of the same day every year, because that's how God specified it. It's not really a moving date, it’s only moving because we changed the calendar. Easter, on the other hand, is a moving date because it has to do with when the moon occurs and so many days after that and all this other hoop-la.
00:07:13	But why I really wanted to talk about it is because it dawned on me that Easter and Christmas are the days when churches are the most well-attended. People who are... Lukewarm Christians, that's what I'm going to call it because I'm just being honest today. People were lukewarm Christians that don't attend church regularly, who may or may not carry God around with them all the time, who may or may not read The Word, typically express some sort of obligation to go to church on Easter and Christmas. They’re like, “I never miss Easter. I never miss Christmas. I go then.” And you will see, churches will be filled to the brim this Sunday, with people celebrating this pagan holiday that has nothing to do with Christ—and Christmas, also is a pagan holiday that has nothing to do with Christ—He was not born on the 25th we can do a whole ‘nother podcast episode on that, but as I was thinking about it what does that say about the church? What does that say about who we’re worshiping and how were worshiping that people feel most obligated to come worship God on a day that is actually meant for a pagan god? What are we teaching in our churches? What are we proclaiming to the world?
00:08:14	One of the things that fascinated me the most in college when I really started diving into The Word and started studying The Word was understanding the true motive of the devil—the true M.O., and what was really going on in the Bible, and what this war is really about. People often think of the devil as being the opposite of God. He's the adversary, so he, where God is good and gracious and forgiving and beautiful and nice and all of these wonderful positive aspects and attributes, people think of the devil as being ugly and evil and crazy and mean and you know, that he would kill people. And you will see in society that anytime you find somebody that is undesirable people labeled them to be the devil or the antichrist. So just because they disagree with their politics or they dislike them or whatever, suddenly that person is the devil or the antichrist. But if you actually look into the history of Satan and if you look into the origins of the word antichrist, then you realize that the devil's crime is not that he was out doing things that were per se bad things, I mean he did do bad things, but the whole point is that he wanted to be God. He wanted to be worshipped as God. That was his crime. That was where he went wrong. And so in order to get that worship, he started faking gods on Earth. He basically tried to make himself the god of the world—and he succeeded. And that is what the war is about.
00:10:42	And so what he did was not just totally invert God's truth, he took some of God's truth and then he put in a little of his own thing. Maybe he added something. Maybe he took something out. And he caused people to worship him instead of God, because people are doing it his way instead of God's way, but that way may not be so drastically different that it's obvious. You’d have to know God to know difference. That is the danger of Satan.
00:11:15	So what happened is that from the beginning, Satan was told the same thing that everyone else was told. Satan was in the garden when Adam and Eve fell. So when God uttered the very first Messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15, Satan was there. He was talking to Satan! He was like this is how you going to die, this was going to happen, her seed is going to step on the head of your seed. And so we may not fully understand all of the things that God tells us, because we are human. And despite the fact that Satan told us that this Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was going to give us all this grand knowledge, we still don't understand a lot. It's basically like telling children more than they're able to handle, because they're just too young to understand. That's basically where we are as people. We know things that we should not know because we don't know how to handle what we know; that's where we are.
00:12:24	Satan, on the other hand, is an angel, or he was an angel; he’s a fallen angel. He was created above us; he has more knowledge than us. He's not as powerful as God. don't ever get it twisted. God has more power than the enemy, but he has more power than we do, which is why we're not supposed to fight him, we're supposed to let God fight him. Nonetheless he knew some of God's plan. He doesn't know the whole thing—I don’t think—but he knew at least some of it. So he tried to replicate and counterfeit God's plan so that he could convince us to believe him instead.[6] I must say it's a good plan. You know, you usually believe the first thing you hear. The second thing, you’re like “Well, I don’t know, I already believe this thing over here.” So what he did was he tried to stage the whole concept of the virgin birth. So if you look throughout history, you will see many pagan religions that have this trio effect of a father, mother god, and a child. And one of the most famous versions of this is from this Babylonian, or Sumerian. I'm not sure… It’s from that same Mesopotamian era—area—that the Israelites would eventually be in.[7] And there was this child called Tammuz. If you've heard of him, you already know where I'm going.
00:14:02	Basically Tammuz was rumored to be born on the 25th. There were all of these other things that went into his legend and his mythology that also tie into the Spring Equinox and the time of Easter. And so the mother of Tammuz, Ishtar also known as the Queen of Heaven, is a pagan goddess that is found in many, many Pagan religions, and that is where the name Easter actually comes from.[18] Easter is tied to a fertility goddess. And in other languages they do not call this holiday Easter. They call it pascha, or something like that, which ties it closer to the Passover, but it's still not actually related the Passover.
00:15:04	15:04 When I was a kid, I used to be so confused about Easter. First of all, why is a rabbit carrying eggs? OK. As a child, I didn’t question the idea of bunnies at Spring, that seems to go hand-in-hand, of course has nothing to do with the resurrection, but it does have to do with Spring. Which, you know, it being a pagan festival of sun worship, it really is about Spring, so that makes sense. But I couldn't figure out why these bunnies had eggs! Bunnies are mammals; they don't eat eggs, they don't lay eggs—why is the Easter Bunny walking around with these eggs? Right? OK, well you know why, because Easter is about a pagan fertility goddess. Bunnies, you know the whole saying “multiply like rabbits?” That's that's why there are bunnies tied to Easter. The eggs, I think that's self-explanatory. We're not going to go into the eggs.
00:16:04	So, yeah. That’s were a lot of this symbolism comes from, and then of course, us being in America—or at least, I’m in America, not sure where you're listening from, but here in America everything is about money, and so they commercialized the holiday. So by the time I was a kid Easter was like Christmas. I used to get an Easter basket and it would have like a teddy bear in it, and like, I always got a VHS. Y’all, I’m telling my age right now, ‘cause DVDs were not a thing, yet. I was got some sort of VHS; it was some sort of cool movie, usually some sort of Disney movie,[8] and you know, I’d get some candy. I would get just, whatever. Like I used to ask for things for Easter the way people ask for things for Christmas. Yeah, like I said commercialism. So some of the problems that are found in Easter are strictly commercial problems that have to do with money and have nothing to do with paganism, but there are a lot of things about Easter that are tied directly to paganism.
00:17:11	One of the reasons that it bothers me that this distinction is not evident within the church is the fact that the Bible tells us to abstain from the appearance of evil,[9] and it tells us not to do as the pagans do, not to worship pagan gods.[10] It's interesting, because I feel like in today's society, it's so easy to get your hands on information. Information is out there everywhere; correct information and false information. And we are not as well versed in scripture as we should be. So it's really easy for kids to leave church, go to college, and basically be bamboozled into who-knows-what. Because some people are out here teaching the truth and some people are out here teaching some foolishness and some people are teaching something that's kind of in-between here; they’re peppering it with truth and lies. And it's really hard understand what is true, and I've had so many friends that went to college and learned about Tammuz, and learned about this pagan holiday and that pagan holiday, and put two and two together that Easter and Christmas are pagan holidays, and that there's no real difference between those holidays and these pagan holidays for these false gods and goddesses. And then instead of understanding the whole picture, that's where it stops, and they decide that Christianity is also a false religion, and they stopped believing in God and they stopped believing in Jesus. And that is a tragedy, because the Bible doesn't condone Easter or Christmas. Neither of them are promoted in the Bible.
00:19:10	So let's talk about what is actually in the Bible. The word Easter can only be found in 1 verse in 1 translation and that is the King James version (KJV). If you have a King James version of the Bible and you go to Acts 12:4, you will see the word Easter. That is not translated like that in any other version. Now the argument is that the word that is translated to Easter in the King James version there is actually pascha which is the Hebrew word for Passover,[11][12] and so all of the other versions will translate it as Passover. And there is arguments between translators, between scholars, about which version is correct and why it's this way or that way. I'm not an expert on translating from Greek to English,[13] so I'm not inserting my opinion on that, but I can say that no matter how you translate that verse you still come out with the conclusion that Easter was not a Christian holiday.
00:20:19	So, if you go to that verse and you read it and you look at the context, what is happening in that chapter is that the Romans have just crucified James, one of the followers of Christ. They have seen that this made the Jews happy. Remember at this point in history, the Jews hated the Christians and the Romans hated the Christians. So they were both persecuting the Christians. It was illegal to be a follower of Christ at this point in history. So Herod, who was King in Rome at the time, he decided to capture Peter and kill Peter, as well, but it was during the time of the Unleavened Bread, which is the feast that follows Passover. In the King James version, it says that he was going to wait until after Easter to kill Peter. In other translations it will stay until after Passover.
00:21:21	The Jewish religion was an established religion; it wasn't illegal. They were basically letting the Jews be, even though they were in subjugation to Rome. So they were not necessarily trying to cause a riot amongst the Jews by having some sort of crucifixion in the middle of the Passover season, in the middle of the Feast of Unleavened Bread because that would have gone against their tradition, so they would wait until after. That makes sense. Easter would have been a pagan holiday that the Romans kept. So the Romans would have waited until after their celebration to kill the prisoner, as well. There is no way that they would have waited for a Christian holiday, because Christianity was illegal. In fact they would have been more likely to kill this person during the Christian holiday, to spite them basically and to say like we don't care about this this is not a legitimate holiday, and to make a point that they were not recognized by the government. You have to remember, this is not America. This is not during this time where we have freedom of religion; there was no such thing as freedom of religion back then. So that's one thing to be gleaned from that particular chapter, from that particular verse.
00:22:47	That being said there are verses in the Bible that allude to Easter. If you remember back in the beginning when I talked about Ishtar, that is the goddess that is typically associated with Easter. There are so many other names for her and one of them is the Queen of Heaven, and in the Old Testament it talks about the Queen of Heaven a couple of times. So you can check out Jeremiah 7:18, Jeremiah 44:17-25, and you can check out Ezekiel 8:13-16. And in some of these verses you will also see references to Tammuz. And here they talk about not just the whole you know Queen of Heaven worship, they mention hot cross buns, well they mention cakes which became hot cross buns for those who are familiar with that tradition, and they also talked about some sort of sunrise worship situation, which has translated into the modern sunrise service.
00:24:02	And before I continue I do want to insert that I am not trying to come for people who have been celebrating Easter and who’ve gone to sunrise service, ‘cause I've done this too. I celebrated Easter all throughout my childhood. I already told you I used to ask for gifts to be in my Easter basket and I used to be excited to get it. I have plenty of little colorful Easter bunnies that I got during Easter—I love teddy bears, love stuffed animals, still have these bunnies at my house back home.[14] I used to get my little Easter dress and say my little Easter speech at church. We used to have Easter egg hunts. I went to sunrise service. Yeah I did that too, but that was before I really started understanding why it mattered that it was not really of God, and that it really has nothing to do with the resurrection.
00:24:57	So, like I said, there were some verses in the Bible that actually talk about the Queen of Heaven and how dismayed God is at the idolatry of the Israelites worshipping this pagan goddess.
00:25:11	Another thing that comes from this, like I said, of people researching into this and being swayed against God even though the Bible speaks against this, is the confusion that comes from it. I spoke a little bit about this in my podcast called How I Found God.[15] Growing up in the church when I was very young, I did not fully understand what it meant for Jesus to die on the cross for us. You see the whole thing with the Resurrection, the crucifixion and the resurrection, is that Jesus is our Passover Lamb. That is why I chose chose 1st Corinthians 5:7 to start off the episode, because the real significance of the crucifixion and the resurrection is the Passover.
00:26:04	Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Bill Fairs During the Exodus, Moses was sent to bring God's people out of bondage, but the final plague was a plague of death, death to the enemies of God's people. God's people were identified by the covering of the lamb’s blood. They were told to kill this lamb, that was unblemished, and put his blood on their door post, and it was that act that kept them from dying[16]—dying y'all! The symbolism in this act is what God was setting up, for what was to come, which is Jesus the Passover Lamb dying for us, so that we don't have to die the second death. So that we can live for eternity, and so that we can be released from bondage of sin. That is the connection between the Passover, the crucifixion and the resurrection. And it's important. It’s fundamental. That is fundamental thing of Christianity. If you don't understand anything else about Christianity that is what John 3:16 is about, and that is important. So we should not be screwing that message up.
00:27:21	But when I was a kid, what I thought Easter was colorful floral dresses, bright flowers, and happy, happy, happy, and Easter egg hunts. I saw a spring festival and while I concede that Christ rising from the dead is a joyous occasion, and it's a great thing, there is also a lot solemness and sorrow that should also be taken into mind when you're talking about the crucifixion. The fact that He was beat, spat upon, that He bled to death. That He basically suffocated hanging from a cross for us, that He was separated from God for the first time in His life and that that had to have been a traumatic experience, and it was all for us. He didn't do anything wrong. I did something wrong. You did something wrong. Your neighbor did something wrong. We the people did something wrong, and we were the ones that were sitting there saying “yeah kill Him. Crucifying Him.” Meanwhile the disciples are running wild, denying him and hiding, and fleeing, and fearing for their lives, while He is suffering. That is not what is conveyed in our current celebration of Easter.
00:28:43	And while I fully understand that as an adult, I did not see that as a kid, which is why it was hard for me to understand what it actually meant to believe in Jesus and to worship Him as a Savior. I was like “yeah, He died and He rose, yeah. Whooo! I’m happy about this.” Because I didn’t fully understand it. And I think that have been one of those girls that was more materialistic and more girly and less tomboyish, I probably would have gone headfirst into these concepts of the Easter dress and the right shoes and the right hair. I mean I remember being in college, I was just out of college, and one of my friends made a Facebook post where she was bragging about the fact that she had picked out her Easter dress. She bought the dress. She was all set for Easter, but she couldn't figure out what church she was going to. And I was just like wait, you were more concerned about what you would wear than where you would go? Than what community you would fellowship with and what you would do to serve God on that day?
00:29:54	And that was one of the first moments that I really took in how disturbing it is that our perception of this holiday is what it is. Because that's not what the resurrection is about, and it's not what it should be about. We should be more focused on what the Bible actually says. And I would hate to see people end up not in heaven because they were turned away from Christianity by false holidays—by bootleg pagan holidays masquerading as Christian holidays. That's what I'm saying. And I would also hate to see well-meaning, well-intentioned Christians get caught up in the hype, because I realize a lot of people think they're doing the right thing. I don’t think people go out and do things with evil intentions, some people do, but most people I think you're doing what you think is the right thing. And so I would hate to see those people get to Heaven and God be like “I don’t know you, ‘cause you’re were out here worshipping in this pagan goddess Ishtar, claiming you was worshipping My Son, but you wasn't.”[17]
00:31:09	And so, I just wanted to put it out there and encourage you to study The Word. Study the history of these holidays. Know what you're celebrating, why you're celebrating it, and how it came to be, because that's very important. Thank you guys for listening. I hope that it was informative and that it has touched you. And I hope you know like I said that this is not me coming at you it's just me sharing what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart. I hope you will continue to listen in, that you will subscribe, like, all of those wonderful things. If you would like to see the transcript for this episode or to follow up on some of the things that I mentioned in the episode, I will link them in the transcripts. It will be at www.psalmstogod.com/PassoverAndResurrection. See you next time

Footnotes and References

1. Ree Hughes. “Easter”. PSALMS to God.
2. ”Easter 2016”. Calendar 12; visited April 2019
3. ”Passover 2016”. My Jewish Learning; visited April 2019
4. Actually you can quote me on that. Leviticus 23:5 and Esther 3:7 confirm that Passover is in fact the 14th day of the month of Nisan.
5. ”Why does February have 28 days, and July and August, 31 days”. Times of India. January 6, 2008
6. Truth Unedited. “History of Religion (Part 1): Pagans, Nimrod, and Babylon”. YouTube. March 12, 2018
7. ”Tammuz”. Encyclopædia Britannica. January 7, 2015
8. The irony of receiving movies about magic and wizardry (all condemned in Deuteronomy) while celebrating a pagan fesitval in the name of Jesus… Glad He’s a forgiving God.
9. 1 Thessalonians 5:22
10. 1 Peter 4
11. Actually it’s Aramaic, my bad.
12. ”3957. Pascha”. Bible Hub; visited April 2019
13. I don’t know where my brain was at; I was just naming languages. The bottom line is true though. I’m not qualified to translate any languages.
14. And by this weird phrase, I mean my parent’s house
15. Ree Hughes. “How I Found God”. PSALMS to God. March 18, 2019
16. Exodus 12
17. I don’t know why I worded it like this. It’s full of fallacies, but you get the point. I don’t want them barred from Heaven because of the reason I listed
18. Catherine Boeckmann. "When is Easter 2019?". . March 27, 2019
19. "Calculating the Easter Date". Time and Date; visited April 2019

What Day Was Jesus Crucified?

It's been a while since Easter actually occurred around the same time as the Passover. That's a pretty big deal to me. I have done quite a few posts on the timing of both holidays, but today I want to talk about the day Jesus was crucified.

Introduction

In honor of Passover and Easter actually lining up this year, I thought I should write something. Most people don't seem to mind the fact that they can occur weeks apart because most people don't understand the significance of Passover as it relates to Jesus' crucifixion. To most Christians, Passover is just a Jewish holiday commemorating the exodus from Egypt.

Significance of Passover

The Passover specifically commemorates the final plague God unleashes on Egypt which spares the first borns of Israel but kills the first borns of Egypt. As a show of faith, the Israelites were to slaughter an innocent lamb, who was without blemish and without broken bones, then place the blood of the lamb around their door (Exodus 12). This was their salvation from death in Egypt.

It was a physical even that actually happened, but it also was a spiritual event foreshadowing that which was to come. Paul calls it "a shadow of things to come" in Colossians 2:17. The spiritual significance of the event is why it's important to Jesus' crucifixion.

Spiritual Symbols

Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Andrey Grinkevich

Babylon, Sodom, and Gomorrah are easily associated with sin. Egypt is used as frequently, but it is symbolic of God's nation before salvation. The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt just as we are in bondage to sin before we surrender to Jesus. The New Testament constantly reminds us that Jesus is the Lamb (1 Peter 1:19; Revelation—yes, the whole book); He was without blemish (i.e., sin), they didn't break His bones (John 19:33-36), and He was sacrificed so that His blood might save us. All of this was done in accordance with the Passover, because His purpose was to fulfill this ritual once and for all. This is what He means when He says He didn't come to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).

Tethered to the Date

In the Western world, holidays are usually associated with a specific date or day. For instance, Independence Day is always on July 4th, but Thanksgiving is simply the 4th Thursday in November. Neither Easter nor Passover are that easily discerned. Most people require a calendar to tell them when these holidays are, even though both have a specific calculation.

Passover is the 14th day of Nisan (the first month of the Israelite calendar). The only reason this seems be random to us is because our calendar (the Gregorian calendar) is solar while the Israelite calendar is lunar—fun fact, the Islamic calendar is also lunar. Because of this, our dates don't line up exactly so it appears to us that the Passover is moving, but it's always the 14th day of the first month (Leviticus 23:5).

Easter, on the other hand, is "the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox."[1] The calculation of Easter has absolutely nothing to do with the Passover because Easter is a pagan holiday that was "Christianized" in the 4th century. I already wrote a few posts on this,[5] so I won't belabor the point. I mention it because resurrection is intrinsically related to the Passover, we know the date of the Passover, and therefore we shouldn't be celebrating Jesus' resurrection weeks before or weeks after the Passover.

When Did Jesus "Die"?

I'm making a big deal about when we celebrate Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection because unlike His birth, the Bible gives us exact timing. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover (John 12). He was captured and killed just before the Sabbath set in (John 19:31), and He rose on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). God gave us the full timeline. The only point of contention, apparently, is when exactly Jesus died. Majority of Christians believe Jesus died on a Friday and rose on Sunday. There's also a large group that believe Jesus died on Wednesday and rose on Sunday. Then there are small groups who believe something in between that. If you fall into the Friday crucifixion camp (admitted bias: I don't agree with a Wednesday crucifixion), this year not only marks Easter falling in line with the Passover, but the timing is exact as well!

The Case for Wednesday

Those who believe in a Wednesday crucifixion base the belief off of the 3 days and 3 nights Jesus prophesied to be in the grave. If you do the math, a Friday crucifixion means He was in the grave 2 nights (Friday night and Saturday night) and 2+ days (part of Friday, all of Saturday, part of Sunday). To them, a Friday crucifixion contradicts the prophecy and thus doesn't work. It's a logical conclusion, and as a math major, I understand how people end up in this category. However, Wednesday still gives us too many days. Jesus would be in the grave 4 nights (Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night).

The Case for Friday

The most compelling evidence for a Friday crucifixion is in John 19:31. John tells us that it was the preparation day, which is why they were in a rush to get Jesus' body off the cross and into the tomb. The preparation day, refers to what we call Friday—technically its from sunset Thursday to sunset Friday. Since work is not allowed on the Sabbath, the preparation day is used to prepare for Sabbath. This is when you would cook your meals for Sabbath (even God was down with meal prepping!), clean your home to be read for Sabbath guests, prepare a fire if it was cold, purchase anything you might need for the Sabbath, etc. Touching a dead body was already a ceremonially unclean act, but it also takes work to lift the body off the cross, carry it to the tomb, and roll a stone in front of it. All of this had to be done before the sunset so that they were all set to enjoy the Sabbath and not break it.

What's confusing is the 3 days/3 nights and the fact that the 7th day Sabbath isn't the only Sabbath the Israelites kept. So, let's get into that.

Sabbaths

Most people are familiar with the 7th day Sabbath which was established at creation. However, God also appoints other sabbaths for the Israelites to keep after the exodus. These sabbaths include holy days, like Passover, and yearly sabbaths, like the 7th year Sabbath and the year of Jubilee. People who argue for a Wednesday (or any other day) crucifixion usually associate the sabbath mentioned in John 19:31 with Passover instead of the 7th day Sabbath.

What we really need to establish is whether the preparation day was for the holy day Sabbath or the 7th day Sabbath. John tells us it was a high Sabbath, which means it was for the holy day. Of course the holy day could have fallen on a 7th day Sabbath. Either of these is possible.

What's important to remember is that the Passover itself is not a sabbath. It is the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which starts the day after the Passover that is a Sabbath. So the high Sabbath mentioned is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (i.e., the 15th of Nisan). Jesus would have been crucified on the day of the Passover. This actually leaves room for a Thursday or Friday crucifixion, depending on how you reconcile the 3 days and 3 nights issue.

3 Days and 3 Nights

Before we surmise the meaning of 3 days and 3 nights, I think it's also important to note the significance of one or two Sabbaths spanning the time between Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection. We usually lean on the fact that it was prophesied that He would wait 3 days to rise, but we don't often look at the logistics of why this is. The same God who spoke light into existence does not need 3 days to battle death. There are two primary reason I see for the delay: (i) an immediate resurrection would lead people to believe He never actually died and (ii) no work was to be done on the Sabbath.

With a Thursday crucifixion, we don't have to argue anything about the 3 days and 3 nights. Jesus would have been crucified Thursday afternoon (Matthew 27:45-50), placing Him in the grave almost exactly 3 days (part of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday), and 3 nights (Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night). A Friday crucifixion would give us less than 3 literal days and nights. So, how do people reconcile it?

First we have to look at the uses of occurrences of the phrase.

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.Matthew 12:40 KJV

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.Matthew 16:21 KJV

And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.Matthew 17:23 KJV

And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.Matthew 20:19 KJV

⁶³Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. ⁶⁴Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.Matthew 27:63-64 KJV

¹Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. ²And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. ³And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.Luke 24:1-3 KJV

Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.Luke 24:7 KJV

²⁰And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. ²¹But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. ²²Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; ²³And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.Luke 24:20-23 KJV

And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:Luke 24:46 KJV

The Bible actually uses the term "third day" more frequently than the oft quoted "three days and three nights." The third day gives the impression that it doesn't have to be a full three days, which means a Friday crucifixion is entirely plausible (Friday is day one, Saturday day two, and Sunday day three). If we go back to Esther, we'll see that three days and three nights isn't necessarily a full 72 hours.[3]

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.Esther 4:16 KJV

Esther 5:1 (KJV) Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

Does it Matter?

Generally speaking, we don't need to know the exact day He was crucified because the people of the time understood the prophecy to have come true. In Matthew 27:62-64, the Pharisees clearly understood the prophecy to mean He would return in three days. What's important is that He was in fact crucified and He did in fact rise in the time the Jews understood to be 3 days and 3 nights. He is risen!!

References

1. "Calculating the Easter Date". Time and Date; visited April 2018
2. John Oaks. "John says Jesus was crucified on the eve of the Passover, while the other gospels say it was on the Passover. Thoughts?". Evidence for Christianity. January 15, 2012
3. "Were the three days and three nights that Jesus was in the grave a full 72 hours?". Bible.org. January 1, 2001
4. "3 Days And 3 Nights". Bible Research; visited April 2018
5. Ree Hughes. "Posts about Easter". PSALMS to God; 2014-2016

Why, as a Christian, I Don't Celebrate Easter

It's Easter Sunday and millions of Christians are out celebrating the resurrection of Christ, except, Passover is still a month away. Why it matters that you're trying to mix God and paganism.

Introduction

Today is Easter (also called Resurrection Sunday), but the Passover is not until the night of Friday April 22. How can that be? There are many who recognize the pagan origins of Easter. A quick Google search will easily reveal the origin of the word Easter to be Ēastre. Some say this is from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility.^[2][3] Others claim the origin is from Ishtar, a Babylonian goddess linked with Baal and Tammuz.^[1][4] In the further reading section, you will find articles on these pagan origins and I'll touch on them a little throughout the post, but what I really want to talk about is why it matters.
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Easter in the Bilbe

The Bible has sole authority concerning the ways of God. We know from several passages that anyone or anything that contradicts the Bible is not of God, and is a false doctrine.

¹Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; ³Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:1 Timothy 4:1-4 KJV

Another point I want to make on the above verses before moving on comes from verse 3. Meats that God created to be received with thanksgiving could refer to clean meats (God didn't create unclean meats to be received with thanksgiving...that's covered in another post) or to food in general (you will notice that meat is used to mean food/sustenance throughout the Bible). Now, what is Lent again? It originated with the Pope commanding Catholics to abstain from meat for 40 days,^[5] this is the same religion that forbids their priests to marry...

Back to the topic at hand, in the further reading section, many of the articles listed will cross reference God's commands not to mix pagan worship with worship for Him, but some people argue the use of the word Easter in Acts 12 proves that it is an ordained holiday. Let's look at these verses, too.

¹Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. ²And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. ³And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) ⁴And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.Acts 12:1-4

Notice that both the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Easter are mentioned. If you read up on the Feast Days, you know that the Feast of Unleavened Bread directly follows the Passover. Thus we are talking about a year when Easter and the Passover were held in close proximity. Easter this year is 4 weeks off of the Passover. Notice also that it does not say that the disciples were celebrating Easter, actually, it implies King Herod was observing the holiday. He wanted to handle the situation after he celebrated Easter, if he was waiting on the Jews, he would have waited until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread and he would not have waited on the Christians because Christianity was illegal then. If Easter was a Christian holiday it would have been illegal, Herod wouldn't have waited for people to celebrate it to kill a Christian. Some sources refer to it as a mistranslation, suggesting that the original Greek word was pascha, which refers to the Passover.^[1]
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Resurrection Sunday

Photocredit: ShutterStock.com/CREATISTA

Many who know the pagan origins of Easter reject traditions such as egg hunts and Easter baskets, calling the holiday "Resurrection Sunday." Yet, on many occasions, like this year, this so called "Resurrection Sunday" does not coincide with the resurrection! Jesus died as our Passover Lamb, during Passover, which means Resurrection Sunday should occur during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It isn't difficult to determine when Passover begins, the Jews still celebrate the holy day and subsequent feast each year. A fascinating dive into how Jesus' sacrifice relates to the feast days can be found in my post Leviticus 23: Feasts. So, why do so many Christian churches still venerate the pagan Sunday of Easter?

Imagine that someone close to you has a very special day. Since we are the Bride of Christ, I'm going to say an anniversary. Let's pick an arbitrary date for you and this special someone's anniversary, say July 3^rd. You met, you fell in love, you married on July 3^rd. Now, that person has an arch nemesis who tried to take their glory, tried to steal all their friends, twists everything they say, and is out to bring them down. Their anniversary is July 15^th, and most of the people you know attend this big party that is thrown in honor of the arch nemesis' anniversary on July 15^th. Knowing this, you choose to celebrate your anniversary on July 15^th and attend this party, but claim you're there for your own anniversary. How does that sound? Do you think your spouse will mind? Passover is the anniversary of our (the Church, not us individually) relationship with Jesus, yet churches celebrate on a day that actually commemorates pagan goddesses, promotes commercialism, and doesn't align with anything He told us in The Word.

The Jesus who died to pay for our sins died during Passover, He rose from the grave that Sunday. Passover 2016 begins sunset Friday April 22, almost a month from today. My Jesus wasn't crucified last Friday (or Wednesday for those who believe in a Wednesday crucifixion, again another topic for another post), and He didn't rise before daylight this morning, because according to the Biblical timeline, He hasn't even gotten to Jerusalem yet. I will not dishonor Him by attaching His name and His glory to a pagan festival because it's "the norm." He sacrificed His life, was beaten, humiliated, and bled for me, so the least I can do is keep the facts straight about when He died for me and when He rose.

¹⁵Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. ¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. ¹⁷Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.Ezekiel 8:15-18 KJV

Further Reading

1. "The True Origin of Easter" — David C. Pack
2. "Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter" — April Holloway (2014)
3. "Easter" — History.com (2009)
4. "Why Do We Celebrate Easter: 5 Facts About This Holiday's Origins" — Kathryn Kattalia (2016)
5. "The Pagan Origin Of Easter" — David J. Meyer
6. "Where did “Easter” get its name? Where did the concept of an Easter egg and bunny originate?" — Paul S. Taylor
7. "The Plain Truth About Easter" — Herbert W. Armstrong (1973)

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References

1. Pack, David C. "The True Origin of Easter". The Restored Church of God. 2016
2. "Easter". History.com. 2009
3. Kattalia, Kathryn. "Why Do We Celebrate Easter: 5 Facts About This Holiday's Origins". Bustle. April 2016
4. Holloway, April. "Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter". Ancient Origins. April 2014
5. "FAQs About Lent". Catholic Online. 2016

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16 KJV

In my personal experience, I find this to be the most quoted passage in the Bible. Yet, Easter, the holiday supposedly meant to celebrate the resurrection alluded to in the verse, is a convulsion of paganism that most professing Christians neither understand nor question. Every year, this year being no different, the bulk of Easter posts I see are of people flaunting their Easter dresses and suits, children and adults alike arrayed in colorful get-ups. With each post, I wonder more and more if these people have any understanding of the resurrection of Christ at all. Last year I wrote two posts—What is Easter? and What is Easter? (continued)—discussing the origins of the name Easter, the Easter Bunny, Easter Eggs, and the date of Easter.  This year, I wanted shift the discussion from the pagan holiday people are accustomed to celebrating to focusing on the actual resurrection.

Importance of the Date

There's a reason we're given a timeline of events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and it has nothing to do with setting a date for playing dress up. Jesus and the disciples' last supper, as recounted in Luke 22, is during the Passover. Perhaps the general lack of focus on the Passover in Christianity stems from our Gentile origins, but nevertheless, the Passover is an integral part of the power and purpose of Jesus' resurrection. For those unfamiliar with the origins of the Passover, it was/is celebrated in remembrance of the 10th plague God brought upon Egypt before bringing the Jews out of bondage. This plague brought death to every firstborn in Egypt, except the Jews, who were instructed to eat nothing but unleavened bread for seven days, sacrifice a lamb, and then paint part of the door with the blood. God commanded the Jews to continue observing this tradition in remembrance of how God brought them out of bondage.

Jesus is/was the Passover lamb; this is why He is referred to as The Lamb of God (see John 1:29). Jesus' death on the cross occurs in accordance with the death of the Passover lamb (on the 14th day). Remember,  in Isaiah 53, it is said that the Messiah will be "cut off from the the land" and "brought as a lamb to slaughter." Jesus fulfills the prophecy of the Messiah not just because He was born of the virgin, nor that He rose from the dead, but that He was the perfect lamb who was sacrificed in accordance to the Passover. Therefore Jesus' resurrection has to occur in the propper sequence of the Passover events!

In 2014, the 14th day of Nisan (the month and day specified by God for the sacrifice of the Passover lamb in Exodus) was April 14, thus the resurrection must have occurred on April 16, yet Easter was on April 20. Next year (2016), Easter is on March 27 but the 14th day is on April 22, placing the resurrection on April 24. Very seldom does Easter actually coincide with the death and resurrection of Christ, because Easter is a pagan holiday.

The Celebration

God specifically commands the Jews to observe the Passover—

And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.Exodus 12:24-25 KJV

If you read all of Exodus 12, and compare it to the New Testament, you will see that not once does the directness that God commands the Jews to observe the Passover appear in Jesus' discussion of events. Jesus does not explicitly command us to celebrate His resurrection—especially not in the manner of dressing up, hiding eggs, and/or giving speeches. The closest thing Jesus says to imply making a holiday of His resurrection is when He breaks bread with the disciples in the last supper in Luke 22:19. However, if you compare "do this in remembrance of me" to the specific outline and commandment to observe something forever, it becomes obvious that there is no mandate from God to perform any type of ritual celebration for the resurrection.

While the resurrection itself is a joyous occasion for believers—Jesus has triumphed over death and our sins have been washed away—the events themselves are extremely solemn and bittersweet. Remember, Jesus was beaten (John 19:1), mocked (Luke 22:63), spat upon (Matthew 26:67), crowned with thorns (Matthew 27:29) and hung on a cross to die. This was a sacrifice of great pain and suffering, a sacrifice deserving of thankfulness and humility. If there was to be a holiday or celebration, the days before the resurrection would not be equated to picking out cute outfits or decorating but to remembering and reflecting upon His sacrifice.

Jesus said "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34 KJV). That was over 2000 years ago. It is now 2015, the time is drawing near for you to know what you are doing.

What is Easter? (continued)

*This post is a continuation of What is Easter?*

Growing up I loved painting Easter eggs with my mom. It was probably the only time we actually used the food coloring in the house, and it was one more crafting experience for the two of us. We learned how to drain the egg without cracking the shell (man that takes practice!) and make the swirly-striped type of eggs. It was always fun. Then we'd take a basket of eggs to the church for the church Easter egg hunt. At the church I grew up attending, Easter tradition holds that the Saturday before Easter, the children meet for Easter play rehearsal. While the children rehearse, the parents hide eggs outside the church, and after rehearsal, they have the egg hunt. 

But eventually I wanted to know why. Why are we searching for eggs? Why are we painting them? Why is it a bunny that hides them? I mean, once you get to a certain age, the stringing together of so many unrelated things becomes quite baffling...

Why does a bunny have eggs?

Bunnies are mammals; mammals do not lay eggs (well except for monotremes, but they're the rare exception). Bunnies don't eat eggs, either. So why would a bunny have eggs? I mean, there's already a suspension of belief to think a bunny can carry baskets and hide the eggs, etc., but where is the connection of why anyone would begin fabricating a story about a bunny delivering eggs? The connection between the bunny and the eggs, is simply the fusion of multiple traditions and festivals.  

The Easter Bunny

It is thought that the emergence of the Easter bunny (in America) occurred in the 1700's with the introduction of "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws." "Osterhase," by German tradition, is an egg-laying hare in which children would build a nest for so it could lay its eggs [1]. The first documented tradition of an Easter bunny however, occurred in the 1500's, and the first published story of a bunny hiding eggs occurred in 1680. Another possible origin of the Easter bunny, is through the goddess Eostre/Ostara (mentioned in the previous post). Embodied in the saying "multiply like rabbits," rabbits are known to reproduce at a high rate. Therefore, it stands to reason that a rabbit would be the symbol for a goddess of fertility like Eostre/Ostara [2]. From the date of origin, it is obvious that early Christians did not have an "Easter bunny" and the animal has no connection to the resurrection of Christ.

Easter Eggs

Another name for Easter eggs is Paschal eggs (which at least sounds less pagan and more Passover-ish). The legend of the Paschal eggs stems from a story--not found in the Bible--in which Mary Magdalene is challenged by authorities about her account of Christ's resurrection. The challenger supposedly remarks that the likelihood of Christ being resurrected was about the same as an egg Mary Magdalene was holding turning red in her hand. As legends naturally go, the egg in her hand immediately turned red. Stemming from this story, Orthodox Christians exchange red eggs known as Paschal eggs during Easter [3]. Another non-pagan and possible origin for Easter eggs stems from Lent. Lent is the imitation of Jesus' 40 day fast just before the resurrection. It is thought that to celebrate the end of Lent, early Christians celebrated by eating eggs. Since they would not have had freezers or refrigerators, eggs would be one other few feasible foods they could keep preserved until Easter. Eggs not only served as something they could eat to celebrate breaking the fast, but could also serve as a symbol for hope of a new life, paralleling Jesus' promise of a new life fulfilled through His resurrection [4]. The Easter egg has pagan traditions as well, however. Many pagan festivities for the Spring used eggs and again, the egg was symbolic of new life and fertility (possibly pointing back to Eostre/Ostara). Coloring these eggs was also a tradition for the Persian solar new year festival. [1, 5]

What does the Easter bunny and eggs have to do with Christ?

As explained above, the Easter bunny has absolutely nothing to do with Christ. The eggs, however, are man made traditions in response to Lent and/or legends of Mary Magdalene's red egg combined with a little pagan influence. Still, neither have biblical significance.

Conclusion

The modern Easter holiday that is supposed to be dedicated to His sacrifice is laden with pagan origins and traditions. The ones mentioned here (and the first post), are only a few; there are of course the Easter dresses, suits, and hats, chocolate inside the plastic eggs, etc. that are obviously man made (and commercially endorsed) additions to the holiday. It is important to know the events from the Bible and identify man-made and pagan practices being ripped off as Christian principles. The story of Jesus' Resurrection and the events leading up to it, is told in Luke 22-24. Remember, the celebration of Jesus' sacrifice should be year round.

References

1. "Easter Symbols and Traditions". History. 2009
2. Jason Mankey. "Eostre, Easter, Ostara, Eggs, and Bunnies". Patheos. March 2013
3. "Legend of the Paschal Eggs. Holy Cross; visited April 2014
4. Angie. "Easter Eggs". Celebrating Holidays; visited April 2014
5. "What's with the Bunny and Eggs". CBS News. April 20, 2014
6. Jolie Lee. "Easter Traditions Explained". USA Today. April 18, 2014

What is Easter?

As a child, I used to ask my parents and my sunday school teachers the same question every Easter:

1. Why does the date keep changing? 
2. How does the word Easter connect to all this?
3. Why does a bunny have eggs?
4. What does the bunny delivering eggs have to do with Christ and the Cross?

For those of you who 1) never thought of these questions or 2) never found the answers, I thought I'd shed some light on the Easter holiday people celebrate like clockwork.

Why does it keep changing?

Christmas is December 25; Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November.  Easter, however, changes every year with seemingly no rhyme or reason. The date of Easter was set at the Council of Nicaea (in 325CE) as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox [1]. The vernal equinox, or Spring equinox for the northern hemisphere, occurs when the tilt of the Earth relative to the Sun is zero. During the equinox, night and day are approximately equal in duration, and its occurrence is the marker of the beginning of Spring [2]. Due to this method, it is possible that Easter may occur before the passover, according to sources [1, 3, 4]. In Luke 22, Jesus and the disciples prepare and eat the Passover feast, otherwise known as the last supper. Thus Biblically speaking, Easter should always occur after the Passover.  Using a different method of calculation, the Eastern Orthodox church calculates their date for Easter based on the Passover so that Easter always occurs after the Passover . When this problem was raised to the Council of Nicaea, the argument for disregarding the discrepancy was that the replacement of the Passover lamb with Jesus severed the relationship between the two holidays [4]. However, this neglects the chronological series of events; not to mention the fact that Jesus' sacrifice represents the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, makes the Passover intrinsically related to Easter. How can Jesus be the sacrifice before the Passover is supposed to occur? Furthermore, in Luke 22:16 KJV, Jesus says "I will not eat anymore thereof" in reference to the Passover feast--He doesn't say "ye" or "you." This implies He expects the disciples to continue eating the Passover meal... 

How does the word Easter connect to all this?

With Christmas, you can at least argue that "Christ" is in the word Christmas. There is nothing about Christ, resurrection, Messiah, or even God, present in the term Easter. So why was it given to the most important Christian holiday? The word Easter may or may not be derived from a Germanic fertility goddess named Eostre. Sources are conflicted on the matter [5, 6]. Of course "Easter" is also the English translation of the word; in Greece the holiday is called "Lambros" which means bright or shining [5]. Basically, what I gather from sources, is it was either named after a "real" pagan goddess, or people were celebrating a spring festival in the name of a fake pagan goddess and English Christians adapted the name. Either way, the term "Easter" has nothing to do with Christ.

See part 2 here

References

1. "How the Easter Date is Determined". Time and Date; visited April 2014
2. "The Spring Equinox". The Old Farmer's Almanac; visited April 2014
3. Christopher J. Williams. "Why Easter Dates Vary, Year to Year". Springfield News Leader. April 17, 2014
4. Scott P. Richert. "How is the Date of Easter Calculated". ThoughtCo; visited April 2014
5. Jason Mankey. "Eostre, Easter, Ostara, Eggs, and Bunnies". Patheos. March 12, 2013
6. Patti Wigington. "Eostre - Spring Goddess or NeoPagan Fancy?". ThoughtCo; visited April 2014