liafailrock said:
If I may chime in, while I won't call Lent nonsense, it does have its origins in other religions despite it being well-intentioned. Same with Christmas, Halloween and Easter, the latter since it's coming up name is derived from Ishtar, goddess of fertility and thus the reason we see rabbits, chicks and eggs creep into the biblical picture. It's a mixed bag and all from the same source. To stay biblical, the Disciples (and Jesus) observed the biblically mandated feasts of Leviticus 23 with the weekly Sabbath and 7 additional annual Sabbaths-- Passover/Unleavened Bread feast, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (preceded closely by Trumpets, and Day of Atonement and concluded by a separate Sabbath the Last Great Day (John 7:37). These feasts days were prophetic forerunners of God's plan for man's redemption, with only Passover/Pentecost fulfilled. Tabernacles is yet to come.
And this is utter
ignorance.
The whole
"Easter/Ishtar" nonsense is based on mostly
American ignorance.
First of all -
Ostern/Easter is most likely derived from
"erstehen", which is the old Teutonic form of
"auferstehen/auferstehung" meaning
"resurrection".
In many countries - variations of the Latin term
"Pascha" are used.
Pasque, Pasch, Paques, and
Pesach are the terms used for Easter that sound
NOTHING like
"Ishtar".
The
moronic charge that Easter is derived from
"Ishtar" is due largely in part to ignorant
anti-Catholics who grasp
desperately at any stone they can throw at the Church.
Sadly, they
don't understand the
linguistic implication of their ignorance.
Finally - if you had done your
homework instead of spouting your
anti-Catholic ignorance - you would understand the entire significance of
Easter eggs instead of accrediting them to pagan
fertility godesses.
During Lent, people would give up all eggs and dairy as a means of
mortification of the flesh. After Lent, they would color eggs in
red - red being the traditional color of the Lord's
Passion and the
Holy Spirit.
Do your
homework instead of simply
swallowing the lies . . .