Is “Easter” in the original Scriptures?

[Jericho]

In many ancient religions the cross was a disgusting symbol symbolizing intercourse….again a fertility symbol. The most famous is the Egyptian ankh cross which to the Egyptians was the symbol of life….

The loop at the top was the female genitalia, whilst the cross was the male phallus.

Would any worshipper of the true God borrow such a symbol from false religion to represent the sacrifice of his beloved son? Why was the adoption of such things even necessary

Symbols change. The swastika is now associated with the Nazis, but before that, it had a completely different meaning as an Indian pagan symbol. Ask anyone today what the cross symbolizes, and they will say Christianity, not the ankh or anything else. Moses appropriated the bronze serpent as a symbol of God's healing power (Num 21:4–9). But at the time, serpent cults and the surrounding pagan religions associated snakes with healing and fertility. It goes both ways; the pagans have borrowed elements from Christianity, as Mark S. pointed out. turnabout is fair play.

 

[Dan Clarkston]

To me it's more a time to look what what James actually wrote.

What the Lord wrote thru James was actually to Christians.

The most famous is the Egyptian ankh cross

Which you'll notice looks nothing like the Cross of Calvary

Easter is Latin for Passover week.
And the Latin Word was used in the 1611 KJV but not in the Cambridge/Oxford KJV that was done at a much later date.

That was done in error.

The word is Passover and that was how it should be translated.

No one knows the absolute definition of the word Easter.

Of course we do!

Pagan origins of easter

the Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 2100 BC. When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility, crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will end.

After Inanna has been missing for three days her assistant goes to other gods for help. Finally one of them Enki, creates two creatures who carry the plant of life and water of life down to the Underworld, sprinkling them on Inanna and Damuzi, resurrecting them, and giving them the power to return to the earth as the light of the sun for six months. After the six months are up, Tammuz returns to the underworld of the dead, remaining there for another six months, and Ishtar pursues him, prompting the water god to rescue them both. Thus were the cycles of winter death and spring life.

The Sumerian goddess Inanna is known outside of Mesopotamia by her Babylonian name, "Ishtar". In ancient Canaan Ishtar is known as Astarte, and her counterparts in the Greek and Roman pantheons are known as Aphrodite and Venus.

the story of Inanna and Damuzi is just one of a number of accounts of dying and rising gods that represent the cycle of the seasons and the stars. For example, the resurrection of Egyptian Horus; the story of Mithras, who was worshipped at Springtime; and the tale of Dionysus, resurrected by his grandmother. Among these stories are prevailing themes of fertility, conception, renewal, descent into darkness, and the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.

Easter as a Celebration of the Goddess of Spring

A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit of renewal.

Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness, and will continue to grow. As the bringer of light after a long dark winter, the goddess was often depicted with the hare, an animal that represents the arrival of spring as well as the fertility of the season.

 

[marks]

What the Lord wrote thru James was actually to Christians.

Did you want to discuss this?

Much love!

 

[Dan Clarkston]

Did you want to discuss this?

No need because James was written to Christians because we know in the beginning virtually all believers were Jews so at the start of the book when James writes that he is "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting" means he is writing to Jews who have been born again.

We need to remember Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

And we need to remember Ephesians 2:15 - Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

If James is written to Jewish Christians, then it's also for gentile Christians as the Lord's Body is made up of born again believers who are both Jew and gentile so the teachings the Lord gave thru the Apostle James is for all Christians.

We know James was not written to OT Jews because it is not teaching OT law, and Jesus said in Luke 16:16 that from the time of John the Baptist forward the gospel of the Kingdom of God is being taught.

 

[marks]

No need

OK, thank you!

Much love!

 

[GerhardEbersoehn]

Sorry, but i couldn’t follow one thing you said. Or what your point is.

I did understand “Give me a brake”… which, by the way, is wrong: it’s “give me a break”.

So honestly, I have to ask: Is English your mother tongue? I see you’re from South Africa. Do you speak Afrikaans?

Awaiting your reply and clarification.

Shucks, I enjoyed this. BLIK!

 

[JohnDB]

That was done in error.

The word is Passover and that was how it should be translated.

Ok...if that truly was the case then why do we use the name "Peter" which is the Latin word for Rock or at least Kephas which is the Aramaic/Hebrew word for rock which is someone's name.

Do you know what the word "Noel" actually means? We sing it every Christmas.

Then there's the whole Yeshua thing for both Joshua and Jesus....both were actually named Yeshua but we change the names for what reason exactly?

Then there's Yom Kippur and Purim...we keep the Hebrew for those holidays....but I'd dare say you don't even know the name of a New Moon celebration...or what Hannakah actually translates as.

So for whatever reason you want Your rules for translation instead of the mess we have now of a bunch of traditions without ryme or reason....which will just confuse everyone even further. That's some hubris you got going there

 

[Dan Clarkston]

Ok...if that truly was the case then why do we use the name "Peter"

Peter is not a name that came from pagan rituals and witchcraft.

If it had been the Lord would have chosen another name for him such as Bubba or Skooter

 

[JohnDB]

Peter is not a name that came from pagan rituals and witchcraft.

If it had been the Lord would have chosen another name for him such as Bubba or Skooter

Easter is the Latin name for Passover...that's how it matters. You can't change the word definition just to suit what you want it to mean....language doesn't work like that especially in a dead language like Latin.
Noel's meaning hasn't changed in a few hundred years either...no matter how much you might want it to.

 

[BreadOfLife]

And there stands the monument to the RCC as it interprets scripture to justify its unchristian roots and practices…..what is the point of trying to convince a person against their will? I’ve said all I need to say…history backs up what a pathetically corrupted phony the RCC has always proved itself to be….”by their fruits” Jesus said we would identify his true disciples….not by the way they dress, or by the rituals they perform or the traditions they promote…..but by the kind of people they produce….

Some of the most hateful people I have encountered were members of your church….blinded to anything but Roman Catholicism…..and vehemently opposed to any criticism of it…..but on the flip side of that coin, those who responded to the message of the Kingdom and fled the RCC in disgust after realizing the origins of their teachings and practices, were some of the nicest, most humble people I have encountered in my 50 years as a preacher of the kingdom of God.

Those in Christendom have no idea what the kingdom is….what it is for, or what is “good news” about it. Catholics and Protestants alike parrot off the Lord’s Prayer as if the words are some sort of liturgy that must be performed at every opportunity. Some people have no idea what prayer is thanks to your church. It does not involve vain repetition. The very words prior to the “Our Father” state very clearly…
And there stands the monument to the RCC as it interprets scripture to justify its unchristian roots and practices…..what is the point of trying to convince a person against their will? I’ve said all I need to say…history backs up what a pathetically corrupted phony the RCC has always proved itself to be….”by their fruits” Jesus said we would identify his true disciples….not by the way they dress, or by the rituals they perform or the traditions they promote…..but by the kind of people they produce….
Some of the most hateful people I have encountered were members of your church….blinded to anything but Roman Catholicism…..and vehemently opposed to any criticism of it…..but on the flip side of that coin, those who responded to the message of the Kingdom and fled the RCC in disgust after realizing the origins of their teachings and practices, were some of the nicest, most humble people I have encountered in my 50 years as a preacher of the kingdom of God.

And some of the worst people I ever met were Protestants.

However, unlike UOUI – I don’t make judgements based on anecdotal experience. There are lousy people filling the pews of EVERY church.

Those in Christendom have no idea what the kingdom is….what it is for, or what is “good news” about it. Catholics and Protestants alike parrot off the Lord’s Prayer as if the words are some sort of liturgy that must be performed at every opportunity. Some people have no idea what prayer is thanks to your church. It does not involve vain repetition. The very words prior to the “Our Father” state very clearly…

”But when you pray, go into your private room and, after shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. Then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you. 7 When praying, do not say the same things over and over again as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. 8 So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need even before you ask him.

9 “You must pray, then, this way……” (Matt 6:6-9)

He said “pray this way”…not “pray this prayer”.

What a complete failure to understand Scripture.

Jesus was talking about not bringing attention to yourself like the Pharisees, who wore their false piety on their sleeve. He wasn’t condemning corporate prayer.

And you left out the preceding verse:
Matt. 6:5
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

THAT’s what He was talking about.

It was to be a model for our own prayers, teaching us what to pray for, in order of importance……it was never meant to be a mindless repetition of words as if that was some kind of penance leading to forgiveness. No sinful man has the authority to forgive another sinful man…..only Christ has authority from his Father to do that.
But apparently the old saying is true for many, but fortunately not for all…..”give me a child till the age of seven and they will be a Catholic for the rest of their lives”…..these are the most impressionable years for a child….their formative years…..it takes a lot of character to break free from those shackles of fear, instilled since childhood.

The power of your church was broken and not before time!

In the FIRST century Church, we get the Didache (Teachings of the Twelve Apostles) – written while MOST of the Apostles were still alive.

Chapter 8. Concerning Fasting and Prayer (the Lord's Prayer)
But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; (Matthew 6:16) for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). Neither pray as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today our daily (needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, evil); for Yours is the power and the glory for ever."
Thrice in the day thus pray.

Your ignorance is ASTOUNDING . . .

 

[Dan Clarkston]

Easter is the Latin name for Passover...that's how it matters. You can't change the word definition just to suit what you want it to mean....language doesn't work like that especially in a dead language like Latin.
Noel's meaning hasn't changed in a few hundred years either...no matter how much you might want it to.

God calls it Passover. God does not care if latin or any other language calls it easter.

Calling the resurrection anything other than Passover is not the will of God.

 

[Aunty Jane]

The most famous is the Egyptian ankh cross

Which you'll notice looks nothing like the Cross of Calvary

Show me the “cross of Calvary” in the Bible…...

The cross as a religious symbol was in use long before Christ was born.

The instrument used to put Jesus to death in Greek is a “stauros"...which Strongs defines as...

1. "a well known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment, borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians; to it were affixed among the Romans, down to the time of Constantine the Great, the guiltiest criminals, particularly the basest slaves, robbers, the authors and abetters of insurrections, and occasionally in the provinces, at the arbitrary pleasure of the governors, upright and peaceable men also, and even Roman citizens themselves
2. the crucifixion which Christ underwent

• an upright "stake", esp. a pointed one, used as such in fences or palisades"

But it says initially that this is a "cross", when no definition of "stauros" means anything but an upright stake, not a cross of any configuration.....and the Romans had quite a few.
A "crucifixion" does not necessarily involve a particular kind of cross. It can mean being fastened to a single upright stake or tree.



No one knows the kind of "stauros" upon which Christ suffered his agonizing death....the instrument is not important.

In the Jewish Tanakh, Joshua 10:26 says...
"And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five poles; and they were hanging upon the poles until the evening."

The Greek Septuagint renders the word translated as "poles"...."trees".

Acts 5:30 in the KJV says...
"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."

There is no "cross" in the Bible at all.....nor is the instrument used to put Jesus to death something to be made into a religious image (which is idolatry Ex 20:4) nor something to be cherished because it was an invention of cruel unbelievers who served the devil in getting the unfaithful Jews to put Christ to death in the most painful manner possible.

 

[Aunty Jane]

And some of the worst people I ever met were Protestants.

I am not a Protestant. Not all who oppose the Catholic church are Protestants you know......we have left "Christendom" altogether, (the sum total of all those who identify as "Christians", but who do not uphold the true teachings of Jesus Christ, as it is taught in God's word).
We have no beliefs in common with any of them, since all trace their roots back to the RCC. The core of their teachings is all the same.....all Protestantism did was lop a few branches off an already dead tree.
The RCC went too far in incorporating so many false doctrines.....and so the Protestants pulled them back, refusing to teach the unsubstantiated rot that had crept into "the church".....Luther started a revolution that he never intended......but the Protestant movement did not go far enough....they still retained the foundation of that condemned building....and hold them in common to this day.

However, unlike UOUI – I don’t make judgements based on anecdotal experience. There are lousy people filling the pews of EVERY church.

What a complete failure to understand Scripture.

Anecdotal evidence is my own personal experience. I had a vindictive next door neighbor who made it her mission to misinform all my other neighbors that I was a JW and to have nothing to do with those 'dangerous people'.....she was a staunch Catholic and I had nothing but hateful lies spewed at me for over 20 years until I moved recently. The lady who bought my house is now having the same problems....and she isn't a JW.

It is true that there are bad apples in every barrel, but we remove the bad apples so that they don't spread their rot to contaminate the whole congregation.

We are not taught to hate the people or to judge them, but to take the good news of the Kingdom to them....just as Jesus did to the unfaithful and prejudiced Jews incited by their first century religious leaders. Some listened and withdrew from their corrupt religious system....they still do, as Jesus said....in John 15:18-21...
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. 20 Keep in mind the word I said to you: A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have observed my word, they will also observe yours. 21 But they will do all these things against you on account of my name, because they do not know the One who sent me"

The RCC has never known the true God or his son....they teach a very different God to the one Jesus represented.

Jesus was talking about not bringing attention to yourself like the Pharisees, who wore their false piety on their sleeve. He wasn’t condemning corporate prayer.

And you left out the preceding verse:
Matt. 6:5
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

THAT’s what He was talking about.

Do you honestly believe that reciting numerous "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" is some sort of penance for doing the wrong thing?
Can a person go into a box and confess sins to another sinner and have that man give them absolution? On whose authority does he believe he can do this?

No one said that a prayer cannot be offered on behalf of the congregation....what it says is, don't say the same things over and over as if reciting something from your head is actually a substitute for saying a prayer in your own words from your own heart.

If your own children recited the same words to you, day in and day out for years, wouldn't you want to knock them on the head and tell them to "Shut up!" What makes Catholic people think that God accepts what they are offering? It is meaningless ritual...NOT what Christ taught us to give back to God? He wants obedience to his word, from the heart, not performances out of duty.

In what way are the trappings of Roman Catholicism in any way a reflection of first century Christianity?

Where will I find Christ and his apostles presented like this? Where do the nuns come from?
Is the position of the pope, "Christian" or just "Roman Catholic"?



What about the buildings?...did Christ command that we worship his Father in opulent surroundings?
Especially when so many church members live in abject poverty.....the pope lives in a gold inlaid palace with servants.

In the FIRST century Church, we get the Didache (Teachings of the Twelve Apostles) – written while MOST of the Apostles were still alive.

Chapter 8. Concerning Fasting and Prayer (the Lord's Prayer)
But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; (Matthew 6:16) for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). Neither pray as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today our daily (needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, evil); for Yours is the power and the glory for ever."
Thrice in the day thus pray.

Your ignorance is ASTOUNDING . . .

Why is it that my ignorance is astounding when you refer to that which is NOT scripture to back up what you believe......is the Didache scripture? Just because it was written by those who may have heard the apostles preach, or were taught by one of them, doesn't make their own words infallible. Judas was taught by Jesus Christ himself, but that didn't seem to matter when it came time to make himself some money.
Just looking at the above quote and taking the same scripture from the "New Catholic Bible" it has words added...."
for Yours is the power and the glory for ever."
Thrice in the day thus pray."

This is not in the original Prayer, but is an unauthorized addition. It was adopted by the Protestants in their version of the Lord's Prayer.....so I am left wondering how that happened? Why does the Lord's Prayer need anything added to it? Especially when Jesus had said not to repeat the same things over and over...like "thrice daily"?

It is also good to remember that Jesus was Jewish, NOT Catholic.
Fasting was a Jewish practice not enjoined on Christians as a religious ritual, but not forbidden as a health choice as it is often practiced today.

You have no scriptural foundation for a single thing that you have been taught.....but that is entirely your choice.

 

[JohnDB]

God calls it Passover. God does not care if latin or any other language calls it easter.

Calling the resurrection anything other than Passover is not the will of God.

Then why are you regularly using Jesus's Latin name? Then there's God's Latin name you keep using as well....

Just like currency is a medium of exchanging value....language is used to convey thoughts. I can use the name Kep.has or Peter....and you know whom I am speaking of.

Are you trying to be an author of confusion?

 

[Dan Clarkston]

Show me the “cross of Calvary” in the Bible…...

Sure there is!

John 19:25
Therefore the soldiers did these things.But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene

Luke 14:27
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple

Mark 15:30
save Yourself, and come down from the cross

John 19:17
They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha

Acts 5:30
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross

Acts 2:23
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death

1 Peter 2:24
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed

Colossians 2:14
having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross

Colossians 1:20
and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven


It sure doesn't look like this pagan symbol, that's for sure!

Are you trying to be an author of confusion?

No confusion on my end. Those using pagan terms and rituals are the confused ones.

I'm not catholic so latin is meaningless to me and is a non-ssue

 

[BreadOfLife]

I am not a Protestant. Not all who oppose the Catholic church are Protestants you know......we have left "Christendom" altogether, (the sum total of all those who identify as "Christians", but who do not uphold the true teachings of Jesus Christ, as it is taught in God's word).
We have no beliefs in common with any of them, since all trace their roots back to the RCC. The core of their teachings is all the same.....all Protestantism did was lop a few branches off an already dead tree.
The RCC went too far in incorporating so many false doctrines.....and so the Protestants pulled them back, refusing to teach the unsubstantiated rot that had crept into "the church".....Luther started a revolution that he never intended......but the Protestant movement did not go far enough....they still retained the foundation of that condemned building....and hold them in common to this day.

So, YOU reject the basic tenets of the Christian faith such as:
The Triune Godhead?
The Virgin Birth?
The Divinity of Christ?
The Crucifixion as atonement for the sins of the world?
The Resurrection?

In that case, I guess I WAS wrong for calling you a “Protestant”.
You’re just LOAT . . .

Anecdotal evidence is my own personal experience. I had a vindictive next door neighbor who made it her mission to misinform all my other neighbors that I was a JW and to have nothing to do with those 'dangerous people'.....she was a staunch Catholic and I had nothing but hateful lies spewed at me for over 20 years until I moved recently. The lady who bought my house is now having the same problems....and she isn't a JW.

It is true that there are bad apples in every barrel, but we remove the bad apples so that they don't spread their rot to contaminate the whole congregation.

And YOU should know better than to judge the entire Catholic population of over 1 billion people based ONE a bad neighbor. Only GOD knows the heart (1 Chron. 28:9) . . .

We are not taught to hate the people or to judge them, but to take the good news of the Kingdom to them....just as Jesus did to the unfaithful and prejudiced Jews incited by their first century religious leaders. Some listened and withdrew from their corrupt religious system....they still do, as Jesus said....in John 15:18-21...
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. 20 Keep in mind the word I said to you: A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have observed my word, they will also observe yours. 21 But they will do all these things against you on account of my name, because they do not know the One who sent me"

The RCC has never known the true God or his son....they teach a very different God to the one Jesus represented.

How would YOU know what is in the hearts of a BILLION people??

YOU sound much worse than your neighbor . . .

Do you honestly believe that reciting numerous "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" is some sort of penance for doing the wrong thing?

This is a PERFECT example of your complete ignorance.

Catholics don’t teach that we are forgiven only AFTER we say prayers of penance. They are prayers of reflection and supplication. The absolution has already taken place.

Can a person go into a box and confess sins to another sinner and have that man give them absolution? On whose authority does he believe he can do this?

On the Authority of Jesus Christ.

John 20:21-23
(Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send YOU."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins YOU forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins YOU retain are retained."

“As the Father has sent me, so I send YOU."
The Father sent the Son to bring about the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus sent out the Apostles to do the SAME.

The fact that Jesus breathed on the Apostles when entrusting them with this ministry is highly significant because he doesn’t do this anywhere else in the New Testament. In fact, there are only TWO times in ALL of Scripture where God breathes on man:

The first is when he breathed life into Adam.
The second is here in John’s Gospel when he is giving them the power to forgive or retain sins.

No one said that a prayer cannot be offered on behalf of the congregation....what it says is, don't say the same things over and over as if reciting something from your head is actually a substitute for saying a prayer in your own words from your own heart.

If your own children recited the same words to you, day in and day out for years, wouldn't you want to knock them on the head and tell them to "Shut up!" What makes Catholic people think that God accepts what they are offering? Is meaningless ritual...NOT what Christ taught us to give back to God? He wants obedience to his word, from the heart, not performances out of duty.

In what way are the trappings of Roman Catholicism in any way a reflection of first century Christianity?

Where will I find Christ and his apostles presented like this? Where do the nuns come from?
Is the position of the pope, "Christian" or just "Roman Catholic"?

And this rant simply proves your woeful ignorance of Scripture.

First of all – WHERE does Jesus condemn repetitious prayer in theis passage??

Secondly – the Bible shows us SEVERAL examples of repetitious prayers as earnest and faithful:

In Matt. 26:44, Jesus himself prayed the exact same prayer no less than THREE times in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper.

In the Parable of the Determined Widow in Luke 18:7, Jesus emphatically states that God hears those who keep petitioning him in sincere faith: “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”

In Luke 18:13, the tax collector kept beating his breast and repeating, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” This was pleasing to God.

We see in Rev. 4:8 that the angels pray the exact same prayer day and night without ceasing in the presence of almighty God, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

Psalm 136 goes on for 26 verses in a row, repeating the exact same prayer, “God's love endures forever”.

Similarly, in Dan. 3:56-88 we read the exact same prayer for 32 verses, which is “bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.”

In Matt. 6:7 - Jesus condemned the “vain babbling” of the pagans – NOT repetitious prayer done faithfully.

So much for repetitious prayer being a "Bad thing" . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

What about the buildings?...did Christ command that we worship his Father in opulent surroundings?
Especially when so many church members live in abject poverty.....the pope lives in a gold inlaid palace with servants.

From the beginning of time man has given his very BEST to God.

Solomin’s Temple is described as having been more opulent and beautiful than ANY building we have today – complete with large statues, gold inlay, incense, etc..

Was God “disgusted” but this?? NO – He was pleased by it.
The Holy Spirit came down as fire from Heaven to consume the burnt offering (2 Chron. 7:7).

Why is it that my ignorance is astounding when you refer to that which is NOT scripture to back up what you believe......is the Didache scripture? Just because it was written by those who may have heard the apostles preach, or were taught by one of them, doesn't make their own words infallible. Judas was taught by Jesus Christ himself, but that didn't seem to matter when it came time to make himself some money.
Just looking at the above quote and taking the same scripture from the "New Catholic Bible" it has words added...."
for Yours is the power and the glory for ever."
Thrice in the day thus pray."

This is not in the original Prayer, but is an unauthorized addition. It was adopted by the Protestants in their version of the Lord's Prayer.....so I am left wondering how that happened? Why does the Lord's Prayer need anything added to it? Especially when Jesus had said not to repeat the same things over and over...like "thrice daily"?

It is also good to remember that Jesus was Jewish, NOT Catholic.
Fasting was a Jewish practice not enjoined on Christians as a religious ritual, but not forbidden as a health choice as it is often practiced today.

You have no scriptural foundation for a single thing that you have been taught.....but that is entirely your choice.

The Didache is NOT Scripture.

However – it is an historical reflection on the First century Church and their practices.

Funny thing about people like YOU who demand Scripture verses for everything. You can never seem to prove the man-made made 16th century invention of Sola Scriptura. However, you reject what Scripture itself states about ORAL Tradition (2 Thess. 2:15).

Gee – I wonder WHY that is??

 

[Aunty Jane]

Show me the “cross of Calvary” in the Bible…...

Sure there is!

Well that is disappointing Dan.....you did not look up any of those scriptures in a Concordance or you would see that “stauros” is used, which does not mean a “cross”.....there is no “cross” in the Greek....only in the English translations.....and only because they want to promote a religious symbol that suits their theology.

We are not to make religious images of anything. (Ex 20:4)
The origin of the cross is pagan and was in existence long before Christ’s birth, and since it was the instrument used to torture our Lord in an agonising death, why would we cherish the instrument used to put someone we love to death?

If Jesus was hung, would we have an image of a gallows with Jesus swinging from a rope? Or if he was executed with gun, would we make an image of that and hang it around our necks? Do you not see how offensive that would be to God? The instrument is not the focus....it is Jesus’ death that released mankind from sin and death, regardless of what was used to execute him.
Paganism just has another foot in the door....

 

[Aunty Jane]

So, YOU reject the basic tenets of the Christian faith such as:
The Triune Godhead?
The Virgin Birth?
The Divinity of Christ?
The Crucifixion as atonement for the sins of the world?
The Resurrection?

In that case, I guess I WAS wrong for calling you a “Protestant”.

I am not a member of any of Christendom’s churches, because I removed myself from that disunited rabble decades ago after intensive Bible study.
Do I reject the things on your list? Only the first one which finds no support in scripture at all. Not once did Jesus ever claim to be God incarnate. If he made such a statement I’d like to see it....

As for the others....yes, I accept the virgin birth because that is firmly stated in scripture....but the adoration of the virgin is not. Nor is the making of images something advocated in the Bible, unless God specifically commanded it. Statues of Mary dominate Roman Catholicism.
Mary hardly rated a mention in the Christian scriptures....she was the means of delivering the savior because he had to come into the world through a human mother. She was chosen, no doubt because of her faith, but to elevate her to equal status with her son, and make little mention of the Father, is insulting to him, to say the least.

“The divinity of Christ”...yes, I accept that Christ was divine but he was not God, and he is never called “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”.
No Bible verse says so. God has one name....Christ has many.

“Theos” in scripture can mean ‘God, or any deity, or even one acting as God’s representative’.
Jesus said that God called the judges in Israel, “gods” because they acted on his behalf. (John 10:31-36)
Christ fits that category too as John 1:1 in Greek, makes a distinction between “theos” and “ho theos” in that verse. What is plainly evident in the Greek is missing in the English translation.....”ho theos” is God, but “theos” can be any god, or a god-like one. No one was more god-like than Jesus, who identified himself only as “God’s son”.

“The crucifixion as atonement for the sins of the world”....yes, because that is also firmly established in scripture.

“The resurrection”? Absolutely, but we refuse to make it disappear into a pagan fertility festival in honor of a false goddess. Though we appreciate the resurrection as God’s miracle in bringing his son back to life, we are not told to celebrate that, but to memorialize only his death. Since the Lord’s Supper was held on Passover night and it replaced the annual Jewish Passover for Christians, we follow what Christ commanded.......there is no such thing as “Easter” in the Bible.

And YOU should know better than to judge the entire Catholic population of over 1 billion people based ONE a bad neighbor. Only GOD knows the heart (1 Chron. 28:9) . . .

That was only one small example.....my experience with Catholic people is encountering them in my ministry often over many decades.....I once had a lady excitedly tell me she had a photograph of the blessed virgin in the clouds......when she showed me the picture, my heart went out to her as I asked why Mary had appeared as a statue and not as a real person? She looked perplexed and her excitement left her as she contemplated my question. So many I have invited to get their Bible out and read some verses with me....they invariably came back with a catechism.....they clearly did not know the difference. The one thing I discern about Catholic people is their willingness to implicitly trust their church leaders to tell them the truth, without question......the Jews did that too, and rejected their own Messiah....leading to God’s complete abandonment of that unfaithful nation whose traditions had replaced God’s word as well. (Matt 15:7-9)
History repeats you know.....because people do not learn the lessons from the past.

Catholics don’t teach that we are forgiven only AFTER we say prayers of penance. They are prayers of reflection and supplication. The absolution has already taken place.

Says who? The prayers offered are just recited words....do they magically transform a person into being forgiven and absolved from guilt.....free then to go out and do it all again?
I never met a Catholic person yet who was taught to think....only to perform. Is that what God wants? Mindless performance?

The fact that Jesus breathed on the Apostles when entrusting them with this ministry is highly significant because he doesn’t do this anywhere else in the New Testament. In fact, there are only TWO times in ALL of Scripture where God breathes on man:

The first is when he breathed life into Adam.
The second is here in John’s Gospel when he is giving them the power to forgive or retain sins.

While it might seem to be saying that the apostles could forgive sins, we cannot ignore the testimony of the rest of the Bible. We need to be like the noble-minded Beroeans in “carefully examining the Scriptures” to see what is so. (Acts 17:11)

When King David sinned, it was God he approached in prayer to forgive him. (Psalm 32:5) Did Jesus change this when he came? No......he taught us to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven, . . . forgive us our trespasses.” (Matt 6:9, 12) And that is how Jesus’ Jewish disciples understood the matter. They knew that it was not some man, but God, who could ‘forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9)
If someone committed a serious sin in the congregation, the matter was given over to the elders to determine what was to be done.
If the sinner refused to repent of his serious sin, he was to be expelled from the congregation. Was it a matter of some men deciding to forgive or retain his sins? No, they would simply be acting in accord with what they could conclude would already have been done in heaven. How would they know this? By what God has revealed in his Word on such matters, (2 Tim 3:16-17) the scriptures would determine the outcome.

Though some Bible versions render this verse in a way that suggests that the heavenly action occurs after the earthly decision, noted Bible translator Robert Young said that it literally should be: “shall be that which has been bound (already).” The elders would be carrying out what was already determined by examining the offender to determine the genuineness of his repentance.

In Matt. 26:44, Jesus himself prayed the exact same prayer no less than THREE times in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper.

There is nothing prohibiting praying more than once about a matter that is troubling us, as Jesus demonstrated...he was about to face the biggest test of his faith....so he needed his Father’s help, which was forthcoming. The prayer was in accord with his circumstances.....he did not get that prayer out of a prayer book to recite as if we cannot speak with God directly about our problems, through Christ as our only Mediator.

Jesus’ admonition was to “keep on seeking, keep on knocking”, so as to demonstrate our faith in God’s saving ability.....nowhere are we instructed to offer the same prayer on every occasion...no appeals to Mary or the saints can be an acceptable means to communicate with God. There is only one means of communication with the Father.....and that is through his son. (1 Tim 2:5-6)

 

[Dan Clarkston]

it is Jesus’ death that released mankind from sin and death, regardless of what was used to execute him.

Which was on a cross according to God's Word.

We are not to make religious images of anything. (Ex 20:4)

Yes and in Numbers 21:8-9 the Lord had them look upon a serpent and they got healed

It is totally illogical to think that looking at a bronze image could heal anyone and the Lord used the cross for the same purpose. It's relevant to the Lord and it should be to us as well.