Okay, my goal was never to be a pagan worshiper. Nothing, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. So, I almost fainted, died, then fainted again when I found out some of the "traditions" I had been celebrating as part of my religious beliefs and expression were in fact - pagan worship!
I will cover the one that was the most revealing, most stunning, and caused my heart the most pain - the celebration of the Easter holiday. I had always been taught we celebrated Easter in honor of Christ rising on the third day. Easter has been celebrated in every religious denomination I have ever encountered. I remember being absolutely offended when people would be going about selling chocolate bunnies (although I remember eating them, loving them, and even looking forward to receiving them as a child). I remember not really understanding that the egg thing was about - but gladly went about finding eggs, taking my kids to find eggs, and even hosting eggs hunts at my home.
I saw over the past few years some churches move from calling the holiday "Easter" to calling it "Resurrection Sunday". I thought - oh good, we are taking back "our" holiday! Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that calling Easter "Resurrection Sunday" still wasn't "taking it back" or making it Christian - it was still very much in line with the pagan worship that was involved in celebrating Easter - even before the time of Christ.
While most of my research has been on the internet - secular and religious websites all agree on the history of the Easter holiday and how it became a part of Christian religious tradition. I will share what I learned. Most of this outline comes from the page titled "Pagan Origin of Easter" from www.lastrumpetministries.org. However, this timeline is consistent with four other religious and secular websites and is not disputed on any Christian website.
Ham, the son of Noah, had a son name Cush. Cush married a woman named Semiramis and they had a son named Nimrod. After Cush died, Nimrod married his mother (Semiramis) and became a powerful king. The Bible speakd of Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-10. Nimrod became a "god-man" to the people and with wife/mother became Queen of ancient Babylon. Nimrod was killed by an enemy and his body was cut into pieces and sent away. Semiramis gathered all the parts except one - his reproductive organ. Semiramis said that Nimrod could not come back to life without it and told the people of Babylon that Nimrod ascended to the sun and was now to be called "Baal", the sun god.
Semiramis called she was the result of immaculate conception and that the moon was her mother. She claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant - Egg! Semiramis became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounce "Easter" and her moon egg became known as "Ishtar's egg". Get it - "Easter's egg".
Isthar had a son Tammuz and she claimed it was Baal who impregnated her. Tammuz liked hare's (or rabbits) and they became sacred in the ancient religion because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god Baal. Tammuz was killed by a wild boar (pig). Ishtar claimed some of Tammuz's blood fell on a stump of an evergreen tree and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight. Isthar told the people Tammuz has now "ascended" to his father the "sun-god" Baal. They were to celebrate this occassion every year on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Ishtar's Sunday was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. It was always about a "resurrection". The word "Easter" appears in the King James Bible in Acts chapter 12:4 - but it was Herod that was about to celebrate Easter! Herod was a pagan and he was waiting until after celebrating his pagan holiday to kill Peter.
So, how did this pagan holiday get into the Christian church? Christians and Jews used to worship in the same temple and celebrate the same holidays. They would normally be celebrating passover. However, as tensions rose between Christians and Jews there was a separation. More and more "gentiles" - which means a pagan worshiper, began to join the congregation of believers. However, instead of instructing them to leave their pagan worship and worship as God alone instructed, it is believed they allowed them to continue with their former pagan worship and simply make it "Christian". This is similar to the golden calf situation that happened after God lead the Isralites out of Egypt. They wanted to offer a golden calf to God. Golden calves were a large part of pagan worship and God wanted none of it. He never authorized pagan holidays to be simply "turned into" Christian holidays. We are to leave the old man and embrace our new identity. Celebrating a pagan holiday, in a completely pagan way, and simply changing the name. They were doing what God never said do, doing what Jesus never said do; they decided to bring their pagan religion into the church and force God to accept it by claiming Tammuz now represented Jesus and Baal represented God.
I am beginning to see much more clearly why God was so specific in His commands and also why He told us to put off the "old man". It is at least time for me to listen to God and do what He said. We were commanded to not add to His law nor take away. So, I will still be worshiping - just observing the things God instructed. So - Happy Passover!
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