April 20, 2019
Easter is celebrated by almost all Christians. If you are not familiar with the New Testament or the story of Jesus in it, here is what a website says that Easter represents:
Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament of the Bible, the event is said to have occurred three days after Jesus was crucified by the Romans and died in roughly 30 A.D. From https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter.
The above quote is correct, except that Easter does not celebrate the belief but the resurrection of Jesus. The timing of the resurrection is also correct in stating that the resurrection occurred 3 days after Jesus was crucified. Who crucified Jesus? The Romans? But, what did Jesus do to the Romans that compelled them to capture and kill Jesus? To have a better understanding of the story, it is worth picking up a Bible and read the story for yourself. Read the Bible as you read any book.
People say a lot of things about the Bible but you just cannot take their words for it. Read their doctrines for yourself and find its foundation in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
Christians celebrate Christian events like, for example, Easter, because they are told that it is what the Bible commands or it is the right thing to do based on our Faith. Again, you cannot trust anyone’s teachings on the Bible. You must read for yourself to discover what the Bible really says.
Even the Bible itself warns every single one of us to be on the lookout because there are a lot of false prophets out there pretending to teach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, who only give us their own customized version. As a result of that inconsistency in presenting the true Gospel, the number of Christian movements keep swelling.
The Bible is logical, no matter what you have heard or told. Of course, the biblical God may not be logical to you at first. However, what the God of the Bible lays out for us to comply with is simple and clear.
Yes, to many it is a difficult reading. The difficulty in reading or understanding the Bible is only a function of the status of our heart and mindset. To grasp the simple truth of the Bible or any purported biblical doctrine or teaching, we must, besides praying honestly and fervently for understanding, hold to certain principles that can guide us to accept or reject a doctrine no matter how noble it is.
First, you have to know that you are free to practice anything religious observance. However, you are on your own because this is what is written in Mark 7:7
Mark 7:7-8 EMTV
(7) And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
(8) “For having left the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men–the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other similar things you do.”
As you have read, the mere teaching -not even the practice- of religious doctrines that are established by men nullifies your worship of God and, in that case, makes your worship of God a total waste of your time.
Note that the verse speaks of apostasy ‘in having left the commandment of God’ to follow what a man has established as doctrines of God. That doctrine, teaching, or observance that a man has established is termed a tradition in the verse. As such, a religious observance can be either mandated by God or established by men. it is the same for a religious doctrine: it is either commanded by God or by men. Our responsibility is to verify whose doctrine or observance it is.
Why is it a problem for God if we do for Him or in His name anything noble that men see fit or right, like, for example, Easter? After all, in the case of Easter, we are only celebrating the resurrection of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ.
Well, here is the thing. Adam and Eve sinned against God in Eden because they did something that God did not command them to do. God forbade them not to touch, (yes, touch, according to the very confession of Eve, not even eat), the forbidden fruit. What did they do instead? They ate the forbidden fruit because someone else told them that it made a lot of sense for them to eat it. In disobeying the expressed forbiddance, they chose Satan as their God in eating the forbidden fruit.
In other words, if your spiritual leader entices you to practice a religious doctrine that is not from God or goes against what God has established, that religious leader has become your God because you do as he says and not as God had commanded you. You may only keep religious observances that only God had asked you to observe.
The second rule is to remember that, ultimately, compliance with the word of God is the only key to our salvation. You may not twist the word of your God to the liking of your mindset because Jesus said that:
Matthew 7:21 LITV
(21) Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven.
Since we must investigate every doctrine and observance to make sure they are indeed established and commanded by God, let us consider Easter. Did Jesus and the Apostles write or insinuate that we are to celebrate Easter?
Jesus commissioned them to all nations spending their lives in
Matthew 28:20 LITV
(20) teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Amen.
The answer is ‘no’ because there is no command that can quoted in the New Testament to support the observance of Easter which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Even though Easter stands on the appearance of biblical foundation, that foundation is not laid anywhere in the New Testament by any of its writers.
However, there are other observances that Jesus instituted before the day of Passover:
- celebrate His last supper with the disciples:
Luke 22:14-20 LEB
(14) And when the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him.
(15) And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
(16) For I tell you that I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
(17) And he took in hand a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves.
(18) For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the product of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
(19) And he took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(20) And in the same way the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.
- wash each other’s feet
John 13:1-15 EMTV
(1) Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
(2) And after supper, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
(3) Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,
(4) He rose from the supper and laid aside His garments, and having taken a towel, He girded Himself.
(5) Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to dry them with the towel with which He was girded.
(6) Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?”
(7) Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after this.”
(8) Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.”
(9) Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
(10) Jesus said to him, “He that is bathed need only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
(11) For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
(12) So when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, He reclined again, and said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
(13) You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say correctly, for so I am.
(14) Therefore if I, your Lord and your Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
(15) For I gave you an example, that just as I did to you, you also should do.
If there is no expressed command from Jesus nor the Apostles to remember the resurrection day in any form, why do we Christians, who are supposed to do only the will of God, choose on our own accord to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as Easter?
Whatever your reasoning may be, read over Mark 7:7.
Bombs kill more than 200 in Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter Sunday
How would Jesus look upon those who died on that bombing?
(Matthew 16:25 YLT)
…for whoever may will to save his life, shall lose it, and whoever may lose his life for my sake shall find it,
Bible Study - My Judeo-Christian-Altered Mind 