"WOMEN'S DAY" COG7 CLAREMORE
Happy Sabbath! It was beautiful out today. The sun was shining although it was a little windy. Nice Spring day. Today the Worship Service was designated "Women's Day". The ladies and girls of the church were in charge of the service. It was enjoyed by all. Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow.
Since Easter is just around the corner, I decided to write my blog about this celebration. The Church of God (7th Day) does not teach or celebrate Easter. Easter is to commorate the Resurrection of Christ. The church doesn't believe we should celebrate Christ's Resurrection, but his death. We take part in the Lord's Supper Service, which is like communion, but only done once a year. Unsweetened grape juice is used to symbolize Christ's blood. Unleaven Bread (or unsalted cracker) is used to symbolize His body. The group divides up into women and men, each going to a separate place to wash each other's feet as Christ did with his deciples showing humbleness.
If you look up information in an encyclopedia on Easter, you will find it is actually a comparison between Easter and the Lord's Supper Service which occurs very close together, during the same time of year. We are going to look into the background of this commonly accepted tradition, Easter which is celebrated in the Spring of the year.
Easter and Spring is the season for much merrymaking and fun, much of the time with an emphasis on sexual fertility. There are modern spring festivals, with a blatant sexual aspect, when "all rules are off" and almost anything can happen. These celebrations in the Christian world end at Lent (a day observed by the Catholics) whick is observed before Easter itself. This fertility aspect may be sublimated by the "Easter Dance" or "Spring Prom found in many educational institutions of the English-speaking world.
Easter is named after the pagan goddess Eostre (Latin: Oestre), an Anglo-Saxon maiden- goddess of fertility. The Oestre spelling in Latin derives from the Greek, and has its roots in a word that means "frenzy." We see this word again in English in "estrus" meaning a female mammal "in heat" able to conceive, and there we see the meaning behind the "frenzy" definition.
The Easter Rabbit is one of the oldest symbols of Spring. In Indo-European mythology, the hare is sacrate to the Eastern Goddess, being supposedly seen in the markings on the moon. In Germany, children were told if they were good the Easter Hare would bring them eggs on Easter. This is the origin of the United States' Easter Bunny. Eggs are obvious symbols of rebirth. Mithras, Tammuz, Re (Egypt), Brama (India) and P'can Ku (China) all were said to have been born from eggs. The link to Easter is obvious. But what does all of this mean to America?
Does the Bible mention Easter? Well yes and no. Notice Acts 12:1. King Herod began perscuting the church, ending with the brutal death of apostle James by the sword. This pleased the Jews so much that apostle Paul was taken prisoner by Herod also, and planned to later deliver him to the Jews. Verse 3 says, "Then were the days of unleaven bread." The new testament church was observing the feast days described in Leviticus 23. Now read Verse 4: "And when he (Herod) had apprehended him, he put him in prison surrounded by guards, intending after Easter, to bring him forth to the people."
This is not talking about our modern-day Easter. How do we know? The word originally translated from Easter is the Greek word pascha (derived from the Hebrew word pesach. There is no original Greek word for Passover), and it only has one meaning. It always means Passover---it can never mean Easter! For this reason, we find a Hebrew word used in the Greek New Testament. Once again, this Hebrew word can only refer to Passover. Other translations, including the Revised Standard Version, correctly render this word Passover. Instead of indorsing Easter, this verse really proves that the Jews were still observing the Passover, ten years after the death of Christ.
Please stay tuned and check out the next segiment of our study on Easter.
God Bless
Starlight*
Since Easter is just around the corner, I decided to write my blog about this celebration. The Church of God (7th Day) does not teach or celebrate Easter. Easter is to commorate the Resurrection of Christ. The church doesn't believe we should celebrate Christ's Resurrection, but his death. We take part in the Lord's Supper Service, which is like communion, but only done once a year. Unsweetened grape juice is used to symbolize Christ's blood. Unleaven Bread (or unsalted cracker) is used to symbolize His body. The group divides up into women and men, each going to a separate place to wash each other's feet as Christ did with his deciples showing humbleness.
If you look up information in an encyclopedia on Easter, you will find it is actually a comparison between Easter and the Lord's Supper Service which occurs very close together, during the same time of year. We are going to look into the background of this commonly accepted tradition, Easter which is celebrated in the Spring of the year.
Easter and Spring is the season for much merrymaking and fun, much of the time with an emphasis on sexual fertility. There are modern spring festivals, with a blatant sexual aspect, when "all rules are off" and almost anything can happen. These celebrations in the Christian world end at Lent (a day observed by the Catholics) whick is observed before Easter itself. This fertility aspect may be sublimated by the "Easter Dance" or "Spring Prom found in many educational institutions of the English-speaking world.
Easter is named after the pagan goddess Eostre (Latin: Oestre), an Anglo-Saxon maiden- goddess of fertility. The Oestre spelling in Latin derives from the Greek, and has its roots in a word that means "frenzy." We see this word again in English in "estrus" meaning a female mammal "in heat" able to conceive, and there we see the meaning behind the "frenzy" definition.
The Easter Rabbit is one of the oldest symbols of Spring. In Indo-European mythology, the hare is sacrate to the Eastern Goddess, being supposedly seen in the markings on the moon. In Germany, children were told if they were good the Easter Hare would bring them eggs on Easter. This is the origin of the United States' Easter Bunny. Eggs are obvious symbols of rebirth. Mithras, Tammuz, Re (Egypt), Brama (India) and P'can Ku (China) all were said to have been born from eggs. The link to Easter is obvious. But what does all of this mean to America?
Does the Bible mention Easter? Well yes and no. Notice Acts 12:1. King Herod began perscuting the church, ending with the brutal death of apostle James by the sword. This pleased the Jews so much that apostle Paul was taken prisoner by Herod also, and planned to later deliver him to the Jews. Verse 3 says, "Then were the days of unleaven bread." The new testament church was observing the feast days described in Leviticus 23. Now read Verse 4: "And when he (Herod) had apprehended him, he put him in prison surrounded by guards, intending after Easter, to bring him forth to the people."
This is not talking about our modern-day Easter. How do we know? The word originally translated from Easter is the Greek word pascha (derived from the Hebrew word pesach. There is no original Greek word for Passover), and it only has one meaning. It always means Passover---it can never mean Easter! For this reason, we find a Hebrew word used in the Greek New Testament. Once again, this Hebrew word can only refer to Passover. Other translations, including the Revised Standard Version, correctly render this word Passover. Instead of indorsing Easter, this verse really proves that the Jews were still observing the Passover, ten years after the death of Christ.
Please stay tuned and check out the next segiment of our study on Easter.
God Bless
Starlight*
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