{"id":1604,"date":"2013-03-24T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1604"},"modified":"2013-03-13T15:26:46","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T20:26:46","slug":"easter-what-do-you-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1604","title":{"rendered":"Easter – What Do You Believe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Easter<\/a>As Easter fast approaches people anticipate putting on their \u201cEaster bonnets,\u201d (metaphorically speaking, of course) and heading for their annual church meeting to celebrate the risen Christ.\u00a0 I use the word \u201cannual\u201d because for many Easter is the only day of the year they make the effort to attend church.\u00a0 Even if they don\u2019t want to acknowledge Christ\u2019s existence the rest of the year, deep in their hearts they do believe Christ died, was resurrected, and He is alive.<\/p>\n

Then another group stays away from church on this day because they believe Easter has a pagan origin and no self respecting Christian would celebrate it.\u00a0 This is nothing new.\u00a0 A scholarly debate over Easter\u2019s origin has been going on for millennia.\u00a0 For thousands of years both Christians and pagans have celebrated death and resurrection themes following the Spring Equinox.\u00a0 Some say the name Easter came from the German word \u201costern\u201d which means sunrise.\u00a0 Some think it refers to some ancient Northern European Saxon goddess of fertility.\u00a0 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring, which was \u201ceastre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually a pretty good case can be made for Christian and pagan explanations.\u00a0 But to shy away from something just because it has a pagan origin when that is no longer the intent or meaning of what is taking place can be quite limiting \u2013 especially since many of our everyday customs can be traced back to paganism.\u00a0 This would include things such as wedding rings, cross symbols, holidays, wedding ceremonies, handshakes, covering your mouth when you yawn and so on.\u00a0 Even the word Sunday is derived from a pagan deity, as are the other days of the week.<\/p>\n

Then yet another group stays home because they simply do not believe Jesus Christ existed.\u00a0 Or if they do believe he existed, they don\u2019t believe he died for our sins.\u00a0 Or if they do believe he lived and died, they don\u2019t believe he was resurrected.\u00a0 Many chose to believe this because intellectually speaking it isn\u2019t logical that it happened.\u00a0 Even Thomas, one of the disciples who lived with and followed Christ succumbed to this deceptive thought process.\u00a0 Where do you think the phrase \u201cdoubting Thomas\u201d came from?<\/p>\n

John 20:24-31 tells us that Thomas wasn\u2019t with the rest of the disciples when Jesus first showed himself to them after he was resurrected. \u00a0Thomas said, \u201cExcept I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Eight days later Jesus came to the disciples again and this time Thomas was with them.\u00a0 Jesus did not rebuke Thomas but lovingly said, \u201cReach hither your finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Thomas conceded that indeed this was the risen Jesus Christ, \u201cMy Lord and my God!\u201d<\/p>\n

Some intellectuals say they won\u2019t believe anything they can\u2019t see.\u00a0 But relying on just what we see can be deceiving as well.\u00a0 Do we really believe a master magician produces a tiger out of thin air?\u00a0 We don\u2019t know how it\u2019s done, but there\u2019s the tiger, just the same.\u00a0 With spiritual matters we might think we have to see to believe but sometimes it\u2019s better to believe, then God allows us to see.\u00a0 Jesus told Thomas, \u201cThomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s one of the messages of Easter.\u00a0 God asks us to believe the unbelievable.\u00a0 Jesus lived.\u00a0 Jesus died.\u00a0 Jesus rose from the dead.\u00a0 Jesus lives.<\/p>\n

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As Easter fast approaches people anticipate putting on their \u201cEaster bonnets,\u201d (metaphorically speaking, of course) and heading for their annual church meeting to celebrate the risen Christ.\u00a0 I use the word \u201cannual\u201d because for many Easter is the only day … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}