My take on Easter celebrations

My wish as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

This week Christians all around the world will celebrate the most sacred of Christian beliefs when they celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday. My hope is that if you are a Christian it will truly be a time of reflection and if you are not a Christian it may not necessarily do harm to examine the origin of these celebrations.

In 2010 it was estimated that approximately 2.2 billion or 1/3 of the earth’s population were adherents of the Christian religion. This will guarantee that there will be millions all around the world celebrating Easter.

There are many persons who are quick to point out the failures, shortcomings and faults of the church and the Christian religion but this should not cloud the facts behind the truths of the Christian religion if they exists. This is especially so in the western world where it is impossible to study the history of the western world without facing the facts of the part played by the church and Christianity.

There are under the umbrella of Christianity some groups which reject the celebration of Easter by citing the fact that Easter originated as a pagan festival. There are some persons who readily and rightfully point out that Friday afternoon to Sunday morning does not effectively cover the three days and three nights that Jesus was supposed to have spent in the grave. There are also those who point out that Easter is not mentioned in the Bible and the Bible does not command its celebration. All of these   arguments exist and more.

There are many Christians who fall under the banner of Protestantism that although they are anti Roman Catholic they embrace the celebration of Christmas and Easter citing that these celebrations are for everyone.

The Gregorian calendar which is presently internationally used is the Roman Catholic calendar and central to this calendar is the birth of Jesus Christ. Although CE and BCE are used to replace AD and BC there are questions which remain which should be answered among which are, has the Roman Catholic Church been pulling a hoax on humanity for more than fifteen hundred years? Did a man name Jesus walk this earth and had so much impact so as to be the turning point of history? The questions continue and are numerous but this week we who are Christians will celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who was declared to be the son of God and the Jewish messiah or Christ.

The celebration of Easter is a celebration of hope for Christians  because although Jesus is presented as rebel whom the Jewish religious leaders had the Roman authorities  execute, it was to fulfill the plans and purposes of God. Jesus is presented as suffering a form of execution invented by Semiramis the wife of Nimrod the builder of the tower of Babel and at the time Jesus was executed it was the cruelest and most degrading form of punishment. Jesus did not remain dead but by his own power came back from the dead and this is what is celebrated at Easter.

Easter celebrations makes life worth living because Jesus' death is presented as the way to being in a right relationship with God. Jesus is presented as paying the price God required  for the sins of man and all who believe this is regarded by God as being righteous. Being righteous in the sight of God means that at death the believer in Jesus soul goes to heaven where Jesus is to await a future time when body and soul will again be reunited.

The belief system may be warped and disputes may arise but the Christian calendar, the church and the celebration of Easter look back to an event that some will ignore, some will dispute and some will deny.

Have a happy Easter.