I did not say that Christians should not celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that would be a very serious heresy, not to celebrate the one event in history that gives assurance to all the elect of God that their sins have all been washed away by the blood of Christ Jesus and that they have been justified before the Holy God. The Apostle Paul tells us, “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins”. (1 Cor. 15:17 ) What a precious and important event the resurrection of Christ is. Yes, Christians should always be happy to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We do celebrate the resurrection of Christ EVERY Lord’s Day! We celebrate the Lord’s resurrection in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are all scriptural means that God has given us in His Word as a means of celebrating the Lord’s resurrection. However, that is far different than the Celebration of Easter.
Easter is a day that is honored by nearly all of contemporary Christianity and is used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The holiday often involves a church service at sunrise, a feast which includes an "Easter Ham", decorated eggs and stories about rabbits. Those who love truth learn to ask questions, and many questions must be asked regarding the holiday of Easter. Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead?
We know that the holiday Easter can be as much as three weeks away from the Jewish Passover, because the pagan holiday is always set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Yet the Bible clearly teaches that the death and resurrection of Christ occurred at the time of the Passover. Where did all of these strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The truth is that the celebration of Easter has very little to do with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the oz of truth that is placed in the gallon of paganism and Christians today are drinking it all in.
Easter has its origins with paganism. Its roots begin with "Ishtar", which is pronounced "Easter" and was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of the pagan gods called "Tammuz", who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god. This evolved into the pagan worship of Ishtar, the mother of the pagan god, Tammuz/Baal. This worship involved much immoral sexism symbolized by the use of rabbits and eggs. This paganism with the worship of Ishtar has infiltrated contemporary Christian churches today so we have Easter eggs, Easter bunnies and Sunrise Easter Services. This infiltration has been brought into Christianity by Roman Catholicism, then Protestantism and now also to Baptists churches. We should remember the words of Christ:“that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”Luke 16:15