h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

According to Christianity, Easter is about the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter).

Surely this is the starting point of Easter and all this about eggs, rabbits, chick is about the 'new life' that the ressurection of Jesus represents. This time aligns to the passover season in Judaism when the 'blood of the lamb' was put on every believers door in 'Moses time' to prevent the death of the first born. This was prior to the exodus from Egypt and Slavery to freedom and the promiosed land. In the same way, Jesus (the lamb of God) dies (shed his blood) to take away our slavery (bondage to sin and death) so that we could be free and live life abundantly.

The BBC have a responsibility for communicating truth and Easter is about Jesus not fluffy bunnies and painted eggs - If the BBC made such a mockery of the Islamic faith or any other faith, there would be revolt....

Discuss...

I found the BBC article informative and whatever you choose to believe, easter is a time to be enjoyed by all the family. Relax and make the most of this special time - there's a lot more going on in the world today to be ranting about easter and Jesus.

only if you believe in the Jesus hocus pocus then is it about him. Or did you not read the article the BBC posted Easter bunnies and all that. I personally don't subscribe to any of the Easter nonsense. This is the 21st century and it's time people realised that Jesus was maybe just a decent bloke trying help people be better people. the son of god and all that magic stuff. C'mon please...

Next you'll be saying that Christmas is about Jesus! Aren't most Christian festivals based on the pagan festivals that preceded christianity and just rebranded to suit?

Like you, I wish more people were interested in the Christian understanding of the Easter festival but I don't think bunnies and easter eggs are intended to make a mockery of Easter- after all, just like christmas trees and santa, they are based on ancient traditions. They are simply a way of popularising and commercialising a festival at a time when most people prefer to focus on the frivolity rather than on the religious meaning. We could argue all day about whether commercialisation of religious festivals is a good or bad thing but it is a fact that, in our increasingly secular society, the people who one might expect to at least know of the Easter story do not see the relevance of events which took place thousands of years ago and which may not even be true. You mention Islam and it is perhaps ironic that the people in Britain most likely to see any relevance in the message of Jesus's life and death are Muslims- they, at least, revere Jesus as a prophet.

Easter pre-dates Jesus, clearly. The BBC is here reporting on the origins of Easter and Easter did not originate with Jesus.

An article that discusses the symbols that formed part of a religion much older than Christianity and that spawned a festival that we still celebrate today does not make a mockery of the Christian faith.

"According to Christianity" is not the truth. Christianity will have it's time and will then die out over time, as do all sets of religious beliefs.

Personally, I prefer the old belief systems that celebrate nature and our environment instead of focusing on dead individuals and stories written tens of hundreds of years ago and hundreds of years after the events that they portray unfolded.

Maybe pagan festivals were 're-branded' to suit Christians but that doesn't prove anything. Look into it, if modern PR agencies were around 2000 years ago they would have done a much 'better' job than the new testament writers did. It started with a dead man, an empty tomb and a few frightened followers; and its still around today!

I know it all sounds like hocus-pocus from 20 centuries ago but if you actually take the time to look into the FACTS concerning the life of Jesus and the claims he made (to be the son of God) then you will find it very hard if not impossible to come to any conclusion other than He was telling the truth and really is the Son of God. I'm sure you will dismiss this oout of hand but I challenge you, get in touch with your local church and see if they are running a 'just looking' course where you can inverstigate the facts without any prejudice.

The gospels were not written hundreds of years after Christ but in the lifetime of people who had witnessed his death and resurrection, in two cases by eyewitnesses. While easter may have started as a spring festival (and I am all for celebrating the arrival of spring) the death and resurrection of Jesus transformed it into something more exciting that transcends a mere seasonal festival. Don't forget that half the world actually celebrates it in autumn!

"if you actually take the time to look into the FACTS"

~ Perceived facts, surely? ~


Also - someone here wrote that the events of the life of Jesus Christ were written by his contemporaries. 200 years ago. In English? yes. I bet that what was said then meant EXACTLY the same as we are told it does now.

Christmas is absolutely about Jesus Christ, hence the name! It is Christ's mass, and the celebration of his birth! And where do you suppose the name 'Good Friday' came from? It is a Christian holy day! Since this is fundementally a Christian country, the national holidays are centred around Christian festivals, whether you choose to celebrate them or not. I'm not suggesting you are compelled to celebrate them as such, but it is childish and ignorant at the very least to deny them entirely!

I think the point some of the earlier posters were making is that the national feasts are centred on earlier traditions which were adopted or "rebranded" as Christian by the early church fathers. For example, it is agreed by most Bible researchers that Christ's birth was more likely to have been in the spring than in December - shepherds would not have been out in the fields with their flocks at that time of year in the middle east.
However, most religions mark significant times of year - the winter and summer solstices, the return of spring and the harvest for example - and many of us, followers of organised religions or not, feel it only right to celebrate these punctuations of the passing year in our own ways. Don't knock others' practices if they don't harm anyone.
Happy Easter and belated happy equinox!