Easter ham or Passover lamb?

[JohnHurt]

"I guess the next question would be, who assimilated what." - is absolutely to the point. Just brilliant.

Dear George,

Will you tell us the following things:

1. What was the the first religion that used the word "Easter"?
2. Who instituted the the first religious service of eating ham on Easter, and who is being honored by the custom of eating ham on Easter?
3. What connection is there between eating ham on Easter and the 40 days of fasting for Lent?

I appreciate your efforts.

John Hurt

[gcdonner]

"I guess the next question would be, who assimilated what." - is absolutely to the point. Just brilliant.

Dear George,

Will you tell us the following things:

1. What was the the first religion that used the word "Easter"?
2. Who instituted the the first religious service of eating ham on Easter, and who is being honored by the custom of eating ham on Easter?
3. What connection is there between eating ham on Easter and the 40 days of fasting for Lent?

I appreciate your efforts.

John Hurt

Perhaps you have already done the homework for those questions? There doesn't seem to be any definitive historical etymology, other than the English monk Bede mentioned it as the name of a month in England and said (speculated?) that it was named after a goddess of that name.
Some have suggested that in fact it comes from the German word for resurrection:

These two words combine to form erstehen which is an old German form of auferstehen, the modern day German word for resurrection. https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/e ... an-origin/

Your thoughts, John?

[Josh]

I wonder how Jesus feels about his followers discussing the righteousness of not eating ham when he declared all foods clean.

[Judas Maccabeus]

"I guess the next question would be, who assimilated what." - is absolutely to the point. Just brilliant.

Dear George,

Will you tell us the following things:

1. What was the the first religion that used the word "Easter"?
2. Who instituted the the first religious service of eating ham on Easter, and who is being honored by the custom of eating ham on Easter?
3. What connection is there between eating ham on Easter and the 40 days of fasting for Lent?

I appreciate your efforts.

John Hurt

I suspect that eating ham for easter had everything to do with the fact that there was a tendency to reduce the number of animals on the farm for winter, hence a fall slaughter, and many of the remaining animals quite thin come spring. A pig, slaughtered in the fall, cured and smoked would be all ready for a spring meal.

I am not a farmer, and I welcome all you farmers to correct me if I am wrong.

J.M.

[gcdonner]

I wonder how Jesus feels about his followers discussing the righteousness of not eating ham when he declared all foods clean.

I wonder how he feels as the Lamb of God being celebrated by eating a pig, which for him would have been a big slap in the face.
I seem to remember that he cast demons into pigs, which would give a good indication of how he felt about them...
I wonder how you can be so uncaring... eat your pig any day of the year, but in celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lamb of God???
I have a hard time imagining Jesus as the swine of God...

[MaxPC]

I suspect that eating ham for easter had everything to do with the fact that there was a tendency to reduce the number of animals on the farm for winter, hence a fall slaughter, and many of the remaining animals quite thin come spring. A pig, slaughtered in the fall, cured and smoked would be all ready for a spring meal.

I am not a farmer, and I welcome all you farmers to correct me if I am wrong.

J.M.

You have it in one, JM.
Most seasonal/cultural practices did indeed come from the cycles of farm activity. Planting, harvest, pig-curing, cattle sales, lambing season, etc etc etc. The pagan rites were celebrated as good luck charms to ensure success in farm production. The foods for those celebrations usually, not always but usually, came from the surplus.

Even today, many school districts still follow the "farmers' calendar" because the children were once involved in the farm activity. Spring break was used for planting. Summers off were used for the protracted season of fields and livestock. Fall break was used for harvest.

[Josh]

I wonder how he feels as the Lamb of God being celebrated by eating a pig, which for him would have been a big slap in the face.
I seem to remember that he cast demons into pigs, which would give a good indication of how he felt about them...
I wonder how you can be so uncaring... eat your pig any day of the year, but in celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lamb of God???
I have a hard time imagining Jesus as the swine of God...

For if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.

For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I'm regularly around people who think they are Christians who think they are pleasing God by not eating pork, Sabbath-keeping, and mis-pronouncing Hebrew words instead of using translated words or common transliterations. (Somehow this doesn't extend to loving their enemy enough not to be piling up guns to shoot him.)

George, if I'm around you on Easter, I'll pretend I don't eat pork just for your sake. When I'm around my friend who is a vegan, I don't even bring my coffee cup inside if it had a latte in it earlier in the day.

I'm also regularly around people who actually keep the whole law, instead of just the bits and pieces that keep them comfortable. They have far, far less expectation that I should keep the whole law, since they know I'm Christian.

At some point I really question how pleased God is by all this stressing about food. Jesus declared all foods clean.

I don't think Jesus is pleased when people are extra careful to flush the milk lines in the coffee machine at work at least 3 hours before lunchtime.

[JohnHurt]

"I guess the next question would be, who assimilated what." - is absolutely to the point. Just brilliant.

Dear George,

Will you tell us the following things:

1. What was the the first religion that used the word "Easter"?
2. Who instituted the the first religious service of eating ham on Easter, and who is being honored by the custom of eating ham on Easter?
3. What connection is there between eating ham on Easter and the 40 days of fasting for Lent?

I appreciate your efforts.

John Hurt

Perhaps you have already done the homework for those questions? There doesn't seem to be any definitive historical etymology, other than the English monk Bede mentioned it as the name of a month in England and said (speculated?) that it was named after a goddess of that name.
Some have suggested that in fact it comes from the German word for resurrection:

These two words combine to form erstehen which is an old German form of auferstehen, the modern day German word for resurrection. https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/e ... an-origin/

Your thoughts, John?

George,

Bede was a Roman Catholic monk in 8th century England, and was a product of his time. Bede is a red herring. The association of eating ham with Easter started much earlier than Bede.

Easter ham and the other "weird" traditions of Catholicism were first introduced by the government controlled Council of Nicaea (325 AD). Under the direction of Constantine, the Council of Nicaea set up a hierarchical church structure, which eliminated Passover on the 14th day of Nisan and determined the new date of Easter. Constantine and his new government-run church also changed the 7th day Sabbath to Sunday, and made the Pope of Rome supreme. It was around this time that many other innovations were introduced, such as worshiping the saints, just as they had worshiped the pantheon of Roman gods.

This same government sanctioned church, and her daughters, continues to overlay Christianity with paganism, even to this day.

What we see is that the original primitive form of Christianity, which could not be defeated by Rome, was overlaid by Constantine with a very ancient religion, which has only the outer form of Christ, but contains the substance of Babylon. It is like a counterfeit coin, the outside looks genuine, but there is no real silver, or value, inside.

To find out what religion was added to Primitive Christianity to create Constantine Christianity, you have to strip away everything not found in the words of Christ, and it will become obvious.

Look at the additions, such as the worship of Mary, the "mother of God". Her husband has died. December 25th is the birth date of her son, who dies, but is resurrected. Why is Mary worshiped? The same reason they eat Easter Ham.

This same story of the worship of Mary is found in Egypt. In Egypt it is Osiris who is the father that died, Isis is the mother that is worshiped, and Horus is the son that is resurrected. In Greece, the son is Adonis. Other names for the son are Attis, or Mithra. But the original story comes from Babylon, the father is Nimrod, the mother is Semiramis, (also called Ishtar, which is where we get "Easter" from) and the son is Tammuz. Tammuz was born on December 25th, as he represents the rebirth of the Sun after the winter solstice.

Tammuz died in his 40th year while boar hunting in the spring, and so those that weep for Tammuz fast for 40 days in his honor, which is the origin of Lent. They then eat ham on Easter as a symbol of revenge on the boar that killed Tammuz. Tammuz was a symbol of spring and fertility, and so eggs and rabbits are associated with the worship of Tammuz. This is where you get the "Easter Bunny" that lays colored eggs.

Ezekiel 8:14-16 condemns the worship of Tammuz, as well as the sunrise service. Some things never change.

The most exhaustive study of the ancient Babylonian religion that overlaid Christianity through the efforts of Constantine and others was made by Alexander Hislop, in his book "The Two Babylons", written in 1853. This book is difficult to read, but it will open your eyes to why you are attracted to Christ, but repulsed by the counterfeit church.

Easter is in honor of Ishtar. Christ died on Passover, not Easter. Eating ham on Easter is in honor of Tammuz, who was killed by a boar. Eggs and rabbits have nothing to do with the death of Christ, but they do honor Tammuz as a symbol of fertility. And Christ was not born on December 25th, this is the birthday of Tammuz or Mithra, or whatever name you want to call him.

I think error this applies to all of us - Christ said:

John 4: (22) Ye worship ye know not what:

I am glad He has been very patient with me in opening my eyes.

Blessings,

John

[Josh]

John,

How do you address Paul's words that it's okay if one man esteems some days holy and another man esteems all days alike?

[silentreader]

John,

How do you address Paul's words that it's okay if one man esteems some days holy and another man esteems all days alike?

oh-oh