Well, here we are on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar. Easter is right up there with Christmas as a keynote date for Christians. Of course, some would say it’s right down there with Christmas. Not every Christian is on board with these holidays. In Colonial times, Christmas was viewed as a pagan celebration by many, and when I say many, I mean many Christians.
Think for a moment about these two big name-brand “Christian” holidays. Study their origins. For that, you’re going to have to consult something other than the Bible because they’re not in there. You’ll have to go wiki for this project. After all, the Bible doesn’t come close to recording the date of Jesus’ birth. If it’s so important to celebrate it, what’s up with that? Why isn’t it in there? As for celebrating his resurrection, you won’t find anything in the Bible about instituting a holiday whose name comes from an ancient pagan goddess and which is celebrated using fertility symbols like eggs and bunnies. Big surprise, I know, but it’s true. Crack open a Bible and you will find that the one thing Jesus commanded his followers to commemorate was, not his birth, not his resurrection, but his death. After all, his willing sacrifice of his life as a perfect man (not his birth or his resurrection), that is the cornerstone of Christian teaching. Sure, he was born as a man; sure he was resurrected; but once again, there’s no record of his date of birth (although it could not have been anywhere near December), nor is there any command to observe or commemorate his resurrection.
The point of all this in the context of The Church of the Infinite Chasm is significant: we try to point out why so many people reject religion in favor of science, atheism and agnosticism, and offer points of logic in rebuttal. When anybody with five minutes to spare can easily find solid information on the unchristian and/or pagan origins of Christianity’s most holy observances, it can’t do a lot to build their confidence in religious institutions who champion these celebrations. The truths the Bible contains are obscured by the smokescreen of traditions that have no connection to the Bible whatsoever. There’s not a thing in the world wrong with a Christian who has faith in and appreciation for Jesus’ resurrection. In fact, its absence in a Christian would be puzzling. But to go from that to a celebration that’s essentially a bunch of springtime fertility rites and symbols imported from ancient times does not recommend itself to truth-seekers.