Why do Christians Celebrate Easter?
Why do Christians celebrate Easter? To honor the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? I am going to say something that, for the most part, has received only negative response from Christians that I have discussed this with. What I will do here is to post the facts and let you decide if it is proper for celebrate this holiday by this name.

EASTER as defined in the Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary.

  1. A festival in the Christian Church commemorating the Resurrection of Christ, celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or next after Mar. 21.
  2. The Sunday on which the festival of Easter is held.

Word History: The word Easter, although the name of a Christian festival, had its origins in pagan times. Eastre or Eostre, the Old English spelling of Easter, was originally the name of a Germanic goddess who was worshiped at a festival at the spring equinox. Her name is closely related to Latin aurora and Greek Greek name for auroraboth of which mean dawn. Easter is also derived from the same root word as east, the direction of sunrise.
GROVE Worship verses here

Grove: OT:842
asherah (ash-ay-raw’); or ‘asheyrah (ash-ay-raw’);
from OT:833; happy; Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same:
KJV - grove. Compare OT:6253.

OT:833
ashar (aw-shar’); or `asher (aw-share’);
a primitive root; to be straight (used in the widest sense, especially to be level, right, happy); figuratively, to go forward, be honest, proper:
KJV - (call, be) bless (-ed, happy), go, guide, lead, relieve.

Ashtoreth: OT:6253
`Ashtoreth (ash-to’reth);
probably for 0T6251; Ashtoreth, the Phoenician goddess of love (and increase):
KJV -Ashtoreth.

Astarte as defined in the Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary.

The Phoenician goddess of love and fertility.

Ashtoreth: (from Strong’s #6253 Ashtoreth)
The ancient Syrian and Phoenician goddess of sexual love and fertility.

As I was browsing the Internet for more information concerning Easter I found some web sites that state that Easter (in the Bible) was not a mistake and came up with various reasons. Some of the justification for using Easter instead of Passover were based on the manuscripts.

Above I have given you the Strong’s numbers and Webster’s dictionary definitions to demonstrate the origin of the name Easter. If this is not enough, I will show you the actual Greek manuscripts taken from the Green’s Interlinear Bible. See for yourself what the manuscripts of the New Testament say about Easter (if at all.)
 
 
1 Corinthians 5:7
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
KJV
Below are two verses taken from the Green’s Interlinear Bible. The first verse is Acts 12:4 where the word Easter is used. Compair this with John 12:1 the word that is translated Passover. Look at the Greek text. Notice that both verses use exactly the same word, in Greek:Greek word for Passoverwhich is Strong’s number 3957 (in both cases) and is translated to passover. See Strong’s 3957 below.
ACTS 12:4 KJV


 
 
Easter: NT:3957
pascha (pas’-khah); of Aramaic origin [compare 6453]; the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it):
KJV - Easter, Passover.
John 12:1 KJV
 

Passover: NT:3957
pascha (pas’-khah); of Aramaic origin [compare OT:6453]; the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it):
KJV - Easter, Passover.

OT:6453
Pecach (peh'-sakh); from OT:6452; a pretermission, i.e. exemption; used only techically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim):
KJV - passover (offering).

(See 1 Corinthians 5:7 above for Christian use of Passover.)

OT:6452
pacach (paw-sakh'); a primitive root; to hop, i.e. (figuratively) skip over (or spare); by implication, to hesitate; also (literally) to limp, to dance:
KJV - halt, become lame, leap, pass over.
Main