> Spejic, you could make that comment fairly > accurately about Christmas, but not about Easter. Easter is the celebration of the spring equinox. The name "Easter" is derived from the goddess of spring, going by different names such as Ishtar or Eostre. Eggs and rabbits both come from pagan symbols of fertility and rebirth. Painting the eggs is also a pagan tradition, as are hot cross buns or holding the religious celebration at sun rise. The celebration of Lent comes from the festival of Tammuz (son of Ishtar). The idea of having holidays is from pagan times. There isn't anything in the Bible asking the time of Jesus's resurrection be a time of celebration. The early Christians had very different traditions for the easter celebration, and it has changed over time to coincide with the already existing pagan one that most already celebrated.
I understand that about the eggs and rabbits. However, that is separate from the Church, just as Santa Claus is separate from the church at Christmas. I understand also that the Bible does not say specifically to celebrate Easter (actually, it does, but that we should celebrate it daily through the living of our lives.). There are other things that we are commanded to celebrate, such as communion, the Jews were instructed to celebrate passover, etc. Just because something's not mentioned in the Bible doesn't mean it's wrong to do it (It doesn't say to have 3 services a week or 1, or daily). I just mainly disagreed with your choice of words. We know Jesus was crucified in the spring, coinciding with Passover. It's not inappropriate to celebrate it in the spring.
I just remembered I have a medallion blessed by MT. Now that she's going to be a saint, does it's mystical power increase? Does it go up in value, spiritually or monetarily? Just curious.
This thread is incredible, regardless of where you stand on Hitchens or Mother Teresa, some of you are speaking straight out of your a$$holes! Do yourself a favor, go talk to a Catholic Priest, a Protestant one, Orthodox, and whatever religion it is you still don't have a f***ing clue about... The bigots that cloak themselves in self-righteousness are insane. General Boykins, would you care to elaborate??? I'm sure Santorum and Buchanan would love this discourse on Catholicism... I love Christians that feel its such a bother to recognize that Christ's main theme was to love each other...
Pretty much only the English speaking world uses the word "Easter." The holiday in most other languages is some variation of "Pascha" (meaning "passover") as Christians consider Christ's Ressurection to be their Passover. Pascha closely follows (timewise) the Jewish Passover considering the string of historical events.
People can have disagreements...even heated ones and still love each other. Just because a husband and wife fight sometimes doesn't mean they don't love each other. I think its the same way amongst Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox. Sometimes they fight about stuff amongst themselves, but it doesn't mean they provincial either.
This will always be my opinion on Christianity, whether its the A.M.E. variety I was raised on, or some other variant: Matthew 22:36-40: Until you've mastered the two most important things you've been COMMANDED to master by your Christ, keep quiet and focused on that task. Of course, most of today's Christians are perfectly willing to twist and turn the Two Great Commandments into something that allows them to continue their hateful, material, "other"-killing ways, i.e., to classify "neighbor" into "those I already like or love or agree with." Of course, if Christ were asking you to love those you would already love anyway, why did Christ make this the SECOND GREATEST COMMANDMENT in the canon, and why did Christ "hang all the Law and the Prophets" (i.e., all the other scripture most Christians USE to justify their faith-dishonest behaviours) upon that AND loving God? Common sense would tell you that "neighbor" means WHOEVER you come to know, come to be aware of, in your cross-section of life and living. Of course, that would mean...loving, for example, Saddam as oneself...loving Manson, McVeigh, and Hitler as oneself; you can see the conundrum for Christians today; being Christ-like is HARD, hard as nails...hards as those nails up on that Cross at Golgotha, too hard for daily living in the modern world for most, and most so-called Christians fall short, not of their capability, which in the dogma is forgivable, but fall short of even trying, which in the dogma sentences them to damnation...or does it? The modern and post-modern interpretations, the modern hope, of course, is that right before they die, they'll undergo some osmosis that will allow them to be forgiven for all the shite they've willfullly done and, due to their last-minute faith appeal (that springs not from love of God and everyone but rather from fear of Hell), and enter the Kingdom. Let's hope that IF...if...the Christian dogma is the reality of the Universe, that the entrance requirements are more rigourous than that...
Italy is also chock full of saints. On their feast days, entire towns shut down to celebrate. Go to Assisi on October 4th (Saint Francis) some time to see what I mean.
Jesus all ready told us that the salvation is very hard to achieve and just very few are going to achieve it.
GringoTex said it well when he wrote, "Saints serves as sources of inspiration for Catholics." In addition, saints pray for us. Sure the Bible talks about "saints," but, like MtMike pointed out, usually not the same saints we're talking about here. The "saints that have gone before us," ie everyone in heaven, are not to be confused with the Saints that have been canonized and given special authority. As nicodemus and Dr. Wankler have mentioned, the Bible is not the sole authority for the Catholic Church. To believe that it is goes against scripture: 1 Cor 11:2 "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you." 2 Thess 2:15 "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." John 21:25 "But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." That doesn't mean that the Bible never makes a reference to Saints. There's a handful of passages that tell us to pray for one another. I ask my friends to pray for me and vice versa all the time. It is not much different asking a Saint to pray for me/on my behalf except this: a Saint has lived a life of holiness and is in heaven with God. And like James 5:16 says, "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."
I've noticed that many Baptists, especially those insulated in the south, tend to have a "Catholic Centric" view of Christianity. It might help you to become more familiar with the Coptic church, the Egyptian Orthodox church, at this link http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/jude/copt.html . The traditions and beliefs that are still held today have been passed down from Jesus' time. They were not written down. No one had the need to write them down. One of the earliest oral traditions, that is not in the Bible, is the Nicene Creed, which was written by the Coptic saint, Saint Athanasius. It was necessary to establish who was and was not a Christian. There was a counter movement by the Gnostics (hence the word agnostic) who took a more spiritual or mystical view of Jesus's life. Some Southern Baptist and Southern Methodist churches still recite the Nicene Creed today yet have no idea that it is a creed written by a "non" Catholic. Here is another good link on the coptics, http://www.coptic.net/ All that to say, many Americans have a relatively ignorant view of Christianity, believing that there are two Christian religions, Protestant and Catholic, and that one is Bible based and the other is church based. That's not correct at any level.
It isn't just southerners, North Americans in general (as you point out later in your post), besides many Alaskans, are incredibly ignorant to the Churches of East, whether Byzantine Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox. St. Athanasius is also a saint of the Byzantine Orthodox Church. Here's a page at the Orthodox Church in America's website about him: http://www.oca.org/pages/orth_chri/Feasts-and-Saints/May/May-02.html#2
It could be argued that the "loaves and fishes" story provides a scriptural basis for that last tradition you mention.