“Happy Resurrection Sunday!”
Huh??
Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday…is it not? Every single day is resurrection Sunday, for the believer, is it not?
Why does Evangelicalism have to try and ruin everything? Why do they feel the need to throw out a long treasured Christian celebration like Easter?
The next thing you know, they will be saying “Merry Incarnational Sunday” on Christmas morning.
Filed under: Easter Sunday |
The Old Adam Lives! 
Come on Steve, everyone knows that if you use Easter then people will get it confused with the Easter Bunny. We have to rename the holiday otherwise people might forget about church altogether. (I’m just guessing that is the reasoning.) Same stupid crap that gave us “Passion Sunday,” rather than Palm Sunday, thereby completely ruining the idea of Holy week or the the reason for celebrating Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Of course every Sunday is an Easter celebration, which is why they are excluded from Lent. Another reason you shouldn’t give up cigarettes or Vices like blogging for lent. you just give those up. If you make them your fast you are actually by liturgical rubrics obligated to indulge in them on Sunday. Another good reason not to be legalistic about these things. But it is food for thought.
Well, you really want an evangelical gasp of horror…just say Good Luck! Oops…I meant may the Lord’s favor rest upon you…Santa and the Bunny…they are not welcome at our house….I do have quite a few eggs though…Honest, I didn’t color them…God did…
Bror,
Next Lent I will be giving up eating chocolate Easter Bunnies.
(they are cheaper after Easter anyway)
Nancy,
I have seen your colored eggs from thr Chichi sisters. Very nice job of coloration by the Big Guy.
When you mentioned saying “good luck’ to an Evangelical, I cracked up. They are awfully sensitive to that one aren’t they. Especially when I say it (as a Lutheran), it just confirms to them that I am of the devil.
Thanks, Nancy!
And the best of luck to you and yours!
“Why does Evangelicalism have to try and ruin everything?”
It’s almost coming to the point where I don’t like to be called an ‘evangelical’ or ‘Christian’ because of the lunacy that keeps popping up.
Maybe a new acronym – A.F.O.J.
Authentic Followers Of Jesus?
WayneDawg,
I’m not saying that they aren’t “authentic followers”. (none of us can know the wheat from the tares, anyway)
I’m just saying that they want to redefine everything. They toss out things that are tried and true and recreate in their own image.
Many rap music stars who spew obscenities in their music, wear large gold crosses. And probably tens of thousands wear crosses just as a fashion accessory.
Should we toss away the cross also?
Many Evangelicals virtually have. It’s hard to find in their churches, and it’s hard to find in their preaching and teaching. It’s all about ‘you’.
Of course it’s all about you. But if it’s not about what God did for you it ain’t Christianity.
I’d be careful to paint with too wide a brush, Steve. That’s not particularly useful.
Sure, some churches are abandoning the cross and authentic faith (the recent examples on my blog of thematic Easter services are great examples), but I wouldn’t say this is the majority, just a rather loud minority. And sure, some churches bend over backward to avoid “being of the world” to the point that they create “Christian cheese” (like “Sunday School Musical” or the disdain for “Easter”) but that’s just poorly placed priorities, nothing else (usually). I, for one, have never heard “Happy Resurrection Sunday,” that I can recall. And I’ve been in the evangelical world my whole life.
Darius,
That’s exactly what I am doing, Darius, “painting with a broad brush”.
I have noticed this trend just this year, and I heard it quite a bit in my area (an area of many large non-denominational churches), and I noticed it on several blog sites.
To me, it does not speak of Evangelicalism as a whole, but just another troublesome trend, by some.
Often, what I try to do here is to point these things out that others might be aware of them.
I think it’s great that this isn’t happening where you are, and I hope it doesn’t spread.
I appreciate your input (as always) Darius.
Thank you, my friend!
– Steve
Steve,
I would guess you noticed it at my place. Personally, I have dispensed with the word Easter because of its connection to pagan roots. I think Christianity in our time has enough trouble without having to explain why are comfortable with so many pagan practices. Take a look at an explanation at a site like http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm which isn’t exactly friendly to Christianity.
Easter isn’t a biblical word. Try searching for where the word even comes from and you will get several stories. It doesn’t appear in the Bible, and I don’t have a problem dropping it and/or explaining why. I am not going to condemn a brother or sister in the Lord for using it either.
Easter is a pagan term that was hijacked by Christianity, not the other way around.
By the way, I don’t mind saying Merry Christmas. At least Christmas has Christ’s name in it.
Steve,
To me, it does not speak of Evangelicalism as a whole, but just another troublesome trend, by some.
Indeed but that is also the issue. Evangelicalism has these popping up trends because its base is shallow. It is not founded on the Cross alone, but it has other pillars along with the Cross.
So it will be swayed and will be wobbly.
At first I thought it could be reformed but now I think it should just die.
LPC
Joe,
If that is your reasoning – you should not believe in the Trinity since it is not in the Bible either. I take it that you are trinitarian (or may be not)?
LPC
This is kind of funny to me because I’m old enough to recall in our area where this kind of practice, “don’t do Christmas, Easter, Halloween”, was only associated with the JW’s. One could always pick out the JW in grade school. He was the sad little kid over in the corner not partaking.
Reminds me of a true story last year at my wifes work (hospital). It was during ChristmasI believe. She came home and told me there was this little boy and his dad that came into the ER, a baptistic evangelical of some sort. She bent down to the little boy as they were finished and wished them Merry Christmas and asked if the little boy was getting any presence. He had this sad pouty look on his face. (the picture of this was worth a thousand words). My wife said the dad, bumped him with his elbow as if to nudge him to say something. And the little boy looking down kicking his feet across the ground said in a sad voice, “We don’t get presents because it’s Jesus’ birthday”.
The picture of it all says it all. And there, my friends is a future atheist in the making.
When we use to witness and do “mission trips” out to Utah to Mormons and JWs, we use to ask the ex-mormons and JWs (many of them some high profile ex’s), “What religion do they typically go to if they don’t come to Christianity”. Their unanomious answer was atheism/agnosticism because the seering legalism they were under makes them flee any resemblance of religion. Most ex-atheist/agnostic if you can get them to open up and talk about their past will reveal that under their former religious life, usually some form of false Christianity or legally presented Christianity, it was legal city.
It’s really a simple formula, a logical one. It goes something like this: God is presented as Law only and the “way to God” either overtly (Mormonism) or covertly (Confounded Law Gospel, third use, sanctification as clean up programs, etc…). So Christianity is painted and presented and thus God this way. Inwardly they eventually detect, “But I don’t want or feel that I desire this even though I do it”. They actually “feel their hearts”. But they are told/taught “this is God” and “this is the way” via the false doctrine and confounded preaching. But when they don’t feel it as a desire, which is the truth that should be taught, they easily put two and two together. 1. You say God/the way is X. 2. I never feel/desire X. Ergo, your idea of God is not true, therefore there must not be a God.
It’s really a simple formula.
L
Jeff,
That Easter was taken (by the Christians) from pagan celebrations isn’t the problem.
Christians have done that with other celebrations, and other things in the church as well. The designs of Christian cathedrals were copied from pagan designs.
Evangelicalism often throws out things that are legitimatly connected to Christian worship practices such as the liturgigal form of worship (which Jesus and the disciples knew from the synagogue)
I hunted eggs, and ate chocolate bunnies (still do – eat choc. bunnies) and all that stuff as a kid. So did everyone that I know in my church. As we grew, we matured, and left childish things behind (except for choc. bunnies 😀 )
I agree with Larry that depriving children of the joy that comes from these childish activities (while all the other kids are doing them) is a terrible thing.
I think we ought let kids be kids. They will grow up and hopefully be taught along the way, the ways of the true faith.
LPC,
Much of Evangelicalism is shallow because something else has taken precedence over the cross…and that is ‘the self’.
In so many cases, it starts with ‘the self’ (my decision)…continues with ‘the self’ (my obedience)…and ends with ‘the self’ (how ‘I’ have done).
Painting with a broad brush here, of course it does not apply to all Evangelicals, but the “free will” “decision” theology makes this type of self focused Christianity possible, and probable.
LPC,
The gentleman that you asked the question of on this post, name is Jeff (not Joe).
Steve,
My kids still have fun and we still celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. When I was a kid and we hunted Easter eggs and got the baskets and all of that stuff, we lived in a culture that still affirmed Christianity to a large degree. Today, we have Discovery specials and History channel specials and others all saying that Christianity is just another “old pagan religion” and using these very things to back it up.
I have opted to give no room in these areas to allow the devil a foothold. It is my personal choice and I don’t go foisting it on others. But I have good reasons and biblical reasons for doing so. Unfortunately, most of the grief I take for doing this comes from fellow brothers in the Lord (I am not saying that here, although someone has already questioned if I believe in the Trinity).
The Trinity is in the Bible by the way. Jesus calls Himself God and talks of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. How else would you explain those references apart from the Trinity? Things like the Easter bunny and Easter eggs may well be there in some sort, but they would be condemned along with the rest of the worship of spring fertility gods and rites (see Ashtoreh as one possibility).
Jeff,
Of course we all have to work out these things for ourselves.
I believe that hunting Easter eggs once a year will not open the door to the devil anymore than an average day in the world would. I think that an average day is a lot more corrupting.
In order to protect ourselves and families from the influences of the devil we would have to lock ourselves up in a room with zero outside contact. And then we would really be ripe for a demonic attack.
The Bible tells us that “the day is evil”. There is no getting around “the day”.
We battle, and are protected by our Lord in our faith and in the Word and sacraments.
But I realize that many Christians think differently.
So be it.
Thanks, Jeff.
Legalism dies a hard death, huh, Steve? The Law brings death, but that doesn’t stop Christians from wallowing it.
I think Christians badly need a new understanding of sin. Some view it in some legalistic manner where anything that mentions the world or is connected to the world is bad and to be avoided (thus the legalistic prohibition against drinking alcohol, certain movies, Halloween) or transformed into Christian cheese. Others, while not legalistic in the same way, concentrate on stuff like eating McDonald’s and speeding while rarely mentioning what gets a lot of play in the NT: the fruits of the Spirit. Rather than focus on what we shouldn’t do, maybe we should be focusing on what we should BE. And then out of that, the Spirit will help us become more disciplined in fighting sin in our lives and showing us where we have freedom.
I don’t think there is enough talk about freedom in Christ in our churches. This is somewhat understandable, because people don’t want to go to the extreme of cheap grace and sinning so that grace may increase. But it’s still damaging…
Darius
What in blazes is “Christian cheese”? You lost me completely with that one.
Darius,
You have hit upon a critical issue, our understanding of what sin actually is. Our pastor was just making this point last night. He said, “If we misunderstand just exactly what sin is we will (we necessarily WILL) go after false gods (which we will call the God, the Jesus) and false gospels (which we will call the “biblical” “gospel”) which are no Gospel at all”.
And that is EXACTLY and PRECISELY what one sees. What is critical to see is that it does not necessitate “if one gets sin wrong” one then will go after “Zeus” or “Allah” but “other Christs” and “other Gospels” called such, distilled even out of the bible which are in reality idols and false.
Larry
Darius,
The use of the term “cheap grace” is almost always a sign of a reassertion of the old Adam, his death rattle expecting that he has now finally backed FREE grace into a corner – just as was the false dilemma of “may we sin that grace may abound”. But Paul doesn’t budge nor return to the Law to answer that nor say, “You better not”. He slays with the sword and charges forward with all due speed and power by returning to baptism to answer the “hath God really said” question, that is to say he returns to free grace and the Gospel.
The too are due to a false knowledge of what sin is, which is why Paul charges on.
Larry
This is Christian cheese:
http://www.christiancheese.blogspot.com/
Basically, taking pop culture stuff and “Christianizing” it. That’s what’s been happening with Halloween for years.
Larry, what I mean by cheap grace is the same was what Bonhoeffer meant by it. Grace comes at a price: Christ’s blood. It’s quite costly. As Bonhoeffer said, in contrast, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”