he beholds
Puritan Board Doctor
So if I'm a Christian and I dye Easter eggs, am I not a Christian dyeing Easter eggs? And thus is it not me doing a Pagan ritual but it is a Christian dyeing eggs?
The objects are neutral, but our motivations never are. Do we not call Sunday "the Lord's Day," regardless of how others may observe it? Is it then possible that Easter can be pagan if Christians attach elements to the day that are contrary to scripture? It's one thing to mark spring's arrival with flowers, dyed eggs, etc. just as we might mark fall with hay bales and pumpkins, but if the former is attached to the work of Christ, is that not problematic?
I guess I can't think of anything Pagan or inherently sinful that is attached to celebrating Easter. What do most people do?
If it is not a big deal then why not hold "Resurrection Sunday" in July? What Biblical reason is there that it must be held in March/April depending on the "non-binding" church calendar of denominations that do not hold to the Regulative Principle?
I'd love to see a church demonstrate that it's not a requirement that it be held when the other church's are celebrating Easter and other unbiblical holy days.
Well, any church that has Sunday church is holding Resurrection Sunday on a Sunday in July, right? What are we talking about? What do churches do on Easter Sunday that they wouldn't do in July?
I tried to condense my questions into one post. I am really severely confused over what people are doing that is sinful on April 8th that they aren't doing on April 1. Not what are Pagans doing, but what are our PCA, ARP, RPCNA, Reformed Baptist, OPC, etc, churches doing that is sinful? What are you all saying is sinful? If it is stuff that shouldn't be done on the Lord's day (like petting zoos or something), OK, gotcha. If it's eating at grandma's, I definitely do NOT get it. If it's a sermon that mentions the fact that our Lord is risen, you are going to have to do a better job at telling me why that is forbidden.
And if it's binding the consciences of some, to what are they being bound? Perhaps I've been extremely blessed to never have been to a church that does these crazy Pagan rituals a few times a year that you guys are so worried about. Can anyone tell me how their own conscience has been bound by Easter? I can say that the people who are worried about these bound consciences seem to be the ones who'd be more likely to bind my own conscience. I feel like if you were my pastor you'd be making me feel guilty for...well, I'm still not exactly what we aren't allowed to do on Easter because no one has really given any examples of these Pagan rituals.
So what is it exactly that we shouldn't be doing? I'm not being a jerk, I honestly have no clue what I'm even defending and I'm actually a little confused by the lack of examples. (I left Anna's quote there because she did attempt to answer me, but I don't get what Easter has to do with adding to the work of Christ. I seriously have no clue what I should not be doing. Saying the word Easter?)