Greetings. As Easter approaches, I hear things coming from Christians that are just plain wrong, historically speaking. I would like to clarify some issues. What I have in mind is the legitimacy of the celebration of Easter. Then I will throw in a few tidbits that are not Easter related, but they are inaccuracies that bug me anyway.
I will begin by quoting the apostle Paul: "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord...Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God" (Romans 14:5-6a, 10). In other words, I am not to force anyone to regard Easter as a day of special honor or celebration. But neither are you to force me to not celebrate. All you humbugs who would do away with Christmas and Easter because they are "pagan holidays" are not only historically in error (as will be stated below), but are also despising the counsel of God by passing judgment on your brother who rather likes Easter.
Now the historical clarifications.
EMPEROR CONSTANTINE DID NOT INVENT EASTER
Poor Emperor Constantine gets blamed for a lot. Personally, whenever I hear someone start to blame Constantine for some sort of church practice or belief, I immediately assume that this person is a heretic. They must then prove themselves innocent. I will address some of these statements below. As for Easter, Christians had been celebrating the resurrection of Christ from the first century onward (Ivor J. Davidson, The Birth of the Church, 230). Polycarp and Anicetus were discussing the observance of Easter in 154 or 155 AD, and Melito of Sardis had published a homily on Easter in 170 (Davidson, 231). This all predates Constantine's supposed invention of Easter at the Council of Nicea by over 150 years. All that Nicea decided was when on the calendar Easter should fall. Constantine had called this council and presided over it, but he did not make this stuff up. He merely gave his stamp of approval to what the Christian bishops decided. At this point, if you want to shift blame from Constantine to the council of bishops, you would be less wrong. However, the council at Nicea did not invent anything. They merely affirmed what had been believed since the beginning, and put into more technical language the truth that had already existed.
As for the dating of Easter, if you are curious, it was decided that it should always fall on Sunday, rather than on a certain date. It also is linked to Passover, for obvious reasons. Though I wouldn't quote Wikipedia for a real paper, for our purposes here, I believe that it is trustworthy enough to direct you to Wikipedia's entry on Easter to learn more about the date. It is, in my opinion, unimportant as to when exactly it should be celebrated. See the passage from Romans above.
EASTER IS NOT A PAGAN HOLIDAY
Obviously, I am not referring to the celebration of eggs and bunny rabbits. I am talking about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Just defining it makes it plain that it is not a pagan holiday. Eggs and rabbits are pagan, and the name "Easter" probably does come from the celebration of a fertility goddess (see the Wikipedia link above), but that has no bearing on the actual significance of the Christian celebration. For whatever reason, we call it Easter and not Pascha, but who cares? We have lots of weird words in our languages but don't quibble about their etymologies. Good grief. Get over it.
Well, that's it for my Easter speech. Now for my non-related annoyances.
CONSTANTINE DID NOT INVENT THE TRINITY
The argument above about Easter applies here. Read a real history book and don't just rely on what you hear from TV and cultists. Better yet, read the gospel of John. The word "trinity" may not be there, but the doctrine is there from chapter one.
CONSTANTINE DID NOT INVENT CHRISTMAS
See the above comments about Easter.
CONSTANTINE DID NOT MOVE THE SABBATH TO SUNDAY
Christians had been worshipping on Sunday from the very beginning of the church (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:2, Rev 1:10). Christians are not bound to Jewish regulations of observing Saturday (see the entire book of Galatians...or the whole New Testament, really). Ligonier Ministries has a good teaching series on church history by Robert Godfrey. In the first, or maybe second, lecture, he talks about this sort of thing. It is very interesting and informative. You can find it here.
That is all the complaining I have to vent for now. Message ends.
