[Lady Sorrow]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

You know, there is a difference between the etymology of a word (Oestara, Easter) and the effective origins of the tradition, which are in no way traceable to some kind of hurdy-gurdy belief.

While I hate to agree with a detestable heathen such as Hellthing, the similarities between the pagan and Godly holidays are no coincidence. The Godless pagans, of course, pre-stole those dates in order to mock our Lord, then ridiculously claim that part of christian beliefs are taken from theirs! I mean honestly, the nerve!

[Brother John]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I was talking about Easter specifically here, which - I thought - dates back to the Pesach feast?

[OnYourKnees]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I was talking about Easter specifically here, which - I thought - dates back to the Pesach feast?

You are correct, sir.

Passover, or Pesach, is celebrated at the beginning of April.

Meanwhile, even WiccanPedophile indicates that links between pagan holidays and Easter are tenuous, at best:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#...ter_traditions
[edit] Etymology and the origins of Easter traditions

In his 'De Temporum Ratione' the Venerable Bede wrote that the month Eostremonat (Eosturmonath) (April) was so named because of a goddess, Eostre, who had formerly been worshipped in that month. In recent years some scholars (Ronald Hutton, P.D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Elizabeth Freeman) have suggested that a lack of supporting documentation for this goddess might indicate that Bede assumed her existence based on the name of the month. Others note that Bede's status as "the Father of English History", having been the author of the first substantial history of England ever written, might make the lack of additional mention for a goddess whose worship had already died out by Bede's time unsurprising. The debate receives considerable attention because the name 'Easter' is derived from Eostremonat (Eosturmonath), and thus, according to Bede, from the pagan goddess Eostre. Some authors have concluded that Easter has never been a pagan holiday but is a shortened form of the German word for resurrection, auferstehen/auferstehung.[2]

Jakob Grimm took up the question of Eostre in his Deutsche Mythologie of 1835, noting that Ostaramanoth was etymologically related to Eostremonat (Eosturmonath) and writing of various landmarks and customs related to the goddess Ostara in Germany. Again, because of a lack of written documentation, critics suggest that Grimm took Bede's mention of a goddess Eostre at face value and constructed the goddess Ostara around existing Germanic customs which may have arisen independently. Others point to Grimm's stated intent to gather and record oral traditions which might otherwise be lost as explanation for the lack of further documentation. Amongst other traditions, Grimm connected the 'Osterhase' (Easter Bunny) and Easter Eggs to the goddess Ostara/Eostre. He also cites various place names in Germany as being evidence of Ostara, but critics contend that the close etymological relationship between Ostara and the words for 'east' and 'dawn' could mean that these place names referred to either of those two things rather than a goddess.

However, the giving of eggs at spring festivals was not restricted to Germanic peoples and could be found among the Persians, Romans, Jews and the Armenians. They were a widespread symbol of rebirth and resurrection and thus might have been adopted from any number of sources.

[edit] Easter as a Babylonian festival

Some suggest an etymological relationship between Eostre and the Babylonian goddess Ishtar (variant spelling: Eshtar) ([2] [3] [4] [5]) and the possibility that aspects of an ancient festival accompanied the name, claiming that the worship of Bel and Astarte was anciently introduced into Britain, and that the hot cross buns of Good Friday and dyed eggs of Easter Sunday figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now.
Any alleged connection between Ishtar and Easter is geographically distant and linguistically untenable.

Claiming a connection between Ishtar and Easter also ignores the fact that Easter is called "Passover" in almost every other language in the world. (The only exceptions appear to be the languages of those people who first learned Christianity at the hands of English or other Anglophone missionaries.) Examples of this are the Hebrew Pesach; the Greek Paskha; the Latin Pascha; the Italian Pasqua; the Spanish La Pascua; and Scots Gaelic An Casca. The holiday was not called "Easter" until the 8th Century, by which time it had already been in existence for 700 years.
There is the additional problem that the very lands where Ishtar was once known have never been known to use a name like "Easter" for this or any other spring holiday.

[eliot mayfield]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I thought I'd bump this. I went out and cut a perfect willow "pomlaska" (stick to beat women with).
I hope to beat the Hell out of several women this year. Praise Jesus!

[Wide-Open]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I thought I'd bump this. I went out and cut a perfect willow "pomlaska" (stick to beat women with).
I hope to beat the Hell out of several women this year. Praise Jesus!

Sounds like fun Brother Eliot! If time permits I might come over to commieland to join you in some pomlaska antics.

Are there any rules? Can you beat till they bleed?

2 Kings 6:6
And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

[eliot mayfield]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

Rules? Some parts of the country you can dump the woman in the bathtub and spray ice cold water over her to further cleanse the soul after the devil has been beaten out.
Come on over and I'll show you how it's done. There may be some videos on you tube, but keep in mind this is a hellbound country full of commies and some people do not take the holiday seriously.

[andie808]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I'm absoultely repulsed by what I've just read.

"men have a higher ranking than women?"

Excuse me, but honestly, we are all children of the Divine, whether he's your Christian God/Jesus/Holy Ghost, or while it's my pagan Goddess/God. If god didn't want women here, why is it not an all Male world?
Did god want to torture one of his children?
I wouldn't think so, being a former Catholic, god loves all of his children. His creations. Made in the image of him, with apart of HIM inside.

By torturing women, your torturing God. Lack of respect, would be a better word for torturing women.

I can't say anything about Cults, but Heathenism is NOT whipping people's sins out of them. Please take the time to gain some knowledge on the subject before you bash it.

Paganism (including heathenism) is an ancient earth based spirituallity. We want to HELP the planet, because the planet is apart of the divine (as well as those bunnies, and that tree outside down the street.)

Ostara (as the pagans call it) is based on the Lunar Saxon fertility Goddess, Eostre. Want to know something intresting?

She represented rabbits. Eggs are a sign of fertility (if you don't get this, think middle school health class, reproduction.)

What pagans do on Ostara/Easter, is they celebrate the coming Spring and the fertility (Eostre, remember?) of the lands which they will plant their crops on, to create food to nourish themselves. An example of a Pagan ritual would involve a small little plant, a seed and a goal of something new and fresh you want to bring to yourself.

Example: I want to be more confident.

You then visualize the goal coming to frutation (ex. you, public speaking fearlessly) and there! Give the Goddess an offering of something which reminds you of spring (ex. since I live near a forest, there are alot of bees. Bees make honey. Honeydew would be a good offering.)

And in terms of your thought of 'human sacfice' that may happen in your head, but we don't since we vow at Wiccaning (baptism is to christianity as wiccanism is to Paganism) this: "AND IT HARM NONE, DO AS YE WILL."

If you kill something, your harming it, are you not?
Then your breaking the moral code, aren't you.

I'm actually glad to be the one to be the barrer of your bad news, but Paganism is friendly. You should be too.

That being said, if you still believe paganism is psychotic, I urge you to go get rid of anything pagan. Go cut those trees down outside your church, stop using candles (pagans use them. !) don't EVER eat fruits ever again. Dont plant crops, BECAUSE THE PAGANS DO IT.

please. get over yourself.
open your eyes, my friends.

we're not as bad as you think we are.
-Andrea G.,
Toronto ON.

[by the way, if you want to see a pagan ritual, and know its NOT whipping, here's a link. For youtube. God has at least blessed youtube, its safe, don't worry.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UEOQqnHMSMc ]

[Brother Temperance]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

I'm absoultely repulsed by what I've just read.

"men have a higher ranking than women?"

Excuse me, but honestly, we are all children of the Divine, whether he's your Christian God/Jesus/Holy Ghost, or while it's my pagan Goddess/God. If god didn't want women here, why is it not an all Male world?

So we would have something to spill our seed into without turning queer. That's it.

Did god want to torture one of his children?

Um, yes?

I wouldn't think so, being a former Catholic, god loves all of his children.

Are you using "being a former Catholic" as shorthand for "by the way, I know absolutely nothing about Christianity or God's Word" here? If so, I salute your honesty.

His creations. Made in the image of him, with apart of HIM inside.

By torturing women, your torturing God. Lack of respect, would be a better word for torturing women.

And "lack of coherent sentence structure" would be a good way of describing your bizarre Catho-pagan gibberish. How are we torturing God? Are we torturing them, or just disrespecting them? What's so disrespectful about being honest to women, anyway?

I can't say anything about Cults, but Heathenism is NOT whipping people's sins out of them. Please take the time to gain some knowledge on the subject before you bash it.

And please take the time to format your antichristian hate propaganda into vaguely intelligible sentences before you spew it upon God's forums. I write more coherently than that with a litre of gin inside me.

Paganism (including heathenism) is an ancient earth based spirituallity. We want to HELP the planet, because the planet is apart of the divine (as well as those bunnies, and that tree outside down the street.)

Friend, Jesus is coming back to destroy the earth and all non-Christians living on it. As well as those bunnies you worship, and that tree down the street.

Ostara (as the pagans call it) is based on the Lunar Saxon fertility Goddess, Eostre. Want to know something intresting?

She represented rabbits. Eggs are a sign of fertility (if you don't get this, think middle school health class, reproduction.)

What pagans do on Ostara/Easter, is they celebrate the coming Spring and the fertility (Eostre, remember?) of the lands which they will plant their crops on, to create food to nourish themselves. An example of a Pagan ritual would involve a small little plant, a seed and a goal of something new and fresh you want to bring to yourself.

Example: I want to be more confident.

You then visualize the goal coming to frutation (ex. you, public speaking fearlessly) and there! Give the Goddess an offering of something which reminds you of spring (ex. since I live near a forest, there are alot of bees. Bees make honey. Honeydew would be a good offering.)

You promised to tell us something interesting. I'm still waiting, bunny-worshipper.

And in terms of your thought of 'human sacfice' that may happen in your head, but we don't since we vow at Wiccaning (baptism is to christianity as wiccanism is to Paganism) this: "AND IT HARM NONE, DO AS YE WILL."

If you kill something, your harming it, are you not?
Then your breaking the moral code, aren't you.

I'm actually glad to be the one to be the barrer of your bad news, but Paganism is friendly. You should be too.

Deuteronomy 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

We are commanded to kill those who worship other Gods. No matter how friendly they are.

[JennyD]

Re: A good idea, but still pagan.

Excuse me, but honestly, we are all children of the Divine, whether he's your Christian God/Jesus/Holy Ghost, or while it's my pagan Goddess/God.

Er, "creations" maybe, made of the dust of the earth (see Genesis 2:7). The only CHILD of God is Jesus, and He also IS God.

Did god want to torture one of his children?

Well, by doing so He'd torture Himself. And He did, perhaps you've heard about God coming to Earth as Jesus so He could sacrifice Himself to Himself?

But you could also read the book of Job and see how God allowed Satan to torture Job, that God might win a bet.

By torturing women, your torturing God. Lack of respect, would be a better word for torturing women.

That last sentence made no sense; however, I fail to see any evidence of TORTURING. Disciplining, maybe, but no torturing.

I can't say anything about Cults, but Heathenism is NOT whipping people's sins out of them. Please take the time to gain some knowledge on the subject before you bash it.

Could you find us a definition of your religion, "Heathenism"? Thanks!

Ostara (as the pagans call it) is based on the Lunar Saxon fertility Goddess, Eostre. Want to know something intresting?

She represented rabbits. Eggs are a sign of fertility (if you don't get this, think middle school health class, reproduction.)

So this "goddess" Olestra represented rabbits in some sort of "god and goddess congress"? That IS interesting!

Did she argue that carrots should be larger, or perhaps that rabbit skin coats should be banned? What legislation did she introduce on behalf of her constituents, the rabbits?

Also, was Olestra ever accused of stuffing the ballot boxes by encouraging her constituents to wildly reproduce in a most wanton and Mexican-like manner?

And in terms of your thought of 'human sacfice' that may happen in your head, but we don't since we vow at Wiccaning (baptism is to christianity as wiccanism is to Paganism) this: "AND IT HARM NONE, DO AS YE WILL."

Wait, I thought you were Pagan, which would require you to sacrifice animals and/or humans, as the pre-Christian pagans did. Unless, of course, you received some mystical revelation telling you that you don't have to anymore.

But now you say you're a Wiccan, which means you follow a religion founded in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner, and popularized by Silverbunny Ravenfluff, who chose her name to honor the Great Rabbit Goddess Olestra. Are you, by any chance, a "Teen Witch"?

If you kill something, your harming it, are you not?
Then your breaking the moral code, aren't you.

When you get sick, do you take antibiotics?

You're killing something. Millions of somethings, in fact. I suppose that makes you a hypocrite. Not really a surprise, I admit . . . followers of Silverbunny Ravenfluff usually are.

That being said, if you still believe paganism is psychotic, I urge you to go get rid of anything pagan. Go cut those trees down outside your church, stop using candles (pagans use them. !) don't EVER eat fruits ever again. Dont plant crops, BECAUSE THE PAGANS DO IT.

Oh, dear. Now I understand.

You're not Wiccan. You're not Pagan.

You're insane.