The Christian holy day called Easter is the celeb

The Christian holy day called Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his death. Christians believe that Christ was divine, the Son of God, and human at the same time. Therefore he could die like a man, but could also beat death so that his body could come to life again. After his resurrection Christ stayed on earth for 40 days and preached to all his disciples. Then on the fortieth day he ascended bodily into heaven. The resurrection of Christ was considered the proof that he was God and it was the beginning of the Christian religion. The importance of this event makes Easter the most holy day of the year for Christians. This is shown on the calendar of holy days where Lent leads up to Easter and the celebration of Easter lasts until Ascension day. Many of the prayers and rituals of Easter are different for different Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity. But the observance of Easter is the central event of the year for all of them.

Easter was celebrated quite recently and to anybody who is unfamiliar with the holy day it seems unusual. The Easter egg, for example, does not seem to be connected to the Resurrection story at first. Even many Christians can not explain Easter eggs if they are asked. Therefore I decided to research the meaning of Easter.

In order to get a clear outline of the ideas behind Easter a basic history of world religions was consulted. Parrinder gives the basic information about Easter,

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on "cannot deny the reality of the 'resurrection faith' on the part of the early Christians" (422). This faith developed from the accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection in the Scriptures. The story of the Resurrection is included in all four of the Gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. In summary what happened was that Christ went to Jerusalem, around the time of the Jewish religious celebration known as Passover, to preach and was tortured and crucified. He was then buried in a tomb. After three days he rose up out of the tomb and began to appear to his disciples. According to St. Paul, "Christ died for our sins" and his resurrection showed that humanity could be saved, and follow Jesus to heaven, because he had suffered for them (quoted in Parrinder 422). It was this sacrifice by Jesus that inspired his followers, and Christians ever since then have been moved by "the thought of a God who shared the life of his creatures" (Watts 84). The purpose of the Gospels and the other parts of the New Testament was to testify to the fact that Jesus had indeed died and been resurrected. St. Paul emphasized the number of witnesses who saw Jesus after his death and, therefore, could confirm the resurrection as a fact. St.

Category: Philosophy - T