Jon Stewart's Faith/Off: Passover vs. Easter

Comments

[Elohist]

02:57 AM on 04/17/2012

Partaking in pagan festivity means you are a pagan. Pagans are known for worshiping the Sun God. The Romans were Pagans that practiced Sun God worship. However, later adopted Christianity under the rule of Roman Emperor Constantine and incorporated paganism into Christian doctrine. The early church Christians kept the Sabbath Holy and Passover not the Jewish way which is referred to the Law of Moses which is to be kept with animal sacrifice but kept under the Law of Christ. Around 321 AD Sabbath was taken away and changed into Sunday to honor Sun God. This was done by the council of Nicaea. Also x-mas to pagans was considered a day to worship birth of sun god and is not the actual birth of Jesus. God commands in old and new testament that the people whether they believe in God or not are cursed if they follow commands of men and can never know true wisdom that can only come from God. Please actually study scripture and understand the history that has taken place. The gospel of Jesus Christ was destroyed during the Dark Ages and after during the age of reformation in which many christian denominations were established however neither one could restore the truth which was established by Jesus Christ in which gives true that saves mankind and according to the prophecies, it is very clear and certain that He has already come.

[kmclawson70]

04:54 PM on 04/15/2012

What about Purim? We so own the Christians on that holiday. We HAVE TWO DAYS of costumes, parties, presents, and great food! (Hamantaschen anyone?) So you have Halloween, one night, going out getting free candy, getting the bejezzus scared out of you. Haunted houses, bobbing for apples, lots and lots of candy........Damn.......we just can't win can we?

[Nic the wonder puppy]

11:32 AM on 04/15/2012

that was so funny that i passed gas and peed

[psnyder325]

06:24 AM on 04/15/2012

Actually, the symbols of "Easter" (Oestore, a pagan fertility festival) has NOTHING to do with the mythology of resurrection. It has to do fertility, with jelly-beans representing the chopped meat that was given to the revelers, and with eggs and bunnies representing fertility. There was also sympathetic magic, where there was "rollicking" in the fields for a good harvest. So... I hope everyone had a traditional Oestore, and had LOTS of fun in fields last week.

[messy]

12:28 PM on 04/16/2012

I thought it was "Ishtar" the Babylonian sex festival.

[Zerah]

12:41 AM on 04/18/2012

Eastre, Eostre, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphodite, Isis, and Madonna are all the same goddess worshiped at different times in different lands.

[insidious]

09:21 PM on 04/14/2012

Easter = The Pagan holiday of Oestre.

[amajamus]

09:51 PM on 04/12/2012

Christians do have the best holidays!

[insidious]

09:18 PM on 04/14/2012

They were borrowed from paganism.

[Feurio]

06:51 PM on 04/16/2012

Stolen.

[rich3324]

03:51 PM on 04/12/2012

Is Passover the holiday where the Jewish god killed the first born Egyptian children? Is there also a holiday for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra? Or the great flood?

[born 2b different]

09:54 AM on 04/13/2012

Why don't you Google it?

[Cole 33]

03:24 PM on 04/12/2012

The real reason the abrahamic religions took over Pagan holidays? the pagans knew how to party, and they had the best time and most fun at their holidays.

Pagan holidays are a blast. I'm an atheist, and was asked why I still celebrate christmas, and I said, well I *don't* celebrate christmas, I go cut down a tree and decorate it with family, I spend weeks spending money on consumer goods that I think my family will like, and spend the most time buying toys that my son can have fun with (and me too), and then we spend a few days drinking, and eating and partying, and opening those gifts in a run up to the ultimate party of new years eve........I'm not sure what all that is, but it certainly has nothing to do with the birth of the son of a deistic being who is also himself.

I'm trying to call it the celebration of Sol Invictus, but christmas markets better.

[robinhood1]

08:38 PM on 04/14/2012

The Romans celebrated a December holiday called Saturnalia from Dec. 17 to the 23rd. Gifts were exchanged on the 23rd (per Wikipedia). The early Christians may have been trying to co-opt the pagan holidays for their own purposes.

[michelesda]

06:49 AM on 04/16/2012

You're just celebrating America's real religion, Capitalism. All hail Bottom Line Invictus; there is no God but Mammon, and Profits are his Prophets.

[enufsed2]

09:46 PM on 04/11/2012

loved, loved, loved this...so clever....and so true...

[Hillbilly49]

08:21 PM on 04/11/2012

For most Jewish Folk, Judaism is more of a cultural heritage than a religion; that seems very positive to me.  

[CARTERJ]

07:53 PM on 04/11/2012

Absolutely brilliant. Great writing, great delivery. A six-minute masterpiece.

[hfpf]

11:46 PM on 04/15/2012

Not so much.

[michelesda]

12:35 PM on 04/11/2012

Memo to founders of new religions; as you're ethnic-cleansing the pagans, make sure to steal a few of their juicier holidays from them along the way.

[Sister Lauren]

11:41 AM on 04/11/2012

Easter?

I'm voting for Estra, goddess of spring.

" Believers need to know that the early church did not celebrate a special day either to commemorate the Lord’s incarnation or His resurrection. Believers should also know that people did not widely celebrate Easter in America until after the Civil War (late 1800s) when there was a large immigration of European Catholics to this country. "

Should Christians Celebrate Easter?
http://www.cause-of-god.com/easter.html

Is the US Catholic?

I for one, sure hope not!

[TX Spud Bar]

03:17 PM on 04/11/2012

Easter is a pagan holiday,first introduced by Telesphorus as recorded by J.B. Lightfoot. Polycarp of Smyrna argued with the bishops at Rome not to switch the Passover (Pascha) to Easter Sunday in 155A.D.The first Pascha recorded is 1 Cor. 5:7-8.The Passover was changed to Easter at the Council of Nicaea 325,by the Universal Church. Polycarp not only championed Pascha but also the 7th day Sabbath.The first reference to Sun-day worship was about 150 A.D. by Justin Martyr.The Council of Laodicea 364 A.D. Canon xxix outlawed 7th day Sabbath. Polycarp was also martyred around 156 A.D. being burned at the stake for keeping the apostolic teachings as he was a disciple of John .The last living apostle .

[ocean2811]

08:57 PM on 04/12/2012

I hope so.

[robinhood1]

08:55 PM on 04/14/2012

"White Christmas" and "Easter Parade" were written by Irving Berlin, the son of a Jewish cantor.

[Diane J Brown]

11:15 AM on 04/11/2012

You're a very funny man misusing your humor to hide your anti-Jewishness. Shame on you! Two of my grandchildren are mixed faith and for all their growing up years declared Passover Seder their favorite holiday! We made it fun and inclusive and NEVER looked at it as competition. As young adults they still make their own matzoh brie!

[jollywhitegiant]

02:15 PM on 04/11/2012

The purpose of a "funny-man" is apparently lost on you. Shame on you for assuming Stewart is in any way "anti-Jewish."

[Washington Julie]

02:23 PM on 04/11/2012

Diane did you not listen to the first part of the bit where he talked about being Jewish and his kids being raised in a mixed faith household???? If he is anti-Jew, then he is against himself and his family.

[brooklyncitizen]

09:42 PM on 04/15/2012

self-hating?

[Atheodox Jew]

10:45 AM on 04/11/2012

The real "faith-off" would be to ask: Which belief relies more on faith, the belief in a God who slays the firstborn of an entire nation, splits the sea, and commands that Sabbath-violators be stoned to death, or the belief that a man is God, rises from the dead, and has a virgin mother? I would say it's a draw. Both beliefs require the suspension of reason and rationality. The question of which requires "more" irrationality is splitting hairs and irrelevant.

The way for everyone to "win" is by shedding any belief in myth and superstition, and striving to embody the best and highest teachings in one's religion... And I agree with Jon - a little more chocolate wouldn't hurt more, either!

[Danmcc455]

01:15 PM on 04/11/2012

Well, one religion technically believes all of those things happened. At least the bible literalists do, the not insane probably see some of the crazy events of the OT as metaphor or allegory.

[GraphicMatt]

02:43 PM on 04/11/2012

Exactly. Only the Orthodox Jews take the OT literally. Most of us other Jewish folk look at them as nothing more than stories.

[mebdonenow]

04:06 PM on 04/14/2012

hell with that. i'm still on how did god make a man out of dirt, a woman out of a bone, and a talking snake. and who was there to write all this stuff down?

[Atheodox Jew]

01:54 AM on 04/15/2012

I was just addressing Passover vs. Easter, but of course you're correct that there are many Biblical myths which people take literally, especially when it comes to "creation". The "young Earth", anti-evolution movement is spearheaded by religious Christians, but religious Jews (particularly ultra-Orthodox) tend to be in agreement.