Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Easter: the big questions, Zac's style

Note - questioner is different each time.

(The first question was asked before the study started.)
Questioner: Who baptised John the Baptist?
Me: I've no idea.

Me: So we're thinking about Easter tonight.
Q: What's it called?
Me: Um, Easter.
Q: No, what's it called?
Me: Um.
Ric: Crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Me: oh yes, that's it.

Q: Why was it the snake? (We were talking about original sin, not completely off the wall.)
Me: I've no idea.
Kingsley: Cos he has a forked tongue?
Me: Yeah, why not?

Q: Where do Easter eggs come into it?
Me: Um ...
Ric: Paganism.
Me: Oh yeah, what he said.

Spot a theme emerging? When Sean reassured me, 'It's all right to say you don't know,' I don't think he anticipated my response to every question.

Still, a good night. In that I didn't have to yell, I didn't say the wrong thing (too often), the internet around which I'd planned a large section of the evening worked, and my unleavened bread tasted better than it looked.

Also because we had a good prayer time at the end with lots of people taking part. And we read the whole story from the last supper to the burial of Christ from Mark's gospel (The Message version) between us. Some people read well with dramatic flair, others stumble and trip through their bit; the important thing is not the performance, tempting though it was for me to give the readings only to people I knew would do well. It was about being community, God's people, family together, sharing a familiar story, the story that brought us together in fact.

And Easter eggs on our cake.


7 comments:

Katney said...

a pagan cake

James Higham said...

Never mind, it will all turn out well.

Ole Phat Stu said...

Liz, we need to get you bible-fit for such Q&A sessions. So here are the 3 answers you needed :-

1) Neither the Bible nor the Torah say who baptized John and any other answer would (also) be pure speculation.
As a matter of fact, there is no record of John’s being baptized at all.
In the NT, John was the divinely appointed forerunner of Christ. (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6; Matthew 10:17-13).
His baptism was from God. (Matthew 21:24-26). There is no reason to believe that the divinely prophesied
and appointed forerunner needed to receive the baptism that he was sent to administer (Jesuit excuse).

2) In Genesis 3:1, we read of a 'serpent' appearing to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
It's important to realize that the 'serpent' spoken of here was not a literal snake,
but rather Satan in human form. The word 'serpent' here means 'Magician or enchanter. A spellbinder.'
'Serpent' is an (arbitrary) translation, you see.

3) The word Easter comes to us from the Norsemen's Eostur, Eastar, Ostara, and Ostar, and the pagan goddess Eostre,
all of which involve the season of the growing sun and new birth. The Easter Bunny arose originally as a symbol
of fertility, due to the rapid reproduction habits of the hare and rabbit.
The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Hindus all believed the world began with an enormous egg, (people will believe anything)
thus the egg as a symbol of new life has been around for eons. The particulars may vary, but most cultures
around the world use the egg as a symbol of new life and rebirth.
But the first book to mention Easter eggs by name was written only 500 years ago,
so it's a recent fiction rather than an ancient one.

Yours, atheist Stu ;-)

Liz Hinds said...

Indeed, katney, but tasted good anyway!

Absolutely, james.

Ah, stu, caught me out in my self-deprecation for dramatic effect!

Stu said...

OK, but have you considered that easter eggs are Lucifer's testicles ? See

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/eastereggs.html

Furtheron said...

What Stu said in number 3 he beat me to that...

Golf Channel Live streaming - now that is relevant to Easter... got to love the Spammers - does anyone click on their links?

Ole Phat Stu said...

Here's a loaded question for you to try on people at Zac's place :

How many disciples did Jesus have?

72, according to Luke. Most people answer 12, tney're thinking of Apostles though.

"Not many people know that" Michael Caine.