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Hey.....
I asked my friend to give me a bit more clarity on how to explain the whole Easter thing.... She said:

Explain that blood had to be shed to satisfy God's requirement for justice.
Jesus did that for us. It's as if we were condemned as murderers. Somebody
has to be punished for the murder. Imagine the judge setting you free and
instead having his own son put to death as a punishment. That's what God did
for us. Those requirements had to be satisfied and God satisfied them by
allowing his own son to die. But the big thing is... Jesus isn't still dead
today. He rose from the dead and because of that, we can be saved.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Very kind of her to explain, I'm sure, but that sort of thing only tends to wash on the converted. There are too many bloody questiond to answer for us poor non-believers, like what about all the poor sods who died BEFORE Jesus did all that for us?

the only thing was that jesus wasnt the only one who died on the cross for their religion so did many others so wot made him so special! and ow did that save us! and if it did we owe a lot of ppl our lives!

THe thing what made it different is that according to the Bible he was the Son of God, therefore perfect and without sin. THe Bible also says "death is the wages of sin" so He did not deserve it, yet he got it. That's what made it different.
Just imagine it as God being killed by his own creation to save it.

That's the explanation if you're Christian.

THe other is that you don't believe Jesus was NOT the Son of God and you follow the Easter Bunny.

*puts on her dumb bunny ears and looks for some chocolate eggs*

See! That works just as well..... obviously.

*searches for the easterbunny*

Hubba hubba Dim, you look like a playboy girl with those ears on.

*Starts to chase Dim in speeded-up motion to music, like off The Benny Hill Show*

Benny Hill is awesome!

Was LW, he's not looking too hot these days.

Poor mech, now he has to find another hot old geezer!

I think he found you.

Steady you lot.

If I was gay, I sure wouldn't fancy coffin dodgers.

Oh my!

ok back to the subject......I have asked my friend for her answer to Ush's early ques about the souls of people who died b/f Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection (I'm fairly certain I spelled that wrong ).
She's far more eloquent than I am at explanations.

the Jews celebrated they're exodus at that time,
they forced us to watch a video about Jesus, so that's why I know this one

you lost me....

Jews celebrate the exodus when christians celebrate Eastern

Yes, Jews do celebrate Passover...marking the point when they make their exodus from Egypt.....but some Jewish Christians celebrate both

Besides, not only Christians celebrate Easter.....you know, the whole bunny thing.....

ow fluffy pink fuzzy bunnies!!!
*starts running in circles hysterically*

Oh, I've heard explanations before, Julie.

You have to understand that it is not my intention to mock; I was merely pointing out why these things don't tend to convince the average man in the street- it's because, whether it ultimately makes sense or not, it makes no sense at all at first glance.

oh, dear, yerssssss is flipping out.

yeah!
I always freak when there are those little fluffy pink fuzzy bunnies!!!
WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

the jews forced you to watch the video???

well, one of them yes;
the rest were christians!

If you dont believe that CHrist died for our sins and was reborn, nor believe in the birth of Christ therefore you shouldnt celebrate it with easter eggs and Christmas pressents.

Both those holidays have become too bigger a commercial sales drive to ignore Kiwi. Even though I'm not religious, my mom always gets me an egg/xmas pressie cus they're in the shops and its the "done" thing. And I, and many others around the world, reciprocate in this tradition whether we believe in Jesus or not. But lets be honest, I enjoy Xmas and Easter because it's a little time off work when I get to give gifts and make those close to me happy and we all act a little bit nicer to everyone we love.

Yes, indeed, these times have gone beyond being religious festivals; they are general festivals with their roots in religion.

As has been much stated before, Christmas itself is only the Christian interpretation of a much older ritual; things change as time moves on. People can celebrate and/or ignore these things from any angle they like.

Indeed.

Change isn't always bad, but I find myself dreading xmas these days because I know how much its gonna cost with all the pressies and partying thats involved. But its all saved on xmas morning when Mrs.MM opens the one present that she hasn't been able to guess correctly and her face lights up.

Happy Easter, everyone

Hope everybody had a nice holiday no matter what you celebrated.

what if you celebrate nothing and don't have a holiday?

Then you had a regular weekend.

here are my friend's answers to those questions mentioned earlier:
"What happens to the souls of the people who died before Jesus died and rose again?"
God, being perfect, has a standard that we all must meet to be accepted by him. In other words, we all must be perfect to be accepted by God. Not just good.... PERFECT. Naturally, none of
us are perfect. We have all done something wrong at least once in our lives. Therefore, God cannot accept us. We all deserve to be thrown into hell because none of us can meet God's standard. However, God loves us and he doesn't want us to receive that judgement. So the way he does this is by sacrificing something else instead of us. Sort of like someone else paying our debts so we don't have to pay them. This sacrifice that God requires
means that whatever is sacrificed must DIE so that we don't have to. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. We all deserve to die but when something else dies for us, God accepts that as a substitute and he sees us as perfect in his sight.

Christians believe that Jesus was that sacrifice. He died in our place. He took the punishment that we rightfully deserved. Because he rose from the dead after he died, he was the final sacrifice. No other sacrifice is needed. Jesus died once and for all and rose again and now he lives forever.Before Jesus, however, people still needed a sacrifice to pay for their sins. They did this by sacrificing an animal. They would sacrifice an animal (usually a sheep) and God would accept that sacrifice as a payment for their
sins. However, the people would keep sinning so they wouldhave to keep making sacrifices. As long as they did this, they were accepted by God as holy and when they died, they went to Heaven to be with God forever....

...We no longer have to sacrifice animals to meet God's standard. We just believe in Jesus's sacrifice for us and that is enough.

ques: "Jesus wasn't the only one to die on a cross for religion... what makes Jesus so special?"

answer:
You're right. Many people have died for what they believe (their religion). However, how many of those people have risen from the dead and are alive today? None! They're all still dead. That's what makes Jesus different. He died but he's not dead today. The Bible says that Jesus died, was buried for three days, and then came back to life. Jesus is alive today... just as alive as he was when he came to earth as a newborn baby. So, you say, where
is he? He's in Heaven right now. After Jesus came back to life, the Bible tells us how his disciples actually watched him ascend into the clouds. Pretty neat, huh?

One other thing... Jesus didn't die for religion. He died for us. It was his love for us that held him to the cross... not his conviction in his religion. Jesus died like a father giving his life for his son, not like a protester setting himself on fire for his beliefs. Jesus' sacrificewas for you and for me.

well...I hope you got all that any other ques????

My Easter sucked. How was everyone else's?

well according to the Bible he died for our sin and because it was his destiny. A lot of martyrs have followed this example, sacrificed themselves so that a lot of others would go free.
As you might have learned I dont belive in the Bible. I dont deny the fact that there were a historical person called Jesus, and that he lived in Palestine or Judea. He probably got crusified as well, a common way of execution those days. But when they mix in divine and son of a God then it gets a bit much for me

who would have guessed that eating lots of chocolate could make you sick...
*runs back to the toilet*

Easter falls nicely in the same time as the pagan dertility festivals, indeed. Although the Christian Easter is somewhat different, but it does reflect other ancient rituals. In many ways (from a Christian point of view) it has the same message as the Jewish Easter (God leading his people out of bondage, the Jewish one in Egypt, the Christian one from that of sin), but when you don't have any notion or interest in a concept such as sin or a higher authority you may have to answer to, it's fairly useless to discuss the whole matter.
Only when you are kind of open minded you may be able to grasp the matter, but that goes for everything in life.

I guess my beliefs come from pure faith. I mean I was baptized Catholic, but my parents couldn't afford to send us kids to Catholic school and they didn't make us go to Mass all the time. It was never jammed down my throat by anybody. I accept the beliefs of my religion and those of christianity in general without question. Mostly because a good bit of it is just "be nice and kind and love each other" stuff. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my rotten sins and everybody else's and that He is true and pure and everything that is good. He is the most important thing in my life and always will be. I pray a good bit, but I really don't discuss my beliefs as they are very private feelings. I respect others beliefs, if they worship snakes or rocks or flying saucers. Or even if they don't believe in anything at all. I just try to get along with everybody.

Flying saucers????? *quickly attaches silver painted plate to a fishing rod*

*gets out box of plastic little green men*

*starts playing eerie music*

Where are those flimsy rubber tentacles ?

*takes rubber tentacles from Texas*
Stop playing with those!
*gives them to Gundark*

Gundark I am glad that you are honest in your beliefs....believe me I'm just here to answer any ques people may have.....hang on hold that thought.........

*hangs on*

good...Easter's over, but go ask ques in the ques thread

Very clever.

Do we have to do that?

No, but she wants to.

am I lucky being nice isn't part of me, according to my contract

So? Your contract also tells you to shut up.

Am I talking right now?

Yes.

no, I'm writing right now

I wish I could have gone to a catholic school, the Vatican would never been able to recover

wanna switch? you still can do it for a year and a half

Only need a day

ok, 24th of April? does that suit you?

nah 25 of december and I will find the father

ok, it's a deal! you have to survive in Belgium though

He has practised plenty by surviving you.

but I haven't even started yet...

Belgium any christian in that pagan hole?

None in a pagan hole.

it's full of christians, finti
I think you'll enjoy it

Start with yerssot.

I'm not even christian!

So you're a pagan ?

I'm a wacko

I think finti can kill wacko's.... yes, I'm sure of it.

let's not find out

I hear finti sharpening the battle axe now....

no, that's the door opening

No, it's the axe.

or... the drinkbot crashing again

whoa....put the battle axe down slowly before you poke someone's eye out.....didn't your mother tell you not to play with sharp objects?

that's his idea