"Yeshua ben Yoseph, better known as Jesus Christ, was the central figure of the New Testament and the source of the Christian religion [http://www.behindthename.com/name/jesus]." "Jewish Masoretic priests, around the 6th century A.D., created the name Jesus by changing the vowel point from the letter “a” to “e” in the Tetragrammaton YHWH. This resulted in changing the pronunciation from Yah to Yeh.
The priests continued the tradition, which was in effect at the time of the Messiah, of teaching the people that the name “Yahweh” was too sacred to pronounce, and to speak this name was blasphemy and punishable by death. Most people and lower level priests were initially taught to say “Adonai” when they saw the name “Yahweh” or the tetragrammaton written [http://www.plim.org/JesusOrigin.htm]."
We have all been taught that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and was resurrected on Easter Sunday. That is a complete myth invented by the Catholic Church. However, some claim that Ishtar is NOT the origin of Easter.
"Ishtar was an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility, and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. Her worship involved animal sacrifices; objects made of her sacred stone, lapis lazuli; and temple prostitution. Some people claim there exists a connection between Ishtar and Easter. A popular meme has been circulating the internet making that very claim. Superimposed over an image of Ishtar are these words: “This is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’ Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and the bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols (or did you actually think eggs and bunnies had anything to do with resurrection?). After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus. But at its roots, Easter (which is how you pronounce Ishtar) is all about celebrating fertility and sex.”
However, there is absolutely no conclusive connection between the pagan goddess Ishtar and the Christian celebration of Easter. Any theory that Easter is named after Ishtar is pure speculation. There is also no proof that Ishtar was ever associated with eggs or rabbits as symbols. In fact, Ishtar’s sacred animal seems to have been the lion.
There are several theories concerning the origin of the word Easter that are more credible than the Ishtar theory. One is that Easter got its name from Eostre, an eighth-century Germanic goddess who (it is assumed) was celebrated around the time of Passover every year. But even this theory has major problems, since there is no real evidence that anyone ever worshiped a goddess named Eostre—we have no shrines dedicated to Eostre, no altars of hers, and no ancient documents mentioning her. Others contend that the word Easter ultimately derives from the Latin phrase in albis, related to alba (“dawn” or “daybreak” in Spanish and Italian). In Old High German, in albis became eostarum, which eventually became Ostern in modern German and Easter in English. The French word for “Easter” is Pâcques, based on the Latin and Greek Pascha, meaning “Passover.”
Even if it could be proved that the word Easter is etymologically related to the name of a pagan goddess such as Ishtar or Eostre, it would not change what the holiday Easter means to us. (The word Wednesday comes from Woden’s Day in honor of the Norse god Woden or Odin—but we don’t usually fret about the word’s pagan origin.) Regardless of where the name Easter came from, Easter itself is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus is a critical doctrine of the Christian faith stating definitively that Jesus conquered death and the grave and proved to be the world’s Savior from sin and death. “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16) [http://www.gotquestions.org/Ishtar-Easter.html]."
Other sources as well corroborate this:
[http://bellejar.ca/2013/03/28/easter-is-not-named-after-ishtar-and-other-truths-i-have-to-tell-you/].
Yeshua was crucified on a Wednesday which was a High Holy Day (these days landed on different days each year). If you count from Wednesday night to Saturday night, it is three days. The day in the Jewish tradition began at dusk. From Wednesday night; Thursday, Friday and Saturday are three days. After dusk on Saturday (the weekly Sabbath), was considered the morning on Sunday.
Good Friday was an invention of the Catholic Church along with changing Ishtar (pronounced eeashtar) to Easter; which is never referenced biblically. If anyone so chooses to not know the truth and listen to the inventions of the ‘Christian’ churches it is their right. Imposing those erroneous beliefs on others, however, is NOT their right! It is their selfish egos!
Easter is from Babylon as well. The Christmas tree came from there too. There are many different origins of our holidays that we know accept as traditions. They all have one thing in common; candy, food, flowers and fellowship. What's on the outside will not affect the inside if we know and live the truth!
The Universal (Catholic) “Official” Church of Christianity made several accommodations to get more pagans into their church during the Dark Ages. The Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday (the pagan worship day). Babylonian golden eggs became symbols of Easter. Babylonian trees decorated with gold and silver became symbols of Christmas. The Babylonian festival of Saturnalia was adopted to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
This Easter remember the significance of the birth, life and death of Yeshua. It was to show us that God is within each and every one of us. Not out in the clouds somewhere in ‘heaven’. Not apart from us, but within us. The Kingdom of God is in our midst; not somewhere else, but right here, right now. Feel the presence of the Christ Light within you and know that being ‘born again’ is the revelation that God is within you and NEVER apart from you. May you and your families be blessed! Peace.
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