Easter Question

Why Is Easter Not An Exact Date?

Why is the birth of Jesus given an exact date but his death and resurrection are symbolic dates? History tells us that Jesus was not actually born on December 25th but the Church settled on that Pagan holiday date.

So why does Jesus’ death date lack the same exactness? Pope Pius I (140 - 155 CE) changed the Christian Easter from the first full moon in March, which was the Jewish celebration date, to the first Sunday after the first full moon. Latter Easter was changed to the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurred on or after the Vernal Equinox (Start of Spring).

From the beginning Easter was an inexact date. So the question is, "Why not an exact date?"

Reasoning would seem to present several possibilities:

The exact date was never recorded because it wasn’t considered important at the time by those who provided the Gospel contents.
An exact date was deem inappropriate because it could be verified by people living at that time and later an exact date could not be added without rewriting a lot of history, Gospels, etc. that were being written and had already been written by many different people from many different backgrounds and viewpoints.
The event didn’t happen as written in the now accepted version of the Bible but was included as a neat ending for a God-in-the-making.

The lack of an exact date and the desire to place Easter on a Sunday every year seems to be a matter of religious politics. The stacking of Easter on an already holy day adds a mystery to Easter that would not be widely recognized if Easter were to occur on a Wednesday.

Yes, this is a cynical view but history tells us that there were several competing views of what was to become Christianity. As in all wars, the victors writes and rewrites history as they want it to be.

Author: Don Miller
Posted: April 2005

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