I don’t know much about Christianity and Easter. So here I invite you to explain me a little about this festival and related rituals.

I always wonder about the phrase “Easter Eggs”. Earlier I used to think that Easter is some bird whose eggs are called Easter Eggs. But then I came to know that Easter is a festival to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Then what has eggs to do with Christ?

I also heard about some creature called Easter Bunny who gives eggs. Now how can a bunny lay eggs? And if he gifts you an egg then where does he brings it from?

I have always assumed that Jesus Christ was an ethical vegetarian and some research and evidences also proves this. Then how come the tradition of Easter Egg came into existence? Is it really religious and ethical?

During Lent Fridays, people abstain from eating meat to observe penance and accept that eating meat is violent and a sin. But is it only for one day a week? What about the violence being committed on other days?

Eggs too are product of violent animal industry. Millions of male chicks are crushed & slaughtered within 48 hours of their birth because they won’t ever lay eggs. Layer hens are slaughtered prematurely at the age of one and a half to two years. How can eggs be considered any less violent than meat?

Easter eggs are decorated or dyed by hard-boiling them with some coloring flowers; so that they are preserved during the fast and consumed later. This means that despite of abstaining from eggs, their consumption was not reduced by any margin. So how can one claim to be free from committing any sin?

I learned since eggs & hares are more fertile and hence these are used as the symbol for Easter. It is said that as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, eggs too crack up and give birth to a new life for a newborn chick. Eggs are symbolic of a tomb of Jesus. But did someone forget that eggs are not dead things. They are living & breathing …sheltering a life within.

The practice of dying eggs red to signify the blood of Jesus bewilders me. The red colour of eggs rightly signifies the blood …blood of the chicken. So does this mean Christian people think Jesus was like a chick? Then why do people eat dishes prepared from Easter eggs? Ain’t they murdering the chick …the Jesus!

And what’s about Passover Lamb?

I’m deeply apalled by the efforts of Jews to restore the sacrificing of lambs for Passover. Am I wrong to think them as naïve because Jesus never consumed any lamb or goat meat? Instead of consuming flesh and blood of a lamb, Christ told his apostles to remember him by eating bread which was his flesh and drinking wine which was his blood during the Last Supper (a Passover meal the night before his crucifixion). So why would one want to sacrifice a lamb?

I also wonder about the practise of eating bread and wine assuming it to be flesh & blood of the Christ when Christ and his then followers never used to eat any flesh and blood. Why was this analogy needed?

Christ has always preached about love and compassion. He would never inspire anyone to inflict pain and sufferings to even animals. In fact, he was against all animal killing and sacrifice.

Did you know Christ sacrificed his own life voicing against the animal sacrifice?

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Keith Akers, the author of The Lost Religion of Jesus tells us about some evidence of Christ’s compassion towards animals:

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. (Luke 12:6)

What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? (Matthew 12:11)

Christ was in fact against animal sacrifice business in temples:

And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. (Matthew 21:12; parallels at Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13-17)

Jesus had famously advocated vegetarianism in Genesis as:

Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:29-30

In fact, Akers gives compelling evidence that Christ’s opposition to animal sacrifice at the Jewish Temple may have been the triggering event that led to the Crucifixion. Christ’s rejection of animal sacrifice brought him into direct conflict with the Temple Priests, leading to Christ’s arrest and trial under Pontius Pilate. For more detail on the evidence part, please refer to Akers’ book The Lost Religion of Jesus.

_{Wishing all of you an egg & lamb free Easter}
So what I see from my perspective is that this recent practice of Easter Eggs during Easter festivities (even if they are artificial) and consumption of lamb dishes on this occasion is deranging this religion and very disturbing as a spiritual journey.

• What is your opinion on it?
• Do you have another perspective on this issue?
  

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