Minimal interest in Good Friday and Easter services

Deutsch

Very few people are interested in the superficial memory of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter. The paganism of the church(s) hidden behind it is confirmed by the deliberate spreading of doubts about Jesus’ resurrection.

Chocolate – Holiday – Long weekend

The Easter holidays once established by the Roman Catholic Church in the form that they still exist today seem to only get a few believers excited. For the 2024 Easter season, the opinion research institute YouGov asked how willing people are to attend a service in a church on Good Friday and Easter (Source).

Accordingly, 74 percent of those surveyed are not prepared to attend a church service on either Good Friday or Easter Sunday. 10 percent would go to church on one of the Easter holidays and 6 percent on Good Friday. Only 4 percent are willing to attend a church service on Good Friday and Easter. 7 percent did not provide any information or were not sure.

Proportionately, the youngest age group of 18 to 24 years old showed the lowest rejection at 56 percent of attending a church service on one of the holidays. At 59 percent, rejection was somewhat higher in the 25 to 34 age group. As you get older, your reluctance increases. In the 35 to 44 group, rejection was 69 percent, in the 45 to 54 group it was 80 percent and from the age of 55 it was 82 percent.

Women – Men – East – West

The weighting of the refusal to attend a church service is relatively even between men and women. For men it is 71 percent and for women it is slightly higher at 76 percent.

The “stalemate situation” is more striking when looking at the “Old Federal States” and “New Federal States” regions. The “East” of Germany was, after all, characterized by socialism and thus predominant atheism for several decades. The rejection of using one of the public holidays as an opportunity to go to church is the same in both “zones” at 74 percent.

Easter is more closely associated with the season of spring than with the occasion of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Enjoying the long weekend, holiday spirit and celebrating the “chocolate-laden” Easter traditions predominate.

Targeted spreading of doubts?

The Catholic magazine “katholisch.de” reported on this survey result and also gave a short explanation of the meaning and purpose of the Easter holidays (Source). Accordingly, Easter is the most important festival for Christians. The memory of the crucifixion of Jesus and the resurrection on the third day. This is the central message and the foundation of faith.

However, there is no record of the resurrection in the Bible, according to the magazine. There are no witnesses mentioned in the New Testament either. Only the Gospels and Paul’s letters reported about the empty tomb. There are also reports about the resurrection announced by angels, about the appearances of the “resurrected one” and the confessions of those who believe in it.

Arbitrarily chosen credibility

Quite apart from the fact that the Easter celebrated by the churches does not have a Christian background but rather a pagan background (Info), the Catholic magazine seems to make a distinction between the Gospels that report on the crucifixion of Jesus and those that report on His resurrection. But they are the same writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This also applies to the letters written by Paul at a later time.

Should the Catholic magazine give any credence to the events attested to in the Gospels, then apparently only those concerning the crucifixion, but there are legitimate doubts about the resurrection? Why this selectivity?

Witnesses only outside the grave

Isn’t the reason for the lack of detailed descriptions of Jesus Christ’s resurrection simply because there was no one else in the tomb? There were only Roman soldiers standing outside guarding the grave. Only Jesus Christ was in the tomb. Therefore, there could not have been any eyewitnesses who could report on the immediate resurrection within the grave.

Jesus Christ announced resurrection three times

Jesus Christ himself announced His resurrection, just witnessed by the Gospels. Do these words have no weight?
In Mark 8:31 Jesus Christ said:
“And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
The parallels for this can be found in Matthew 16 and Luke 9.

Jesus Christ announced His death and resurrection again in Matthew 17:22-23:
“And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.”
Also found in Luke 9 and Mark 9.

And again Jesus Christ announced His resurrection after His death in Matthew 26:31-32:
“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.“

Far more than just a few witnesses

The Catholic magazine also seems to have completely “forgotten” that there were far more witnesses to Jesus Christ’s resurrection than “just” the apostles and not just an “empty tomb.” So in 1. Corinthians 15:3-6:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.“

This Catholic Magazine “statement” is what it is. A selective recognition of the credibility of eyewitness reports within the same writings that serves their narratives. For the Church of Rome, only the death of Jesus Christ is acceptable, but not His resurrection. The Roman Catholic Church itself testifies to this through its ritual of the Eucharist (Info).

Promoting the original pagan traditions while further fueling the rejection of true belief in the gospel.

Bible verses from King James Version