Go back to your hut and sleep on the soft straw, monkey.
Let these intellectuals debate "Babylon the Great".
We have better things to do in another place, another dimension, another time...
Who is Babylon the Great?
by sabastious 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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nuthouse escapee
It has never made sense to me why prophecies that were supposed to be so important to salvation would be written in such a way that interpretation would not be crystal clear. Sabastious and Finkelstein have both given very differing interpretations of the meaning of the symbolic figures represented in Revelation. This was actually something that got me thinking years ago. I had picked up the magazine "The Plain Truth" and I believe it was a discussion of the book of Daniel. They used other scripture to back up their ideas and it made as much sense as a Wt. interpretation.
Is it possible Sab, that the book of Revelation is not a prophecy at all but a book written by a very old man who may been under the influence of some herb of some kind. I mean this with no disrespect. When compared to the simple message of Christs teachings this is so out there. Why would a message of this importance be so cryptic and able to be interpreted so many ways that no clear message can be seen. If the message has no distinct 'ring' then it is sounded in vain. just my .02 cents -Leslie (thx for this topic)
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nuthouse escapee
Templelijah: I have a question for you. (this is a sincere question and not an attack on what you said)
By receiving Christ and living the proper way, is the message of interpretation of the meaning of Revelation something that is a personal revelation to us and may it differ from others who are also acceptable to the Lord. Are we to have one interpretation or will we be given insight based on what we personally need as determined by Christ? Your thoughts appreciated. Leslie
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sabastious
Is it possible Sab, that the book of Revelation is not a prophecy at all but a book written by a very old man who may been under the influence of some herb of some kind. I mean this with no disrespect. When compared to the simple message of Christs teachings this is so out there. Why would a message of this importance be so cryptic and able to be interpreted so many ways that no clear message can be seen. If the message has no distinct 'ring' then it is sounded in vain. just my .02 cents -Leslie (thx for this topic)
Hello Leslie, the answer to your question is also the answer to the 666 riddle in Revelation 13:18. The third post in this thread has a video about the answer to the riddle. The Hebrew language uses their alphabet to create their number system. It would be like if we took our 26 letters of the English alphabet and created a numerical index (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, X = 100, Y = 500, Z = 1000 etc). Then everybody's name would also be a number calculation. This is what the scripture means by "calculate the number of name of the beast." So if you take the name "Nero Caeser" in Hebrew and add up the numbers you get 666. Check out what Wikipedia has to say about this Emperor of Rome:
He is infamously known as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned" (although this is now considered an inaccurate rumor) and as an early persecutor of Christians . He was known for having captured Christians burned in his garden at night for a source of light.
To me, this essentially turns the Book of Revelation into an SOS of sorts. The writers were trying to pass on information about their plight as well as RETAIN their religion. World powers such as Rome specifically were destroying religions and setting up idols and Christianity was the lead opposition, which is why so many martyrs were created in that time (all opposing religions, not just Christianity). We all need to get this idea of a real life John of Patmos out of our heads. It's more elegant to explain him as a literary device to represent the martyrs of Christianity as created by Rome. These people wanted their religion to exist even though most all of them died horribly and the way to do that would be to encrypt their religion into riddles. Revelation contains ALL CHRISTIAN truth by design and references both the NT and the OT, but it's hidden because they were hiding from the Romans who sought out to destroy the idea of their religion altogether and replace it with false gods (personifications of the Sun, Moon and Stars). So, when the Romans finally took on the Christian church they would wrongly interpret the wild words of Revelation because they didn't create the riddles, they just had to try to solve them, which they failed at doing so. The martyrs won in the end.
So, here we are thousands of years later still knee deep in wrong teachings about this book. We have been decieved, but do not have to remain that way.
If we are disobedient to the basics of Christ's commandments, and are not repentant, then God will not show us the Revelation, as most people are on the "broad path" "and many are upon it", while few are on the narrow path, and thus few will understand Revelation, one has to be, to actual BE GOD'S servants to understand Revelation;
Science and rationale can interpret Revelation, no booga-booga required. That's old world thinking. Because it's a book of riddles people wrongly think that they need supernatural aid in order to interpet it.
-Sab
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nuthouse escapee
Sabastious, thankyou for your explanation. It actually makes a lot more sense than the Wts interpretation. Sorry it took so long to reply. I appreciate your time for answering my question. Leslie