Some people are better off asking questions than trying to interpret. Most Christians will look at your post and see that you are very naive…
And most Christians of my acquaintance will look at your post and be concerned for your mental health or decide that you are a person who revels in cruelty and even, I dare say evil.
I repeat: is this your sole witness to the nature of God?
CJ
Jesus came to this world to proclaim both peace and war. Most Christians like yourself only want to see the good. I wish that was all I seen. There will be no peace without war. If you know what you are fighting for and who you are fighting against it makes things much easier. Ignorance is bliss they say. Believe what you want. I am here to help you defend yourself. Ive spent years researching this and I am only the messenger…
And your scholarship background is…?
So going by this logic, revalation was written around 1950, cause the 5 nations had already been identified but the PA was yet to come…seeing as for the last 2000 years people have been proclaiming the end to be nigh and using this master work as the source for their ravings, I fail to see how we can even try to relate its ramblings to modern times. If the end is nigh, then the end is nigh…why bother going around shouting to the sky “I told you so…see I figured it out…I knew this was going to happen”. Get over it Chicken Little. Really.
Excuse me Ephraim, but 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 seems like is a pretty straightforward claim on the part of the author.:
You imply that you are qualified to interpret bibical text, so how does this not apply to your thesis?
I again ask, where is the peace and safety that the people are enjoying? Because the majority of the world does not know peace and/or safety.
Ephraim, I am very aware of what I’m fighting for and why I’m fighting for it. I’ve been doing so for over 30 years. You, sir or madam, are part of what I’m fighting – those who twist the plain words of scripture and the Truth of what Christ commands us to do to suit their own need for cruelty and destruction. You cite John and Daniel; I base my faith and my stance on Christ. The thing is, you’re not even telling me to believe what I see or what God leads me to see in the words of Revelation and Daniel, but what you tell me I must. You are not God. To me, for a human being to claim he or she knows the mind of God is the height of arrogance and folly. To trade my revelation and knowledge of God for yours because you say so is to directly go against what Christ told us is most important, namely loving God with all our minds as well as our hearts and souls. I will not disobey Christ to give you the satisfaction of having one more person say you’re right.
As for your claim about Daniel and Revelation, I believe Zev_Steinhart among others will certainly tell you they aren’t the same thing, although they are from the same literary tradition.
CJ
The Bible says that when they shall say peace and safety sudden destruction will come upon them. You have interpreted this to mean that they are living in peace and safety. You are partly correct, but that time has passed. Every since the handshake on the Whitehouse lawn in 1993, the Palestinians and Israelis have been trying to negotiate a peace with security. Security is another word for safety. This was also the slogan that Netanyahu used in his campaign for Prime Minister when he beat Peres. This false peace lasted seven years and was broken by the Palestinians in Sept. 2000. Sudden destruction is right around the corner and has been happening to a lesser degree for three and a half years … Ephraim
There is no relationship between Daniel and Revelation other than their literary genre. Daniel was written during the Suleucid occupation of Isreal in the 2nd century BCE (Although it was set during the Baylonian exile of the 6th century BCE). Daniel is all about Antiochus and the Maccabbean revolt. Daniel’s beast with ten horns is Greece. The ten horns are ten successors to Alexander. The “little horn” is Antiochus, the Seleucid king who precipitated a revolt largely by placing a statue of Zeus (the"abomination") in the Temple in Jerusalem. The persecution under Antiochus lasted about three and a half years or 42 months.
The '“wounded head” in Revelation is Nero who was widely believed to have been reincarnated as Domitian.
Revelation deliberately echos the literary style of Daniel, including the use of beasts and horns as allegory but the connection ends there. Daniel is about events of 165 BCE and Revelation is about the end of the first century CE.
Neither has a damn thing to do with Yassir Arafat or with current events at all.
I think about it to choose to go along with this exegesis.*
*See in the post of Bosa how easy that is, ephriam.
Salaam. A
What you are obviously failing to take into account is the fact that Salmar-Lirillo not only was the twin-brother of Ómar-Amillo, but was also known as Golthadriel!! And that Gwerlum was was Ungoliant’s original name!
(Cite: HOMES I, aka BOLT1)
This shows implicitly that language structure was the driving force behind the entire narrative, and that JRRT would have been served better if he had stuck by his original plan to make Valinorean the default tongue of the Vanyar in the blessed…
Oh, wait. I already put forth this point in a Tolkien thread! Sorry.
But it seemed about as germane here to the OP as it did in the other thread.
Well, I’m less worried about muslim fundies now…
Ephraim, you scare me more than a busload of grenade-wielding Arabs.
Which makes one question:
If Muslims are “sentenced to death” anyway - as we could see the OP declaring that I am - why would what you call “Arabs” thank you for this exclusive TM… But there are alse some non-Arabs sort of addicted to miraculous transformation into two walking bombs hesitate to go there in a display of earthly firework as preparation for their entrance into Eternal Fire?
I would say one can’t get a better ticket to The Devil’s Empire.
OK. I’m off now recruting… If you don’t see me anymore, surely you shall hear me one of these days.
Salaam. A
Again I ask, why should anyone accept your interpretation? In other words, what credentials do you have?
I could go to a local minister in my fair city, explain your interpretation and they might completely disagree with it. Who should I believe?
Now, as a baseline, a minister will at least have some divinity school or theological background. A church of many believers have agreed to install them as a minister or a pastor.
What scholarship do you have? Do you have an official position in a denomination, other than one you may have started? Do you belong to a denomination? In fact, have any ministers or scholars have come around to your point of view? Are there any that might publicly subscribe to it?
If you don’t have some background, if you don’t have some scholarly concurrence, then how should anyone know that you are not a self-important blowhard crying wolf?? You know, people have done tremendous damage to the Christian faith over the last 2000 years by saying, “The end is near!” when it wasn’t. Many people tend to ignore Christian doctrine having heard all that hooey that never comes true. They won’t even THINK of opening themselves to the Christian faith thanks to those false prophets.
You may well be keeping people from Christ if you can’t come up with some serious concurrence. Moreover Ephraim, you’d better be sure about your message, or YOU might be the one in trouble. See if you can find a scripture or two about boastfully proclaiming oneself a prophet. Ya gotta ask yourself, “Am I serving God or my own ego?
Oh, and one last thing. Out of curiosity, what is your interpretation of the FIRST part of the scripture that I quoted? The part about:
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Snag, are you sure you’re not me? You asked the same question I was considering asking.
Ephraim, this is one problem I have with people who present Christianity the way you do. If non-Christians are doomed for all eternity to pain, suffering, damnation, or whatever form your vision of hell takes, what becomes of those Christians who drive people away from Christianity. I know several such individuals in real life, and I, too could easily have wound up with a hearty dislike of and contempt for Christianity because of people who proclaim Christ with their lips and another entity entirely by their actions.
There are people who believe an intelligent person cannot be a Christian. Threads like this one reinforce that belief and drive people further from Christianity. How do you answer for your part in that?
CJ
Que pasa?
If this thread offends you in Christ then do not read it. The truth can be very hard for some to deal with. I really think though that it is time to stand up and be counted. Instead of taking a nickel and giving a nickel, take a nickel and give a dollar...By reading and replying, by saying not all Christians dwell on death, destruction, and cruelty the way you do, by saying not all Christians glory in the suffering of others the way you do, I am standing up and being counted. I am witnessing, in my fashion.
Account for yourself, sir or madam. How do you justify driving people away from Christ?
CJ
Yes you do. Although I would call it “making distinction” between Christians and raging self-absorbed self-declared “prophets”.
I wouldn’t give this poster the credit to be able to drive people away from your religion.
Those who would become affected by his “message” are people who have no clue about Christianity in the first place and next are too lazy to actually look further then what they read here, to see if these wild claims and doom preachings have something to do with it at all.
I wouldn’t call such people a great loss for your religion.
Salaam. A
Ephriam, seen the fact that you have lost trace within the real teachings of Christianity… Thus you are lost for Christianity at the moment.
Shall I send you a copy of Al Qur’an to get you somehow back on religious your feet by prociding you with a clearly stipulated religious path? It seems to me that you are desperately in need for firm and clear guidance.
Salaam. A