Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

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polonius
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Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #1

Post by polonius »

The following writing seems to address the status of the Book of Revlation accurately.

REVELATION: Fact or Fiction?
March 27, 2011 by Derrick Garland Coy

Recently I was watching MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on his show, The Last Word, when, in responding to a rival TV host who claimed that the Japanese earthquake and tsunami were evidence of the last days as depicted in the book of Revelation, he retorted, “The book of Revelation is a work of fiction that describes how a truly vicious God would bring about the end of the world. No half-smart religious person actually believes the book of Revelation anymore. Those people are certain that their God would never turn into a malicious torturer and mass murderer beyond Hitler’s wildest dreams.�

Opinions (with evidence please).

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Re: Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #2

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]


I believe in the Book of Revelation. I'm pretty certain there are at the very least 8 million Jehovah's Witnesses that feel the same way as I do.
REVELATION: Fact or Fiction?
Are those the only choices? In my personal opinion, Revelation is symbolic prophecy, ie prophecy conveyed in a series of symbolic visions that have been or are being fulfilled during our present era (20th & 21st Century).



FURTHER READING:

The book of revelation - what does it mean?
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/q ... revelation


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To learn more please go to other posts related to

DANIEL'S PROPHECIES , .THE SECOND COMING * and ... THE BOOK OF REVELATION
*The Return of Christ
Last edited by JehovahsWitness on Sat Dec 03, 2022 12:28 pm, edited 34 times in total.
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
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"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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Re: Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #3

Post by DPMartin »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

Lawrence O Donnell hasn't got a clue, all he is doing is appealing to the widest audience. spend some time on Christian forum sites and you will see most that call themselves Christian follow his line of thinking. their idol in their hearts in their own image of what a god to them ought to be, is the feel good about themselves god. a god in their own image, and likeness.


you should also note that it is the way God the Creator and Judge wants it, the reprobate mind following their own judgement of what is good and evil.

guys like that say anything if it keeps their audience listening.

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Re: Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #4

Post by Checkpoint »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]
REVELATION: Fact or Fiction?
Neither; yet both.

The book of Revelation contains a number of visions, which John received and recorded.

Visions are neither fact nor fiction, but communications from God about spiritual realities, usually conveyed by metaphors that are not to be taken literally.

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Re: Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #5

Post by Checkpoint »

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]
In my personal opinion, Revelation is symbolic prophecy, ie prophecy conveyed in a series of symbolic visions that have been or are being fulfilled during our present era (20th & 21st Century).
I agree, but see "our present era" as the period between the first coming and the second.

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Re: Is the book of Revelation fact or fiction?

Post #6

Post by imhereforyou »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

The more we learn, the less many tend to see God and workings of God as anything special. Society has changed as we learn more about our universe. In that, some of us tend to extend God's reach and abilities to, seemingly, keep him several steps ahead of our current knowledge.

With so much symbolism in the bible, it's a good bet the book is nothing but symbolism.
That said, it's not possible to say 100% that this book is anything more than a book. The best we have is opinion.

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Post #7

Post by Overcomer »

When it comes to understanding Biblical texts, it’s important to look at the purpose of a book and how the audience of the day would have understood it. Basically, the Book of Revelation was intended to offer comfort and encouragement for believers who were being persecuted for their beliefs. It tells them that God is going to deal with evil once and for all. In the end, the victory will be his and, therefore, theirs.

That message is as pertinent today as it was then. Evil still flourishes in this world, but there will come a day when it will end and God will re-establish his kingdom on earth. This is the promise of Revelation.

The content of the book is revealed in a vision. Most of it is prophetic and, of course, symbols are used throughout it. Many of those symbols would have been familiar to its original audience. As Craig Keener points out in his commentary on the book, too many interpreters have tried to discover what it means today when they should be looking at what it meant to people at the time of its writing. Hence, we get fanciful suggestions such as the locusts in chapter 9 being helicopters. That's the wrong way to approach the book.

For more, see here:

https://bible.org/article/argument-book ... ion-part-1

https://bible.org/article/introduction-book-revelation

polonius
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Post #8

Post by polonius »

[quote="Overcomer"]
When it comes to understanding Biblical texts, it’s important to look at the purpose of a book and how the audience of the day would have understood it. Basically, the Book of Revelation was intended to offer comfort and encouragement for believers who were being persecuted for their beliefs. It tells them that God is going to deal with evil once and for all. In the end, the victory will be his and, therefore, theirs.

That message is as pertinent today as it was then. Evil still flourishes in this world, but there will come a day when it will end and God will re-establish his kingdom on earth. This is the promise of Revelation.

The content of the book is revealed in a vision. Most of it is prophetic and, of course, symbols are used throughout it. Many of those symbols would have been familiar to its original audience. As Craig Keener points out in his commentary on the book, too many interpreters have tried to discover what it means today when they should be looking at what it meant to people at the time of its writing. Hence, we get fanciful suggestions such as the locusts in chapter 9 being helicopters. That's the wrong way to approach the book.


RESPONSE: Than can we agree that the Book of Revelation is fictional?

dio9
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Post #9

Post by dio9 »

I think the meaning of the Book of Revelations ,has been lost to history.

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Post #10

Post by Checkpoint »

dio9 wrote: I think the meaning of the Book of Revelations ,has been lost to history.
Why, therefore, is it in the Bible?

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