JST
Why does there have to be an end? why doesn't God just do the right thing? place Satan in prison,like he could not have done that upon Satans first THOUGHT of rebellion. You and your phony god need an enemy and punishment to hold over our heads or it just plain won't work will it?
Without constant threat or enemies your god is weak and about as usefull as all other gods before it,why buy into the lies?
Well there is not really going to be a total "end". There's going to be an end to this "system of things" but not the end of the earth or even life upon it. And while the Bible says many fearful things are going to happen as the end approaches the end itself is a time of joy and hope. The Bible says the "end" will climax with God doing exactly as you propose and locking Satan away. However, other things must go too. These include man made government that has "dominated man to his own injury" and commercial empires. Christians only want the end to come because afterward there is promised to be a "new heavens and a new earth". And yes, God could have destroyed Satan sooner. However that would not have resolved the problems that arose because of Satan, nor would it gaurantee the same problem wouldn't arise again in the future. If asked I will explain this further.
This has already happened many times-- Christians (and to a lesser extent, Muslims) backed by political power have destroyed every religion they considered to be pagan or idolotrous. The ancient European, American, African, Pacific and Arab practices were stomped out and eventually replaced by religions like..... the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Yes I am aware of this. But the vision is not one of the harlot killing herself as would be the case of one religion destroying another religion as has happened in the past. The fact that religions have used political powers to back their wars is futher evidence of the vision's truthfulness of the harlot riding upon the back of the wild beast while "committing fornication with the kings of the earth". Such Christians of the past, by committing "fornication with the kings of the earth" have made themselves a part of the harlot. The destruction of the harlot will be the beginning of the end. This is further confirmed by the Bible's statement that "judgment begins with the house of God".
Yeah it bothers me too Jst. You know who made the first failed apocalyptic prediction in Christianity?
As far as I can tell most Christians agree that this prophecy was fulfilled when some of Jesus' disciples witnessed his transfiguration. At least I've have never heard one dispute it.
To sum up I would like to leave off with a message of hope. If this occurs and religions and governments begin to fall it will indeed be a fearful time. But this is not the end of the matter. Immediately after this Revelation says the 1000 year reign of Christ and the resurrectionn of the dead will begin. God's kingdom will be the only rulership for the earth, this includes kingly rulership and also priestly rulership. All things that cause mankind to stumble and faulter will be removed as will all barriers between man and God.
There is one last thing I want to mention, although this part is only my own private interpretation. The Witnesses do teach that the time of Jesus' earlthy life and up to the time of Jerusalem's destruction is an archtype for the "conclusion of this system of things". Using that parallel here are some of my own thoughts. During Jesus' time on earth he pronounced condemnation on more than one occasion. However, I think it is noteworthy of who these condemnations were directed toward. They were, without exception, soley directed toward the jewish religious leaders and never the common people who Jesus said had misled the common people. Jesus never condemned the common people. If this is a true parallel the future may be similar. But back to JW teachings.
The common people were not left without life or death responsibility. Their survival did depend on heeding Jesus' warnings. Jesus' prophesies of the end have two fulfillments. One was upon Israel and the other is upon the entire world. They parellel each other. Jesus fortold the end of the Jewish system and instructed people when they saw it begin to happen to "flee to the mountains". Those that heeded Jesus' warnings did flee from Jerusalem. Those that did not were destroyed along with Jerusalem. The modern day fullfullment also requires the common people to heed Jesus' warnings.
I realize most, if not all of you, will assume it's all wishful thinking and that Revelation was written by an imaginative mad man. But on the off chance that it is not, I hope you guys will not forget this and at least keep it in the back or your minds and will take appripriate actions if you see these things begin to occur.
And I have no way of proving this interpretation is any more valid than the myriads of others you have surely heard other than the puzzle seems to fit together nicely when taken this way as opposed to other interpretations I have heard. You will have to judge for yourself.
