Who do you think babylon the great is?

[Nada]

If by Satan you mean ha-satan, the ancient Hebrew term for "the adversary," then I am afraid you have it wrong. There is no invisible, evil, arch enemy of God running around causing people to sin. Don't know about you, but the God I believe in is all powerful as well as the creator, and if this "Satan" truly were doing all this wicked stuff, God could simply snap His divine fingers and uncreate him. I don't need a scapegoat to pin blame on for when crap goes the wrong way in life.

Snapping your fingers to uncreate something is not just.God the Almighty has laws.These angels are super natural beings higher than humans.They know what is up.If they disobey and reject God,then they are to be punished.It is like court.Due process.Satan not only rebelled,but he also took a 1/3 of the angles with him.If God simply snapped His fingers, and destroyed Satan,it would prove nothing.It would show God's anger, and the angels that were watching would probably question God and say,maybe Satan was correct.So,God lets it take its course, and this way it can be proven to all that this world cannot maintain itself, without Gods direction.

We are coming to the conclusion of this wicked system of things.You can see it in the attitude of this world.It is becoming a circus, and unstable governments are crumbling faster.It is all happening just like the holy scriptures describes it.The process is speeding up and people are getting more and more wicked.Calling what is good bad and what is bad good.

2 Timothy 3:1-5.But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

 

[metis]

I didn't stereotype the Jews, only presenting the facts. Is there a prophet that the Jews ever believed? God compared them to a whore (Gomez) and a she camel in heat running after false lovers (gods). Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies and you've been waiting over 2500 years without a prophet. Is the light never going to come on? It is not your fault though. With freewill you are no competition for Satan to completely distort the truth in your minds. Don't feel alone though, the Christians and Muslims haven't fared any better. They're running after the same picture of a god presented at Mount Sinai like the Jews did.

The above again has stereotypes found within (see parts I underlined), so for you to claim that you're not stereotyping us and some others is simply not telling the truth.

Will it ever stop. How much damage has stereotyping other religions and nationalities historically caused.

What a shame.

 

[Ron Hackel]

So anything historical cannot be talked about? I only repeated what the Bible said about a certain people. If you have a problem with that take it up with God.

 

[metis]

So anything historical cannot be talked about? I only repeated what the Bible said about a certain people. If you have a problem with that take it up with God.

Yes, historical reality can be talked about, but stereotyping any group is very far from any historical reality. Is it OK to stereotype black people, iyo? Indians? Hispanics? Christians? Do you honestly believe God would be pleased with your incessant stereotyping of people? Did He make all people in any group to be exactly alike in what they believe and do? If you truly believe in god, maybe you'd better stop and think very carefully about what you're saying about others.

Jews are all over the spectrum on just about anything you could ever imagine, and portraying us as somehow being uniform in what we believe and do, whether it be in the past or the present, is preposterous.

 

[metis]

Let me expand on the above, but in a different vein.

What were the prophets all about? If one reads the prophetic texts, one item that is a constant with all of them is the necessity for us Jews to follow the Law-- all 613 as found in Torah. Yes, there were times that many of us didn't follow the Law closely enough, and we were punished, according to the Tanakh. Later, the prophets said that we would be judged as individuals.

But notice that it is the Law that God told us we must follow, and if we didn't, we would get punished. So, why is it that we get this parade of people coming through that don't follow the Law but then blame Jews for not following the Law? If God and the prophets taught the Law, then what sense does it make to not follow the Law and then blame others for not following the Law.

Also, Torah states that a "false prophet" is one who teaches that the Law isn't important and/or need not be followed. The concept that God, after teaching us through Moses and the prophets about the absolute necessity of following the Law and punishing us if we didn't, and then supposedly turning around and saying that it really wasn't important after all, is really quite illogical and terribly brutal.

But to be clear, for gentiles there is no need to follow the Law.

 

[Neo Deist]

Snapping your fingers to uncreate something is not just.God the Almighty has laws.

Who the heck are you to put limitations on God, the omnipotent creator?

These angels are super natural beings higher than humans.They know what is up.If they disobey and reject God,then they are to be punished.It is like court.Due process.Satan not only rebelled,but he also took a 1/3 of the angles with him.If God simply snapped His fingers, and destroyed Satan,it would prove nothing.It would show God's anger, and the angels that were watching would probably question God and say,maybe Satan was correct.So,God lets it take its course, and this way it can be proven to all that this world cannot maintain itself, without Gods direction.

Completely opinionated drivel.

No where does it say that Satan took 1/3 of the angels with him.

 

[Neo Deist]

According to the holy scriptures Babylon the Great is the entire Empire of false religion...

The Bible never says that and as stated elsewhere, PhD's in the field don't agree on it.

 

[Riverwolf]

So anything historical cannot be talked about?

Let's talk some history, then, shall we?

The Christians are marauding murderers and rapists who have, historically, spread their false and fascist religion based on shaming, simple-minded morality, and unquestioning obedience, in order to dominate indigenous cultures. Their worm-tongued missionaries have whispered lies into kings' ears, causing them to break their own ancient laws and slaughter anyone who wouldn't submit to this foreign dead god nobody cared about beforehand, if they even knew about him. They took advantage of peoples' general illiteracy at the time by claiming their magic book was perfect and never wrong because it was penned directly by this god they worshiped. Anyone caught questioning any of these convictions was outlawed, beaten, executed, and later on, burned.

This is all stereotype, focusing on specific historical incidents and using them to paint a broad, largely inaccurate, picture of Christians and Christianity as a whole. It ignores the fact that many victims of early Christian raiders were also Christian (albeit of different sects), and also that many conversions were done peacefully, willingly, and with peoples' overall consent. It also heavily implies that all modern Christians are just like these early raiders, even though they're largely not.

This is the exact sort of thing that you're doing... except that I'm using facts from confirmed history, while you're using mythic history that may or may not be based on actual events.

 

[Ron Hackel]

Riverwolf

Read post 27, I didn't single out the Jews.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Riverwolf

Read post 27, I didn't single out the Jews.

It was pathetic drivel.

 

[idea]

I don't know that anyone can point their finger at a specific group of people. I think Babylon is just evil in general. Good vs. evil, and there is a little good and evil within each group, and within each person.

 

[ether-ore]

I have my beliefs on Babylon but I would like to see what others think it is

My understanding is that Babylon has two meanings. It is that ancient civilization whom Daniel named as the head of gold mentioned in Daniel chapter 2. It is also a metaphor for the world, meaning those who have chosen not to follow God's commands. There are but two kingdoms (spiritually speaking) at the end of the world. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Babylon.

 

[Unification]

I have my beliefs on Babylon but I would like to see what others think it is

A confused and deceived mind.

 

[Politesse]

That Babylon of the Hebrew Scriptures was simply Babylon (if sometimes metaphorically empire), and that of John's Apocalypse Rome (if sometimes metaphorically the world in opposition to God), seems pretty clear cut to me. Anything else is people trying to write themselves into the Bible.

 

[metis]

If there's confusion as to what "Babylon the Great" could stand for, that question should be pretty easily with the reference to "Babylon" in I Peter whereas the feminine form is used in the oldest texts, which were written in Koine Greek. If it actually was to refer to the town of Babylon, that form would not have been used, In Greek, the feminine form in terminology implies smallness or of lesser importance.

Because of this, most theologians, both Catholic and Protestant alike, feel "Babylon the Great" refers to the Roman Empire and "Babylon" (feminine form) refers to the city of Rome.

 

[Riverwolf]

Riverwolf

Read post 27, I didn't single out the Jews.

They were your basis of comparison, so it doesn't matter that you also brought up Christians and Muslims.