I don't think it is absurd to say there are people afraid of the book of Revelation. They read it as a book telling us of the terrors of the judgment of the Lord, and I think that part of this book is terrifying. I would be frightened if I didn't know God has His loving arms around me, and I can go to Christ with repentance to escape this judgment.Who is afraid to read it?
I'm Sorry - but you're talking absurdly.
It's because many truly do not understand it, the book of Revelation.
No clue. chalk it up to bad pastors out there on the loose . But I love Revelation of Christ. It's a blessing to those who read, and understand it.
If you want to talk with me about it, I'm always in the chat rooms. And that's something I rarely ever get to talk about with people. Like you said , people really kinda explain it away, or don't bother with it.
Don't blame a pastor because someone doesn't bother to read or teach from a certain book. We are all individually responsible for our own spiritual growth. No more so than someone thinking that they are not being "fed" at a particular church so they leave to find another. Christians need to take some responsibility for themselves. The church is or never was intended to be a spiritual day care center. Not understanding scripture is no excuse. The Holy Spirit will give understanding if it is sought.
It's best to start with the a-millennial historical interpretation and take Barnes notes on Revelation as your starting point. Once you realize how accurately it predicted the rise of Islam and many other things that befell the Roman Empire, you'll be quite startled, and you almost certainly won't want to go down the Dispey route of a literal millennium and a literal Christ reigning in Jerusalem and other such monstrosities that are totally out of context.It's because many truly do not understand it, the book of Revelation.
It's because many truly do not understand it, the book of Revelation.
Who is afraid to read it?
I'm Sorry - but you're talking absurdly.
There are similarities between the symbolism of Daniel and Revelation. Daniel, a Jewish theology book, is another book that long ago was understood to largely relate to history from the Babylonian to the Greek period circa 170BC (when it is commonly supposed to have been written or finalized into its present form). It also anticipated the Roman period and Christ. As with Revelation, the dispensationalists got hold of Daniel and used it in the formulation of their novel pre-millennial and rapture prophecies in the latter part of the 19th century, and then it appeared in the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909 for US consumption.Revelation is hard to understand and so many nutcases like to use it for their agendas by claiming ''this is what it means.'' I think the best way to look at it is as the revelation of Jesus who is the greatest revelation.
Through the years many people have been sure they knew what the symbols in Daniel relate to. All we really know is that there will be a series of gentile nations who rule.There are similarities between the symbolism of Daniel and Revelation. Daniel, a Jewish theology book, is another book that long ago was understood to largely relate to history from the Babylonian to the Greek period circa 170BC (when it is commonly supposed to have been written or finalized into its present form). It also anticipated the Roman period and Christ. As with Revelation, the dispensationalists got hold of Daniel and used it in the formulation of their novel pre-millennial and rapture prophecies in the latter part of the 19th century, and then it appeared in the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909 for US consumption.
What most don't seem to realize is that long before the Scofield Reference Bible, Revelation and Daniel were being understood according to the historical a-millennial perspective. That is why the historical interpretation of Revelation was so well developed even by the middle of the 19th century. The identity and nature of the beasts in Rev 11 etc were understood in the reformation as relating to the Catholic church power, but some protestants such as Servetus also saw them as relating to all church powers derived from ex-Catholic daughter churches, even Calvinism in Geneva.
Thus Dispensationalism in its present form is a very recent and almost exclusively US based interpretation, that is unknown elsewhere in the world except in a few "bretheren" churches in the UK who still follow JN Darby.
Thus according to the conventional protestant interpretation, both Daniel and Revelation relate to what is now mostly history, although some of the last prophecies of Revelation have still to be fulfilled.
God doesn't mean for us to understand Revelation as a book giving exactly how everything will happen. God told the Hebrews about the coming of Christ the first time and most of the scholars who said they understood it perfectly made a terrible mistake about what Christ did. We can look back on all the prophecies and understand them after they happened. All the prophecies that have happened have been like that. The parts of Revelation that are clearly told about what we can expect tell of absolute wonders ahead for us.
I like going over the feast of Sukkot, the feast of the harvest, that God gave to show us what the harvest of His people will be like. It gives such a clear picture, and it gives us the season it will happen. The feasts that prophesied such as the crucifixion (Passover) and Pentecost gave the exact date, I'll bet this feast will, too. Just not the year.