Saturday 17 August 2013

Dragonses in Revelationses

Scott Bailey makes a basic point on his excellent blog about the last book in the Christian Bible, sometimes known as The Apocalypse.

You can always tell whether a commentator on this book has even the most basic knowledge of their subject by what they call it. The correct title is Revelation, most definitely in the singular. Drooling poseurs invariably call it Revelations, in the plural.

It might seem to be a small point, but let's face it, if some nincompoop dilettante can't even get the name right, what are the chances they've got anything else right?

Which is exactly the point Scott makes. (The particular egg he refers to believes that dragons are real, and the Bible proves it!)

Of course, just because somebody can get the title right doesn't mean they have a clue about the book itself either, but at least they're approaching base one.

There was a certain philandering televangelist of fond memory who used to contest the full name as given in the KJV: The Revelation of St. John the Divine. His point was that John would never have called himself divine, or assumed such undue honours. Poor Ted (oops, gave that away...) simply didn't understand the difference between an adjective - which he took it for - and a noun - which was the translators' intent. Back in the 1600s divine was simply a synonym for theologian - presumably reflecting the superhuman seer-like characteristics needed for torturing significance out of those recalcitrant texts!

7 comments:

  1. I'm confused. I thought Revelation spoke of the Great Dragon, Satan the Devil. Maybe Revelations led to Dragons? Equating the Dragon in Revelation to dinosaurs is incomprehensible -- for the birds, you might say. I remember GTA saying on the World Tomorrow Radio Program that there were footprints of man walking alongside of dinosaurs. If true, I'll bet the dinosaur had a nice free lunch. It never ceases to amaze me how guys just make stuff up.

    I am reminded of Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo saying, "Whenever I'm confused, it's because somebody is lying".

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  2. The Dragon = the serpent (the deceiver) = the devil (the accuser) = Satan (the adversary) + cast down = the fall of "Mystery Babylon" the city that deceived kings, killed the prophets, persecuted the saints and accused the brethren.

    The Revelation is about the destruction of Jerusalem (and its authority) by the "Beast". The beast, of course, is the Roman empire. The woman called Mystery Babylon rode the beast - as it was a province of Rome - but the beast hated the woman (because of the Jewish revolt) and destroyed her. The false prophet? Well, that was probably Simon bar Kokhba, leader of the 132 - 136 rebellion.

    Much to the disappointment of the fundies, it has nothing whatever to do with 2013 in Prophecy...

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    1. You confirms Gaven's point. You got name right, but everything else wrong.

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    2. Talking about getting the name right, Tom, it's Gavin with an 'I'.

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    3. I know. It's another one of my endless typos. Sorry.

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  3. Yes, Corky, you got the name wrong... probably... maybe... wasn't it supposed to be Simon Magus?

    Oh well, one tiny picky little point and it might not be wrong anyway -- but the rest seems to be in order.

    But there's no use in dragon this out, is there?

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    1. And, Simon the magician may just be a pseudonym for Marcion. We'll never know for sure because of all the deliberate deception and forged documents.

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