Question:
Is the Book of Revelations as violent as the Old Testament?
2014-12-16 01:55:50 UTC
I've read most of the OT, but I'm not as familiar with the Book of Revelations. I've read somewhere though that it's the most violent book in the Bible. Is it actually more violent than the Old Testament?
Nine answers:
Averell A
2014-12-16 02:08:40 UTC
Revelation (not Revelations) is an apocalyptic, not a historical, literature with a lot imaginative scenes. Apocalypses are usually about a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil and its effect on the world and humankind.



Revelation (or apocalypse) is just a genre commonly used between 200 BCE and 200 CE. The Old Testament book of Daniel is a Jewish apocalypse, and Revelation is a Christian version.
Annsan_In_Him
2014-12-16 02:41:18 UTC
It is a series of visions given to the aged apostle John, towards the end of the first century A.D. They were given to him by the resurrected Jesus Christ, about things to come in the future.



The first part is a series of letters to seven actual congregations of Christians in Asia Minor, from Christ, to instruct them. Then come the visions. They are apocalyptic, which is a totally different literature form of writing to other parts of the Bible. But there are other apocalyptic passages in the books of Daniel and Zecharaiah (OT). This kind of literature shows God as transcendent and fully in control of history, even when a very bleak picture is being portrayed. God's message to His suffering people is given in dreams, or visions to cosmic or spiritual realms. Readers understood that the promises of hope would not be fulfilled immediately; these promises were generally expressed as part of a coming cataclysmic judgment in which God would destroy his enemies and bring peace to His people. Meanwhile, God's people were to remain faithful and persevere in the face of suffering.



John's Revelation emphasizes that God's answer to distressing times will not be entirely realized until the end of history and in the coming eternity. It shows that what is done on Earth has eternal consequences. It portrays the stark nature of evil while emphasizing how God's sovereign hand is always present and at work to accomplish His purposes. The greatest evil will yet have to be crushed under God's mighty hand, at His timing. Revelation gives us the Big Picture - it shows the way the first prophecy in Genesis 3:15 will be completed.



The violence is the violence of evil unleashed on our world by satanic forces - and God's final response to crush it once and for all. Yet God's people need never fear, for they will be wonderfully sustained and see glory at the coming of Jesus Christ, who will then fulfill Psalm 2. Violence is the wrong word, really. This is all about the triumph of God's greatest good over Satan's worst evil. AiH
Danny
2014-12-16 04:23:42 UTC
The old testament tells history, when you read history books do you say they must be wrong they tell of violence?????, The book of revelation tells of things that will happen in the future, & where there are humans and human will, there will also be violence.

Sounds like you might read Dawkins & Co to get your understanding of the bible...I don't recommend that, it's all straw men...
?
2014-12-16 02:47:24 UTC
Briefly,two events are on the horizon: The Rapture and the Great Tribulation...



GLORY (for the Christians) : The Bridegroom is coming for the bride. The good news is that God has a fresh new world prepared for His children, and it will be a world where righteousness dwells. It will be more beautiful than anything we have ever seen. There will be no more sorrow, tears, pain and death. Everything will be indescribably beautiful. If God can make a rose bloom in the midst of decay, just think what He will be able to do without decay!



GREAT TRIBULATION (for the unbelievers) : These are things like wars, famines, and earthquakes. Such things are called the beginning of birth pains. Of course we know that birth pains increase in frequency and intensity as they progress. We see these birth pains proceed to include things like hatred, persecution, and martyrdom. In fact, in (Revelation 6:9) we learn that many Christians (those who reject the mark of the beast) will be martyred. Perhaps it was this fact that made the prophet Daniel sick when he learned of it and the same vision may have made John weep, because he saw believers coming out of the midst of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:14).



Right now (as we speak), Christians are being persecuted and killed for their faith in some parts of the world.



Those who are found in the Book of Life are blessed. The benefits of that book of life is outlined in (Revelation 3:5). Those who are found in there will be dressed in white, clothed in purity and incorruptibility, and will be acknowledged by Jesus Himself before His Father. The alternate scenario, reserved for the unbeliever, is anything but attractive.



God will execute His plans according to His timetable... just as it was in Noah's time -- when the end eventually came, the unbelievers found themselves without grace in a flood of God’s destructive justice.

It is very clear from scripture that God’s wrath is stored up for the last days to be released and poured out on those who refused to acknowledge the only God of the Universe. By their active rebellion, they seal their fate. They make their own choice to turn away from the only source of life, redemption and salvation.



We read about the antichrist and his armies desolating the temple and the holy city Jerusalem for forty two months. The actions of the antichrist upon the earth are absolutely blasphemous and destructive to God’s people, the Holy City, and God’s creation. Antichrist unleashes war, death, famine and pestilence upon God’s people and the rest of the world as well. The kingdom of antichrist consumes the entire world and antichrist demands to be worshipped as God. It truly cannot get any worse than this absolute depravity and evil rebellion. God allows this to continue for forty two months, but at the appointed time, at the consummation of the Seventieth Week of Daniel, God deals once and for all with antichrist and his armies, and the destruction which antichrist has wrought upon the earth and God’s people.



If you are not a Christian today, ask yourself why not? God has prepared the way for you to come to Him. He paid the price!
Gregory
2014-12-16 02:08:40 UTC
it describes the violence that mankind does and the judgments god brings to the earth against evil men
2014-12-16 02:02:43 UTC
it is the Book of Revelation - singular, not plural
Tommiecat
2014-12-16 03:34:18 UTC
Why do you have such a big problem with violence? We all are going to die. Every single one of us.
ob1knob
2014-12-16 06:49:00 UTC
Rated R for strong violence, drugs, disturbing images, and sexuality
chuck
2014-12-16 02:01:47 UTC
why not just read it? you scared?


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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