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"the Church was slow to accept Revelation as scripture." 1 Origen, an early Christian theologian, used the term antilegomena to describe those books -- including Hebrews, James 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation -- whose inclusion in the official canon of the Bible was actively disputed. In the fourth century CE, when the canon of the Bible was assembled from among the approximately 50 gospels and hundreds of epistles then in use by the Christian movement, Revelation was only reluctantly included. "To this day, Orthodox churches do not use Revelation for scripture readings during worship." 1
Martin Luther downgraded the significance of Revelation. It portrays God as inflicting horrendous punishments on humanity -- a concept that is today sometimes called "Ambush Theology." Luther concluded that he could not readily harmonize the God described in Revelation with the God to whom Jesus prayed to as Abba. When Luther translated the Bible into the German language, he downgraded Revelation by relegating it to an appendix.
Good job Mattie Jo...you've done your homework on this one. Luther in one of his Table Talks comments, re: Revelations (I paraphrase) "If your going to read the Bible, read something worth reading."
Too bad it DID make the cut...Revelations has caused more unnecessary panic and paranoia than anything ever written.
That begs the question : How many hundreds of gospels did not make the cut and were burned on Emperor Constantine's orders? How did they know that the 'failed' ones were that? What if amongst the hundreds burnt, were true gospels untainted by human editions or alterations? Who decided which gospel made the cut? The council of Nicea? Were all those in the council somehow 'divinely inspired'? Impossible right...
Esse you are correct and it is troubling that so many people hang on to every last word in the book and read all kind of madness into it as they claim to have "unlocked" the mysteries of that diatribe. Just a casual peep next door proves this.
I would not doubt that it is only the book of Revelations that has caused all the doomsday prophecies and books like Left Behind are a product of it. In Matthew when Jesus talked of the times of the end he at least said it would happen before his disciples passed away.
"the Church was slow to accept Revelation as scripture." 1 Origen, an early Christian theologian, used the term antilegomena to describe those books -- including Hebrews, James 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation -- whose inclusion in the official canon of the Bible was actively disputed. In the fourth century CE, when the canon of the Bible was assembled from among the approximately 50 gospels and hundreds of epistles then in use by the Christian movement, Revelation was only reluctantly included. "To this day, Orthodox churches do not use Revelation for scripture readings during worship." 1
Martin Luther downgraded the significance of Revelation. It portrays God as inflicting horrendous punishments on humanity -- a concept that is today sometimes called "Ambush Theology." Luther concluded that he could not readily harmonize the God described in Revelation with the God to whom Jesus prayed to as Abba. When Luther translated the Bible into the German language, he downgraded Revelation by relegating it to an appendix.
and......????
Is there a point, other than that it almost didn't make it in....but it did?
"the Church was slow to accept Revelation as scripture." 1 Origen, an early Christian theologian, used the term antilegomena to describe those books -- including Hebrews, James 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation -- whose inclusion in the official canon of the Bible was actively disputed. In the fourth century CE, when the canon of the Bible was assembled from among the approximately 50 gospels and hundreds of epistles then in use by the Christian movement, Revelation was only reluctantly included. "To this day, Orthodox churches do not use Revelation for scripture readings during worship." 1
Martin Luther downgraded the significance of Revelation. It portrays God as inflicting horrendous punishments on humanity -- a concept that is today sometimes called "Ambush Theology." Luther concluded that he could not readily harmonize the God described in Revelation with the God to whom Jesus prayed to as Abba. When Luther translated the Bible into the German language, he downgraded Revelation by relegating it to an appendix.
Mattie Jo,
I really enjoy your informative threads! More reps to you!
Is there a point, other than that it almost didn't make it in....but it did?
Are you suggesting that it's not inspired?
Judging from the information Mattie supplied, I would say many prominent men of God, such as Luther, doubted its inspiration.
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