Catholic "Truth" About "Babylon?"

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One CAF member, in particular, has tried to challenge me a number of ways about how Adventists do not have half as charitable of a view on Catholics, as Catholics do of us.

A number of other forum members have joined him and presented related questions and challenges to me over the years.

At this post, (see post #160) one member, (soon to be Catholic) called my Church “Babylon” yet numerous times, he has criticised me for the Adventist views on Babylon, calling it “hateful” among other things.

This is a request to explain the Catholic view on the Bible’s use of the term “Babylon.” I want to know if this poster, (and others) are correct in calling my Church this. What or who does the Catholic Church say is “Babylon?”
 
He may be using the phrase to mean “false religion”, which is really more of a JW use of the phrase than a Catholic one.

Most Catholics I’ve spoken to see Babylon as, well, Babylon. A huge city that existed at some point in the far past and was known for being immoral. It doesn’t have a modern day ‘reincarnation’ or anything like that.

If anything I would guess he’s using it in protestant terms (as you said, he’s becoming Catholic, so he’s still learning).
 
I regret that you’ve encountered anything discourteous. No one deserve any insult for their honestly held beliefs.

God bless you,
Trishie
 
When I hear the word Babylon used in a Christian sense rather than an archaelogical or historical one, I immediately think of the Book of Revelation reference to Babylon as the “code name” for the city of Rome in those times.
 
I look at Babylon as a name to represent any very wicked city or society. I don’t read the newspaper trying to figure out what city most resembles Babylon or anything like that. But I do think it well describes the modern world as a whole. New Age is on the rise, secularization of governments, acceptance of homosexuality and other such pervertions etc. So the world is a sort of Babylon.
 
Rawb said:
If anything I would guess he’s using it in protestant terms (as you said, he’s becoming Catholic, so he’s still learning).
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That could be. Thanks for the reply.
 
Trishie said:
I regret that you’ve encountered anything discourteous. No one deserve any insult for their honestly held beliefs.

God bless you,
Trishie
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I appreciate the thoughts. I guess I would say that I am OK with people saying that I or my Church are “Babylon” or any other similar thing. To me; everyone has a right to believe and express how they believe. It’s not wrong, it’s not hateful, to truly believe that error=apostasy, etc. etc. Sometimes, how it’s said is not good, but to honestly hold the belief is not wrong for the Bible itself does speak of such things and warns Christians against them.

In this topic; I was just checking to see if Catholic teaching would officially support someone calling a Church, like mine, “Babylon.”
 
Protestant101 said:
One CAF member, in particular, has tried to challenge me a number of ways about how Adventists do not have half as charitable of a view on Catholics, as Catholics do of us.

A number of other forum members have joined him and presented related questions and challenges to me over the years.

At this post, (see post #160) one member, (soon to be Catholic) called my Church “Babylon” yet numerous times, he has criticised me for the Adventist views on Babylon, calling it “hateful” among other things.

This is a request to explain the Catholic view on the Bible’s use of the term “Babylon.” I want to know if this poster, (and others) are correct in calling my Church this. What or who does the Catholic Church say is “Babylon?”
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Babylon was a code for Rome
 
When I attended the Assembly of God and was actively trying to change my husband’s religion (Catholic) many people prayed for me and used the phrase, “come out of Babylon” in reference to a Catholic letting go of all the “idolatry” and becoming born again.

I’m so grateful that my hubby never did… and that God called me Home to Rome!

in Christ
Steph
 
Protestant101 said:
Originally Posted by BILL PICK
Babylon was a code for Rome
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I believe Bill is referring to how most Catholic biblical scholars interpret the use of “Babylon” and its use in The Apocalyse of St. John in that it was a code word for the city of Rome and its Empire (not for the Catholic Church established there by Sts. Peter and Paul).
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Peter wrote:

“The church which is at Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does my son Mark” 1 Pet 5:13

Where is this Babylon? By the time the New Testament was written, the city of Babylon, in what is now Iraq, was of almost no importance. Its days of glory were long past the Old Testament.
Christians were under constant persecution by both the Jews and the Romans from the very beginning and had to practice the faith underground in the homes of believers, and in the Catacombs of Rome. In order to recognize one another as fellow Christians, they used code words and symbols. The fish symbol was used for recognition, and Babylon was the code name for Rome.
If Peter had said he was writing from Rome, then no doubt, the Romans would of begun an intensive search for him.
 
OneTrueCathApos said:
Peter wrote:

“The church which is at Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does my son Mark” 1 Pet 5:13

Where is this Babylon? By the time the New Testament was written, the city of Babylon, in what is now Iraq, was of almost no importance. Its days of glory were long past the Old Testament.
Christians were under constant persecution by both the Jews and the Romans from the very beginning and had to practice the faith underground in the homes of believers, and in the Catacombs of Rome. In order to recognize one another as fellow Christians, they used code words and symbols. The fish symbol was used for recognition, and Babylon was the code name for Rome.
If Peter had said he was writing from Rome, then no doubt, the Romans would of begun an intensive search for him.
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OneTrueCathApos;most of what you said was what i was thinking but at the time of my answer i did not have the time to post all that,but let me thank you for very good answer,have a great nite
 
BILL PICK said:
OneTrueCathApos;most of what you said was what i was thinking but at the time of my answer i did not have the time to post all that,but let me thank you for very good answer,have a great nite
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Well thank you my friend. God Bless. 🙂
 
FCEGM said:
I believe Bill is referring to how most Catholic biblical scholars interpret the use of “Babylon” and its use in The Apocalyse of St. John in that it was a code word for the city of Rome and its Empire (not for the Catholic Church established there by Sts. Peter and Paul).
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Thanks for that clarification; I think I did realize that but neglected to say it all as good as you did.
 
Babylon, Antichrist, heretic, all these have one thing in common. They are used almost exclusively here as rhetoric, lacking all substance. Apologetics (Catholic, or Christian in general) is not about begging the question by using names that only have significance to those who already agree with you. I can not count the times I have seen the phrase, “Come out from among them,” used as if it proves something just because it is from the Bible. The user fails to consider that he is assuming, without proving who them, ( or Babylon, Antichrist, heretic) is.

For those who recognize this, we see someone who has no substance trying to use terms used indiscriminately to cloud the issue. For those that do not see through this, the most common response is the CAF equivalent of the playground, “Oh, yeah? Well you are, too!”
 
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