Who was the whore of Babylon?

[mementoxmori]

What did she represent? What was her connection to great satan? And is it true that someone destined for heaven can kill her for good? if so explain. thanks

 

[NotWorthy]

Wow, you will probably get different answers if you post this on CARM!

One of the theories is that She is Apostate Jerusalem.

P.S. If someone says they KNOW who the Whore is, then I would be very leery of that answer.

 

[Khalid]

I think she was Pagan Rome. The alternative interpretation is that she was Herodian-era Jerusalem (a vassal of Rome, who “forced people to give worship to the Beast”, a deified emperor) because Jerusalem was referred to as a spiritual whore in the OT. I find it unconvincing.

• Rome caused people to worship the emperors.
• When you think of the city of seven hills, what is it? Rome (note, the Vatican is not on seven hills, so it can not be Catholicism).
• Rome killed Christians and “drank the blood of the martyrs” (also, the prophets were killed in Jerusalem)
• Rome was the preeminent power of the day.
• St Peter wrote, “From the faithful in Babylon…” shortly before his death. Where did Peter die? Rome.

So on.

It may also have a double meaning, that is, “what is it in the present day?”, as I am not a historicist (the Apocalypse describes past events), but am a futurist (the Apocalypse talks of events of all times, and tells of events of the future eschaton in apocalyptic language) premillennialist, (traditional, like St Irenaeus, not dispensational or rapture-ational like CI Scofield, many modern Evangelicals: the Rapture takes place after the Tribulation, not before - or else, what’s the point of the tribulation? If the rapture is before tribulation, what is the tribulation but a sort of mini-Hell on earth for those already doomed to Hell?) although I don’t preach my views about the Apocalypse as they’ve probably divided orthodox (that is, Trinitarian, Hypostatic Union) Christianity more than anything else.

 

[traillius]

Taken in context its pagan rome. Taken with a grain of salt and an agenda, its the rcc, to certain fundamentalists and protestants.

 

[Nelka]

Jerusalem!

What’s CARM?

 

[Khalid]

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, a Calvinist and Anti-Catholic organization.

Nevertheless, they do have valuable information on their website, and their essays on the Bible were part of what moved me away from Islam and towards Christianity. Their mission, unlike Jack Chick, isn’t solely or primarily anti-Catholic (they have good information on cults like the Mormons and JWs too - the best site for information on all of Mormonism is www.mormonthink.com, which is actually written by some more reasonable Mormons, but to outsiders, reveals the crazy nature of some of their history and beliefs), but involves anti-Catholic material when they speak of Catholicism.

 

[LoyalViews]

Wow, you will probably get different answers if you post this on CARM!

I can’t even imagine the consensus.

To answer the OP, as to that, I’ll wait to hear who the Church says she is. There are many theories, but we’ll have to wait and see!

 

[Jim_Dandy]

What did she represent?

Pagan Imperial Rome.

What was her connection to great satan?

She persecuted the Church; killed Catholics, and destroyed sacred writings of the Church that later became the New Testament. It was a capitol offense to be a Christian or possess any Christian writing – including copies – until Constantine of the East and Licinius of the West (rulers of the Roman Empire) issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity legal in A.D. 313.

And is it true that someone destined for heaven can kill her for good? if so explain. thanks

She has been dead several centuries. Rome fell in 476, according to the historian Edward Gibbon.

The bull-oney about the Catholic Church being the Whore of Babylon is ignorant and is said only by Protestant anti-Catholic zealots. The Catholic Church selected the contents of the New Testament. Does any person brighter than a 10-watt light bulb think she would have selected a book that names her as the harlot? Ludicrous. This started with Martin Luther. He was the first to call her the Whore of Babylon, and he said the Pope was the anti-Christ. Consider the source. Lutherans still call the Pope the anti-Christ in their Book of Concord, also known as the Lutheran Confession.

Revelation is written in apocalyptic code to the Church suffering under the severe persecutions of Emperor Domitian. The langauage is symbolic and requires an expert to decipher it. Best book for understanding Revelation: Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper.
Revelation describes the Mass as it is celebrated in heaven.

Jim Dandy
Ex-Southern Baptist, ex-agnostic, ex-atheist, ecstatic to be Catholic!

 

[wiggbuggie]

What did she represent? What was her connection to great satan? And is it true that someone destined for heaven can kill her for good? if so explain. thanks

my NAB footnotes states that its rome.

*One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. *

Babylon was a codename for Rome(1 Peter 5:13). Rome ruled most of the mediterrian world hence verse 1 it states who sits by many waters. The scarlet beast that was covered with blashemous names represent how roman emporers acknowlegded themselves as a god. Women dressed in purple and scarlet and jewerly means the wealth and royalty of rome. Drunk with the blood of Gods holy people of course all the christian marters that died under nero or other roman emporers.