victorinus said in post 559:
what greek word is used in gen 9:13?
Genesis was written in Hebrew.
In Genesis 9:13, the original Hebrew word translated as "bow" is "qesheth" (H7198), which could refer to the weapon called the bow (cf. Genesis 27:3). In the case of Genesis 9:13, "qesheth" was used to refer to a rainbow, which is curved just like a weapon-bow. Also, just as the bow in Genesis 9:13 was a "token"/symbol of the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:12-17), so Revelation 6:2 can refer to a symbolic weapon-bow which is a token of Jesus' New Covenant/Testament (Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 12:24), which is the very Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The first arrows shot forth from the gospel-bow would have been the early disciples of Jesus (Mark 16:15).
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victorinus said in post 560:
the guy on the black horse has a scale 6:5
-6:6 sounds like price controls . . .
In Revelation 6:5, the scales represent the selling of the expensive food in the famines of Revelation 6:6.
That is, just as Revelation 6:4 refers to a future war, which is the "sword" part of Revelation 6:8, so Revelation 6:6 refers to future famines, which are the "hunger" part of Revelation 6:8, when food will be so expensive that someone will have to spend an entire day's wages just to buy a quart of wheat (think of a loaf of bread). For when Revelation 6:6 says "A measure of wheat for a penny", the original Greek says a "choinix" of wheat for a "denarion". A denarion was a day's wages, and a choinix was probably about a quart.
victorinus said in post 560:
it reminded me of -
"to each according to his need"
from the father of communism . . .
Note that the early church was communalist (Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32 to 5:11; 2 Corinthians 8:14-15).
victorinus said in post 560:
it reminded me of -
"to each according to his need"
from the father of communism, the second greatest threat to christianity -
The future Antichrist will be a socialist, a believer in distributing the wealth (Daniel 11:24), but not necessarily to the extent of atheistic communism (in its theory, not in its practice, for example, in the former USSR, or in China, where the country's wealth was/is not evenly distributed among the party leaders and the populace), or to the extent of the Christian communalism which was (truly) practiced by the early church (Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32 to 5:11; 2 Corinthians 8:14-15).
victorinus said in post 560:
it reminded me of -
"to each according to his need"
from the father of communism, the second greatest threat to christianity -
Regarding "the second greatest threat to christianity", in the future, the greatest threat to Biblical Christianity will become Gnosticism.
Gnosticism is an ancient religious movement which says that everything material is inherently evil, while only that which is pure spirit can be good. Gnosticism teaches that all humans used to be pure spirit and dwelling in bliss from all eternity in a purely-spiritual heaven, called the "Pleroma", until by some mishap, humanity fell into the material universe and became trapped in fleshly bodies. Gnosticism reviles YHWH, the God of Biblical Christians, and the Creator of the material universe and of all fleshly bodies, as an evil, subordinate deity, a "Demiurge", who is keeping humans imprisoned and suffering in fleshly bodies and in the material universe.
Gnosticism became one of the main enemies of the early church, and it will become the greatest enemy of the church during the future tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For the Antichrist will be a Gnostic. He will teach the Gnostic/antichrist lie that Christ is not in the flesh (1 John 4:3). And the Antichrist, like the Gnostics, will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36). The Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") will instead bring the world into the conscious and open worship of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and himself (Revelation 13:4,8, Revelation 12:9).
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Gnosticism has some core teachings in common with the current, major religions of Buddhism and Hinduism:
1. The material realm is unreal and evil. (Both Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Maya", from Hinduism.)
2. People must strive to escape the material realm completely, and enter a state which is wholly non-physical (Parinirvana in Buddhism, the Pleroma in Gnosticism). Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Brahman", from Hinduism.
3. The way for people to get free from their imprisonment within the material realm is through their minds attaining a certain level of enlightenment (Nirvana in Buddhism, Gnosis in Gnosticism). Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea, originally called "Moksha", from Hinduism.
4. The way for their minds to attain this certain level of enlightenment is through following the way of the Serpent (one legend of Buddhism says that the Buddha was given the true Buddhism by the King of the Serpents; and in Gnosticism, Gnosis comes from the Christ/the Serpent). Both Buddhism and Gnosticism got this mistaken idea of the enlightening serpent, originally called "Kundalini", from Hinduism. (Regarding the serpent in Genesis 3, Gnostics see him as the good guy, just as they see YHWH as the bad guy.)
The Bible contradicts each of the four points above:
1. The material realm is real, and was created by God as something very good (Genesis 1:31). God himself is in the flesh (John 1:1,14, Luke 24:39), and remains wholly without sin (Hebrews 4:15). So there is nothing evil about matter in itself.
2. People must strive to attain to a resurrection (Philippians 3:11), in an immortal human body of flesh and bones, like the immortal human body of flesh and bones that Jesus Christ obtained at his resurrection on the third day after his death (Luke 24:39,46; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,21-23,51-53, Philippians 3:21, Romans 8:23-25), and in which he will remain forever as Christians' fully-human mediator/high priest (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:16-17, Hebrews 7:24-26). His tomb is empty (Matthew 28:6), and when he returns, he will show the scars of the Crucifixion on his body (Zechariah 13:6, Zechariah 12:10-14).
3. Resurrected people who have been truly enlightened/illuminated (Ephesians 1:18, Hebrews 10:32) by Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7, John 8:32, John 3:36) will remain in the material realm (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29), ultimately living on a new earth with God (Revelation 21:1-4).
4. The Serpent, Satan/Lucifer, is the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9).
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