since God in the new testament when i read the bible out of curiosity as an agnostic who believes in every religion and gods says to his biblical authors to write in the new testament about the last war between lucifer and god in end times, does he think war virtuous in a good way? i ask because war to me is not always a way to prove a point and shouldn't in "most" cases in life yet he ends this earth with supposed end times that christians fully believe in. thanks for any answers to understand christians and their god that they fully believe in and do religiously practice about.
Are you talking about Armageddon?
Also, the whole "end times" thing--yeah that's not really a thing for most Christians, at least not in the
Left Behind variety.
I have no reason to believe that "Armegeddon" is anything remotely literal. This is the same book that describes Jesus as a lamb with multiple eyes and horns, and that a blood-drinking prostitute rides a multi-headed monster. Probably a good indication that the content of the book isn't supposed to be taken literally.
The book of the Revelation (also known as the Apocalypse) is written in the literary genre known as apocalyptic, a literary style that was fairly common in the 2nd Temple period, and shortly thereafter. The word "apokalypsis" in Greek just means "unveiling" or "revelation", the point of apocalyptic literature is to disclose mystery, or to describe things from a heavenly or supernal perspective.
As such a common literary motif in apocalyptic is that of someone (often the narrator as told from a first person perspective) being taken by a heavenly agent and shown visions--of heaven, of the earth, of events, persons, things, places, etc. The things seen are in the form of dreams or visions, and descriptions are often highly cryptic, imaginative, and graphic. Many parts of the book of Daniel is in the form of apocalyptic, where the language shifts to first person, and "Daniel" is shown dreams and visions of things--he also happens to be shown things by a heavenly agent, an angel. One of the most famous Jewish apocalyptic works of the 2nd Temple period is the book of Enoch which presents itself as a first-person narration by the biblical Enoch (it's obviously not) who is shown visions as he is escorted by an angel through heavenly realms.
The Revelation of St. John is a distinctly Christian apocalyptic text that uses the same apocalyptic framework: The author is known only as "John", but it's not clear exactly who this John is, early tradition said it was a figure known as John the Presbyter, the same who was said to have written the epistles which bear the name "John"; some that it was the Apostle John, one of Jesus' original 12 core disciples who was said to have written the Gospel that now bears the name "John", others said that these were the same John. Also possible that this is some other John altogether. We really don't know, but given the tradition of John the Presbyter with Ephesus, a connection with John the Presbyter seems reasonable to me. At any rate, this John was currently in exile on the island of Patmos located off the south-western coast of what is now modern-day Turkey; the author says he had been exiled on account of his faith. Historic sources tend to place the timing of this work to the reign of Emperor Domitian (81 - 96 AD), usually to the latter end, or around ~95 AD, though some surmise it might have been as late as during the reign of Nerva (96 - 98) or Trajan (98 - 117). The 4th century Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea speaks of the time of Domitian as a time when were suffering under Roman oppression,
"
Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome, and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred and enmity toward God. He was in fact the second that stirred up a persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us.
It is said that in this persecution the apostle and evangelist John, who was still alive, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in consequence of his testimony to the divine word. Irenæus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the so-called Apocalypse of John, speaks as follows concerning him: 'If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.' To such a degree, indeed, did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to mention in their histories the persecution and the martyrdoms which took place during it. And they, indeed, accurately indicated the time. For they recorded that in the fifteenth year of Domitian Flavia Domitilla, daughter of a sister of Flavius Clement, who at that time was one of the consuls of Rome, was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia in consequence of testimony borne to Christ." - Eusebius, Church History, Book III, ch. 17-18
This gives us some meaningful context for the occasion of the writing of the text, though the text itself suggests as much. As such, if we want to understand the meaning of the text, understanding the contemporary circumstances of the time of its writing is worthwhile. Especially seeing that it would seem that John is not exactly entirely subtle at times, he pretty clearly states that the prostitute who rides a
scarlet beast is a
city that rests on seven hills.
-CryptoLutheran
