revelation and method of decoding

[Adventist Dissident]

Since i am in the middle of reviewing my faith, I would like to talk about methods of decoding prophecy.

1. I know there is the historicist, preterist, and futerist methods, I have also seen a wiki on the orthodox and it is similar to the historicist view. does anyone have any other methods of decoding out there?

Do any other SDA or formers see any other methods and views that are superior to the SDA views

 

[sentipente]

What is the goal? What are you hoping to accomplish?

 

[Sophia7]

There are a lot of things about Revelation that I'm not sure how to interpret by any method at this point.

 

[JonMiller]

How about the "prayer and meditation" method?

JM

 

[RC_NewProtestants]

One thing I would recommend is reading up on why apocalyptic literature was created. In general it was literature written at a time of oppression and serve to offer hope and comfort and a certainty for a particular people.

It is an interesting genre of literature and not probably what most Christians think of because they think of it in terms of predictions of future events. Which is what it is but the predictions are so coached that the decoded is probably never actually meant as the purpose.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

What is the goal? What are you hoping to accomplish?

well I looking to review sda's postion, and see if we can find any better answers.

All know methods of interpetation are on the table. all know answers are up for review

 

[oldsage]

I use to be a historicist but moved to a futurist position but not like those in the Left Behind school of thought. I am still post trib and do not believe in a secret rapture.

 

[Sophia7]

I use to be a historicist but moved to a futurist position but not like those in the Left Behind school of thought. I am still post trib and do not believe in a secret rapture.

That's interesting. Would you expect Jerusalem to play a prominent role in the future fulfillment of prophecy? There are some parts of Revelation that would seem to suggest that.

 

[StormyOne]

The assumption is that Revelation can be decoded, and then when decoded it will make sense? I am with RC on this one, the writings in Revelation had a purpose and not the one that we have attempted to give it....

Is it necessary to decode Revelation to enhance our relationship with God and our fellow humans... I don't think so...

 

[JohnT]

A prime consideration is "How did John understand what he wrote?"

Is it conceivable that Holy Spirit wanted him to have a "magic decoder ring" which only a select few (ahem, remnant) were permitted to understand?

What was the immediate purpose of the book, if the book was meant to be mainly futurist?

Whatever your position, you also need to ask if there is any other book in the Bible that takes such an exclusive position.

By asking these questions, you will come to an answer that will satisfy you, but remember that ONLY God has the correct, ultimate answer. REserve the right to be wrong, and you will be OK.

 

[Sophia7]

A prime consideration is "How did John understand what he wrote?"

Is it conceivable that Holy Spirit wanted him to have a "magic decoder ring" which only a select few (ahem, remnant) were permitted to understand?

What was the immediate purpose of the book, if the book was meant to be mainly futurist?

Whatever your position, you also need to ask if there is any other book in the Bible that takes such an exclusive position.

By asking these questions, you will come to an answer that will satisfy you, but remember that ONLY God has the correct, ultimate answer. REserve the right to be wrong, and you will be OK.

I don't see any one method that has been mentioned in this thread--historicist, preterist, or futurist--as being sufficient to explain everything.

 

[Sophia7]

The assumption is that Revelation can be decoded, and then when decoded it will make sense? I am with RC on this one, the writings in Revelation had a purpose and not the one that we have attempted to give it....

Is it necessary to decode Revelation to enhance our relationship with God and our fellow humans... I don't think so...

No, and since I don't have a secret decoder ring, I'm not going to stress over it too much. I just find it interesting to learn about other people's perspectives.

 

[JohnT]

For sure, I would be very skeptical of the stuff they teach in the "Revelation Seminars"

that is because that is a recruiting tool for SDAism, and that they put a string of unrelated, out-of-context Scriptures to "make their point"

To the Christian newbie, such cherry picking of Scripture may seem authoritative. It is not. It is an attempt to deceive, and recruit.

BEWARE

 

[JonMiller]

You put quite a sinister spin on it...

JM

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

Do any other SDA or formers see any other methods and views that are superior to the SDA views

Total reconciliation for all, because of Christ.
Not in spite of, not outside of, not overlooking, but because of.
Once you've seen it, you can never unsee it. And it bes there in scripture ... but the veil of human notions insisting we have to annihilate our foes to be happy and at peace will prevent many from seeing it until that Great Day when the 144,000 offer their eternal estate in place of those who will have none.

The neat thing about the Reconciliation Awareness being that the SDA view actually lays a pretty fine groundwork for it, including some of the SDA folklore that leaves you going, "OK, if X, Y and Z happen then it cannot end THAT way .... not with God being Who He bes ..."

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

No, and since I don't have a secret decoder ring, I'm not going to stress over it too much. I just find it interesting to learn about other people's perspectives.

Moriah not only has the universal decoder ring but spent some 7 years of labor on it personally. It bes an instrument of Time. Though daimonizomai has yet to figure out how to make it resolve by setting Christ as the key. It works perfect for Lucifer though. *shrug* Go figure.

Of course there bes this to consider as well ...

And if you cannot or will not learn to love your enemy, I shall, for a time, become your enemy. Through Mine enemy -- yea, even AS Mine enemy -- shall I then come to you, until indeed you have learned to love your enemy. Then I shall train you from the basis of your natural affection to love him with Mine own Divine love, for I made the bond of the human heart to be your training ground, and its yearnings the shadows cast by My light. And as you have seen Me in Mine own enemy, the last place you ever expected to see Me, I will bestow upon you the full experiential awareness of the true meaning of Mine omnipresence*, and reunite you at last with Myself, the true Object of your affections.
___________________________________________________________
* here the recipient bes keenly aware of the unspoken reference to Psalm 139:7-8
​

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

The best way to comprehend Revelation would be to utilize the historicist approach as a springboard for expanding awareness out of the specifics and into the broader principles, archetypes and attributes they embody. Remove the specifics of historicism at that point and you have a working template or boilerplate for grasping Revelation as the Revelation of Christ in ALL times and ALL places through the mechanism of contrast between Himself and His Kingdom, and the kingdoms of this world, of which His Kingdom bes not until the end of human history at the parousia. Now that end may come for us all at some point or may only be a postulated hypothetical itself a shell embodying certain attributes and qualities of our individual passing out of this world via death and into the next. No one knows for sure. But Revelation bes like a cosmic Rubik's cube: while in the end the cube bes "solved" by aligning all sides each of a single color, the methods for getting there bes multitude and within them each, the moves as well. And there bes a number of ways to backtrack and get on the right course even following a series of useless or fruitless maneuvers. Think of Revelation as a Rubik's cube in that respect. The various moves taken to get there bes not so important as the finished product -- and the finished product to the seasoned "cubist" bes something that can be scrambled anyway anyone pleases and STILL the one who knows the cube can solve it. No matter what bes his starting point.