Biblical Revelations is a hoax

St. John (who also wrote the Epistle of St. John) dreamed of the end of time when there would be lots of catastrophes and when the final battle between good and evil be fought. He described 

1) the Beast with 7 heads and 7 horns. 

2) The harlot who commands that beast. 

3) The anti-Christ and his 666 code.

4) The coming of Jesus on a white horse

5) The eternal kingdom that would be established.

A unique piece of fortune telling but none the less it is just a another book of predictions.

When I was in school, I watched the acclaimed movie/documentary about Nostradamus the famous “predictor” of the medieval times. The movie was named “The man who saw tomorrow”. I was so much influenced by that movie that for some days, I was telling everyone the predictions which Nostradamus wrote. He wrote about how the “new king will kill the old king”; how the “frog-men” would fly; how the nations of the world would fight.

One thing which is common in what Nostradamus wrote and what St. John wrote was the heavy use of Symbolism. The revelations and predictions are never “up to the point”. They are like “beating around the bush”, always generalized and always in-accurate.

The reason why fortune-tellers use symbols and cryptic clues is that they do not want to be accurate. Leaving the results to the interpretation of the common-man is a safe option. Even if 1% of what you said “in general” comes out correct, then your whole prediction can be deemed correct.

Take for example our own home-grown “Bejan Daruwala”. He knows nothing and I have never seen any of his predictions coming true (even to the extent of 20%). But he is still releasing his yearly predictions in leading newspapers and magazines.

What is with the common-man? We are always fascinated by things which we cannot explain and predictions is such a mystery for everyone. Fortune-tellers utilize this mysticism and use confusing and “multiple meaning words” to make a general prediction. Same for palmist and sadhu-babas who tell our future for a mere Rs. 20.

For example, consider a prediction: “It would be a good year for India this year”.

No-one bothered to give the details; whether the crops would be good or still better the rice crops would be good. Nothing detailed like that. Just plan “multiple meaning” “good year”. Now each one of us can see something good happening in that year and easily “join the dots” and interpret that prediction as coming true.

I question the authenticity of the book of Revelations because it is another of the piece of “human” work. Even if there are lots of fundamental Christian beliefs embedded in this book, like the second coming of the Christ, it basically fails to be an accurate account of what St. John claims.

Unlike a lot of historical books of the old & new Testaments, which are historically and religiously accurate, Revelations is intentionally written in symbols. I question why St. John had to use symbols like the beast or the harlot if he actually saw the future. Or did he really see a fancy cartoon show in his dreams with a 7 headed dragon and lot of fire-works. If the word has come from GOD, then it must be accurate and precise. With correct dates and events and correct name of the people & places involved. But that was too risky for St. John because he did not see any future. He did what every common-man, (wanting to be popular) does and that is making fake predictions based on symbols and cryptic-ism. Then leave the rest to people's imagination and interpretations.

I have studied the Bible and I have studied various other books which describe and try to interpret what the symbols of Revelations mean. I have at least 10 different versions for the 7-headed beast and the Harlot. Some interpretations say that the Catholic Church headed at Rome is that beast because Rome is also called the “City of Seven Hills”. The Pope would therefore be the Harlot who commands the beast and would (in the end) fight Jesus Christ. What not???

Had Albert Einstein done his works in such symbolism and given nothing concrete as evidence of mathematical proof, then he would never had got the acclaim which he now deserves. We need men of action and not men who create confusion.

Had Jesus intended the flow of correct information to his disciples, then he would have given clear-cut instructions without chances of wrong interpretations. Whenever you give a puzzle to humans, each one would analyse that in a different angle and perspective. There would never be a correct result. With Revelations, it seems as a contradiction that the source of these predictions is a divine being.

St. John did what Bejan Daruwala and Nostradamus did best: Create a fantasy and let it loose among the “already confused common-man”.

Love, NVG