1And there came one of the seven
angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come
hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore [great church]
that sitteth upon many waters: 2with whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk
with the wine of her fornication. 3So
he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman
[church] sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. 4And
the woman [church] was arrayed in PURPLE AND SCARLET COLOUR, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of
abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5and upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER [church of all
churches-religions OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6And I saw the woman [church] drunken
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and
when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
These verses can never be linked to Catholicism figuring
the Church as a harlot as frequently paraded by non-Catholics BECAUSE for the
first 280 years of Christian history, Christianity was banned by the Roman
Empire, and Christians were terribly persecuted. This changed after Constantine’s (the Roman
Emperor) conversion. He provided religious toleration through the Edict of Milan in AD 313, effectively lifting the ban on Christianity. Afterwards, Constantine
called the Council of Nicea in AD 325 to unify Christianity. He envisioned
Christianity to be a religion that could unite the Roman Empire, which was
starting to disintegrate and divide at the time, which turned to be favorable
in the long run. However, Constantine turned down to fully embrace the
Christian faith and continued many of his pagan beliefs and practices, so the
Christian church that he promoted was a mixture of true Christianity and Roman
paganism.
MEANING, the Catholic Church is not a
continuation of the Roman Empire. The
roots on all of this disagreement between the Catholics and non-Catholics is
but a reality of what has been written: For the time will come when people will not
tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable
curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and
will be diverted to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
So what does this verse tries to convey?
This passage narrates numerous things concerning
whore:
1). That she is an international power
considering that she "sits on many waters," representing different peoples
(17:15), and in a commission of fornication with "the kings of the earth,"
and she has ignited "the dwellers
on earth" with her fornication.
2). That she is connected with the seven-headed
Beast from Revelation 13:1-10. That Beast was a major pagan empire, since its imagery mixed animal elements
from four other major pagan empires (compare Revelation 13:1-2 with Daniel 7:1-8).
3). That she is connected with royalty considering
that she is dressed in the royal color purple.
4). That
she is rich, for she is "adorned with gold, jewels and pearls, clasping in
her hand a golden cup."
5.) That she has committed some kind of
fornication, which is often a symbol of false religion in the Scripture - lack
of faithfulness to the God who created heaven and earth.
6). That she is symbolically known as Babylon.
7). That she is a principal cause of abominable
religious practices in the land.
8). That she persecutes Christians "the
saints and Jesus' martyrs."
The symbolic designation "Babylon"
can be narrowed down into two: pagan Rome and apostate Jerusalem. The early Church
Fathers referred to pagan Rome as "Babylon" but there are also accounts
in Revelation pointing to apostate Jerusalem as the whore
References:
- The Whore of Babylon, http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-whore-of-babylon
- The New American Bible, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX.HTM
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