Reply #15: Hmmm... no, all I need is the passages themselves [View All]

Let's only look at Chapter 6, verse 8 to the end:

8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,

13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

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The thing of it is, many Christians believe the Book of Revelation (or John's Apocalypse) to be unique. The truth is that it and the symbolism it contains are very commonplace in the realm of writings of the same type. Many religions have beliefs that their Almighty will come and avenge them to the non-believers. It goes to the all-powerful and also provides an insight as to why an all-powerful would allow freewill. After all, why would a God allow his subjects to roam about doing and worshipping whatever they pleased unless he would one day come back to judge them and stand on his rightful throne?

There was a really good Frontline (PBS) piece which discussed the apocalypse belief. Here's a link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/