I need some help from some well researched Christian users.

While the site is utter bunk, anyone want to take a stab at the pagan symbolism it mentions in revelations?

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Ignoring the UFO cult hoopla,and obviously goofy conclusions, anyone think that these pagan symbols influenced the Book of Revelations?

Originally posted by NamelessMonster2
While the site is utter bunk, anyone want to take a stab at the pagan symbolism it mentions in revelations?

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Ignoring the UFO cult hoopla,and obviously goofy conclusions, anyone think that these pagan symbols influenced the Book of Revelations?

We can quickly dismiss it. The Egyptians did practice some types of animal sacrifice, but lambs weren't among them since sheep weren't in Egypt when the worship of Isis began. Goats, yes. Sheep, no. "Philadelphia" doesn't mean "Goddess of Delphia." Phila/philos means "lover of" (abstract, as in "I love my parents" or "I love my brother" and not physical) and delphia (adelphos) means brother. So, "City of brotherly love."

Very few goddesses had the lion as their symbol (generally gods had lions, but not goddesses) and none of the few who were associated with lions are mentioned.

...and so forth and so on.

Yet another site by someone who isn't aware that there are languages on this planet other than English and has no idea of timelines and what events happened when.

reply to post by Byrd


I feel bad for even posting any links to it. It's an insult to people's intelligence and I can't beleive I once found it convincing.

Case closed, everyone ignore the garbage from this site.

Originally posted by Byrd

Originally posted by NamelessMonster2
While the site is utter bunk, anyone want to take a stab at the pagan symbolism it mentions in revelations?

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Ignoring the UFO cult hoopla,and obviously goofy conclusions, anyone think that these pagan symbols influenced the Book of Revelations?

We can quickly dismiss it. The Egyptians did practice some types of animal sacrifice, but lambs weren't among them since sheep weren't in Egypt when the worship of Isis began. Goats, yes. Sheep, no. "Philadelphia" doesn't mean "Goddess of Delphia." Phila/philos means "lover of" (abstract, as in "I love my parents" or "I love my brother" and not physical) and delphia (adelphos) means brother. So, "City of brotherly love."

Very few goddesses had the lion as their symbol (generally gods had lions, but not goddesses) and none of the few who were associated with lions are mentioned.

...and so forth and so on.

Yet another site by someone who isn't aware that there are languages on this planet other than English and has no idea of timelines and what events happened when.

A very late bump, but I just remembered something related to this thread that I would like to ask. As much as I would hate to give that goofy site any more traffic, I am curious about how the Mandaeans thing came about with the Goddess and John the Baptist. Is there any truth to the claim made about John the Baptist and the Mandaeans side excluding the really goofy alien and stuff?

I know that gnostics and many other movements looked at the holy spirit as female, so it makes sense that the Goddess that appeared as a dove would happen, but what about the whole concept of the adversarial God with the female partner?

Here is a quick exerpt from Wikipedia.

In Mandaeanism, this name (Ruha d-Qudsha) refers to an evil female spirit allied with the Jewish God, whom they call Adunay and consider an evil spirit. They believe that Ruha d-Qudsha founded Jerusalem and, together with her sons, the seven planets.

But if you look at the rest of the article the name just means the "spirit of holiness", so I guess it is an inversion of the holy spirit. Here is the Wikipedia page on it.

Now I'm just wondering about the Mandaeans and John the Baptist, and if any of the claims I linked to earlier make any sense. How did they come to that belief?

Also, there was a female lion deity. Her name was Sekhmet.

Originally posted by rectangle
Elaine Pagels is a Christian

Erm no, she's a Christian-hater.

and a college professor who writes books about Theology.

...bashing the Christians.

One of her points is that the New Testament is a product of its time.

Which is what you hear from every pulpit, right?

Written after the death of Christ it reflects not only who what Christ is, but the position the Christians wanted to take in regard to the ongoing Roman occupation of Palestine... Christians turned down their fellow Jews and wanted to send a message to the Romans that Christianity was not a threat to the Romans, therefore the Romans should not persecute the Christians. Not having the exact quote, I paraphrase Elaine Pagels, “The New Testament is a piece of war time propaganda. By turning down their fellow Jews the Christians made an enemy. That Christians accumulate enemies.”

You know, didn't it make you think for a moment, when you wrote this, that "This is not a Christian writing"? No?

I am left with a perplexity, if the New Testament (and the rest of the Bible) is divinely inspired by a perfect divine God, why do we have so many different understandings of the Bible?

Picking two thoughts at random, are you really saying that you've not come across stupidity or dishonesty? Please... be serious.

All the best,

Roger Pearse