Whore of Babylon, Part I

Edited to add: I'm having a really hard time getting Candy's words to be big enough to be readable. I'm out of naptime now, so I'll try to fix it this evening.

As mentioned previously, Red Neck Woman and Joy have already done a great job on Candy's Whore of Babylon post, not to mention Elena's post from the last time Candy brought up the issue. I'm not going to try and recreate the wheel, but I wanted to give my thoughts on the post.

I recently finished reading the Bible again. Every time through, I'm just shocked when I read Revelation chapter 17. Who/what could that chapter be discussing?

I took the time to look up Revelation 17 in the King James Bible. I admit, I didn't get out Candy's list to see if it was an uncorrupted translation. At any rate, I too was a bit "shocked." Okay, not really. But I keep hearing the same bits referenced over and over, and they are just a small part of the entire chapter.

For example, we keep hearing about these seven hills. But the very first verse says that the whore "sitteth upon many waters." The last time I checked, Rome was pretty land-locked.

The Whore of Babylon sits over a city. That city sits atop 7 hills, and is under a strong religious influence. There is only one city that fits this description, and that is Rome.

I didn't see anything in the chapter about a strong religious influence. There are actually quite a few cities which are built on seven hills. If strong religious influence is a must, then Istanbul is a likely candidate. Located in the Bosphorus Strait, it would actually be sitting on many waters.

Certainly many Christians have been killed from Muslims, but more so from the Roman Catholic Church. For example, Pope Innocent (I think he was Pope Innocent III, but I'm not positive) killed 70,000 Christians in one day, - that is more than all of the Caesars of Rome put together.

That is certainly a paragraph which could use some citations. I find it curious that she begins by saying that the Christians have been killed by Muslims, but the last line says more than Caesars.

I haven't been able to find any historical data on any of the Pope Innocent's killing 70,000 Christians in one day, or any scholarly agreement on how many Christians were killed by Rome. It seems that 90,000 Christians were killed after Jerusalem fell to the Persians in 614. But perhaps not in one day.

During the Inquisition and burnings, Christians were killed because they refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. This is not Christian or Christ like. Christ said that after you've told someone the Gospel message, if they don't accept it, you are to just shake the dust off of your feet and move on. To see an example of historical religious killings, by Roman Catholics killing Christians, watch the movie Elizabeth (the first one is the best).

Christians would know that killing someone if they don't accept your message is un-Biblical, huh?

The followers of John Hus, known as the Hussites, were quite a force in their day.
As Zwingli spread protestantism in Switzerland, protestant forces declared war on the Catholic cantons.
The factions of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli all killed Anabaptists.
Saintly Queen Elizabeth killed Catholics for not converting to Anglicanism.
Witch trials encompassed all forms of Christianity, in Europe and America. Lutheran Germany had the highest execution rate.

All this at a time when historians are admitting that "The Inquisition was an image assembled from a body of legends and myths which, between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries, established the perceived character of inquisitorial tribunals and influenced all ensuing efforts to recover their historical reality."

Philip Jenkins, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University (non-Catholic), writes in his book, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice:

"There never was such a thing as a Church-wide inquisition, a terrifying monolith comparable to the NKVD or the Gestapo. It is more accurate to think of inquisitions that operated extensively in some areas in a highly decentralized way, although they notionally acted under papal authority. Inquisitions were important at certain times and places but never existed in other areas."

"The main problem about speaking of 'the Inquisition' is that it suggests that religious repression of this sort was a Catholic prerogative. In fact, before the Enlightenment, virtually all religious traditions on occasion acted similarly when they had the power to do so..This indictment of religious savagery and intolerance applies to.all the Protestant nations, even relatively liberal ones such as England and the Netherlands..Equally blameworthy would be Muslims, Hindus, and even Buddhists. After all, in the seventeenth century, when Catholic inquisitions were at their height, the Buddhist/Shinto nation of Japan was engaged in a ferocious attempt to stamp out the deviant faith of Christianity through torture and massacre. In just forty years, these Japanese religious persecutions killed far more victims than the Spanish Inquisition would in all the centuries of its existence."

There are ancient Mystery Babylon cults. These cults tend to have the below in common:

1. They worship a mother and child. For example: Isis and Horus.

Catholicism: Worships one God in three divine persons. I guess we don't fit this one.

2. They will mix in other pagan practices, and refine their mystery religion into a melting pot of sorts.

Does Catholicism mix in pagan practices? Perhaps, but I think Candy can defend Catholicism in her own words here:

Moving on to the decorating of the evergreen or other green deciduous trees, we do find in history pagans celebrating winter solstice, long before Christ was born. This tree decorating was also done by other heathen and pagan peoples in the past. Does this mean that a Christian having a Christmas tree is pagan? Not at all.

The pagans had feasts. Does this mean then, that Christians should not eat? The pagans sang and danced unto their false gods. Does this mean then that it was pagan of King David to dance unto the Lord when he was celebrating the returning of the ark of the covenant?

If it's good enough for Christmas, it's good enough for Catholicism.

3. Many teachings of such a cult are esoteric. You'll only be told a little here, and a little there, until you are far enough in the religion to learn more.

Catholicism: Not an esoteric religion. You can read all of our doctrine in the Catholic Catechism.

I guess we've successfully proven that Catholicism does not meet the three standards for Mystery Religion. Glad we got that settled.

Is this why the pope wears a Dagon fish hat?

Is that why Protestants wear fish magnets on their car?

The basilica of Saint Peter's, according to some, stands upon the former site of Cybele's main temple in Rome.

Well, "some" people will believe anything. But the basilica of Saint Peter's is built on the tomb of St. Peter.

I'll handle the actual doctrine part of her article in a second post.