Global Currency: Mark of the Beast?

[AlphaDoG]

\"It is written,that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.\"
Luke 4:4

\"If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.\"
John 8:31-32

[Sergeant Thorne]

But the question has not been answered.

[Duper]

"It is written,that man shall not live by bread alone."
Luke 4:4

Fixed.

He was quoting:

Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

But it does show that way in Matthew 4:4


(p.s. this sparked an interesting discussion at work)

(PPS)

Religion is one of the reason the the world is fighting all the time. Every one believes they have the one true Religion.

Well... not exactly. Religion is merely a venue. We fight all the time because we are fallen. Emotions run high because of pride. Offended pride lashes out (or can).

Is there one TRUE way? indeed there is. If you are a Christian, then you will believe this; Jesus stated it. Can any one man know everything there is to know about God? No, of course not. Are some of my ideas going to differ than yours? Of course. Without the unity of the God's Holy Spirit, there will never be agreement. NEVER. then you will know. It is not possible for someone to accept truth that is not in Christ. This we also know. And thus, they will never accept any attempt we make to reach them intellectually alone. Without God's power, there is no salvation, there is no understanding or the revelation of Christ Jesus to the non-believer.


Oh.. no, I don't think Obama is the antichrist. He's mearly a pawn in the grand scheme that is pushing the world in that direction. Things are about to get ugly.

[Foil]

Some interesting discussion about the source of Christian understanding here, especially related to Biblical interpretations.

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But speaking of interpretation, some of the links and statements in here are just way off base. I know, there are thousands of books and websites and preachers out there who all have their own interpretation of passages in Revelation, but from my experience, 90%+ of them haven't even come close to good Christian eschatology.

First, many of them make the mistake of ignoring any context (cultural or otherwise) in Revelation. They approach the book as primarily a \"set of predictions\", which ignores the entire message of the book.

Second, many of the wacky interpretations I've come across (like \"the locusts are referring to modern helicopters\" ) are caused by people trying to \"match up\" verses with current events, which is an absolutely horrible approach to scripture. What's interesting is that every generation seems to come up with the same conclusions, just different specifics:

\"The antichrist is (insert world leader or nation) !\"
\"The mark of the beast is (insert technological advancement) !\"
\"The Rapture will happen by (insert approaching date) !\"

It's actually kind of funny to look at some of these claims from back in the '60s and '70s (my parents still have some old books they were given on the subject), and who/what was the subject of the speculation.

Now just to be clear, I'm not debating the truth in Revelation. I'm well-aware some prophecies have been fulfilled (e.g. the post-WWII re-establishment of the nation of Israel is a big one), and I absolutely believe that there will be an end and a new beginning just as John describes.

What I'm talking about are the popular interpretations that try to artificially manipulate scriptural meaning to match current events, or use passages to score political points. Those are inherently bad methods of looking at the Bible, and honestly they're a pet peeve of mine (can you tell? ).

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For anyone interested in honest Christian eschatology, I'd recommend starting from the historical context (the early Christian church under Roman rule, which is often the subject in Revelation), and possibly taking an in-depth course in the subject.

[flip]

At this point I'm gonna step out and let the Christians fight amongst themselves. I do have one suggestion though. Instead of arguing from different sides of the same coin. Try to find the things you can agree on first, then argue the points you disagree on.

[Sergeant Thorne]

Are you sure the air isn't just getting a little thin up there?

Instead of arguing from different sides of the same coin. Try to find the things you can agree on first, then argue the points you disagree on.

Becauuse... it would be friendlier? I'm not being hostile.

I mean, I called my opponent an insurrectionist, but he totally deserved that.

[flip]

No, to me it's got nothing to do with being friendly, but rather creating an intelligent discussion. If your going to debate end time prophecy, it would make sense to me to at least establish the things that can be agreed on first.
I would venture to guess that no one here, especially myself, knows or understands 1/10 of what revelations is saying. I'd like to know others thoughts on it but if this just turns into another \"all knowing\" debate then you all can carry on without me.

[Sergeant Thorne]

Well I apologize then. That didn't warrant my remarks.

[flip]

No need to apologize Thorne. The internet makes people sound much harsher than they really are

How many Christians on this board feel we are in the end times and what and where in scripture do you see current events and prophecy lining up?

Here's one thing I think we can all agree on. Revelation 1 12-16 Mentions lamp stands and stars.

In Revelation 1:20 It interprets the stars to be angels and the lamp stands as churches.

My approach is to find all occurrences like this first, where the interpretation is indisputable. If we can agree on those then we got something to build on