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I just came across a massive wealth of information concerning the Book of Revelation.  Now I am even further away from understanding why anyone, let alone any church, let alone any sect of Christianity would base their doctrine on this clearly symbolic, non-literal book of the Bible.  It seems to me that this book has long been included to end the Bible with a bang.  An unnecessary bang?  Probably so.

The following excerpt comes from a BBC article on Revelation:

So it seems that the Book of Revelation is not prophesising the end of the world but is a polemic against the Roman Empire. John frames his attack in a way that parallels other religious writings of the time and which would have made sense to early Christians. John was for first century Christians telling them to galvanise themselves against compromising with Rome, and that their faithfulness would be rewarded.

While searching for concrete, historical (i.e. non-fantastical and non-ideological investigations into the substance of the book) information on Revelation I found an amazing and expansive PBS Frontline site concerning the many sides of Revelation, the Apocalypse, and the Anti-Christ.  A little vintage Slayer, anyone?

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