But Mpok, you miss the point. There is a bleakness in the Tribulation that is true, but that is not where we Christians put our focus. Our focus is in the final outcome and victory! There is a glorious end to the story!!! This is where we put our hope and focus! It is not pessimistic at all, but a joyful, victorious, triumphant end!
I wouldn't consider the part where basically the vast majority of humankind becomes extinct "positive". In the apocalypse, it says most people will die. This is not a good thing. This would be like God's own personal holocaust. This is why Revelation is not literal; God simply would never kill billions of men, women and children and then send them all to hell.
I think you need to relax. You're getting yourself worked up. Left Behind is definitely wrong since the first rapture is according to readiness (Matt. 24.40-42, Luke 21.36, Rev. 3.10). It is not a forgone conclusion for the whole church.
And many churches regard revelation as wholly metaphorical. Most Churches don't even acknowledge the whole "Left Behind" ideal to be anything but fiction, because its a fictional book.
Revelation is mostly literal. It is the easiest book of the Bible to read. Of the 30 symbols 15 are explained right in the text, so that leaves less than one simple symbol per chapter that you can easily explain from other verses in Scripture.
The entire book itself is one giant symbol. Thats what I'm saying. Within the one giant symbol are many small symbols.
You're too vague. Revelation is very specific about the timing of the events, from the first rapture, to who the Antichrist is, what the mark of the beast is, the destruction of the Vatican and political Rome. It even goes into the millennial reign and the New City after that and what happens to those who are unsaved and when they will be resurrected. The church age is outlined in Rev. 2 & 3, what it is like in heaven (Rev. 4), recounts the cross (Rev. 5) and tells us what will happen the past 20 centuries (Rev. 6). It says the martyrs are raptured at the first rapture (5th seal), it tells us when the Tribulation takes place when Rev. 6.12 done. It tells of the protection of the remnant of Jews in Rev. 7 and the first rapture before the throne (Rev. 7.9). It details happens in the first half of the Tribulation (first four trumpets) and what happens in the 2nd half (3 woes).
Yes, and that specificity is wholly metaphorical and symbolic.
It tells us who the Two Witnesses are. So much more I could say.
What are their social security numbers?
The word doesn't end in the Tribulation, for Jesus returns to reign for 1000 years. Don't worry about the end of the world that takes place after the 1000 year reign. Jesus says nobody knows the day or hour when that will happen so relax.
I'm pretty sure thats metaphorical too.
What I am doing personally is reading the word of God deeply more than ever before because the Tribulation starts and first rapture is at Sept. 14, 2015. I would like to be included in the first rapture and not have to pass through the hour of trial that is to come upon the whole world.
So, that day, people are just going to be dying in droves because they'll be suddenly whisked away to Heaven, even though many of them will be driving cars, airplanes and trains? When the pilot of an airplane disappears, its a safe bet to assume everyone on that plane is going to die. When an engineer disappears from a train, its a pretty safe bet that the train is going to crash. If you are driving to work and with your family in the car, its pretty certain that everyone will die in that car if they don't disappear with the driver as well. It just makes abolutely no sense. And I'm a pretty big believer in this idea that God wants us to believe in the sensical and not radical.
No, it doesn't matter what people believe. Nobody can thwart God's plan.
And I for one believe His plan was to give us symbolism and metaphor which warns us against our own destructive power.
Trust me God has this allw orked out. God says an apocalypse is coming so whether people are really positive or negative it is going to happen Sept. 14, 2015 to Aug. 7, 2022.
Who told you this? That is one theory among infinite, past, present and future. People will always speculate as try to come up with a ballpark figure. Did you know people thought that the end of the world was happening as far back as the crusades? Thats nearly a thousand years of people crying "The end is nigh!" Its just my opinion, but, the end of the world didn't occur when people of the past said it would occur, so I would tend to believe no one today when they say "the end is near". People cited the same symbols in revelation and coorelated them with objects and people of their time; the end didn't happen, but they had just as convincing of evidence for their time as we do today for ours.
The cause for this is sin, selfishness of mankind and Satan.
Well I wouldn't doubt that; when people do bad things, bad things happen to them and their enviornments. This is what I believe Revelation to be wholly saying; "be good or bad stuff will happen to you. And be sure to recycle when you can."
