Who Is Babylon? Essay -- Exploring the Scriptures

In Revelation chapters 17 and 18 we read about the great whore named Babylon who sits on many waters and is the mother of all harlots. The imagery in which the apostle John uses to describe Babylon has very significant meaning, in particular for the church as she approaches the end of the age. It is of paramount importance to understand who this Babylon is and how she affects the life of every believer. Throughout the ages there have been many attempts to identify Babylon. Most have agreed that she is the Roman Catholic Church (in particular the Vatican), even to the point of identifying the Pope as the anti-Christ himself. Others have suggested that Babylon is not a religious structure but more likely political, pointing to the EEC (the European Economic Community), or to the United States (in particular New York with Wall Street). Further more, others have gone as far as to suggest that Babylon is geographical, pointing to modern day Iraq from where that former great civilization originated, and suggesting that one day that civilization will rise again to become a modern superpower. While it is true that one may find levels of Babylon in all these things, however, none of these things in themselves can fully make up Babylon. In other words, Babylon may, and does exist in these things, but no one can point to any one of these things and say, "This is Babylon". The reality is, that all these (ie. the European Union, United States with its "big business", the Vatican, and other political and religious institutions) are made up of people, and it is IN THE HEARTS of people you will find Babylon. These entities have been allowed by God to visibly show us Babylon and point to something of the nature of fallen man. "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jer 17:9). The origins of Babylon, as far as mankind is concerned, dates right back to the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were given a choice as to whether they would follow the Lord through a life of obedience and faith, or try to become as God through their own striving. From the beginning, God's intention was that man would manifest the image of God and grow into full maturity through obedience to the will of the Lord. As we know, Adam and Eve chose to disobey and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that time o... ...e it is the opposite of God's love which allows freedom of choice, it forces a person(s) to behave a certain way, usually through emotional blackmail. Extreme forms of witchcraft used by the occult involve black magic. However, subtle forms of manipulation can not only be found in the personal lives of many believers, but also in the everyday running of many of God's churches. Husbands and wives have found that certain emotions will result in receiving a favourable response from their spouse. Likewise, church leaders have found that certain words said in a particular manner, or maybe a tear at the right time, or even a certain physical gesture, is able to move the congregation towards the goal of that leadership. THIS IS WITCHCRAFT! This takes away a person's ability to make a free choice to obey by FORCING their emotions to make a favourable response towards the one displaying these emotions. THIS RUNS CONTRARY TO GOD'S LAW OF LOVE!..........Love commanded is not love at all. Work Cited The New Oxford Annotated Bible: With the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, New Revised Standard Version. Michael D. Coogan, editor. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print. Who Is Babylon? Essay -- Exploring the Scriptures In Revelation chapters 17 and 18 we read about the great whore named Babylon who sits on many waters and is the mother of all harlots. The imagery in which the apostle John uses to describe Babylon has very significant meaning, in particular for the church as she approaches the end of the age. It is of paramount importance to understand who this Babylon is and how she affects the life of every believer. Throughout the ages there have been many attempts to identify Babylon. Most have agreed that she is the Roman Catholic Church (in particular the Vatican), even to the point of identifying the Pope as the anti-Christ himself. Others have suggested that Babylon is not a religious structure but more likely political, pointing to the EEC (the European Economic Community), or to the United States (in particular New York with Wall Street). Further more, others have gone as far as to suggest that Babylon is geographical, pointing to modern day Iraq from where that former great civilization originated, and suggesting that one day that civilization will rise again to become a modern superpower. While it is true that one may find levels of Babylon in all these things, however, none of these things in themselves can fully make up Babylon. In other words, Babylon may, and does exist in these things, but no one can point to any one of these things and say, "This is Babylon". The reality is, that all these (ie. the European Union, United States with its "big business", the Vatican, and other political and religious institutions) are made up of people, and it is IN THE HEARTS of people you will find Babylon. These entities have been allowed by God to visibly show us Babylon and point to something of the nature of fallen man. "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jer 17:9). The origins of Babylon, as far as mankind is concerned, dates right back to the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were given a choice as to whether they would follow the Lord through a life of obedience and faith, or try to become as God through their own striving. From the beginning, God's intention was that man would manifest the image of God and grow into full maturity through obedience to the will of the Lord. As we know, Adam and Eve chose to disobey and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that time o... ...e it is the opposite of God's love which allows freedom of choice, it forces a person(s) to behave a certain way, usually through emotional blackmail. Extreme forms of witchcraft used by the occult involve black magic. However, subtle forms of manipulation can not only be found in the personal lives of many believers, but also in the everyday running of many of God's churches. Husbands and wives have found that certain emotions will result in receiving a favourable response from their spouse. Likewise, church leaders have found that certain words said in a particular manner, or maybe a tear at the right time, or even a certain physical gesture, is able to move the congregation towards the goal of that leadership. THIS IS WITCHCRAFT! This takes away a person's ability to make a free choice to obey by FORCING their emotions to make a favourable response towards the one displaying these emotions. THIS RUNS CONTRARY TO GOD'S LAW OF LOVE!..........Love commanded is not love at all. Work Cited The New Oxford Annotated Bible: With the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, New Revised Standard Version. Michael D. Coogan, editor. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

Desiree’s Baby and Battle Royal: Character Comparison Essay

Reasons the main characters in Desiree’s baby and Battle Royal choose different paths to solve their problems Racism has deterred many Africans from living happily, for from the two given stories we saw that one took her own life for that and the other had to suffer all the cruelty and inequality of the whites in order to continue his academic life. In the stories, our main characters had both chosen different paths, solutions to their problem. The reasons that lead to this dissimilarity were that both of them were different people with different stands in society and also their situations were not alike. As a woman, Desiree’s joy in life lied in her happy family yet she was deserted by her own husband. Armand’s treatment towards Desiree made her became miserable and so when she left with the child, she had nothing to live for. Armand and Desiree were very much in love at the beginning of the story and Desiree could not cope without him. Desiree did not understand what she had done but she felt guilty. Armand thought that she had betrayed him that she was an unfaithful wife. The change in Armand’s attitude towards his wife affected Desiree and due to this she killed herself and her child. On the other hand, our young African-American narrator was a slave. He was and always has been an obedient slave who believed if he worked hard enough the white community would accept him. Thus, through all the abuse and after being treated as an entertainment, he still held on to his speech the one thing he was firmed of. And in the end, though he was very confused if his grandfather’s words were true he had to go continue his academic life first, which left him in a crossroad. Furthermore, Desiree was adopted by a well-respected family and also she married Armand who was also from a wealthy family, which put a lot of pressure on her to be a perfect woman. So when her husband falsely accused her of being black, she was confused since it went against everything she had been in her whole life: good, kind, and pure. She was shocked to see happiness taken away from her so easily and also to see that she had became a humiliation to her husband’s and her own family. That also is why she chose death as her solution. In contrast to Desiree the narrator’s family in Battle Royal were all slaves. They were not ashamed of it. They believed in â€Å"Equal but separate. †, they always taught their kids to be good and their good deed will be rewarded. This point was proven when white people gave the narrator a scholarship. At that point he had caught glimpses of the cruelty of the white society but still he was very grateful for that scholarship hence, it blindfolded him from the real truth. Moreover, Desiree chose death for herself because she thought she had nothing left to live for in this world, she was treated like an outcast. Of course we can argue that she had to live for her baby, but in the end she did what she did to save both of them. She was scared and she knew for sure that in this society no one would accept her baby. She did not want her child to go through what she had thus ending both of their lives was the easiest choice. However, our narrator in Battle Royal, not like Desiree, he had a choice. He could go to college be an obedient African-American like he was and everything would stay perfectly fine. He could have a life and he was not going to throw that rare opportunity away which is why his choice of path was not remotely as same as Desiree’s in the other short story. In conclusion, our characters had unraveled their problems through different ways. Desiree chose to commit suicide and our narrator in Battle Royal continued with his life though he was unsure what he should do. They chose differently because they were different person, they came from different society class at that time, and their problems were not the same. But in the end, Desiree and the African-American narrator were both victims of racism which were portrayed differently in both of our short stories but still were saying in Desiree’s case what tragic did racism brought and in our young narrator’s case that how racism can be covered with the sentence â€Å"Equal but separate. †

The Arts Of Leonardo Di Ser Piero Da Vinci - 2018 Words

The Arts of Leonardo Di Ser Piero Da Vinci One of the most well-known artists worldwide is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519). He was an Italian Renaissance polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering geology, writing, and cartography. He is considered to be not only one of the greatest painters ever but also the most diversely talented person ever. Leonardo has been known as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention. He was born as the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, at Vinci in the region of Florence,†¦show more content†¦In particular, his paintings are famous for a variety of qualities which have been much imitated and copied as well by students and discussed at huge length by connoisseurs and critics. Among the qualities that make Leo nardos work unique is his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his interest in physiognomy. Furthermore, the way in which human register emotion in expression and gesture is special. All these qualities combine together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and the Virgin of the Rocks. Unfinished painting of St. Jerome in the Wilderness, (c. 1480), Vatican Drawings Nevertheless, Leonardo was a most prolific draftsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention, Leonardo was not a prolific painter. Like many journals, there exist many types of research for paintings, which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Virgin of the Rocks, The Adoration of the Magi and The Last Supper. The Landscape of the Arno Valley is his earliest dated drawing in 1473 that depicts in detail the mountains Montelupo Castle, the River and the farmlands beyond it. Among his famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a research of the proportions of the human body, the Head of an Angel, for The Virgin of the Rocks in theShow MoreRelatedItalian Figures Of The Renaissance964 Words   |  4 PagesLeonardo Da Vinci, also known by his unnecessarily long Italian name, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, was probably one of the most well-known Italian figures of the Renaissance. Aside from his many other skilled areas, including but not limited to, a mathematician, engineer, inventor, geologist, writer, anatomist†¦he was considered to be one of the best painters of his time. Of course like most painters, he had to scale the ladder of success, pun intended, which is where the story will begin. 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