Religious Prophecy (Religion)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Sunday, September 12, 2010, 21:53 (5184 days ago) @ xeno6696

Why wouldn't I like it? You were honest :)-> I've been a student of religions for a long time. I've read the Bhagavad Gita, Torah, Bible, and the Koran. I've studied Zoroastrianism. I've also read the Sybilline Oracles. I'm also very familiar with as many of the ancient stories of my Nordic ancestors. I am not at all uneducated in the realm of prophetic revelation. 
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I spent nearly 15 years studying the Bible, and for the last 5 I have been covering the Bhagavad Gita, Koran, Mythology, and some older Esoteric stuff. Glad to meet someone else that is open enough to remove the blinders and look around :)-> First, The Revelation of John was largely meant to describe the state of Rome. Early Christianity didn't fare too well under Rome, and most early Christians thought that Christ was coming back to save them from Rome. Part of the reason it took 30 some years after his death to write anything down, was that the early fathers thought that his return was very imminent. The same prophecies you're claiming to be true now, were thought to be true then. Here's an exercise on why.
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> 2 Peter 1:20 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation."
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> So not only is there a correct interpretation, we are also to believe that we are not to innovate on the interpretation. Starting from that point, start searching online, and you see rather quickly that there's alot of exactly this thing going on. 
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The translator's notes on 2 Peter 1:20 :-tn Verse 20 is variously interpreted. There are three key terms here that help decide both the interpretation and the translation. As well, the relation to v. 21 informs the meaning of this verse. (1) The term "comes about" (γίνεται [ginetai]) is often translated "is a matter" as in "is a matter of one's own interpretation." But the progressive force for this verb is far more common. (2) The adjective ἰδίας (idias) has been understood to mean (a) one's own (i.e., the reader's own), (b) its own (i.e., the particular prophecy's own), or (c) the prophet's own. Catholic scholarship has tended to see the reference to the reader (in the sense that no individual reader can understand scripture, but needs the interpretations handed down by the Church), while older Protestant scholarship has tended to see the reference to the individual passage being prophesied (and hence the Reformation doctrine of analogia fidei [analogy of faith], or scripture interpreting scripture). But neither of these views satisfactorily addresses the relationship of v. 20 to v. 21, nor do they do full justice to the meaning of γίνεται. (3) The meaning of ἐπίλυσις (epilusi") is difficult to determine, since it is a biblical hapax legomenon. Though it is sometimes used in the sense of interpretation in extra-biblical Greek, this is by no means a necessary sense. The basic idea of the word is unfolding, which can either indicate an explanation or a creation. It sometimes has the force of solution or even spell, both of which meanings could easily accommodate a prophetic utterance of some sort. Further, even the meaning explanation or interpretation easily fits a prophetic utterance, for prophets often, if not usually, explained visions and dreams. There is no instance of this word referring to the interpretation of scripture, however, suggesting that if interpretation is the meaning, it is the prophet's interpretation of his own vision. (4) The γάρ (gar) at the beginning of v. 21 gives the basis for the truth of the proposition in v. 20. The connection that makes the most satisfactory sense is that prophets did not invent their own prophecies (v. 20), for their impulse for prophesying came from God (v. 21).-Making the translation (without the influence of the Catholic Church):
1:20 Above all, you do well if you recognize(66) this:(67) No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet's own imagination,(68) 1:21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men(69) carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.-I am not surprised to see that the Catholic church changed the translation to fit their needs. One of the benefits of getting to read the translators notes from someone who is not employed by the PTB :P