The Book of Revelation was not Inspired or Created By the Judeo Christian God

His arguments have proven to be very intriguing, but as we shall see, his arguments contain numerous errors and generally hold no water. *NOTE - BOP is on pro to prove that The Book of Revelation is not from the Judeo-christian God. My opponent opens with this statement : "My debate will center around it is apocryphal based on Pagan beliefs it draws its visions from. " Such and argument requires a profoundly unique set of evidence that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that The Book of Revelation is based on pagan beliefs that is draws its visions from. Let us investigate my opponents arguments to see whether he fulfills this heavy burden of proof . 1- PROOF IT IS APOCRYPHAL I maintain no disagreement with what my opponent puts forward until he says; "In the same breath it uses Babylon's own belief system to predict God's return and the tools in which god will use upon his return to destroy Babylon. Revelation's use of Numerology and Astrology breaks the laws written in De 18:10 and therefore the Judeo-Christian God could not have written nor inspired it to be written. " To accuse the book in question of using divination is to directly contradict the internal contents (passages) of the book. The Book of Revelation itself condemns ALL FORMS of magic and sorcery (this includes divination) : "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts. .. " (Revelation 22:15) "The light of the lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of the bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. " (Revelation 18:23) "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts. .. their place is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. " (Revelation 21:8) See also Revelation 9:21 Now what is Numerology exactly? Here is the definition : The study of the occultic significance of numbers . http://www.merriam-webster.com... My opponent then begins to present his case by making an interesting assertion : "Bible scholars excuse Numerology in the bible by saying the numbers are symbolic and therefore do not fall under the realm of mysticism. Symbolism though still falls under the umbrella of divination. " The major flaw of this argument is that simply because numbers in the book are of a mystical or symbolic nature, it does not mean that they are occultic in significance. Bear in mind that numerology is the study of not just any significance, but particularly and exclusively the occultic significance of numbers. Hence if the numerical values in The Book of Revelation do not comprise of any form of symbolism or mysticism that pertains to occultic significance, the book is, in effect, free of numerology. Through an understanding of the definition of numerology and the numbers represented in The Book of Revelation, my opponent need to prove 3 things in order for his case to be true : [1] The book affirms the use of numerology. [2] The numbers in the book have an occultic significance. [3] The book itself calls for the use of numerology to interpret the connotations of the numerical values present in the book. Premise [1] has already been proven false as The Book of Revelation in, chapters 9:21,18:23,21:8 and 22:15, explicitly condemns all forms of magic arts (divination, contact of familiar spirits, witchcraft etc). As such is the stance on divination, The Book of Revelation is in complete accordance with Deuteronomy 18:9-12 and thus, is in agreement with the scriptural passages revealed by the Judeo-Christian God concerning magic arts. This is one proof of the inspiration of Revelation by the Judeo-Christian God. My opponent provides this to support his case : "Banylonish system was design with 1-36 numbers for their god. 1 number for each god. Adding 1+2+3+4+5+6 to +36 = 666 which is the number of the SUN god. " Despite the fact that my opponent speaks truth concerning the Babylonian numerical system. He disappointingly fails to mention that hebraic and greek numerological systems also calculate 666 to other figures in history. In fact numerous attempts have been made to decode the 666 reference throughout history. Each attempt reaching a different outcome. Here are some of the results that the various numerological schools of thought yielded concerning 666 : Nero, Sun God, Ronald Reagan, Mohamet , the Pope, Lateinos (language of the beast's kingdom), Titus, Vespasian, Simon Gorias, Luther, Napoleon etc e. g. Nero's name in Greek (Kaiser Neron) is represented in greek and Latin numerology as so : N=50 E=6 R=500 O=60 N=50 Neron (50+6+500+60+50) =666 . http://www.thatreligiousstudieswebsite.com... It is evident that Nero nor the other acclaimed figures were the Anti-christ (beast) ,and thus 666 bears no reference to them. This is the reason why numerology fails in interpreting Revelation 13:18. This is also proves premise [2] false as the occultic interpretation yielded results that have proven to be found wanting. The verse itself does not call for numerology but for WISDOM (one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of the Judeo-Christian God) thus also falsifying premise [3] : "This calls for WISDOM. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. " (Revelation 13:18) Notice that the verse also never states anywhere that the number stands for a mans name, thus dismissing numerology as a means to calculate the number. The verse simply calls for wisdom and wisdom alone. My opponent proceeds to provide this to support his case : "24 Elders around the throne of God - 144000- 7 congregations - 7 planets of Astrology 7- lampstands" There are two problems with those arguments (1) Three of the listed quotes (24 elders, 144000 and the 7 lampstands) contain no pagan parallel in my opponents accusation. He provides no parallel to prove their numerological pagan influence. Rather he just simply lists them. These 3 quotes thus prove to hold no water and are ,in essence, futile to his case. They are really pointless to the debate thus far. (2) The only listed 'quote' (7 congregations) with a pagan parallel is correlated to the 7 planets of Astrology. The problem with this accusation is that no where in The Book of Revelation is there a mention of '7 congregations'. The only possible relation that the 7 congregations have to The Book of Revelation is the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation chapter 2. Even if this were the case, my opponent provides not a single scrap of evidence to support their alleged correlation to the 7 astrological planets. 2- PROOF OF ASTROLOGY What is astrology? Here is the definition of astrology : The divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects. . http://www.merriam-webster.com... Let us proceed to examine the claims my opponent makes. He begins with : "4 living creatures = The very term 'living creature' is a definition of a word we could translate as, zodiac. " In fact the correct translation of the greek (zoon) should be 'living things'. Also the greek word zodiakos means "the circle of animals - referring to all living creatures, not just four as in Revelation 4:6. For my opponents case to be true, he need to prove how the 4 living creatures as described in The Book of Revelation relate to not just four animals, but to the WHOLE zodiac or else my opponents argument is one of opinion and is simply based on opinionated nitpicking. What is also detrimental to the whole paragraph of the 4 four living creatures and their alleged pagan inspiration, is that NO EVIDENCE in general is supplied to support ANY of my opponents claims. He proceeds to say : "The woman was described as having 12 stars and the sun and the moon. This is without a shadow of a doubt the goddess Virgo. Rev 12:1. The earth comes to the pregnant woman's rescue. .. " Response to the whole paragraph (see my opponents full paragraph) : Nothing could be further from the truth! This is totally incorrect. Revelation chapter 12 tells the more mystical version of two stories in christianity and the bible. The first being the war in heaven and the fall of Satan. The dragon (identified as Satan in Rev 12:9) swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them down to earth. The stars represent the third of angels (Rev 12:9) that fell with Satan after their failed rebellion in heaven. The second story is of the nativity of Jesus and his mother Mary. The dragon (Satan) attempts to kill the women(Mary) and her baby(Jesus). This is an indisputable reference to Mary and Jesus, her child. Herod the King of Israel ordered the slaughter of all children of 2 years and younger(Matthew 2:18, Rev 12:4). Mary then flees to Egypt (the place in the desert as in Rev 12:14) for 1260 days/ 3 and a half years (Matthew 2:13-14 and Rev 12:6). Nowhere in Revelation chapter 12 is the woman (Mary) ever injured in her heel as Virgo is in the pagan story my opponent provides. Further the child in the story is meant to be a king who will rule over all the nations with an iron-scepter (Rev 12:5). This is without a doubt a direct reference to Jesus who is the Jewish messiah who will rule over all the nations with an iron scepter (Rev 19:15). For more info ---ï¿½ . http://www.tedmontgomery.com... Consequently, as known my opponent holds the BOP. He has however failed to fulfill the burden of proof as not one piece of evidence is presented to affirm his huge claims and accusations. Further his arguments have been proven to be erroneous in content and hold no water. All I had to do is prove that his arguments are speculative and contain some doubt which is what I have done. As a result I still hold my position that the Judeo-Christian God inspired The Book of Revelation because my opponent has not presented any evidence to prove otherwise. # REFERENCES : *. http://www.truthnet.org... *. http://www.igreekmythology.com... *. http://www.cracked.com... *. http://www.animalsuffering.com... *. http://www.en.m.wikipedia.org...