Television - Revelations

[Aurien]

I don't know what the mark of the beast is but I don't think God is going to leave us flailing blindly about wondering what the mark is and how we can possibly avoid it.

[Outsider]

I don't know what the mark of the beast is but I don't think God is going to leave us flailing blindly about wondering what the mark is and how we can possibly avoid it.

I don't believe it will be a mark that men can see. It's probably like the mark the angel put on the righteous one's in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:

“Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put (C)a mark on the foreheads of the men (D)who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

[ken_sylvania]

I don't know what the mark of the beast is but I don't think God is going to leave us flailing blindly about wondering what the mark is and how we can possibly avoid it.

I don't believe it will be a mark that men can see.

Yea, usually the women are better at observation than men....

[ohio jones]

Universal Sunday law is one thing that sure isn’t happening.

Maybe in North America, but in Poland it actually is happening.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/11/poland-sunday-trading-ban-takes-effect

[MaxPC]

Would you consider television the "image of the beast" as foretold in Revelations? Because I do.

No. I don't know what it might be but I doubt this 'image' means it comes from a TV. I suspect it might be more an image or an idol that represents who people will worship, the AntiChrist.

I also disagree with the statement made in another post that TV 'has no purpose outside of feeding the lusts of the eye'. I use the TV to watch things not related to lusts of the eye such as sermons, bible studies, nature shows, history, geography and other wholesome things in this world. I especially am learning more from a Smart TV hooked up to Utube where I can select many things to study like some we discuss in this forum. Like many things, including our computers linked to the Internet, they are not sinful in themselves but it involves our choices in how we use them. If one can't chose rightly, then don't have one.

I can agree with this. We do watch the weather channel for local conditions as needed. We also listen to weather and emergency radio bands. The smart phone is even taking over that function however.

I will say that over time our Plain Catholic families have chosen to not even do the educational programmes as it creates a passive mode of learning rather than an interactive mode using creative problem solving skills. We believe interactive learning is better as that is how God designed the human brain to develop and function.

That said, we view computers as a mobile library in which archived reference works are available. Proper use of the computer also requires a certain maturity to control one’s habits, use of time and custody of the eyes as opposed to passive curiosity. For that reason, PCs don’t let their children use the computer until their late teens.

Not all learning can be had from books or databases. Interactive learning takes place with people and the environment: it’s the original classroom.
YMMV.

[Outsider]

Yea, usually the women are better at observation than men....

Don't you mean "womyn"?

[Outsider]

I don't know what the mark of the beast is but I don't think God is going to leave us flailing blindly about wondering what the mark is and how we can possibly avoid it.

I don't believe it will be a mark that men can see. It's probably like the mark the angel put on the righteous one's in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:

“Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put (C)a mark on the foreheads of the men (D)who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

Similarly, in Revelations 7 we have:

2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, (A)“Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God (B)on their foreheads.”

IOW's I think the mark or seal is revealed by the doctrines and actions of those sealed. "You shall know them by their fruit."

[Aurien]

I don't know what the mark of the beast is but I don't think God is going to leave us flailing blindly about wondering what the mark is and how we can possibly avoid it.

I don't believe it will be a mark that men can see. It's probably like the mark the angel put on the righteous one's in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:

“Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put (C)a mark on the foreheads of the men (D)who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

Similarly, in Revelations 7 we have:

2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, (A)“Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God (B)on their foreheads.”

IOW's I think the mark or seal is revealed by the doctrines and actions of those sealed. "You shall know them by their fruit."

I'm thinking that the mark must be something that is clearly known because Revelation 13 says,

16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

If this mark isn't clearly known or visible in some way then how can people be prevented from buying or selling?

[Outsider]

If this mark isn't clearly known or visible in some way then how can people be prevented from buying or selling?

Consider how the twitter mobs have fallen on people who share ideas they disagree with.

Just as the Godly can observe the fruits of the faithful, so the devil knows his own.

[gcdonner]

Would you consider television the "image of the beast" as foretold in Revelations? Because I do.

I have believed this since I was 18 years old- even though after a brief period of trying to convince my family and friends of this I drifted off to sleep and universalism. It was easy to do, as it has happened with the main body of the Quaker community, as I have been led to believe (perhaps wrongly?). But I'm taking myself down a "bunny trail" here.

I think the Catholic/Orthodox empires were the first beast, and the Protestant empires (in which we now live) are the second. I believe the television, movies, etc. are the "image of the beast". Look at the values it's presenting. Am I alone in thinking this?

None of our modern technology matches the criteria for the mark of the beast. The answer is more closely related to the early church and the context of the book of Revelation, being in the first century. Many of the early church fathers regarded Nero as being the beast of Revelation, since the description matches him and the number also matches his name. Speculation beyond the internal evidence of Revelation leads to all kinds of descriptions, with TV being only one in a long line of candidates including the Pope, and a host of other more modern political figures.
It comes to playing "pin the tail on the anti-christ", which, btw isn't even mentioned in the book of Revelation...
To find the precedence in scripture for the mark, I suggest you read Ezekiel 9 and then before that Deut 6:5-9.
BTW, do you know what the "seal of God" is? It is my firm conviction that if you really have it you won't or can't take the "mark of the beast".