this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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Agreed.
I mean, it's my favorite book of the Bible. But it's the most easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. The whole thing is an allegory written in a particular kind of prose, drawing on tropes common to a genre of writing scholars call "apocalypse." But given that even lifelong Christians are unaware of this fact means that this is definitely not the book to recommend reading as an entry point. Unless you're looking for inspiration for something to airbrush on the side of your bitchin' van (hopefully one with a crescent moon bubble window on the back). Then by all means flip to the section right before the maps and get to sketching!
The crescent moon window is.... Chef's kiss
ABSOLUTELY. I love the book of Revelation, but too many don't understand how to read apocalyptic literature, nor do they understand the source material to contextualize the heavy symbolism. I blame a ton of the dumbshit premillenial dispensationalism crudely hobbled together to resemble a form of eschatology on a poor understanding of Revelation, Dallas Theological Seminary for spreading the fuck out of it, and Schofield for being the dipass to keep it from remaining the obscure hallucinogenic ramblings of a (probably) sick pentecostal woman in England. Man there are so many cool things about the theology of hope and some strong influences of Stoic philosophy(again), but man does American theology love to fetishize about the unbelievers facing a gruesome divine genocide...
I don’t really consider myself a Christian anymore, but I have read the bible during the time I did. The only people I ever knew who were way into revelations were fucking stupid ass old people like my wife’s grandfather who was a miserable vindictive old man who had no admirable traits whatsoever. He was also definitely not aware of the intended meaning, he just like the shit about non-believers finally getting theirs.
Reading that book without the context of other books of the bible and like Paul’s writing in particular is just plain stupid. But I think understanding of also kind of requires other theological understanding.
Knowing the context makes it worse in my opinion, but you do you.
You know what's really stupid? Thinking Jesus is a beacon of peace, He's horrifying. If you can't handle Him murdering everybody in a rage, you can't get through the Bible anyway.