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I don't have any faith i acknowledge the possibility that the Bible is the word of God because as far as I can tell there is no objective proof that it's not
We don’t. We do know that L. Ron Hubbard, existed though so clearly Scientology is more likely to be true!
/s
Why does that hang on a specific interpretation of Revelation? Whether the "Whore of Babylon" is ancient pagan Rome or the Vatican doesn't make it any more or less the word of God. You're not actually addressing the truth of scripture, but only some external interpretation of scripture by some fallible (very fallible) modern human theorists.
Our closest source is Josephus several decades later. At best we can say that it is likely that some individual founded the Christian cult, we don’t know for a fact that it was one person or that this person died on the cross.
Our evidence for Hubbard is much greater.
So are Buddhism, Islam, Mormonism and a few others.
Not the same person but still real persons
No, our closest source are the letters of Paul. (then probably Acts, then Matthew)
We don't know if Jesus died on the cross, but the likelyhood of him being a real person is very, very high.
Not even close to as good as the chance of Hubbard being a real person.
This "whore of Babylon" interpretation as something negative smells of classic misogyny and misplaced purity fetishes. In modern, gender-equal times where we can accept that well-regulated prostitution is a valid job, I'd say being called a whore should be considered to be an ethically neutral statement. Thus, whichever city it is, it's of no negative consequences, as it just describes some random place with no judgment upon it whatsoever.
The forum rules prohibit me from giving medical advice but I recognize the subtext in a lot of what you say and I would STRONGLY reccomend speaking about some of these fears to your family medical practitioner. I don't want to pathologize any particular theology you have, nor will they, but it might do you a bit of good to listen to someone about this issue, maybe they can point some things out or refer you to someone useful.
If the vatican was buying iron, bronze, marble and ivory regularly would that make it like ancient rome
The Vatican no longer buys ivory because it's now illegal.
Therefore, the Vatican cannot be the Whore of Babylon. Problem solved. By elephants.
Just because it's illegal doesn't mean the vatican isn't doing it please just answer my question
The Vatican is a pretty small place full of wealthy churchmen, it would be easy to catch cartloads of illegal ivory being smuggled into it. It's not like China or somewhere, there are rules and people follow them.
As for your question, all pre-modern cities imported those specific things if they were prosperous enough, so there's no special similarity with Rome there.
Does anyone know if the vatican is regularly importing things of bronze iron marble and ivory
I'm a Christian myself and I Think that you shouldn't concern yourself with if it is right or not this much, not if the uncertainty is making you contemplate suicide. You should take your mind off it if is is sucha grave cause for concern, you have your whole life to search for the truth of the matter, a life that would be tragically cut short if you killed yourself.
Marble. Yes. Iron (including steel)? Yes. Bronze? Yes in small quantities, hardly regular though. Ivory? Definitely not.