Opus 2025-511: Uncharted Revelation: And Willie Wonka

I just finished reading the book of Revelation again.  Like most times that I’ve read it before I have one big question generated by the reading. “Why?”  It’s not so much why did I read it.  It is in the Bible.  It is part of the inspired scripture.  It must have something to say.  The question of why really is why it was written.

Reading revelation is kind of like getting a giant bag of jellybeans from Willy Wonka.  It seems to me that he only made chocolate but bear with me on this.  Willy Wonka is not just going to give you a bunch of jellybeans in the standard flavors and colors . He’s going see how creative he can be just to lighten up your day and to exercise his creativity.

So you get this bag of jellybeans and the first thing you do is pick out the black ones because you hate licorice.  Then someone ask you, “Are you sure they’re all licorice?”  So you start looking at them again.  You sniff them.  You hold them up to the light.  Eventually you may actually lick them or put them in your mouth and you find out that no, just because they are black doesn’t mean they are licorice.  Of course, some were, but in no way are they all.  Some of them turned out to be dark chocolate.  Some of them turned out to be boysenberry with the blue so deep that it looks black.  Some turn out to taste like over-done steak.  No one ever said Willy Wonka didn’t have a sense of humor.

Another person picks out all the red ones because they love red jellybeans.  He pops one in his mouth and low and behold, it’s not just cinnamon, it’s cayenne.  Now there is an eye-opener.  There is something that will make you take your next red jellybean a little more cautiously.   Among the red ones you have raspberry, cherry, apple, pomegranate, cinnamon, and some things that you can’t identify.

You see where this can go.

The book of revelation is kind of like that.  Some people go through and pick out the things that they think they really like.  As long as they keep them in the bag and don’t taste them, they look wonderful.  If they actually tie it into some of their ideas, they may find out that it’s not quite what they thought it was at the start.  Some of the beans are unidentifiable flavors that you’ve never had before.  There are flavors that you won’t understand until eternity.  They’re still in the bag.

Anyway you want to cut it a bag of jellybeans is genuinely something reserved for dessert or times when you want a little treat.  Granted there may be a few vitamin pills mixed in and a few other nutrients.  Picture a green jellybean that taste like asparagus or broccoli.  But Revelation like a bag of jellybeans is a total hash filled with things that you can’t identify and should be reserved for after dinner.

I’m sure by this time you can tell that I am not a big fan of the book of Revelation.

homo unius libri