Why Are Conservatives On The Attack?

[Dr. Shane]

At the time Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth and having broken away from the Catholic church it was not too hard to think of some future sort of reunion. American power really didn't become established until the Spanish-American War in 1898 and did not start to dominate the world scene until after WW2. So the interpretation of Revelation which places the first beast as the papacy and the second beast as the US seemed very unlikely in during the 1800s.

What Bravus says makes a lot of sense too. If the Apostle John saw a bison buffalo in vision, the description of being a beast with lamb-like horns would be appropriate and bison are found in North America.

[jasd]

>>...lamb-like horns would be appropriate and bison are found in North America.<<

Yes, I've heard the Bison/America hypothesis. There is a ranch several miles from my place which raises the American Bison. At no point of its life do its horns resemble those of a lamb.

Dearly liking goat cheese, I raised goats. The horns of a lamb very nearly approximate those of a goat - but a bison, well, it's a bit of a stretch; somewhat as the suggestion that the lamb-like horns are representative of our two-part Congress is a stretch. Now, were one to suggest that

the horns represent an innocuous nature - my short answer would be that the Biblical precedent exists - whereby a nation might be brought to view without the necessity of its symbol/signifier having horns.

[Dr. Shane]

The most likely explanation is that the lamb-like horns are a description of a Christ-like power. The US was undeniable a Christian nation when it started, including the principles of religious liberty.

I too have lived near bison and sheep farms. Both bison and lambs have small, curved horns. The bison curve inward and the lamb's curve outward or back. So that is not as much as a stretch as some may think.

[there buster]

The problem with the bison explanation is that it violates a principle of interpretation--that the passage should have meaning for the original audience, in this case, first century Christians. They had never seen a bison, and the symbol would thus have had no meaning for them.

In every other instance in Revelation, "lamb" refers to Christ. And since it is the followers of the Lamb that are the object of deception, the beast (which most likely resembled the first two) is given "horns like a lamb." But he still speaks like a dragon. Earlier in the chapter, we had a beast with ten horns- a reference to Daniel 7.

From beast one to beast two, the crowns-- "diadema," symbols of rulership, not "stephanoi" symbols of victory--moved from heads to horns. So the horns probably indicate some type of rule or rulers, but these rules or rulers resemble those of the lamb.

All these are symbols the 1st century Christians could have understood.

[Outta Here]

Just for fun, thought I'd share a picture I took 2 weeks ago of a local bison:

[Liz]

Great picture Aubrey. We have a bison herd by our house, it is cool watching them graze, and chase each other, they are so powerful.