Cy Kellett (the show host) asked:I was listening to another call in show hosted by a pastor and someone asked who is the whore of Babylon? The pastor replied he thought it was the Catholic Church. How do we respond as Catholics to this assertion?Peter Williamson replied:"That of course was an accusation that was made back at the time of the reformation. It isn't a well-grounded position exegetically at all. If we look at what it says about the whore of Babylon it doesn't describe actually something that is religious at all. Instead it describes a great empire that, and particularly seen from the vantage point of its commercial life, after the fall of the whore of babylon we get the greatest description of what Babylon was like in chapter 18 of Revelation. It describes all the people that mourned the passing of Babylon, and it's all the wealthy merchants of the earth, and all the ship captains and so on because they no longer can sell their wares.Also the whore of Babylon is described as someone who brings many people into immorality. She corrupts the earth with her fornication and draws the kings of the earth into her fornication. So she has alliances with other nations but she overall has a morally corrupting affect. I taker her to be a great culture, and a culture that is a very wealthy one that is very consumerist, that is very affluent and that provides if you will the great market for the world. That's the way she is depicted in Revelation...at that time of course the closest thing resembling the whore of Babylon was Rome and the Roman Empire and the great economic power that it was. In our own day who is the whore of Babylon? I think it's our own culture that corrupts and it draws into immorality, that is a tremendous culture focused on what's material, what's seductive, what's beautiful, what's rich, and what's elegant. And it influences the whole world and gathers others into a web of influence that's the source of income for the merchants all over the world. I think actually it's western society, western culture that is at least, in our age, the thing that most resembles Babylon... Let's say the view that it's the Catholic Church just doesn't fit at all...one time the Church had lots of worldly pomp and circumstance and perhaps it was that that made them make the association with the Catholic Church, and there was corruption..." Additional information:Here is an interesting article at Catholic Stand that might shed some more light on this subject for you.Copyrights:Catholic Answers, "The Book of Revelation" (San Diego: Catholic Answers, 2015)Editor's note: This is an excerpt of the answer provided. For the complete response download the podcast. |  Click icon for archived podcast answering this question in its entirety. Show air date: October 19, 2015 Name of show: The Book of Revelation Guest comments by: Peter Williamson Question appeared in show: 28:46 |
