[hinckley buzzard]

When Revelation was written, on about 95 AD, the center of the church was Jerusalem. A Catholic Church by any reasonable definition did not exist at that time. Context makes it clear that the Whore of Babylon was the Roman Empire , then under Domitian. I have heard some protestants say they thought the Whore of Babylon was the Catholic Church. They were wrong but then a lot of protestants say a lot of things about the Catholic Church.

[Hieronymus]

You are aware that Jerusalem got kind of trashed after the rebellion in the late 60’s? Tradition has it that no Christians were killed because they all cleared out first.

If you read Acts, you will discover that while the Apostles were sent first to Jerusalem, after they spent a decent amount of time there, they skipped town and got working on the “whole world” part.

I Peter was written from “Babylon” if you know what i mean, not Jerusalem.

[BipolarBob]

It is Catholic tradition that Peter was at Rome but there is no concrete evidence of it. But at the same time Babylon did not have a large population in his time, so who can tell? Apparently he had his wife with him in his travels. (1 Cor. 9:5) and they traveled extensively.

[LS]

Gonna totally disagree, so you might not even want to continue.

NOTHING “existed” before ANY Prophetic Word came. God Himself spoke prophecy when he talked about the “seed of the woman” crushing the seed of the serpent.

Jesus spoke prophecy, both about Jerusalem 40 years later and about the end times.

So you can’t pull that. The Catholic Church is I think without any doubt the Great Whore.

[nicollo]

When Revelation was written, on about 95 AD, the center of the church was Jerusalem.

Pella, and its region, called by the Romans, Decapolis, to where Christians fled during the destruction of Jerusalem, remained a more important Christian center, even after the return of Christians to Jerusalem in 135 AD. During the late 1st and 2nd centuries, the entire region was subordinate to the Bishop of Caesarea, who in turn was subordinate to the bishop of Antioch. Jerusalem only regained Christian prominence under Constantine, but never again as a larger Church seat.

Early Christians considered Antioch, Alexandria and Rome seats of highest authority, as they were all thought to have been founded by Peter (Alexandria via Mark), with Rome of the greatest importance, given the acceptance (real or not) of Peter's martyrdom there. While there was general autonomy across Christendom, each church region was organized hierarchically, and general doctrinal consensus relied upon agreement by or acquiescence of the Bishops of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria, with Rome gradually exercising dominance. The issues of primary importance concerned suppressing heresies, determining the date/day of Easter, and maintaining orthodoxies such as the Trinity, virginity of Mary, etc., as well as overseeing regional bishop appointments (itself a matter of doctrine as much as exercise of regional authority.)