Any guess why everything biblical is subject to interpretation? Requires cross referencing? Why not plain simple language if it is how our lives are to be led? Whats the point of prophecy if its all imagery so that there is no clear meaning?
This is worth discussing - for everyone that's reading or posting on this and other bible-religion-prophecy-conspiracy threads, not just danny, who, as always, shows an ability to see through the assumptions that tend to make these conversations float off into the clouds and meaninglessly dissipate in in the wind, and who helps us maintain a healthy connection to the ground (if we pay attention, that is).
I see two issues that contribute to the problem, and the first issue leads to the second. The primary issue is context and a general inability (without putting in some serious long-term effort) to read and understand the bible in a context that is not merely our own. The Bible is not a book, and it certainly wasn't written in English. The Bible is a collection of many "books" that were written in three different languages over the course of at least 1000 years - the most recent parts of the collection are nearly 2000 years old. Those newer parts are about a guy named Jesus who is said to be bringing a conclusion to his version of the "bible", parts of which were already at least 1000 years old then. There are layers upon layers of context to work with when reading the Bible - and with any ancient work for that matter. Consider the Mona Lisa. There's the context of the woman herself. Who was she? How did she live? Why did she dress or look the way she did? Then there's context for Da Vinci. Why did he choose to paint this woman? Why did he paint her with that expression? Why that back ground? Why did he choose those particular paints? What did he hope to portray to his audience? Then there's the context of the audience. What did they think about it? Did it have any significance to them? Then more layers: Francis I, the curators at the Louvre, etc., until we eventually arrive at the context of someone standing in line today to view the painting. Is the modern viewer a Renaissance art enthusiast? Is it a check mark on a bucket list just because you're in France? Did they really like the Dan Brown book? Do they want to throw soup on it to protest climate change? So what does the Mona Lisa mean?
We have the same issue with the Bible, only the stakes are probably a bit higher. People build their lives around what this book says after all. We have the context of the characters in any biblical narrative (e.g. Cain and Abel). We have the context of the people who handed down the story orally over generations. We have the context of the first people to write the story down. We have the context of the compilers of the collection who used words and word-plays to stitch the narratives into a cohesive unit sometime in the Second Temple period. We have the context of Jesus and his followers who claim that everything up to that point was about him. We have added contextual layers as Christianity spread to the Greco-Roman world. More context as the stories pass through Medieval Europe. Then the Reformation and Enlightenment. Then the scientific and industrial age, and at some point we'll end up with a 21st century trapper reading the book in rural America and wondering what in the world to do with 7-year tribulations and unicorns.
Reading the Bible is easy, but understanding and applying what it says in a responsible way is very difficult. No wonder! It takes some serious effort to even make a reasonable attempt, and that leads to our second issue: misapplication. If we don't understand where the Bible came from and what it is trying to do, then we run the risk of completely missing the point and applying our misguided points in wildly inappropriate ways. Without contextual understanding of the Bible, we begin asking 21st century questions of 1st century writings. Sometimes the 1st century writings have something to say. Sometimes they just don't. We have to ask ourselves whether we're asking appropriate questions. Asking how to love my neighbor in the 21st century makes sense. The answer may not be simple, but the Bible probably has some insight. Same with "rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's" and many other important issues. However, asking what John the Revelator wrote about the Russian election...that may be a bit off the mark. Asking what Genesis 6 says about aliens? Again, interesting if you're into that sort of thing, but it's just not on the radar for anyone in the entire history of Judaism or Christianity until 2000 years after the writing of the Bible ended. It's like asking what Da Vinci's use of a natural setting in the Mona Lisa says about his opinion on fossil fuel consumption. Or what does the folding of her hands say about the flavor of Campbell's Chunky?