i may be opening a can of wormwood here...

(I was going to make a single post with several questions, but I decided to make two posts with related questions. Here is the preface for those questions.)

Here are the two background items that brought about the questions to follow:

• I recently bought a parallel Bible, which has four translations in a side-by-side format. It includes the (traditional) KJV, the (modern, more idea-for-idea) NIV, the (modern, more word-for-word) NASB, and the (paraphrased, which i don't like as much) NLT.
• I've seen several sites which seem to discuss the Book of Revelation, but in fact are discussing instead the "schools of thought", "traditions", and "-isms" about the Book, rarely even mentioning the Scriptures themselves.

Reading the four translations of the Book of Revelation without commentary, it seems that many of the "schools of thought" and "traditions" are not really in sync with the actual Scriptures. And the popular ideas about "Armageddon" (especially the movie of the same name...) seem to bear little resemblance to them at all. SO, in that light, I have some questions in the next two posts.

Revelation: Chronology

Revelation: Symbology