Is Tuesday’s date — 6-6-6 — merely a curious number or could it mean our number is up?
There’s a devilishly odd nexus of theology, mathematics and commercialism on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year. OK, it’s just the sixth year of this millennium, but insisting on calling it 2006 takes the devil-may-care fun out of calendar- gazing.
Something about the number 666 brings out the worry, the hope and even the humor in people, said the Rev. Felix Just, a professor of theology at the University of San Francisco. A Jesuit priest, Just has taught apocalyptic theory and math and maintains a ”666-Numbers of the Beast” Web site that contains history, theology, math and precisely 66 one-line jokes about 666. – Seth Borenstein
The funny thing is, I don’t think that the number 666 is associated with the “Mark of the Beast” anywhere in the Holy Bible. It comes from some other source. Now if you want to prophesy, then shouldn’t your source be the Holy Bible (or God directly)?
Correction: Revelation 13:18 reads “Here is wisdom Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” but note that One early manuscript reads 616.
Seth mentions in his article about Nero. As I understand it, the number 666 was associated with Nero, who was considered atype of antichrist
Some scholars, such as Dr. Delbert Hillers (John Hopkins University) of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the editors of the Oxford & Harper Collins translations, contend that the number 666 is a code for Nero, a view that is also supported by the Roman Catholic Church.
Is 666 the mark of man since we were created on the sixth day and God rested on the seventh day thus he is 777 (trippled for signifigance like holy, holy, holy)?
Without getting into end-times discussions (I know it will be hard) what is your understanding regarding 666 equals mark of the beast equals the anti-christ?
I like how one pastor-friend sums up the issue: God’s people won’t be taken by surprise. In other words they won’t wake up one morning and learn their signature on / acceptance of a recent Driver’s License renewal meant they received the mark of the beast, because the central computer uses a 666-bit data word for storage and processing.