Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone !

[phallus]

That's cool. This shows that you use your mind to deal with superstition, which is good.

I wonder why there is so much attention attached to this number, and what the orgins of the superstition related to it are.

i don't know if it's an evil number anywhere else except in the book of revelations. i don't believe in numerology, so i'm always looking to prove such superstitions untrue, i'd almost dare someone to make a voodoo doll of me because i don't believe any of that stuff works. it seems to work because people believe it, they're looking to find a cause for bad things that happen but are random. whether someone made a voodoo doll of me and stuck pins in it or not, the same thing would happen to me

[Nautilus]

I just found some interesting quotes. There are so many superstitious people. I wonder why.

After reading these quotes, I do not have a grain of that superstition left in me.



From http://www.av1611.org/666/opinion.html

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Richard Abanes, End-Time Visions, 1998

. . . nothing in the Bible, either linguistically or grammatically, indicates that the mark of the beast in Revelation 13 is a literal mark on, or in, the skin." (Richard Abanes, End Time Visions, p. 127, 1998)


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M.J. Agee, Revelations 2000, 1998



The mark may even be used as it appears in the Greek, Chi, Xi, Sigma . The middle letter even resembles a serpent, as Seiss pointed out in his book, The Apocalypse. . .
It could be like the Chinese chop, a mark that represents a person's name made into a stamp similar to our rubber stamps. My neice had her chop made on her trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong. She used her initials. The mark of the beast is also made up of three letters. It is possible that the initials of the False Prophet could be used. (M.J. Agee, Revelations 2000, 1998, p. 325)


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Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, 1996



Mark of the Beast
This mark is equivalent to the beast's name or number (13:17; cf. 14:11). This enigmatic number is announced in 13:18 as 666.


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Isbon Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 1919


The mark is explained in v. 17 as consisting of the name of the Beast, or what is equivalent, the number of his name. . . it is set where it could not easily be hid, on the forehead or the right hand…the agreement of the number and the name is to be ascertained by the calculating the sum of the value of the letters which form the name. (Isbon Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 1919, p.641, 642)


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Gary D. Blevins, 666 The Final Warning!, 1990


I personally believe that the MARK will be either an invisible laser tattoo (they are in the skin) or a micro chip, which will be placed under the skin having the Uniform Product Code (UPC). This MARK, a type of bar code in the skin or on the micro chip, would be scanned at the point of trade. . .

MARK: The UPC code [barcode] with needed information on each person.
NAME OF THE BEAST: This, I believe, will be a name with six letters in each name invisibly coded into the laser tattoo or micro chip. A computer could pick this up as 'six digits' in each name. For example, Ronald Wilson Reagan!
NUMBER OF HIS NAME: The number 666 invisibly coded into the laser tattoo or micro chip and placed on each person in the form of the UPC [barcode] 'mark'. (Gary D. Blevins, 666 The Final Warning!, 1990, pp. 204, 205)


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Roy L. Branson, Jr., The End of the World, 1989

Instead of social security cards and credit cards, the number will be printed in the forehead or hand so that all who receive it will carry it at all times. Using modern technology, it will be a method to eliminate losing such cards or having them stolen or duplicated.
Just how will the number be imprinted? Will it consist only of the numbers 666? We do not know for certain, but it is possible a small computer chip will be embedded under the flesh, or even into the bone of the forehead of hand. That kind of technology is already in place. Another method may be used, but the results will be the same — instant identity, and little or no likelihood of counterfeiting or reproducing. I suspect the numbers 666 will be a prefix followed by other numbers, but I do not know. (Roy L. Branson, Jr., The End of the World, 1989, p.78)


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Tal Brooke, When the World Will Be As One, 1989


Yet the apostle John describes a reality that has only recently come into focus: global banking, laser scanning, and the universal bar code. . . It is a tiny step to go from using a Visa card or a bank card on the Plus System and other ATM machines, in which the electronic strip is attached to the card, to putting that same strip of information on the human body so that it can be laser scanned. This has already been done with laser tattoos and implanted microchips. . . Again, what better descriptive term could John have found in the ancient world than "the mark," which would enable every citizen to buy or sell who had it? (Tal Brooke, When the World Will Be As One, 1989, pp. 229, 230)


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Arthur H. Brown, Europe After Democracy, 1993


Europeans believe that the monetary system called ECU (European Currency Unit), now in place, will serve as the medium of commercial exchange and trade. However, the Bible reveals that a mark (or the symbolic number 666) on the right hand or forehead will replace the ECU and become the mandatory currency expression necessary to conduct trade and commerce in much of the world. Those refusing to accept this mark will be killed. (Arthur H. Brown, Europe After Democracy, 1993, pp. 138,139)


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Dr. Gary G. Cohen, cited in Satan's Mark Exposed, Salem Kirban, 1978


What will be his mark?. . . It appears that it will be some sort of credit card number and loyalty badge combined into one. Possibly it may be a tattoo invisible to the naked eye but visible upon some type of light-beam scan. It will, however, in its numerical aspect have some logo type connection with the number 666, or a code based on these digits, which will be related directly to the name of the Antichrist. (Dr. Gary G. Cohen, cited in Satan's Mark Exposed, Salem Kirban, 1978, p.131)


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Terry Cook, The Mark of the New World Order, 1996


It is my well-researched opinion that the Mark of the Beast, as related in scripture, is absolutely literal. Soon, all people on earth will be coerced into accepting a Mark in their right hand or forehead. I am convinced that it will be an injectable passive RFID transponder with a computer chip — a literal injection with a literal electronic biochip 'mark'. . .I believe that such an implanted identification mark literally will become Satn's Mark of the Beast, as we will discuss further in this chapter." (Terry Cook, The Mark of the New World Order, 1996, p. 587)


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M.R. DeHaan, Studies in Revelation, 1946

What this mark of the beast will be we may not know now. Hundreds of answers have been suggested, but I do not believe these are scriptural. Men have tried to identify this Antichrist, and there have been hundreds of guesses concerning his identity, but all of them have been wrong. . . It is foolish, therefore, to speculate concerning his identity. The same is true of the mark of the beast.
What the mark will be we do not know. . .

There are many who believe that the mark will consist of the number 666 tattooed upon the foreheads and hands of the followers of the beast. . .(M.R. DeHaan, Studies in Revelation, 1946, pp. 187, 188)


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Samuel B. de Klerk, Coming Great Prophetic Events, 1962


All religions are to be placed under the control of the counterfeit ruler or false Christ, making a single world religion. He will have the power to enforce his mark, "666", known as the "the mark of the beast" (Rev. 16:2, 19:20). This mark or stamp of the Antichrist will be placed on the foreheads or right hands of all living persons when Antichrist rules. (Samuel B. de Klerk, Coming Great Prophetic Events, 1962, p.72)


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Robert W. Faid, Gorbachev! Has the real Antichrist come?, 1988

It appears that there will be three separate things or marks which will qualify a man to buy or sell. The first is called the 'Mark of the Beast.' If indeed the antichrist is the leader of the Soviet Union, then the mark may well be the Red Star — the universal communist symbol. This may be a simple tattoo of the communist Red Star.
A second possibility concerns what is meant by the 'name of the beast.' I do not think it will be name of a specific man. . . This mark again might be a simple tattoo indicating that the bearer is a member of the Communist Party, and loyal to the antichrist.

The third may be more complicated — the number of his name. I do not believe that this means simply the number 666. With the recent advancements in computer chip technology, especially in the miniaturization of them, it is now possible to make them microscopic enough to be injected beneath the skin. . .

Although the microchip could possibly be the ultimate in the antichrist's control of people's lives, this would take considerable time to implement and the cost would be enormous. A much simpler form would be to use the series of bars utilized in the Universal Products Code already in place in most supermarkets. This code could be tattooed, possibly with a dye visible only under ultraviolet light, on either the hand or forehead. (Robert W. Faid, Gorbachev! Has the real Antichrist come?, 1988, pp. 60,61)

[phallus]

last year, i got a weird phone call from my bank asking me if i'd be willing to use a retina scan instead of an ATM card. i said no. i've heard the microchip theory, in the uSA pets are now commonly microchipped, i think my father's diabetic cat is microchipped, and i've heard politicians and gov't officials repeatedly lobbying for the microchipping of convicted criminals so we can track them. there's also the question of hebrew letters are also numbers, a name could be translated into hebrew and the value / number of the name could be calculated, problem is i'll bet a lot of names ad up to 666, but it's a special one we're looking for, a person who may not be alive yet