Seeing 666 scattered around the place would suggest to me that someone has heard about it and either wants to have a dig a reliious nutters or is a religious nutter and wants to speed things along (just as some who believe in an upcoming brawl with a certain religion continue to try and pick a fight with believers in that religion).

R0bert

"Spiritual spam", I like the term and I think that you do very well at it Boazy.

As for "receiving the mark" as some sort of barcode, I believe that it would be more possible for those of us that believe your sort of stuff to make it happen. Many atheists I know are opposed to any civil liberties being restricted in any way, including National ID cards. That sort of thing has happened in the past and we are under no illusions as to how it could happen again. Whereas the superstitious seem to be quite ready to distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd (potential terrorists, you know) and many seem like they would be quite happy to do it because they believe they have nothing to hide. It's quite a naive bunch you run with mate, beware of that.

This is certainly not up to your usual standard, Boaz. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Having a discussion with you about beliefs, belief systems and the damage they do to the human psyche is one thing. But debating the significance of "a mark"?

I am sorely tempted to believe that you are simply having us on. There is just so little substance in the issue. And when you come out with stuff like:

>>while most Christians do believe there will be an economic/military system which requires personal identification.."the mark" I'm guaging the responses here to see just how far fetched it is. ie.. Pericles, and you and CJ all call it 'supersticious' or similar words. Now..this kind of thing could well serve as a guarantee that if it ever does occur.. it certainly won't be opposed by many who will just 'poo poo' it as the fantasy's of Christians.<<

I find it impossible to take you, or the argument, at all seriously.

I have seen sentences like this before - complete with the ellipses - written in tiny letters, in green ink, advising that the writer is under constant surveillance by a secret multinational network that the government knows about, but won't admit to, and the writer has deeply significant knowledge that these people won't hesitate to torture them for...

Meanwhile...

DCLXVI

...have you noticed, in Roman notation, 666 uses all the available letters except M? Could this be a reference to the Head of the British Secret Service perhaps? Or to Magedon - some spell Armageddon as Har Magedon, after all. But of course... M for Mark. Of the beast.

What tosh.

Pericles: "...have you noticed, in Roman notation, 666 uses all the available letters except M? Could this be a reference to the Head of the British Secret Service perhaps? Or to Magedon - some spell Armageddon as Har Magedon, after all. But of course... M for Mark. Of the beast."

Actually, it stands for MORGAN.

Consider yourselves warned. If perchance your behaviour evokes an orgy of smiting or otherwise Divine retribution, let it be known that

YE HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

In my business, we VERILY LIVE BY THE BARCODE, so you may well be at risk of selling your soul to the dreaded MORGAN - not to mention regular SMITING.

Amen

Wait a minute, doesn't this book also refer to talking donkeys, unicorns and the earth being flat?

With the initial oral records, the translations between various languages and the mysterious insertions of some passages into later versions, I guess there is always the possibility of a typo or two sneaking in.

I don't have much time this morning to post, but thought I add an article here that shines some doubt on the number of the beast.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1501490/20050509/index.jhtml

"A newly discovered fragment of the Book of Revelation challenges the conventional belief that the Antichrist's mark is 666, indicating instead that it is 616. Expert classicists used multi-spectral imaging to get a better view of the text, which is written in archaic Greek and dates to the late third century. "

Anyway, now I understand why the Exclusive Brethren are so scared of barcodes and are not using them.

I mean- if you REALLY believe that these things are true than the world must be a scary place.

Luckily, on this website they tell you how you can be saved: Simply by praying to Jesus!
http://www.av1611.org/666.html

Either that, or one can do some research to find out a simple, technical explanation for the barcode numbers. I'm sure the truth is out there :)