Creepy new phone number!

[Doom]

I just ordered an iPad from AT&T, and they needed to add a line to my account so I can use the mobile data, and the new phone number is

xxx-666-xxxx

Yeah, the middle three numbers, the Number of the Beast, it's a good thing I'm not superstitious about that particular number!

[Stella]

I still balk at the number. A while back now I picked up a tray of meat at the supermarket which was priced $6.66. I decided on another one.

[Doom]

That's a silly superstition

[Stella]

I know but there you go.

[BobCatholic]

How is it a superstition?

We read the Book of Revelation.

The devil does show his hoof - in this case he's doing it here.

[Doom]

How is it a superstition?

We read the Book of Revelation.

The devil does show his hoof - in this case he's doing it here.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

It is indeed in the Book of Revelation, but it's in a context, and that context doesn't apply here (or in most other places where the number is found).

[anawim]

Some ancient manuscripts have 616, not 666.

[Stella]

I've always thought it was significant that Jesus' "my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink" statement was the cause of many disciples leaving.

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. John 6 66

I always wonder if the ones who did the numbering did that on purpose of was it just coincidence?

[Doom]

The best exegesis I have ever heard of the number is that it is a deliberate reference to Solomon, who was a very bad and oppressive king. 666 just so happens to be the number of shekels of gold that is mentioned in a key passage about Solomon. That is why it says that it takes "wisdom" to understand the number, wisdom being the thing for which Solomon is best known. There were 3 things that the kings of Israel were not allowed to do:

1. hoard wealth
2. have many wives
3. have many horses

Solomon broke all three, and he practiced idolatry on top of that, and he enslaved his fellow Israelites to build the temple and his palace. He was one of the bad kings. Granted, the Bible nowhere says "Solomon was a bad king" but readers were supposed to be intelligent and recognize patterns, readers were supposed to remember the rules for kings and notice when the text makes a point of describing how rich Solomon was, how many wives and how many horses he had and realize "he is not supposed to do that". Also, when it describes Solomon using forced labor, we are supposed to remember that this goes against the law of Moses and draw obvious conclusions. The Bible doesn't necessarily spell everything out explicitly and overexplain the obvious the way bad Hollywood screenplays do.

So the point of the number 666, a number associated with Solomon is to say that the antichrist, when he comes, will be just like Solomon, especially in his promotion of idolatry and the worship of false gods.

It certainly does not say that the number "666" is evil in and of itself and that a Christian is to avoid it at all costs. That is superstition.

[Doom]

I've always thought it was significant that Jesus' "my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink" statement was the cause of many disciples leaving.

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. John 6 66

I always wonder if the ones who did the numbering did that on purpose if was it just a coincidence.

Really? It is really easy to look it up, I knew the history before the 8th grade. The chapter divisions were made by archbishop Stephen Langton in the early 13th century. The verse divisions were added 300 years later by Robert Eistinne. They were both printers. What the basis for the divisions might have been no one knows, it was never explained by either of them, and the divisions often seem arbitrary and illogical. Why do some books, like the Gospel of John, or 1 and 2 Maccabees have absurdly long chapters with many verses, while other books, like Matthew, have many very short chapters? No one knows.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

? I wasn't aware that Archbishop Langton was a printer,