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Revelation! 666 Is Not the Number of the Beast; It's actually 616
Topic Started: May 10 2005, 03:01 PM (480 Views)
gvok
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source

Quote:
 
Revelation! 666 Is Not the Number of the Beast (It's a Devilish 616) 

The Independent 

A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number. Instead of 666, it's actually the far less ominous 616.

The new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century, is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Now a team of expert classicists, using new photographic techniques, are finally deciphering the original writing. Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, thinks that 616, although less memorable than 666, is the original. He said: 'This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people's names. Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking: 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula.'

The Book of Revelation is traditionally considered to be written by John, a disciple of Jesus; it identifies 666 as the mark of the Antichrist. In America, the fundamentalist Christian right often use the number in sermons about the coming Apocalypse.

They and satanists responded coolly to the new 'Revelation'. Peter Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, based in New York, said: 'By using 666 we're using something that the Christians fear. Mind you, if they do switch to 616 being the number of the beast then we'll start using that.'


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Deleted User
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I read about this on Ceefax yeaterday!
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Neat! That number (616) was our area code for many years.
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Gvok,

I've never heard the term gematria before.

Quote:
 
Peter Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, based in New York....

Hmmm. I wonder what a church service would be like?
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gvok
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Yes, the article would not be complete without his input... ;)

BTW - Are you aware of a central source on this subject -- the deciphering of these ancient manuscripts?
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Fesarius
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Admiral
^^^
Actually, I am not as I have never looked into that. I'm not into numerology (either in the Bible nor in music).

BTW, have you ever tried to type '^^^' and instead typed 666? I have, and it is devilish. ;)

Edit: Sorry. You were asking about deciphering in general, not numerology. No, not too much. My ancient manuscript work is almost solely devoted to music manuscripts.
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gvok
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I meant decipher in the "to read and interpret" sense. ;)
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Fesarius
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Admiral
^^^
I see. I have put out a feeler (asked a good friend of mine who is into these kinds of things more than I). I will post his reply as soon as I receive it.
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gvok
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Cool man. Thanks.
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Fesarius
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Admiral
^^^
Loving it! I like that nickname. :)

--Coolman
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Gvok,

My friend sent this along:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus

The links in the paragraph beginning 'April, 2005....' may be useful. :)
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gvok
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Thanks again Coolman. :)
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Gvok,

You're welcome! :)

--Coolman
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iancook
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These findings sound really cool. I wonder what other things they have found. I am going to look into this some more.

If indeed the number of the Devil is 616 and not 666, all those pope haters will either need to find another way to associate the "new" number of the beast with him or find a new antichrist.

I say this only because I read a book published by a certain church that was all about how the pope was the antichrist.

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Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
Whew! I guess that is just an odd birthmark on my scalp afterall. :whistle:
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