Day with a Difference - June 06, 2006

Today's Inspirational Quote:

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein

Why is the number 666 associated with the devil? (http://ask.yahoo.com/)

The nefarious connotations of 666 weren't invented by some heavy metal band -- they are rooted in the Bible. The final book of the New Testament is Revelation, and for centuries theologians have pondered its highly symbolic, prophetic language. Revelation tells of impending Armageddon, an end of all time, when a great war will be fought between good and evil, and God will triumph. In Revelation, "the beast," also called the Antichrist, personifies evil.

Revelation, Chapter 13 speaks of the beast and how to identify his followers. According to verses 16 and 17, they will have the mark or the name or number of the beast on their right hands or foreheads. Verse 18 introduces the number 666 itself: "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

It's unclear why the specific number 666 is the number of the beast. According to Dial-the-Truth Ministries, the number 6 is the number of man because in the Bible, God created man on the sixth day. Elsewhere in the Bible (Matthew 16:23), Satan is described as being "man-centered" (as opposed to God-centered). Thus the devil's number would be a twist on man's number. This is just one theory, and the number 666 has generated plenty of debate.

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666 again!

Six is known as an "imperfect number" because it is one short of seven, the "perfect number" (seven days in the week, seven tongues of flame, seven spiritual gifts...). So three (the number of the Trinity) sixes is seen as extremely imperfect. Therefore, 666 represents imperfect man, while 777 represents God.

In Roman numerals 666 represents all the numbers from 1 to 500 in descending order, D (500) + C (100) + L (50) + X (10) + V (5) + I (1), or DCLXVI. Robert Graves suggests in his study of pagan symbolism The White Goddess that this is an acronym for the Latin sentence Domitianus Caesar Legatos Xti Violenter Interfecit, or "The Emperor Domitian violently killed the envoys of Christ".

Have a memorable day!
Priya