Dee
06-06-2006, 04:51 AM
Not your ordinary Tuesday (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/05062006/2/koddities-ordinary-tuesday-reason-fear-date-6-6-06-experts.html):
no reason to fear a date like 6.6.06, experts say
Mon Jun 05, 09:16 PM EST
By Carlye Malchuk
TORONTO (CP) - On the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, a combination of theology, mathematics and good old-fashioned superstition is bringing a controversial passage from the New Testament into the 21st century.
A click of the mouse reveals a world of Internet doomsayers who preach that 666, commonly known as the mark of the Devil, is a date that's supposed to bring with it the end of society's precious existence.
But the truth may lie not with the ominous threat of a coming apocalypse, but in a more benign reference to a famous Roman emperor, said John Marshall, a professor of early Christianity at the University of Toronto.
The author of the story in the New Testament's Book of Revelation that contains the reference to the number is actually criticizing Rome in ancient times, Marshall said.
The number 6-6-6, which is referenced in Revelation 13:18, relates to a practice in the ancient world where numerals were represented with letters, he said. Everyone's name would have a numerical correlate that people would be familiar with, he added.
German scholars from the 19th century suggested the numbers in the story actually represented Nero, the notorious Roman emperor best known for fiddling while the city burned.
"It seems very clear ... from a historical point of view the Book of Revelation is alluding to something in its time," Marshall said.
"It certainly doesn't concern 2006 North America in a direct way."
Peter Beyer, a professor of religious studies at the University of Ottawa, said the story is about the end of time and tells of a beast, whose number is 666. One of the signs that the end is near is that the beast takes over, Beyer said.
"Therefore, if the beast should appear, then we're just about facing Armageddon."
But those who follow such ideology are already convinced that the end is imminent anyway, and are often prone to find some nefarious sign that the beast is at hand.
"They're very likely to find the beast," he said, noting that using different forms of numerology can give almost any name a value of 666.
One explanation for why people might think Tuesday is the end is as simple as the "tradition of reading the Book of Revelation with the question 'when' in mind," Marshall said.
Various Christians throughout the ages have been looking to the book, also known as The Apocalypse of John, to help determine "how the numbers could possibly predict when the end time is actually going to be," Beyer said.
Marshall, however, said the date is merely a correlation - especially considering that it's 2006, not the sixth year.
"We happen to have this coincidence of dates that doesn't really work," he said. "This is very manufactured."
The story tells of the beast controlling buying or selling, Marshall said, and that no one can buy or sell without the mark.
Some commerce-minded theorists have interpreted the story to mean the mark could be an object that functions like a credit card. The mark has also been interpreted to mean a microchip or bar code etched on or implanted in the human skin.
Detaching such ideas from their religious context makes it easier to apply them to real-world scenarios, such as in popular movies like The Omen, Beyer said.
"A lot of these movies simply have the ultimate evil who cannot be destroyed except by some luck."
no reason to fear a date like 6.6.06, experts say
Mon Jun 05, 09:16 PM EST
By Carlye Malchuk
TORONTO (CP) - On the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, a combination of theology, mathematics and good old-fashioned superstition is bringing a controversial passage from the New Testament into the 21st century.
A click of the mouse reveals a world of Internet doomsayers who preach that 666, commonly known as the mark of the Devil, is a date that's supposed to bring with it the end of society's precious existence.
But the truth may lie not with the ominous threat of a coming apocalypse, but in a more benign reference to a famous Roman emperor, said John Marshall, a professor of early Christianity at the University of Toronto.
The author of the story in the New Testament's Book of Revelation that contains the reference to the number is actually criticizing Rome in ancient times, Marshall said.
The number 6-6-6, which is referenced in Revelation 13:18, relates to a practice in the ancient world where numerals were represented with letters, he said. Everyone's name would have a numerical correlate that people would be familiar with, he added.
German scholars from the 19th century suggested the numbers in the story actually represented Nero, the notorious Roman emperor best known for fiddling while the city burned.
"It seems very clear ... from a historical point of view the Book of Revelation is alluding to something in its time," Marshall said.
"It certainly doesn't concern 2006 North America in a direct way."
Peter Beyer, a professor of religious studies at the University of Ottawa, said the story is about the end of time and tells of a beast, whose number is 666. One of the signs that the end is near is that the beast takes over, Beyer said.
"Therefore, if the beast should appear, then we're just about facing Armageddon."
But those who follow such ideology are already convinced that the end is imminent anyway, and are often prone to find some nefarious sign that the beast is at hand.
"They're very likely to find the beast," he said, noting that using different forms of numerology can give almost any name a value of 666.
One explanation for why people might think Tuesday is the end is as simple as the "tradition of reading the Book of Revelation with the question 'when' in mind," Marshall said.
Various Christians throughout the ages have been looking to the book, also known as The Apocalypse of John, to help determine "how the numbers could possibly predict when the end time is actually going to be," Beyer said.
Marshall, however, said the date is merely a correlation - especially considering that it's 2006, not the sixth year.
"We happen to have this coincidence of dates that doesn't really work," he said. "This is very manufactured."
The story tells of the beast controlling buying or selling, Marshall said, and that no one can buy or sell without the mark.
Some commerce-minded theorists have interpreted the story to mean the mark could be an object that functions like a credit card. The mark has also been interpreted to mean a microchip or bar code etched on or implanted in the human skin.
Detaching such ideas from their religious context makes it easier to apply them to real-world scenarios, such as in popular movies like The Omen, Beyer said.
"A lot of these movies simply have the ultimate evil who cannot be destroyed except by some luck."