666 The mark of the beast

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Would somebody please give me a 'Reputation' point? I'm on 666 and it's scaring me!

[Skywolf 992]

done

[dmarques69 316]

ahahah hope 668 doenst scary you also!

[tamsini 278]

It's Christmas... why not?

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Thank ya kindly gents. Phew! That was close.

[BlueStar 323]

9 hours ago, Ron Attwood said:

Would somebody please give me a 'Reputation' point? I'm on 666 and it's scaring me!

When I was flying in SE Asia I flew one of our aircraft and the last three was "666" and it was Friday the 13th. 

blaustern

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

On 12/22/2017 at 0:49 AM, Bluestar said:

When I was flying in SE Asia I flew one of our aircraft and the last three was "666" and it was Friday the 13th. 

blaustern

So you're saying I panicked for nothing? 

[Penzoil3 480]

Would it be "beastly" if I said yes ?

LOL

 Sue

[Chock 17,769]

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Just rolls right off the tongue that one doesn't it? But it's one phobia for which Hollywood is more to blame than any Revelations given to John, given that the number was incorrectly related in modern versions of the New Testament.

Thus 666 isn't actually the number of the beast, in fact it isn't the mark of the beast either; that's something completely different. 666 being referred to as the number of the beast is an error of translation which has carried over; a more correct interpretation of the 'number of the beast' (i.e. taken from the oldest available surviving copy of the text) would be 616, since the oldest surviving manuscript of the Book of Revelations, is a collection of documents known as Papyrus 115, which dates to about 250 AD, although it's not the only one which has the number as 616 either, several similarly ancient documents have the number as 616 rather than 666 on them as well.

As noted, the 'mark of the beast' isn't the same thing. Whilst it is certainly the case that a lot of this stuff is open to interpretation, as is always the case with ancient texts and especially theological ones, because they are generally translated from surviving copies in Ancient Greek. Certainly the oldest existing copy of the New Testament is in that language - even the Romans used Ancient Greek for their literature - and thus not always able to be easily literally translated without interpretation of the meaning/intent. It is generally regarded that the Greek reference to the 'mark of the beast', particularly since it actually only says charagma on the manuscripts themselves (which simply means 'mark' but is usually referring to a mark stamped on a coin or medallion) is, when taken in context, most likely a reference to the power of Rome, which was of course visible in the coins of the time and which invariably bore the image of the Emperor/Caesar. Since Christians were persecuted for a long time by Rome, the reference to an image of the Roman head being the 'mark of the beast' becomes apparent.

Of course all this is not helped by the fact that, if the supposed scholastic provenance of the Book of Revelations is to be believed, it's likely that John of Patmos was off his biblical t*ts over a scrying pool when he had those revelations. So, like another famous John who was similarly influenced by various substances when writing the lyrics to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and given that his coincidentally also biblically named co-writer Paul, who when writing his middle eight contribution to those lyrics, references partaking of a Jamaican Woodbine on a bus, then as with the bible, we can make of the words what we will lol. 

Anyway, happy Feast of Saturnalia everyone, and Hail Caesar. 

[W2DR 1,859]

Wow!.........great post..............Doug

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Nobody likes a smartarse!

Bah humbug.

[Chock 17,769]

Interestingly on the subject of spooky numbers, check out how many aeroplanes with the flight number 191 have met with ill fortune. It's obviously a coincidence, but it's an uncanny one nevertheless and is apparently why both Delta and American Airlines don't use that number any longer for their flights...

You've got the Delta L-1011 Tristar which crashed at Dallas Fort Worth in 1985 in windshear, which was Flight number 191, also an American Airlines DC-10 which crashed when departing Chicago O'Hare after an engine detached and crippled the hydraulics, which was also Flight 191. The only X-15 which crashed on a test flight in 1967 was flight number 191, its pilot, Major Michael J. Adams becoming the first US space mission fatality. Then you've got a de Havilland Heron 2B of Prin Air which crashed at Mercedita Airport in 1972 after stalling on a go around, this too was Flight 191. Finally a non-fatal but still scary and bizarre incident on board JetBlue Flight 191 out of JFK in 2012, where the pilot flipped out not long after take off and started saying all kinds of weird stuff, so he was tricked by the co-pilot into going into the passenger cabin, locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot and subsequently overpowered by the passengers and restrained using seatbelts after they realised he clearly wasn't playing with a full deck. That one landed safely fortunately.

So the next time you get a ticket for Flight 191, you might want to go for a refund. Oh and guess which US route was an extension of US 191? Yup, you got it, it was US 666. 

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Is there any number that IS safe? We live at number 64 and my wife took a fall the other day and broke her arm. (That's what I told the medics anyway  )

[Captain Kevin 586]

2 hours ago, Chock said:

Interestingly on the subject of spooky numbers, check out how many aeroplanes with the flight number 191 have met with ill fortune. It's obviously a coincidence, but it's an uncanny one nevertheless and is apparently why both Delta and American Airlines don't use that number any longer for their flights...

You've got the Delta L-1011 Tristar which crashed at Dallas Fort Worth in 1985 in windshear, which was Flight number 191, also an American Airlines DC-10 which crashed when departing Chicago O'Hare after an engine detached and crippled the hydraulics, which was also Flight 191. The only X-15 which crashed on a test flight in 1967 was flight number 191, its pilot, Major Michael J. Adams becoming the first US space mission fatality. Then you've got a de Havilland Heron 2B of Prin Air which crashed at Mercedita Airport in 1972 after stalling on a go around, this too was Flight 191. Finally a non-fatal but still scary and bizarre incident on board JetBlue Flight 191 out of JFK in 2012, where the pilot flipped out not long after take off and started saying all kinds of weird stuff, so he was tricked by the co-pilot into going into the passenger cabin, locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot and subsequently overpowered by the passengers and restrained using seatbelts after they realised he clearly wasn't playing with a full deck. That one landed safely fortunately.

So the next time you get a ticket for Flight 191, you might want to go for a refund. Oh and guess which US route was an extension of US 191? Yup, you got it, it was US 666. 

Then there was the Comair 5191 that took off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky.

[birdguy 3,943]

I don't know what you're worried about Ron.  I've never seen it myself but my barber says I've got what looks like a 666 tattooed on the top of my head.

Noel