Mark of the Beast Crap

[losman]

I was listening to a talk radio show and someone called in and brought up an issue about this company named Verachip (sp?) and how they have developed an implantable microchip and how this is a sign of the beast.

The radio host mocked him about with a comment about Armageddon and then hung up on him.

I was curious, why are some religous folk so embarassingly moronic to believe that a microchip can control a human and lead to 666 or some crap like that

I think if anyone meets somone who believes this they should tell them to stop going to church because it is making them stupid.

Anyone else see this pattern

[Lisa Simpson]

My very first job, I worked in a pharmacy. One day, a gentleman came in and purchased a few small items and the total bill came to $6.66 and guess what...he refused to pay. He made me cancel the whole thing and repurchase everything, this time with the addition of a 5 cent piece of candy. I don't know what he expected would happen if he had a receipt with the mark of the beast on it. Go directly to hell, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, I suppose.

[Atlas]

When I was younger and read more Dick Tracy and Superman/Jimmy Olsen comics, it occurred to me that the Bible visionary was probable misapprehending the mark that would appear on the hand or forehead: an antenna. Dick Tracy had his wrist radio and Jimmy Olsen had a watch that summoned Superman with a high pitched: ZEE Zee zee...

Anyway, I figured the wristradios (for Boys) and Tiaras (for Girls) would have a stylized antenna that would resemble 666 but may be promoted in an upside down form of 999 to throw off hard to please religionists.

At the time, I felt like the devices would be locators for every citizen in the Big Brother state so the state could keep track of your affiliations. Not too much info traveling the other way.

That was before computers. And cell phones for gosh sakes. They are a symbol in the hand and head, well ear anyway. It's possible in theory to "see" some stylized 666 in a cell phone I'm sure. Remember the Bible visionaries may have had too much wine and may not have recognized a cell phone for what it was.

But the implant - that's diabolical. I suppose the 666 is only visible from the inside. Satan must be laughing wildly. I'm glad you brought this to my attention. I'm going out tomorrow and not get one for the lord. Some people are going to be ticked when they wake up in hell, slap their implant and go D'OH! Not me.

[Scot C. Trypal]

I remember as a kid playing the game “Lemmings�. It was a puzzle solving sort of thing where a bunch of lemmings did your bidding (It was more fun than it sounds…). But one level was literally 666 in shape. I got freaked out, and erased the game, certain Satan had invaded my tiny hard drive. Sure, stupid, but I was just a kid :).

[RebeccaBradley]

As I recall, the mark of the beast didn't have to do with mind control. Rather, if you did not accept the mark on your hand or your forehead, you would be unable to buy or sell, and would also get your head cut off. Horrible, eh? Imagine, no shopping....

Anyway, as early as the 1960s, my uncle the fundamentalist minister was preaching against credit cards, which he saw as part of a softening-up process to prep the unwary to receive the mark of the beast.

(Lemmings! Lemmings was wonderful! I have a sudden terrible craving to play Lemmings 2! Oh, well.)

[Atlas]

Pretty good recap Rebecca, (except that Lemmings 2 probably has twice the demon power as the first one that is sending Scot to hell.)<blockquote>Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Revelation 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. 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. (666) </blockquote> I just read that the true believers think the implant will be like an invisible 666 and it will lead to a cashless society. You'll just wave your hand over the bar code reader and and it will automatically process your transaction like you do today with a credit card.

If you don't have one you can't buy or sell. Now I'm on the fence. I still want to buy stuff. I supose I could learn to steal to eat. I guess that would be better as long as I'm doing it for God.

[Scot C. Trypal]

except that Lemmings 2 probably has twice the demon power as the first one that is sending Scot to hell

I’m not sure how these supernatural things work, but I don’t think I can be faulted (for this one) since I immediately quite the game in moral outrage. Still, come to think of it, the end of my religiosity did begin around the same time… Suspicious.

Anyway, I was feeling nostalgic and did a search. Here’s the demonic level:

http://home.wanadoo.nl/lemmings-solution/
Couldn't get the image url to work but it's in "Tricky" level 21.

Regarding the mark, isn’t the unusual degree of specificity make it a sort of self-defeating prophecy? If we ever went to a cashless society where a personal ID was required for any transaction, almost no one would accept an ID on his or her right hand or forehead (especially the forehead). The Christians majority would throw an absolute fit, and I personally would expect most everyone else to be against such a requirement and would want to skip the superstitious protests anyway.

If we had to, to get past the prophecy couldn’t we just use our left hand? :)

I don’t think this will ever be an issue anyway as biometric identification is getting to the point where we will be our IDs. But I guess that could cause a stir too, depending upon how freely one interprets Revelations.

One other thing I just remembered that upset my Christian sensibilities around the same time… the element Carbon… Oh my, how embarrassing!

[Johnny Pneumatic]

This Mark of the Beast crap also had me wondering what was going on in the mind of the writer of that/those books. Then I learned of one of the inane things the Pharisees did. They had scripture written on a piece of paper and it was folded up and put inside a pouch on their forehead they also had scripture in a pouch near their wrist(the bible writers seem to have called wrists as hands because someone cannot be crucified with nails in their hands. The body's weight will just tear the hands and they will fall. Nail someone at the wrists though, and the tendons will hold the person up.)

[epepke]

Originally posted by losman
I was listening to a talk radio show and someone called in and brought up an issue about this company named Verachip (sp?) and how they have developed an implantable microchip and how this is a sign of the beast.

The radio host mocked him about with a comment about Armageddon and then hung up on him.

I was curious, why are some religous folk so embarassingly moronic to believe that a microchip can control a human and lead to 666 or some crap like that

I think if anyone meets somone who believes this they should tell them to stop going to church because it is making them stupid.

Anyone else see this pattern

I don't know. I always thought that the Book of The Revelation (not "Revelations" as so many Christians claim) was really cool. There's a lot of nice fantasy in it. The idea of a number, without which one could neither buy nor sell, always seemed to me like an excellent science-fiction concept and quite prescient. It's not entirely out of the question that hand-swipes with embedded RFID chips could become commonplace in the next century or so.

The big problem is with the 666. It seems a very small number for such a large population. I haven't really counted the number of people on the Earth today who, if given a minimal 10-digit number would have 666 somewhere in it, but back-of-the-envelope calculations give about 100 million. This seems rather a lot.

[evildave]

This is real old hat. I remember the same message about 'bar code tatoos', and another one that made a big deal of computers, in hexadecimal, a ones-compliment of 999 gives you 666. We still get numerology wackos here in this forum from time to time.

My take on it is that if such a system becomes widespread, these sorts of people will get converted to this wacky, paranoid 'faith' and dig the device out of themselves. This will leave a scar, as implanting such a thing will not, and yes their lives will become more difficult, just as the nut-jobs like Timmy McVeigh who insist that they shouldn't be forced to have a license plate or driver's license make their own lives more difficult. Of course, criminals will also tend to dig out their own ID in much the same manner.

When it comes time for some sort of major evacuation off-planet, the ones to be 'saved', and 'taken up' will have the implanted device. The doomed ones will be the morons who dug out their identification chip, and that totally disqualifies them from boarding. Too bad. Pretty much the inverse of what the 'beam me up' rapture retards like to believe. Yeah, sure it's all science fiction woo-woo crap, but so is every element of their entire religion.

I think the basic fear is one of accountability. People who believe in faith in their gods tend to try to apply that same 'faith' system in other things. If it is incumbent on them to believe in their own gods without question, it should be incumbent on the rest of the world to believe in THEM in much the same way as they believe in their gods, no matter all the evidence that they are a poor credit risk, and more than a little flaky.

I think having a personal data device implanted in my hand would be, well, handy. An LCD tattoo to display time, appointments, etc. would also be nice. A few gigabytes of EEPROM with lots of useful data that I could update with a computer of my own would be nice, and having a reader/writer in my keyboard or mouse would take care of the interface.

I'm sure if 'gods' or whoever don't like it, he/she/they can kiss my @$$, since they certainly have never made their other preferences absolutely clear to me before.

[epepke]

Originally posted by evildave
I think having a personal data device implanted in my hand would be, well, handy. An LCD tattoo to display time, appointments, etc. would also be nice. A few gigabytes of EEPROM with lots of useful data that I could update with a computer of my own would be nice, and having a reader/writer in my keyboard or mouse would take care of the interface.

The problem is that the first million or so early adopters would never get laid again.

[evildave]

Well, its according to where they stick the transponder, isn't it? As for the tattoo, it could be invisible unless active. Nothing to see on your body at all.

[epepke]

Originally posted by evildave
Well, its according to where they stick the transponder, isn't it?

This reminds me of a great word: teledildonics.

[Kitty Chan]

I dont know if its supposed to be mind control or more people control. If you dont have proper id then you cannot buy or purchase. Take away the mystic from this and look at the move to a cashless society. In Canada we are getting used to our debit cards, we joke about not carrying cash. Cashless I am told by my banker means not only no money but no cheques no paper transactions at all.

It would mean if I want to pay my bills I go online and transfer the money, which I can do. But I cannot give my friend any money, yet. Loans can be online CIBC a national bank in Canada makes it a point to downplay the teller as a person and to go to the machine. Walmart has cashierless check out in the States. The bar codes on all items allow security and check out apparentely Winonna would not have been caught in the perfect world the sensor would have scanned her card in her purse as she left.

Paper money is counterfitted as are travelers cheques, we have a new release of 100's and 20's to keep up. States has reissued 20's too. It will be easier when all the banks join together and the bar codes work in all stores then expenses can be saved by using perhaps debit cards instead of money.

Then the debit cards will be counterfitted so they will go with the chips because they are harder to counterfit. And then the thieves will figure out how to get those chips out of you so maybe this is where the tatoo part comes up?? Or whatever technology comes up.

Its all about the world monetary system and buying and selling goods and how is the safest and most efficient way to do that.

All this is fine and good, no problems. If you are able to attain the chip or card or tattoo whatever it is you are fine and can live. If you cannot attain this id then you cannot live. (there are those in this situation already today)

So one will be dependant on those who distribute the id for their discretion to issue it to you. You may say you have nothing to worry about but, it depends on who is making the decisions on issuing this id.

:)

[wipeout]

I guess from the time and place then 666 would have been in Roman numerals or some such thing anyway.

DCLXVI... or maybe VIVIVI... the real number of the beast? :D

[c4ts]

Originally posted by losman
I was listening to a talk radio show and someone called in and brought up an issue about this company named Verachip (sp?) and how they have developed an implantable microchip and how this is a sign of the beast.

The radio host mocked him about with a comment about Armageddon and then hung up on him.

I was curious, why are some religous folk so embarassingly moronic to believe that a microchip can control a human and lead to 666 or some crap like that

I think if anyone meets somone who believes this they should tell them to stop going to church because it is making them stupid.

Anyone else see this pattern

Why bother to mock and hang up on him? They should have let him talk and feign interest. That might have been a whole lot funnier.

[phildonnia]

Some random observations about 666:

666 is a "triangular" number, it's root being, 36, the square of 6, another triangular number (whose root 3 is also triangular!)

The 3 "guard bars" on a upc code resemble one of the codes for '6'. That, and it's relation to commerce, suggests to some that upc codes all contain the mark of the beast.

666 is written in roman numerals as "DCLXVI", suggesting that maybe '666' was just some random large number associated with the roman empire.

The abbreviation "www" is (supposedly) rendered in Hebrew as "vav-vav-vav", the letter vav also standing for the numeral 6. But one would have to interpret the biblical phrase "Six hundred, three score and six" as referring to individual base-10 digits.

Allegedly, the Pope's crown bears the words "Vicarivs Filii Dei", whose roman numerals sum to 666. The same trick can be done with "Ellen Gould White", the founder of 7th-day Adventism, taking the 'u's as 'v's and the 'w" as "vv".

Using the code A=101, B=102, etc., "Hitler" sums to 666

The name "Ronald Wilson Reagan" has three names of six digits, suggesting "666"; but one would have to believe that the Antichrist spent his sunset years slowly declining on a ranch in Southern California, rather than joining an apocalyptic battle.

A 693-1924-2045 right triangle has an area of 666666. Whatever.

According to some geeks, '666' is the second most commonly used "random" number used by computer hackers. If you're wondering, the most common is 42.

For what it's worth, the dewey decimal system classifies "Ceramic technologies" under '666'. Some semiconductors are ceramic, no?

[Atlas]

Originally posted by phildonnia
Some random observations about 666: ... Why aren't they teaching this stuff in math class?!!?

Is breakfast cereal still ok?

[phildonnia]

Originally posted by Atlas
Why aren't they teaching this stuff in math class?!!?

Here's some chemistry class for ya:

"666" is a colloquial term for Benzene Hexachloride, used in insecticides.

[Marquis de Carabas]

If one were to take my first and last names, in all caps, and add up the binary ASCII codes, the answer...

1010011010

Guess its decimal equivalent...hehehe. I am the Beast.

[phildonnia]

Originally posted by Marquis de Carabas
If one were to take my first and last names, in all caps, and add up the binary ASCII codes, the answer...

That's the long way. I just looked at your avatar and I knew.