Whats the meaning of 666?

Faith & Science Conversation
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The infamous 666.We all heard of it .But whats its meaning?

Apart from the YEC narrative that its some kind of chip or something id like to know what other scholars oppinions are out there.I know scholars are diversed about this but if anyone can provide some recourses or somethingi would be gratefull.Thanks

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But what about the four living creatures with six wings and full of eyes front and behind, one like a lion, another like an ox, third with the face of a man, and fourth like an eagle. What the heck are they?

Sigh… Revelation, man – full of all kinds of strange stuff. Like clouds or inkblots you can see just about anything in that chaos of imagery.

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I agree.however there must be some scholar oppinnions on it no?

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@DOL has a very good one on that. I will have to find the video on gematriya for you

Briefly, it’s thought to represent Nero in this explanation.

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I was refering to the mark 666.Do you think i need to edit it to avoid further confussion?

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616 has a surprising amount of evidence in its favor. Nero or possibly Caligula or Domitian are the usual guesses. I avoid the last book in the Bible like the plague. No idea what is going on there.

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Hi,
Check this out starting around 5 mins into the video.
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/ashebrew.mp4
Blessings,
Denis

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Woohoo! Thank you!

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Don’t know how grateful you’re going to be for this, but see how far you can chew your way through this: Why Is the Number of the Beast 666?

Notes:

  • This is a slightly revised excerpt from the recently published popular commentary by G. K. Beale (with D. H. Campbell), Revelation: A Shorter Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
  • G.K. Beale: Gregory K. Beale is a biblical scholar, currently a Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
    • I think that you would be hard-pressed to find a more conservative, Protestant discussion than one by an Orthodox Presbyterian like Beale. Allow me to suggest that you take this as “a starting point” in your research effort. Where you go from here is your call.
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Hi mr Denis and thanks for the answer.I was wondering how we can be so sure that the numerology in the time the revelation was written was correct?And if the 666 is refering indeed to Nero what was his mark ,his false prophet etc etc.And most important why Jesus hasnt returned yet?

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Thank you !!Will check it out

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“It is surely no accident that if you spell “Caesar Neron” in Hebrew letters, they add up to 666. Even more striking, there is an alternative spelling of the name: “Nero” instead of “Neron.” Without that final n, the name adds up to 616.”

Excerpt From
A History of the Afterlife
Bart D. Ehrman;
P222

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I definitely am in the camp where the book of revelation was written as prophecy for the Jews and Christians alive at that time alerting them to the upcoming persecution under rome.

Revelation opens up with a handful of letters to a handful of churches

666/616 is not the mark of the Devil or his son but is the numerical value of the hebrew language. It’s similar to how we can say 1 is A , 2 is B and C, BA, or Ab is 3.

Plus there are all kinds of other clues we can look at showcasing why 666 was a generational threat.

With that said, Tim Mackie has shown some
Evidence that perhaps revelation severe s the dual purpose of not only altering that generation to their anti christ, but also altering each generation to the evilness of powerful people who rule over powerful nations that echoes again and again.

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Also from Dr Lamoureux…the Latin version varied to 616, which would also correlate with Nero Caesare in that language, as I recall him saying. That would imply this was understood as the implication in those times

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Then who does the 666 refer to since Nero came first before Revelation was written. Or do you mean it refers to someone like Nero but yet to come… or perhaps the ghost or abiding heritage of Nero? It seems persecution started with Nero but continued for another 2 and a half centuries, though the worst after Nero were typically local governors rather than the emperors. A turning point may have been Valerian (emperor from 253) who didn’t fair so well. He executed a couple of bishops and then was captured by the Persians in battle and spent the rest of his term in prison. Attitudes began to shift after that.

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I believe revelation was wrote much earlier than you probably do.

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Matthew 24 seems to be about the same events as revelation. One of those events is Jesus standing before the temple, because it was still standing, and sharing prophecies of it being destroyed.

The temple was destroyed in 70ad.

I think the book was most likely wrote around 68-69 AD.

I have zero reasons to believe in a third temple.

Jesus also mentioned that generation would it pass before these events happened. Jesus also said some standing there would still be alive when it happened.

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I try not to believe very much about the book of Revelation at all. But the evidence for the later dating is pretty strong – and not from these modern Biblical scholars either.

  1. Testimony of Irenaeus 180 AD.
  2. Testimony of Clement of Alexandria.
  3. Conclusions of Victorinus and Jerome at the end of the third century.
  4. Conditions of the churches described in the book match the later date.
  5. The banishment of John to Patmos which was a practice of Domitian not Nero who simply executed Christians.
  6. Laodicea was destroyed in an earthquake in 60 AD, so nobody would have described it as rich and prosperous so soon after this happened.

I still prefer the preterist view of eschatology, but that doesn’t means I am willing to bend the evidence to make it fit better.

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6 is first class. Link?

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There are problems with it.If 666 stands for the evil nature for humanity how can humanity persecute humanity itself?Doesnt make sense .Whats the mark then? Whats the false prophet ,or the Whore of Babylon?Why does it then make the connection that the antichrist will burn in hell with the unbelievers if the "antichrist"is the fallen humanity?