5/6/06, the day before the beast.

[davywavy]

There's been a lot made of the fact that tomorrow's date is one of the most anticipated and feared in recent history.
That's right, Lordi are releasing 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' as a single on the morrow.

The number '666' has a bit of a bad reputation. It comes from the Book of Revelations, Chapter 13, Verse 18: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding calculate the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
The wisdom that is being referred to is the ancient science of gematria, which is still practised in some esoteric parts of the Hebrew and Islamic faiths; it is the science of calculating numbers from names. Of course, most uses of it these days (such as George (6) Walker (6) Bush Jr. (6)) are incorrect applications because most people don't know what the 'number' and the 'wisdom' actually refer to. Correctly applied, gematria can be used to identify roman Emperor Nero as the Antichrist (Nero Caesar in Hebrew is NeRON QeiSaR; adding up the letters we get ``the number of the man'', 666), and as Revelations was written during the reign of Nero it's not unlikely that he was the original intended recipient of the accolade.*
Of course, this hasn't stopped the more bonkers end of the internet predicting that the mere date is a harbinger of the end of times and taking a particularly humourless view of a chance occurence. After all, if you were an Omnipotent being, you'd choose a charisma and grammar-free loon on the internet as the person to announce the end of your creation, right?
Right?
And they say God has no sense of humour.

Others are taking the date with more of a sense of humour. The towns of Hell, Michigan and Hell, Norway are both having big parties to get the tourists in, although some even object to that. One resident of Hell, Michigan was been quoted as saying "'Here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things – and the town where we live is having a 666 party.'"
Obviously, this is someone who has never read their Saint Augustine, who said: "The one thing the devil fears most in your laughter"

There's a certain amount of fear online on the Fundamentalist websites that the date tomorrow might inspire Satanists. I would be more inclined to take this fear seriously if it weren't for the fact that every devil-worshipper I've ever met (and I've met a few) hadn't been such an out-and-out wanker. One of them, when I slagged him off, threatened to put a curse on me. In response, I gave him some of my hair and told him to get on with it.
I'm still waiting.


^{*Although some Biblical Scholars claim that '666' is a mistranslation and the real number should be '616'.**
**Amusingly, it appears that Viagra has a molecular weight of 666. This makes me laugh.}

Comments

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

Oddly though, the bible makes no mention of the number six hundred and sixty two thousand and six.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

It didn't mention 6/6/1906, 6/6/1806, 6/6/1706 and so on, and the world didn't end on those days, either.

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

And the actual 6/6/6 comes before the Bible was written. :)

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

I could have sworn I'd read somewhere in the last twelve months that the 616 debate had been settled and a consensus had been reached (ie. that 616 actually *was* the number of the Beast.)


Obviously, this is someone who has never read their Saint Augustine, who said: "The one thing the devil fears most in your laughter"

The Devil must have been laughing through half of my childhood then, as St. Augustine's College was the most mirthless gulag I've ever had the misfortune to be incarcerated in.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

The earliest known fragment of the Book of Revelation comes from the Oxyrhynchus manuscript, which has been dated to around the middle of the 3rd century AD and it identifies the number of the beast as 616. However, the councils of Nicene and Alexandria seem both to have decided upon 666 and mainstream theology accepts that they were both acting under divine inspiration, so 666 is largely accepted.
Anyway, the 6th of January would have been a lousy date to release the new version of the Omen.

[jonnyargles.livejournal.com]

*Channels Umberto Eco*

Actually, it was a mistranslation, it SHOULD have read "The one thing the devil fears most is your DAUGHTER."

Which, after the weekend I've just had, he's right to. Especially when you wake her up too early.

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, given the difference in written dates for the UK and the US, if the number of the beast is 616 does that mean we had our apocalypse in January and theirs was only four days ago?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who has ever been to one of the square states that the US had their Apocalypse considerably earlier than that.

[(Anonymous)]

"**Amusingly, it appears that Viagra has a molecular weight of 666. This makes me laugh."

You have an unusual physiology. Can I disect you in the name of science?

[mrmmarc.livejournal.com]

As to the meaning via gematria the most commonly accepted theorums is that you take one of the seven possible ways of calculating the numerical value for the name of Satan (in hebrew STN) and then from that subtract a numerical value for the name of God (YHWH) and you are left with 666.

Or simply put- 'If you take away the power of God from Satan you get X'

That's it.


(looks around)
All that fuss for that.


fancy a pint?

(grabs his coat and shuts the door; behind him the anti-Christ starts howling...)

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I saw a cartoon in - I think - Private Eye which had a house number 667. The caption read: "The neighbour of the beast."

Well, it made me laugh, hysterically, if I recall.

[theoldcatlady.livejournal.com]

Lordi seriously rocks!

A friend from Oz sent me the link for Hard Rock Hallelujah on YouTube and described it as "kind of a mix of the Predator, KISS, and Klingons. They sing like that too." LOL!

I now LURVE them.

[old-corbie.livejournal.com]

"One of them, when I slagged him off, threatened to put a curse on me. In response, I gave him some of my hair and told him to get on with it. I'm still waiting."


Oh really? And the rest of your hair is where, now, precisely?




(just kidding)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

On my arse, same place it always was.