The Mark of the beast - will your kids be getting one?

[mamadadawahwah]

Posted this originally in parenting, should have posted it here.

For those of you who believe/interpret revelations, what is your take on the "mark"? When the chip comes, will you be lining up in the queue? Or will you be protesting? Ya ya, i know its already here, and thats the scary part. Any body got a fresh take on what the "mark" means?
"For those who hath wisdom"...

Was that what you were getting at? What do you think?

Hi mamadadawahwah, no I would never get my kids tagged. They are people, not a posession. Nothing to do with Revelation, but a belief that they are sacred creatures who cannot be treated like that.

The way computer chips can monitor our lives is scarey.

Ionesmum, yeah, never mind the religious bit. Tagged for whose benefit, is the question. Never mind "watching" big brother, its here and its now!

I have only read the beginning of the thread MMDDWW and to be honest.... 5-7 years ago, when Microsoft was at his marketing high, many people started mentioning the "computer" as a posible mark, also the Internet, and I'm sure that next they will be refering to the incoming national identity card as the mark. The same should have been said of the tuberculosis vacine, etc. It's in the nature of certain human beings just to find a religious excuse to hinder progress... but anyways, what is progress any way but the work of the devil???

Chandra, it says "specifically" in the bible, a mark on the hand or forehead and that no man may buy or sell without it. Now the bible is full of metaphors and puzzles, and it further says in revelations, "let he who hath wisdom", figure this out. I dont presume to have this wisdom, but the similarities to what is happening now and what was written/inferred from 2000 years ago is scary stuff to me and I wont be getting my kids "marked" on the forehead or on the hand. When it comes to "physical" marks, it plainly says in the bible, that this is the mark of the "beast". To me its plain and simple. Maybe its not, but I'm not going to take any chances. If it turns out, that we wont be able to buy and sell without a "mark" upon our body, like you see on items in the supermarket, i will not be getting that said mark. Presumably, if i and my kids dont get that mark, we indeed will not be able to "buy and sell". We shall see, but I am not going to tempt fate or God by doing it.

Just another comment, the internet, credit cards and ID cards are not "marks" on the forehead or hand. Ok, we might get bulging veins on our foreheads from the worry of spending too much on our credit card or we might have bulging and sore red eyes from too much internet time, but I dont think this passage from teh bible refers to that.

For those who are "christian" i am sure your vicar/priest would sort this out for you, but i am not one to rely on organised religions so I would like to figure this one out for myself. Its a touchy subject, and not one in keeping with our modern, technologically "advanced" and secular world. for those who believe in God, particularly the God who is father of Jesus, revelations is a part of the bible and in my humble opinion, take it very seriously. I think there is so much good about the bible, its full of love, understanding, etc, but revelations basically says we have to suffer the consequences of going against God.

Mamadadawahwah (sheesh, had to c & p that! ).I believe that the only 'consequences' we have to 'suffer' are those of our own actions.. both in life..and after life. During life, our thoughts, words and actions create our reality and has knock-on effect (or rather a creative effect) upon the reality of everyone around us..and everyone around them.. like ripples in a pond. After life, I believe we are still only answerable to ourselves... that there IS no hell.. and no devil.. the only "hell" being that which we make for ourselves by our own choices and decisons.. and the effects of which we only truly understand after "death". (So no "beast" either.)

The Bible is full of profound truths.. but was written a long time ago for and by a society which bears little relation to ours of today. In many respects we would do well to follow its teachings, but in many others, it has to be considered that parts of it may no longer apply.. at least in the way that modern interpretations would have us believe it does. Particularly the parts that would have us believe in a God of Fear.. a God who Judges.. God doesn't want us to fear Him, not do I believe he will judge us.. except in that we may judge ourselves. And that we are expressions of God Himself.

SJ x

I really agree with you, sleepyjess.

LOL I'm relieved to hear that IM Sometimes, when discussing such matters I am worried that I come across as speaking a right load of crp.. because I'm trying to explain something that I feel* more than anything..

Have a good weekend guys

SJ x (Who is going out on a girls-night-out tomorrow for the firdt time in about 2 years!!! )

astu groundhog day?

Or is that far too cynical?

Je ne comprend pas Carrie! ;) Wot u mean?
SJ x

Sleepyjess, I know exactly what you mean, sometimes faith is what we know to be true even though we cannot really explain why or how we know it. What you say isn't c**p at all!

BTW I should say I do belive in the devil. But not in hell, as I believe that God's triumph over the devil will be in saving him.

Have a fab night out!

Well, if it helps to clear the problem, the Revelations book was written during the time when early christians were hunted down, so it was important that the message could be spread but at the same time it was "coded" in case that it fell in the wrong hands. Initiated christians would know how to recognise the symbols, and to decode the message. I would recomend that if you don't trust any religious organisation to try to find information coming from teologists (not all of them are believers) or historians, you would be surprised with this.... but the Revelations book was a book of hope, so it's important to tackle its study in deep with a good background, if you read it as it is you may be missing some wonderful things or getting scared for others that may or may not be as you suspect.

An example of that is that it says that 144000 are going to be saved. Some religious group has decided that's heaven capacity but if you see it from the symbolist backgroun 144,000= 12 X 12 X 1000. 12 is the number of plenitude so the message would be "plenty X plenty X thousand" which would be more or less everybody , not a bad message after all, is it?

The worst thing you can do with Rev. is to pick it apart looking for little clues about the end of the world. Apocalyptic literature like this is aupposed to be read as a 'word picture' giving an overall impression, rather than a specific way in which the world will end. Rev. was written during the persecutions of Diocletian so 'the beast' is the Roman Empire. Much of the coded symbolism refers to Rome e.g the kings are various Roman emperors. The message of the book as I understand it is that God is always there no matter how bad things get, although I have to admit that it's not a piece of scripture that particularly speaks to me. I still think it has a nightmare quality; after all, John was living in times and witnessing things that were nightmarish.

I agree with Chandra that buying a good commentary on Rev. would be a good idea, if you really can't face talking to a priest about this.

A great site is

www.keyway.ca for some scripture answers.

One of the best keys for unlocking The Book of Revelation is
looking to the OT prophets.
Daniel,Isaiah and Ezekiel are especially helpful.

Hello