A University of Birmingham (England) professor, working from a third-century
Greek text of the New Testament's Book of Revelation, found that the number
representing the Antichrist is probably not 666, but 616 (in that 616
referred to the Emperor Caligula). (A Church of Satan official in New York
had no comment except to say that his church will use whatever number
Christians fear.) [The Independent (London), 5-5-05] [The Independent
(London), 5-1-05]
Comment:
Often there is a lot of needless bickering over the precise meaning and
choice of terminology and dogmatic and stubborn clinging to a particular
interpretation of sacred text in religion, including Buddhism.
What I love about this story is that COS (church of Satan) realizes the true
purpose of 666 and thus they transcend the need to bicker over whether it is
correct or the authentic word of a sacred text or surpreme being. If this
kind of pragmatic spirit represents the other tenets of COS, their religion
shows much more promise than most religions.
-fk
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