"Many people avoid the number. They're afraid of it almost, and there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of it," he [Jesuit priest Rev. Felix Just, a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco] said. "It is not a prediction of future events. It is not supposed to be taken as a timetable for when the world is going to end."
It all started with Revelation 13:18 in the Bible: "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six."
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Some pregnant women are concerned they may deliver their babies on 6-6-2006. The Australian reports:
Dr Leonard [Jesuit priest and director of the Catholic Film Office] said mothers-to-be should ignore the date, because when Christianity took over the Roman calendar, in the 4th Century, the monk who compiled the dates got it wrong.
"We assume that Satan knows that the sixth day of the sixth month in 06 was in fact the 6th June 2002," Dr Leonard said.
"I take evil far too seriously to think The Omen is telling me anything realistic or important."
Historians backdated to confirm the timeline of activities in 1582, and it was discovered the dating was four years out, Dr Leonard said.
He said the mistake had not been corrected and that going by the original dates, 6/6/06 had been four years ago.
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Thank you for the logic and clarification Fr. Leonard. I hope it makes people, who are taking this date seriously, much less paranoid.
4 comments:
I had never really attached any importance to 666, and didn't know much about it at all until I met my wife. She came from a very fundamentalist Protestant family, and the fear of 666 had been preached into them quite a lot. The Book of Revelation is seen in a whole different light in Catholicism vs. other churches.
Happy June 6, 2006!
Steve,
Happy June 6, 2006 to you too :-)
Yes, I think if you don't come from the background Steve refers to, it's really much more of a joke.
My parish's phone number is 222-0666!
My husband called me from work this afternoon to say, "It must be the apocalypse today."
When I asked him why, he told me that his company gave him a pay rise.
So, it's a happy date in our household :-)
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