I remember hearing something on the radio a few years ago to the effect that biblical scholars had determined that Satan’s zipcode isn’t 666, but some other number.
Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks
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Not sure about the zipcode, but I know that 668 is the neighbor of the beast.
Some of the earliest copies of The Bible give the number as 616.
Itr seems that 616 was given in the earliest known manuscript, and this has only recently been deciphered. Perhaps that’s what you heard.
A papyrus text fragment from the Oxyrhynchus site in Egypt, dating to the 2nd century A.D., gives the Number of the Beast as 616.
I recall they did a bit on this on Radio Lab a while back…maybe that’s where you heard it.
Topeka KS zip codes begin with 666, and that’s where that crazy-ass Fred Phelps and his family live, so as far as I’m concerned it IS the devil’s zip code!
867-5309
Forgive me for this –
The Austin Lounge Lizards have a wonderful song on what’s it’s like being a neighbor of the Beast. Since these are the people who know what’s going to happen to banjo players, you can guess what this one’s about as well.
Heck, see if this works: Neighbor of the Beast on Lala If that doesn’t work go directly to lala.com and search for this entry.
Any Austin Lounge Lizards CD is worth your time and money.
My “Living Bible” from 1971 mentions that some manuscripts read 616 rather than 666, so I’m not sure why this is considered a recent discovery.
616 is the area code for Grand Rapids, Michigan, and surrounding areas.
Every once in a while, the media trots out something that’s been known for years as a new earthshaking discovery.
Now here’s the usual explanation for the difference- The writer had Nero in mind as either The Beast or a model for The Beast. Nero Caesar in Hebrew is spelled
N-RO K-S-R, which is 616 using the Hebrew alphabet as a number code. It’s also spelled N-RON K-S-R, which is 666.
I just have to say that this post/user name combo made me snicker (and yes, I do get the reference, and thanks just so much for this morning’s earworm).
I have nothing to add except that about 10 years ago, I noticed that a good friend had 666 as a portion of her license plate (in Germany, incidentally). I mentioned it to her and her husband and said that many Americans would think about requesting a new license number, and was intrigued that neither one of them had any idea what I was talking about – this number of the Beast thing isn’t a universal superstition.
No, not universal at all. 666 is well-known in the UK as “The Number of The Beast” (BWA-HA-HA!), but I’ve never heard of anyone taking it at all seriously – it’s just a reference from horror films and heavy metal albums. I think that, before the Omen films, it was a pretty obscure bit of biblical trivia – which is what it probably still is in many other countries.
I think I’m right in saying that the Rapture’s pretty much unknown outside the US, too.
Which is odd as it originated in the British Isles- Irish Plymouth Brethren theologian John Nelson Darby (father of Dispensationalism), Scottish Prebyterian-turned-Catholic Apostolic Church founder Edward Irving, and Scottish visionary Margaret MacDonald all contributed to the doctrine’s development in the 1830s.
Yes, but they evolved past the Crazy. Let’s hope we get there too someday.
Ah, yes… eschatological doctrine in minor non-comformist churches of the 19th century.
Down our way we speak of little else. 
Including Ada, MI, which is the home of Amway.
'Nuff said.
You…I…That was my joke! I’m always amazed at what is an original thought anywhere else, just isn’t on The Dope.
I once bought a few items and the total came to $6.66. The cashier was horrified and tried to get mw to buy something else to changw the total. I refused and counted out six dollar bills, six dimes and six pennies and handed them to her.
She was literally shaking, either from fright or being pissed off.