666 chip? Why a Texas student thinks her school ID is the "Mark of the Beast"

The theology behind a battle over RFID tags.

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[sidran32]

I'm a Catholic.

I find end of the world talk like this to be mostly useless. You can get wrapped up in all of this prediction stuff, but it those parts of the Bible are very much filled with imagery and weren't intended on giving us a vivid glimpse into the future. It states in the Bible, even, that no one will know the time that it would occur. The purposes of these passages are for teaching us on how to live our lives. Basically, don't procrastinate your holiness just because you feel like you have time. Live every day like it was your last. That sort of thing.

But of course there are other things it teaches too, like discernment and keeping a watchful eye, so you recognize false prophets and to not live in fear, but hope and anticipation.

These kinds of things could be generally argued to be good advice for living your life worry and stress-free, as well as being morally upstanding.

As a Catholic, I don't get wrapped up in trying to predict the end of the world. The Catholic Church isn't really interested in doing that, anyway.

Speculation can be entertaining, though. Sure, I can see the "mark on the forehead" and the like being allegorical to things we see occurring today. I could read into the descriptions in Revelation and see references to things like wireless video broadcasts, electronic payment systems, GPS, RFID, and other things that, while they may have sounded supernatural many centuries ago, would be quite possible today with current technology. It makes the events seem all the more plausible, as time goes on and our capabilities due to increased technology and scientific understanding increases.

And the turmoil in the Middle East still is going on, and has no sign of subsiding. They still are fighting over the location where the Temple in the Holy Land is.

So, you could believe that there might be something there, if you're a Christian.

However, if you're a Christian like me, you won't bother yourself with trying to decode things that we can't know anyway, and try to instead focus on the here and now, on living your life with faith and love of God and fellow man.

 

[sidran32]

Quick question for the minister that posted earlier, the author, or anybody else with a theological background -

I thought that Revelations was written in an oriental rather than occidental style - that is eastern symbology rather than western literalism. If that is the case, then wouldn't it be much more reasonable for the relevant verses to be concerned with a persons thoughts/motivations (forehead) and deeds (right hand) than the actual placement of the demonstrated embrace of the antichrist-figure?

As far as the girl in the story, I'm sticking by my comment in the original story - that she may or may not believe this, but it's her strongest argument when dealing with schools which can curtail freedoms of speech and assembly and implied right to privacy. I'd think her attorney would throw the others at the wall in court, but this is the angle that will garner the most attention.

The whole core christian belief of heaven and hell with judgement is a eastern belief. This was a turbulent time with Romans taking over, and Yahweh's chosen people had to understand their place in a larger world, far larger than the writers of the old testament with their tribal dealings with the greeks philistines and their pigs and wine or the many others, with the "we are not them" idea showing though out.

Pretty much.

Applying Western "literalism" to Christianity is a new phenomenon, relative to Christianity itself throughout history.

 

[sidran32]

Having been raised by fundamentalist Christians it's always strange to me that things like this aren't part of the average person's lexicon and have to be explained.

That's the fun thing about bumping into different groups!

When I started theological debates with my Protestant brothers and sisters, as a Catholic, I began to learn about all sorts of new terminologies (pre-trib, post-trib, millenial, Calvinism, Arianism, etc).

And then when I got to talk with some Orthodox folks, I started encountering all sorts of neat Greek terminologies.

 

[sidran32]

Page after page filled with hate over a topic you liberal naysayers don't even believe in. Amazingly, you'll hate the typical Christian, but fight tooth and nail to keep the serial killer out of the electric chair, then you chant words like 'progress' and 'forward'.

You people are venomous an vile in the very ways you time and again denounce in others.

I should ignore this, buuuut. I'm liberal and renounced my Christianity, I'm not an atheist though (I'm deist). As far as the death penalty goes, if you don't believe in hell (or an afterlife at all for the matter) then a life sentence in prison is the one of the worst ways you can punish someone. I understand the logic of "let's send him to hell" but I think I have a perfectly valid point since I don't believe such a place exists. So why not keep him alive and locked up? Don't say we can't afford it (it's a fraction of the cost to execute). If hell is real, the person still gets to go. We both win. The person suffered for their misdeeds, and we can be positive of that.

There was never a mention of Hell in my post. That idea originated with you. As for executions, I'm quite sure a bullet and a hole would be pretty cheap if we really got serious about removing the trash from society.

You can remove "trash" from society by putting them in prison. Killing a person solves nothing and is a woefully inadequate punishment.

It also does not respect the dignity of the human person and ignores the possibility of redemption.

As a Christian, I'm saying that the death penalty refuses God the ability to interject in the heart of the criminal to repent from his sins and receive forgiveness and redemption. And so the death penalty absolutely should be abolished.