$6.66 = how much a big Xtra meal with cheese costs in Canadian dollars (including 15% tax).

What does an implantable chip have to do with the "mark of the beast"?

so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark...

Re: Aaron

Read the novel series "Left Behind"...

The first thing that pop into my mind isn't about the anti-Christ, but Demolition Man with Stallone & Snipes. They LoJack everyone.

Didn't they say that about UPC codes before?

Should be more concerned about Big Brother than the Second Coming. Unless, of course, Bush is the Anti-Christ.

Naw.

Some family in Florida (I think) voluntarily had chips inserted on national television some time ago.

Other marks of the beast:

A Highway in Colorado
Your Social Security Number
Any and every bar code.
Etc.

I thought the same thing when I saw this...the Mark of the Beast.

Scary, yet fasinating.

I've read the first couple of books in that series, but it didn't really hold my interest. Claiming that this has soemthing to do with the "mark of the beast" still striek me as silly. Might as well claim that the mark is the Visa logo or tattoing...it is a mark, right?

My point is that the technology to imbed chips in people is not such a thing. Could it be used as such? Sure. So could a lot of other things. A tattoo makes more sense, however, since it is supposed to be a mark. If it is an embedded chip why put it in the hand or forehead only?

It's not technology that is the problem.

Wireless technologies have been increasingly moving toward higher frequencies, but at the same time these are more readily absorved by objects such as the human body (conversely at lower frequencies the body makes for a decent antenna). Incorporation of an RF chip in the hand or forehead arguably results in the best possible signal given the plausible locations for a scanning device.

A Highway in Colorado

Actually, they changed that.

You probably don't expect me, the evangelical Christian, to be the skeptic here, but here I go:

I personally believe that the Mark of the Beast, as well as most of Revelation, refers back to the Old Testament. The 'mark' or 'seal' on the right hand or forehead is an opposition of the 'seal' of God (which I'll have to find a reference for). The right hand is a symbol for what you do, and the forhead is a symbol for what you think of. So, what Revelation refers to is not, in my opinion, a computer system, but rather that anyone who doesn't do or ally with the antichrist is not able to sell or purchase goods.

Certainly if you are using a very low power system, the hand makes sense for a place to embed a chip. The forhead much less so, there's not much room to embed something there and you risk scarring in a very visible location. Besides, do you want to swipe your head near a cash register scanner?

Still my point is that it is not the technology, the only problem wiould come with an implementation. For it to be a "mark of the beast" you would have to swear something or whatever to get one. Such a mark could be a tattoo as easily as an embedded chip, because it is not the technology, it is the laws that are set up around it. When peopel start saying things like only those with a mark of alligence to someone or something can buy items and be "normal" members of society, then I will worry. There is nothing in the technology that frightens me, only in its application.

Oh my. You folks would actually accept an implanted chip. Yes, social security numbers were considered a sign, and they are. But only one sign. See, we're all numbered now and that number is required to do business in this country (get credit, get a job, etc.) So far, the prophecy is coming true.

But that number hasn't been implanted on us yet. Many Christians have merely noted the Bible has always cited a mark, too, and have drawn the line there.

I suppose if the Biblical prophecy is to come true, though, people have to dismiss it as superstitious nonsense and laugh it off. Otherwise there would be too much resistance.

Just for you doubters and scoffers -- watch out for the following signs:
* If the Al Aqsa Mosque is removed from the site of the Temple Mount, worry.
* If the Temple is rebuilt, really worry.
* If a powerful leader brings about world order (and even prosperity) after a period of tremendous chaos and upheaval, really, really worry.
* If that leader then goes into the rebuilt Temple and demands you worship him, don't do it.

Bzzt! That's the antichrist.

Remember. Just in case.

Interesting trivia here, but you are all missing the most important part of the "mark of the beast". According to the Bible, the mark will be the only legal way to conduct transactions. So long as people have multiple ways to conduct business, there is nothing unBiblical about this.

Right, Admiral. But the number part (SS#) is already mandatory. It's a short step to making this mandatory. But the point is this slips down the slope a little bit more ...

As they say, I'm just saying ...

IB and the Admiral are both correct. But allow me to add my own, perhaps heretical, certainly outrageous take on this matter:

When Antichrist comes, he'll be a fundamentalist of some sort. In fact, he'll probably establish a worldwide "Christian" state.

Before you start screaming at me, think about it. Think REALLY hard about it. If Satan knows we're on to all the traditional things that the Christian Right has always been up in arms about, why not go to Phariseeism instead? After all, isn't there that scripture about how he disguises himself as an angel of light...?

Dean,

What in the holy hell were you thinking when you started this thread?!?

Folks, to quote a legendary figure in Dean's World, "you guys are cracking me up!"

What I really loved in this thread was this:

"Re: Aaron

Read the novel series "Left Behind"..."

Talk about an ambitious request. Like he's really gonna go off in the next 30 minutes and complete an entire novel series and get back to you later in the evening.

True or false: Orange

IB Bill,
Granted, it does make you think. But until I need my SSN (or any other single source of ID) to buy my daily bread, I won’t give it too much thought.

Joe,
No screams, but a lot depends upon how you read the rapture. If you believe it occurs before the Tribulation (as it is described in the Left Behind series), then most Christians will be gone before the Anti-Christ is revealed (the only remaining Christians will be those who accepted Christ after the rapture). And the Anti-Christ is shown as a political figure in what I have read. Of course, he also has a religious side-kick who tries to establish a one-world religion, so maybe this character will be a televangelists who was just in the business for money. Or maybe he is the Pope (especially if the previous Pope and most Catholics were taken up in the rapture). I certainly don’t know, but it is interesting to consider.

No, actually there is a point, after all, a Retinal scanner would work just as well. Why would we need a chip? The chip is just login information to an account, not the entire account, so a retinal scanner is easier and more efficient than a chip, and as diverse as fingerprints.