bridges, Mr. Shoebat...we build bridges 'round these parts.

My dear Ex, who I am great friends with, sent me a link today and was nigh apoplectic regarding it's contents.  The lecturer is a fellow named Walid Shoebat, a former Muslim/anti-zionist who has become an ardent pro-zionist Christian.

A basic summary of the nearly 7 minute video is that, in the book of Revelations (aka the Apocalypse), the specific part which delineates the number of the beast has been mistranslated.  Instead of being a greek trigram (chi, xi, sigma)  which stands for the number 666 (or, in some interpretations, 616), it instead is an arabic sigil which reads (if you read it backwards and/or sideways) 'in the name of A_h' with an X representing two crossed swords. 

To quote the lecturer, 'why would God put three greek symbols into the text?'.  My immediate reply would be, mayhap foolishly, because the rest of the text is in greek and those 'symbols' are these things we call 'letters'.  Further analysis finds that some of the texts state the number in full 'ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ (six hundred sixty six)'.  I would point out that the greek use of these 'symbols' in the early copies of this text significantly predate the earliest known example of arabic as a language.

This sort of stuff brings to mind the craze back in the 1980's of 'certain Christian' groups playing heavy metal records backwards to try and make out messages from 'teh Debil'.  His talk was well received with many nodding heads as he winds up to his conclusion that those who follow his former religion mark themselves with the sign of the Beast and, thus, must be agents of the Anti-Christ.

Why am I bringing this up?  Why pour energy into a 'angels on a pinhead' argument regarding an obscure bit of dialictic in a book that was considered "dubious at best" by both Luther and Trent that will do naught but cause division and strife?

That's PRECISELY my point.

To echo my Crone - "Where is God in this?"

To put it in my phraseology - "How does this help people to love the Divine and to love our neighbours (who are ALL mankind)?"

To argue about such things sows discord and division, which is antithetical to the teachings of the great teachers of the book, be it Hillel, Jesus or (I would argue) the Prophet.

Love Her, do good and keep your nose clean.  That means we build bridges, not walls.