Mulling over George Pope to ALL 20 May 2005

Hi George,

 SA> U-WIRE) -"He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
 SA> free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
 SA> foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save that had the
 SA> mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

 GP> I see you have the older/original English translation ("in the
 GP> hand" rather than the newer translations that consistently say "on
 GP> the hand") 

For practical purposes, it won't matter whether the mark is applied "in"
the hand or forehead, or "on" it, in the same way that I say I
live "in"
such & such street, or "on" such & such street. I don't
literally live
in the street, but I live in a house... Similarly, I can be "in" a car,
not normally "on" it, but "in" or "on" a
train or boat, bus, plane etc.

 GP> Seems that when the knowledge of a chip came into being a powerful
 GP> force bigger than EVERY Church & religious publisher caused this
 GP> small change to be made, to provide a means of misdirection ("on"
 GP> the hand implies a tattoo, not a chip!)

If you remember your school days, your desk might have had someone's
name carved into the wood ... that would be an idea of the meaning of
"xaragma" ... an engraving or mark. However, if the author of Revelation
wanted to give a sense of (eg) a microchip implant, or a barcode or
tattoo to people who would have no concept of the technology, then
"xaragma" (charagma) might be the word of choice. 

 GP> I checked with a Biblical Greek scholar who says, in the Greek,
 GP> either preposition is accurate.

 GP> So the intent does seem to be clear that there'll be a scannable
 GP> computer chip that will contain one's 'money' and record of use
 GP> thereof. 

Yes, the intent is the important thing, ay least for people like me
who do not know for certain what the mark will be ... microchip 
certainly seems likely, but it still needs to be "the number of a
man" ... maybe the ID numbers will be derived from individual's
DNA sequences, or something to positively ID each individual "man".
Maybe it will be derived from the Beast's DNA, to ID each person
as supporting the Beast, just as licenced products for the 2000
Olympics were "marked" with DNA from a randomly selected athlete
(from memory) to detect counterfeits.

 GP> It makes sense in some ways -- if all money is on a chip(ie. no
 GP> more "cash") that puts an end to a lot of crime!

 GP> Let's say I'm a drug addict, and I rob a house, stealing some
 GP> jewellery, etc. -- how do I translate those into drugs, if I can't
 GP> sell them, and neither can my fence or dealer?

I'm sure the addicts, dealers & fences will find "solutions".

Cheers, Steve..

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