Re: 666 Day

What I said was that if you accept that 666 refers to
Nero, which of the following is more likely, that John
wrote Revelation during or before the time of Nero, or
that he wrote it in the late 90's, and was talking about
some rumors of Nero's survival or resurrection? I think
that an early writing of Revelation is more likely.

Of course he could be talking about Domitian, (or any evil
Roman emperor) which would solve your problem of a pre 70
date of Revelation. But you still have a problem (if you
hold a futurist eschatology) that this would mean a first
century fulfillment of the Last Days.

If you accept that 666 refers to Nero, a preterist (either
full or partial) eschatology is on the whole more
coherent, than is a futurist eschatology, in my opinion.

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 13:31:07 -0400
  "George L. Murphygmurphy@raex.com" <gmurphy@raex.com>
wrote:
> Any evil Roman emperor might be considered Nero
>redivivus, & stand more broadly for the claims to
>ultimate loyalty of the imperium. The persecution of
>Christians at Rome under Nero was relatively brief &
>localized. In particular, it had little or no effect in
>Asia Minor. The 1st really general persecution of
>Christians was under Domitian, which is one reason for
>the traditional dating of Revelation in or shortly after
>his reign in the 90s.
>
>Frankly I see no reason at all to think it "likely" that
>Revelation was written before 68 A.D.
>
> I mentioned that Neron Qsr adds up to 666 with the
>Hebrew letters. Actually the o is w (numerical value 6)
>which sometimes functions as an o. If the final n
>(numerical value 50) is dropped - which is perhaps more
>natural - then you get 616, for which these is some mss
>evidence. If 616 is correct then kaisar theos (divine
>Caesar or Caesar is God) in Greek works. There is also
>very weak mss evidence for 646
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> We are talking about inspired scripture, not tabloid
>> journalism. So John was writing about someone that
>>there
>> were only rumors about, and those rumors were likely
>> incorrect? To me that explanation is much less likely
>> than Revelation being written prior to 68AD.
>>
>> Wright's interpretation is reasonable, but would 666 be
>> referring to a person then?
>>
>> On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 07:54:03 -0400
>> "George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
>> > Jack -
>> >
>> > No, this doesn't require rev to have been written
>>before
>> >Nero's death. After that there were rumors that he was
>> >alive, or had returned from the dead, & was in Parthia
>> >preparing to invade the empire. (Hence perhaps the
>> >things about invasion from the east in Rev.) This
>>would
>> >be similar to stories after WWII of Hitler's survival.
>> > Wright has some discussion in _The Resurrection of the
>> >Son of God_. "Nron Qsr" can represent the evil aspects
>> >of the Roman imperium generally.
>> >
>> > Shalom
>> > George
>> > http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: jack syme
>> > To: George Murphy ; Dick Fischer ; ASA
>> > Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 7:14 AM
>> > Subject: Re: 666 Day
>> >
>> >
>> > Wow, what an admission this is!
>> >
>> > As a preterist, I am not even convinced that 666
>>refers
>> >to Nero (although it is an interesting theory and I
>>have
>> >no other better suggestion.)
>> >
>> > But to even admit this is a possibility means that
>>you
>> >guys believe that Revelation was written prior to 70AD
>> >(prior to 68 AD even since that is the date of Nero's
>> >death,) and that John (if not other NT authors)
>> >anticipated that the Last Days was going to be a first
>> >century event.
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: George Murphy
>> > To: Dick Fischer ; ASA
>> > Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 6:24 AM
>> > Subject: Re: 666 Day
>> >
>> >
>> > Nero is the most likely suspect but in any case the
>> >text says "it is the number of a human" (arithmos gar
>> >anthropon estin) so anyone who tries to connect it with
>> >the number of a month hasn't even read the text with
>>any
>> >care. & in the 1st century June wouldn't have even
>>been
>> >the 6th month!
>> >
>> > Shalom
>> > George
>> > http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: Dick Fischer
>> > To: ASA
>> > Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 11:38 PM
>> > Subject: 666 Day
>> >
>> >
>> > At last a day we can celebrate(?) on the same day
>> >on both sides of the Atlantic Pond. Before anyone
>>crawls
>> >under the bed to escape the antichrist this is just a
>> >brief reminder that those numbers likely referred to
>> >Nero. Okay, say a prayer or two just in case.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Dick Fischer
>> >
>> > Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
>> >
>> > Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
>> >
>> > www.genesisproclaimed.org
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
> George L. Murphy
Received on Tue Jun 6 14:48:22 2006