Rev 13:17-18 are the famous verse in the bible which state the number 666 being the number of beast “satanic antichrist”. and that number can be simply derived from its name (name of the beast).
Protestants held in believe that the Pope’s hat has a title ‘VICARIUS FILII DEI’ whose lettrers are all Romanic numerals which together they make a total of 666… which lead them into a conclusion that Pope and Catholic church altogether are antichrist.
How can i defend this!
From Wikipedia -
The title “Vicarius Filii Dei” appeared again in Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic journal. An article in the April 18, 1915 issue of ‘Our Sunday Visitor’ had the following question and answer:
Code:
What are the letters on the Pope’s crown and what do they signify if anything?
The letters on the Pope's crown are these: Vicarius Filii Dei, which is a Latin for Vicar of the Son of God.[6]
An example of a papal tiara. Contrary to some claims, no tiara has ever been inscribed with the phrase Vicarius Filii Dei.[7]
This has been used by some groups as evidence for the claim that the phrase appears on the papal tiara (see below). However, the writer of the article later withdrew his statements. A rebuttal was mentioned in a 1922 edition of the journal:
Code:
The Pope claims to be the vicar of the Son of God, **while the Latin words for this designation are not inscribed, as anti-Catholics maintain, on the Pope's tiara**.[7]
So to clarify the issue -
- These words do NOT appear on the Pope’s “hat” or crown.
- Some protestants have been making absurd claims about the Pope ever since the Reformation in the early 16th century. All they are displaying is their anti-Catholic bias and ignorance. Simple as that.
To understand the 666 legend, you need to go back to the ancient Jews themselves, and the way they interpreted numbers.
See this link -
catholic-resources.org/Bible/Numbers.htm
You’ll notice the symbolism for “6” Means “human work/effort (Luke 13:14); incompleteness,** imperfection, lack (not yet 7)”**, whereas “7” indicates “days in a week, sabbath rest (Gen 2:1-3); thus
natural & divine completeness/perfection”.
Since a man is body, soul and mind (an image if you like of the
Trinitarian God), then all “666” means is that the anti-Christ, despite being someone who seems to have all the answers and power that humanity demands, will in the end be simply a man, short of divine perfection in body, mind and soul.
The anti-Christ may seem impressive when he finally hits the newstands, but he’ll just be a man, another two legged ape, if the apes will forgive me. 666 has no reference to the Papacy whatsoever. That’s just a hoary old superstition put about by people who have an ideological aversion to the Catholic Church, and it dates back to the violence and polemic of the Reformation in the 16th Century.
Revelation was allegedly written by the apostle John, who was an ancient Jew, and who would therefore have still been subject to ancient Jewish modes of thought, just as you think like a 21st century Moslem, and not like a 7th century Moslem. Or at least I hope you don’t.
It is the 21st century and many cannot seem to let the 16th century and its inaccurate accusations and biblical misrepresentations go!
