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[Reindeer]

My mom seems to think that any electronic technology inserted in the body is a “mark of the beast”. Is this just fear or is there something deeper that I’m missing?

[jimwalton]

I don't know if you're a Christian, so maybe you're not aware of the texts (though your mom may have mentioned them to you).

Revelation 13.16-18:

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666."

This "mark" is the Greek word χάραγμα (charagma), meaning, "A mark or stamp; an impress made by a mark or a stamp." In those days, like now, items would be marked with the name of the artist or manufacturer. Animals would be marked with the owner's brand. People (slaves) would be marked with the owner's brand also (yow!). It was generally a mark of source, ownership, or devotion (like people now getting a tattoo of your favorite band or the person you love). It could even be a mark of shame: soldiers defeated in battle were branded. Official seals marked documents as official, or images pressed on coins. Here we take it to indicate a mark of compliance and association.

So what are we to make of this?

• Some people, like your mom, take it as literal. "Ain't nobody puttin' nothin' on my hand!"
• Some people think it's figurative: your loyalties will be obvious (though no actual implant, brand, or tattoo was put on/in you).
• Some people take it as a metaphor of blasphemy, since orthodox Judaism required the faithful to wear phylacteries on the forehead or the hand. In this case, the "mark" merely denotes that people have turned away from the true God.

Verse 17 comments that its effect goes beyond religious and invades economics and survival: you can't buy or sell without this loyalty to the system that is ultimately working against God.

It sounds like your mother is taking the literal route, warning against getting an implant that eventually, if you don't get it, you can't work, buy, sell, travel, etc. It's possible. Other interpreters think that's nonsense, taking the mark as something that already happened[*1], or, more likely, that it was meant to be figurative, speaking of loyalties and association, not necessarily implants or tattoos. At this point it's anyone's guess—the prophecies of Revelation are notoriously difficult.

So what do you think?


[*1] In the reign of Decius (Roman emperor AD 249-251), for instance, anyone who did not possess the certificate of sacrifice to Caesar could not pursue ordinary trades but faced imprisonment, death, or banishment.