Monday, June 05, 2006

What's in a number?

I don't keep very good track of the date. It's some time in the first week of June, I think.

I was surprised to hear on the news tonight that students at local schools are receiving threats related to tomorrow's date-- 6/6/6. A group of kids has issued its hit list and the kids who are named on the list are staying home from school.

Hollywood is cashing in on the date, releasing a remake of The Omen, a story about the son of the devil.

Do people think this is the first 6/6/6 in history? It's the twentieth since Revelation was written. Well, technically, it's only the 5th since the Gregorian calendar was tweaked at the council of Trent in 1563.

I was curious whether bad things tend to happen on 6/6/6. Turns out... not really. But then, people have been predicting bad stuff for a long time. Remember Y2K? Remember the cold war? When I was little, I asked to stay home from school the day I heard the world was supposed to end. Mom made me go. She said she'd heard the same rumor when she was a kid.

I'm not saying that bad things don't happen. Neither am I saying that the world will not some day come to an end. I just think we're incredibly bad at making predictions.

1 comment:

Papa John said...

In some ways the world is 6ck/6ck/6ck and getting 6cker. It's caused by a deficiency of faith and godliness. However, the cure is available and permanent. John 3:16.

As usual, your Mom was right, Patty.