A thought on the Mark of the Beast

As I was studying the book of Revelation it occurs to me we have only been skimming the surface re. the Mark of the Beast. The Bible tells us the mark will be on either the forehead of the hand. In the Bible the forehead seems to symbolize the mind, how we think, our fundamental philosophy and paradigm.  (Romans 7:25; Ezekiel 3:8,9; Rev 7:3; Eph 1:22, Gen 24:26; Ex 34:8; Dan 4:5-10; Oba 1:15; Matt 21:42; 1 Cor 11:3; Eph 4:15; Col 2:19; )  The hand seems to symbolize our work, what we do, our actions. (Gen 3:22, 4:11, 14:22; Ex 4:20; Psa 144:11; Matt 8:3; Mark 14:42; Luke 6:10; Acts 9:12)

My thinking is that the head (our fundamental philosophy and thinking) show in what we do, the work of our hands. This does not negate an actual mark but does indicate the spirit of the Anti-Christ has been with us since Eve was first deceived and sinned and Adam also sinned. This is consistent with John's writings (1 John 2:18, 2:22, 4:3; 2 John 1:7).

I realize this is not new, many Bible students have had these same thought. The difference it makes to me is the realization we are emphasizing the mark and not recognizing what causes that mark, what will drive people to take that mark. The driver is the fact those who accept the mark had the spirit of the antichrist already working in them. The problem comes with those who take the mark not realizing what it truly signifies. Will some Christians take the mark because they do not know the Holy Scriptures and are not cognizant of Satan's tricks, or are concerned with their survival?

Sir Francis Bacon (and others)

I have often heard it said that the early scientists, the first to use actual experiments, 'proved' there is no God. On the contrary, many of these people had a strong belief in a Creator. Specifically, a personality who created everything putting into place certain laws that govern how all things work and work together. If these experimenters did not believe that there would be no sense in experimenting since the results of each experiment would be random, based on pure chance. Chaos does not breed order and structure, it only breeds more chaos.

Words

The relationship of the words "image" and "imagine" crossed my mind today. Many people's self image is purely imagined by the person.

Eternity

A friend made the comment today that it does not quite seem fair that we are condemned to Hell or be taken to Heaven for eternity when we die. My friend is a Christian but he said consigning a person to either for eternity does not seem fair.

My response was that we do not understand eternity, nor are we truly capable of understanding it. We look at eternity as a period of time but eternity is the absence of time. Time is for us, God does not dwell in time and, after we die, neither do we.

The other thought is that God does not condemn us to Hell. We make the choice during our lives and God simply honors our choice. We decide where we want to spend eternity. God does and has done everything to show and convince us to accept Christ. It is our choice to do so.

Getting older

The nice thing about being in my sixties is I already grew up to look like me.....how much more damage can I do?