Why is the number 666 associated with the devil?

The Number of the Beast is a concept from the Book of Revelation of the Christian New Testament. The Number is 666 in modern texts, although 616 and 665 appear instead in at least one ancient source.[1] The meaning of the most common variant 666 is still debated today. Some scholars contend that the number is a code for the Roman Emperor Nero,[2] a view that is supported by the Roman Catholic Church.[3][4] The number 666 retains a peculiar significance in the culture and psychology of Western societies, where some perceive it as “the Devil’s number”, even in contexts usually remote from superstition. The fear of the number 666 is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/number-of-the-beast-1 • 666 is commonly known as the Number of the Beast, designated NB, in the Book of the Revelation (see Revelation 13:17-18). • Since the "sine of the Devil" , where f is the golden ratio, this expression has been paraphrased by the humorous quip "The sign of the devil is the opposite of good, but only half as strong." Note that (sin 306°) and (sin -54°) are mathematically synonymous with (sin 666°). • Vicarius Filii Dei, an epithet for the Pope which means literally "vicar of the son of God", adds up to 666 if only the letters with Roman numeral values are included (which would give VICIVILIIDI). This epithet was never used by the Catholic church itself and was likely invented by a person who believed that the Antichrist would be a Pope. • 666 was used as a nickname by Aleister Crowley, an occultist who styled himself as the Beast referred to in the Book of the Revelation. • The UPC barcodes found on most commercial products are characterized by guard bars at the beginning, middle and end made up of two thin lines. Two thin lines also appear in the UPC encoding for the digit 6 (and no other digit), and so to human eyes (but not to an electronic barcode reader) the guard bars appear to read 666. Some people interpret this as a fulfilment of the prophecy "Without this number an individual will not be able to buy or sell" (cited from the Book of the Revelation 13:17).[1] • The 2006 remake of the horror film The Omen was released on June 6, 2006 (06/06/06) at 06:06:06 in the morning. • The full name of former U.S. President Ronald Wilson Reagan contains six letters in each of his three names. This caused a few numerologists to believe that Reagan was in fact the antichrist, such as Gary D. Blevins. Additionally, when Reagan moved to California following the end of his presidency, he asked that his house number be changed from 666 to 668. [2] • 666 is the port number used by the game Doom when playing against another player via TCP. • Most versions of the computer game Lemmings feature a level called "All the 6's ...". The level layout features three 6's built upon the "hellish" lava terrain set, 66 Lemmings and 66 of every skill, a time limit of 6 minutes, a release rate of 66, and the player must rescue 66% of the Lemmings. • In Chinese culture, 666 sounds a lot like the words 'Things going smoothly'. It is considered one of the luckiest numbers in Chinese culture. It can be seen prominently in many shop windows across the country, and people there often pay extra to get a mobile phone number including this string of digits. • 6-6-6 is Waw-Waw-Waw ("WWW") in Hebrew, since in Hebrew, letters have numerical values. The number 666 however is Taw-Resch-Samech-Waw (400-200-60-6), since in Hebrew, hundreds, tens and ones have different characters. • 666 is the amount of gold talents that King Solomon collected in a single year (see 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13). • 666 is the number of Adonikam's descendants who return to Jerusalem and Judah from the Babylonian exile (see Ezra 2:13). • 666 was the original name of the Macintosh SevenDust computer virus that was discovered in 1998. • "666" The Number of the Beast is the name of a song by Iron Maiden. • Six-Sixty-Six is the title of a song by Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman. A cover version was recorded by Frank Black and the Catholics. • 666 is the nickname of Canadian punk rock n' roll band Kill Cheerleader. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/666_%28number%29" Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_666