666 and the Golden Ratio

 Revelation 13:18 “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.”

Bible scholars have for centuries called this beast the antichrist and tried to identify it with an individual person using numerology techniques such as the Hebrew Gematria. The technique assigns numerical values to Hebrew letters, words or phrases. By taking the associated numerical values of their names a total value can be calculated in the hope of finding someone whose name adds up to 666. Previous candidates have been the Roman Emperors Nero, Caligula and Domitian for example.

Protestants have attempted to identify the papacy with the antichrist. The pope’s official title being ‘Vicar of The Son of God’ or ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ in Latin. By assigning Roman numeral values to each letter and ignoring ‘A’, ‘E’, ‘F’, ‘R’ and ‘S’, which have no numerical value, we have a total of 666.

Allegedly during the Reformation, Martin Luther noted that "Benediktos" added up to 666 in Greek gematria, and he thought it might refer to a Pope named Benedict or to Benedictine monks.

Many others have attempted to use English gematria in order to identify 666 with a whole range of famous people.

It seems that if we play with people’s names by including and excluding titles, middle names, nicknames, etc we can make almost anybody fit the number of the beast.

However, the term antichrist only appears in scripture on four occasions in the NIV and each time it refers to anyone who does not acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh, 1Jn2:18,22, 1Jn4:3 and 2Jn1:7. Clearly then the antichrist is not a single person and this number 666 refers specifically to the beast of Revelation that rises out of the sea.

The purpose of this study is not to try to identify an individual or organisation, but to show a mathematical oddity linking the Number of the Beast and the Golden Ratio.

There are numerous websites devoted to the Golden Ratio so for the sake of brevity it is only summarised here.

In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the Golden Ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity, is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one.

It can be demonstrated by solving a quadratic equation that this ratio is ≈ 1.618 when given to three decimal places. This ratio, denoted by the Greek letter phi (φ), is important because it occurs throughout the natural world and the human body.

In the X-Ray image above, the ratio of one finger bone to the next is approximately φ. It’s approximate because genetic variation from one person to another will ensure that it will not be exactly φ.  However, across a large population the ratio will average pretty much to φ. This ratio can be seen for all fingers and across numerous other dimensions taken from the human hand.

The picture above is a composite image formed from some 20 photos of individual women. The vertical and horizontal dimensions are in the Golden Ratio to each other. Like the human hand, there are many more dimensions that can be taken from the human face that are in the Golden Ratio to each other.

With numerous other Golden Ratio dimensions throughout the human body, we could say that the number of a man is 1.618.

So what has the Golden Ratio that defines a man’s physiology got to do with the number of the beast?

First a little revision of some school maths and specifically trigonometry.

 If we draw a circle of some radius ‘R’ and sweep the radius line through 360° whilst moving the circle in a straight line, the radius will trace a sinusoidal wave shown above. The red line is the vertical component of the radius at some angle ‘A°’. The length of this line ‘X’ can be calculated from the equation:

 After sweeping through 360° we can continue round again and say stop at 666°.

If the circle is of radius 1 unit, the value of ‘X’ is given by:

When taken to ten decimal places the value of ‘X’ is:

-0.8090169944

If we double this value, we have a value of:

-1.6180339888

The Golden Ratio to ten decimal places is;

1.6180339888

Both these numbers are irrational, i.e. their decimal places go on forever. They will always be the same value but of opposite sign. We can express this relationship by the equation:

The sin of the angle of the number of the beast is exactly half the number of a man, but of the opposite sign.

I don't know if there is any spiritual significance to this or not. The purpose of this demonstration is not to make some doctrine but just to show something that I found rather interesting.