Posted on 11/06/2013 6:24:40 AM PST by JoeProBono
A Kentucky high school student athlete declined to participate in her team’s cross-country race after she was assigned the number 666, saying it would have gone against her religious beliefs.
Whitley County High School junior Codie Thacker and her coach tried to get her a different number, but race officials denied the request.
Coach Gina Croley knew there might be a problem as soon as she saw the number Thacker had been given. "I saw it and I was like, 'whoa,'" she said. "I don't think she will wear that number."
The number 666 is often associated with the biblical "mark of the beast."
Thacker was looking forward to running, but her high expectations quickly gave way to disappointment. "I've trained since June for this race," Thacker said. “I was so nervous I thought about it all week.”
A Kentucky High School Athletic Association spokesperson said that race officials would have granted Thacker’s request had they been made aware it was for religious reasons.
"I told them to mark out my name because it makes me sick just thinking that my name is associated with that number," Thacker said. "I didn't want to risk my relationship with God and try to take that number.”
It’s just a number. Use it to your advantage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_666
That said surely the race administrators saw this coming.
Sorry, but this is just stupid... That poor dimwit refused to run for a freaking number? That’s God message? Don’t run with the number 666 on you back? C’mon, I surely how that if he exists, he cares more about how much love and care you have for your neighbor than what number is printed on you shirt! The Dark Ages are over people, let’s move on…
Another interesting thing I noted some months back is that the Old Testament Jewish tithing commandment was to set aside a personal stock of a tenth of one’s harvest, then later to throw a party to God with it. Literally. It wasn’t even the church donation model that we know today. It was simply to use it to exalt the Lord, while benefiting you too.
So the two don’t directly translate into one another. As one prospers more or less it would be more or less, and should be given with joy or cheerfulness (hilaros). Gratuitous sacrificial pain is not a requirement here. It would vary by individual circumstance. One shouldn’t give so much that one would end up not just with a broke wallet but an injured faith because one did it out of pride.
Ahem. The bible is still there. That did not go away “with the dark ages” as we may be tempted to condescendingly declare. And it definitely allows for different strengths of faith.
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