The number 666 has been a long tradition of being associated with various evils based on some interpretations of Bible passages.

American culture in particular has a strong history of freaking out about it.

When barcodes were first introduced to make inventory management easier, there was a widespread freakout since three 6’s can kinda, sorta, arguably be represented in each set of lines.

Or maybe it’s the mark of the beast.

The point is it’s spooky.

We’ve largely forgotten about that one (except maybe for Hobby Lobby), but hey, 666 is one of only nine hundred 3 digit numbers – it’s gonna come up occasionally.

Like in this video from TikTok user @charismastev:

“So I got a new debit card, cause someone kept doing fraud on my last one. I’m looking at the package. Okay, cool. Looking at my numbers. Take a wild guess. Bank of America, by the way. And what my CVV code is. Take the wildest.”

“You guessed it. 666. I do not want to deposit with the devil. I do not want to withdraw witchcraft to the banks out there. Some numbers should be off limits.”

“I understand. ‘Oh my gosh, not everyone’s Christian, not everyone believes in that stuff.'”

“If you believe there’s evil in this world, there has to be a source of that evil.”

@charismastev

i would’ve thought that any repeating numbers would be off limits anyways bc it’s easier to guess 🤔 #hehe #no

♬ original sound – charisma

People were on board.

Some, like me, had at first assumed a more security-based issue.

But most just celebrated.

And would have done the same.

What was missing – somewhat troublingly – was pretty much anyone saying “Hey, that’s a number, numbers can’t hurt you.”

Which, call me crazy, is my take on the situation. As well as that of many Christians.

I do, in fact, believe that evil exists. But things like basic human selfishness are a decent explanation for that – some sort of demon hiding in a digit seems superfluous.

If you liked that story, check out this one about a couple who forgot to turn off their ice machine and returned home after 4 months to find their freezer had turn into a frozen cavern.