The SOP says repeatedly that the mark is not visible in a human context, but also says that angels can read the mark.
Whether this implies that the mark is literal or symbolic really depends on how we want to say it.
Some of the SOP quotes are below.
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What is the seal of the living God, which is placed in the foreheads of His people? It is a mark which angels, but not human eyes, can read; for the destroying angel must see this mark of redemption. The intelligent mind has seen the sign of the cross of Calvary in the Lord's adopted sons and daughters. The sin of the transgression of the law of God is taken away. They have on the wedding garment, and are obedient and faithful to all God's commands. {21MR 52.1}
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Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads--it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved--just as soon as God's people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already; the judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know what is coming (MS 173, 1902). {4BC 1161.6}
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The message containing this warning is the last to be proclaimed before the revelation of the Son of man. The signs which He Himself has given declare His coming to be near at hand. For well-nigh forty years has the message of the third angel been sounding. In the issue of the great contest two parties are developed, those who "worship the beast and his image," and receive his mark, and those who receive "the seal of the living God," who have the Father's name written in their foreheads. This is not a visible mark. The time has come when all who have an interest in their soul's salvation should earnestly and solemnly inquire, What is the seal of God? and what is the mark of the beast? How can we avoid receiving it? {ST, November 1, 1899 par. 8}
That is what Ive always believed. This mark is for the destroying angel to see.
Im open to idea that man might require something like the Jews had during Hitlers reign. But that would be mans idea for determining who cannot buy or sell.
That is what Ive always believed. This mark is for the destroying angel to see.
Im open to idea that man might require something like the Jews had during Hitlers reign. But that would be mans idea for determining who cannot buy or sell.
There is more than one type of mark or seal, and the one related to buying and selling is clearly visible to humans in some way. See the quote below.
My original answer applies to the seal of God, and settling into the truth, and so on.
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The beast with two horns "causeth [commands] all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:16, 17. The third angel's warning is: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." "The beast" mentioned in this message, whose worship is enforced by the two-horned beast, is the first, or leopardlike beast of Revelation 13 -- the papacy. The "image to the beast" represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas. The "mark of the beast" still remains to be defined. {GC 445.2}
While I know it has nothing to do with the Mark of the Beast, I felt uncomfortable last week at one work place and at church when they held up a thermometer to my forehead and pulled the trigger.....
