A Clarksville man said that he
quit his job last week in order
to save his soul. Walter Slonopas, 52, resigned
as a maintenance worker at
Contech Casting LLC in
Clarksville after his W-2 tax
form was stamped with the
number 666. The Bible calls 666 the "number
of the beast," and it's often
used as a symbol of the devil.
Slonopas said that after getting
the W-2, he could either go to
work or go to hell. "If you accept that number,
you sell your soul to the devil,"
he said. Bob LaCourciere, vice president
of sales and marketing for the
Revstone Corp., which owns
Contech Casting, said that
Slonopas' W-2 was labeled
with 666 by the company that handles Contech's payroll. It
refers to the order in which the
forms were mailed out, he
said. This isn't the first time that the
Satanic number has caused
Slonopas trouble at work. During his first day on the job
in April 2011, Slonopas was
supposed to be assigned the
number 668 to use when he
clocked in. But the human
resources department gave him the wrong number - 666 -
instead. Slonopas, who said he became
a born-again Christian about 10
years ago, complained and
was given a new number. In July 2011, the company
changed time clock systems,
and once again Slonopas got
666. This time he quit. The
company apologized and he
returned to work a few days later. This latest incident with the
W-2 baffled company
spokesman LaCourciere. He
could not believe it had
happened again. "I am completely at a loss for
words," he said. The number 666 first appears
in chapter 13 of the New
Testament book of Revelation,
which describes a Satanic
figure called the beast or
Antichrist who takes over the world and stamps everyone
with a mark bearing the
number 666. According to
Revelation, no one will be able
to buy or sell anything without
that number stamped on them. That's caused people to fear
anytime that number pops up,
said Jay Phelan, senior
professor of theological studies
at North Park University in
Chicago. "It's seen as a very dangerous
number," he said. For believers like Slonopas,
who take the book of
Revelation literally, any tie to
666 is a betrayal of their faith.
Phelan said he understands
why Slonopas quit. "It's a desire to be loyal to his
faith and to not be identified
with the Antichrist," he said.
"The company ought to find a
way to cut him some slack." Amy-Jill Levine, professor of
New Testament and Jewish
studies at Vanderbilt University
Divinity School, said the writer
of Revelation was using a
technique called "gematria" - in which letters have numerical
values - to refer to a Roman
emperor as the beast. She said that over the past
2,000 years, readers of
Revelation have tried to use
666 to figure out who the
Antichrist is. Among the
candidates were political figures like Hitler, Ronald
Reagan, and Barack Obama and
corporations like Proctor &
Gamble and IBM. The number 666 has caused
problems for at least one other
worker in the past. In 2011, a
factory worker from Georgia
named Billy Hyatt sued his
former employer after he was fired for refusing to wear a
sticker with 666 on it. The
sticker referred to the number
of accident-free days he'd had
on the job. Slonopas, though, said he has
no interest in suing anyone. All
he wants is for his former
employer to give him a new
W-2 without a Satanic number
on it. Otherwise, he said, he can't file his taxes. He shakes his head when asked
if he'd go back to work for
Contech, even if the company
gives him a new W-2. That
would send the message that
he sold out his faith for money. "God is worth more than
money," he said. His wife, Anna, said the couple
will be fine. She said God will
take care of them. They live
frugally, and are currently
house-sitting for their older
son, who is in the military. "If my husband makes $10,
one goes to God, two go to
savings, and we live on seven,"
she said. "It's not that my
husband makes $10 and I
spend $11." LaCourciere, the spokesman
for Slonopas' former
employer, said the firm
planned to mail out a new W-2,
in a plain envelope, by the end
of the day on Tuesday. The company also wants to rehire
him. "We'd love to have him back,"
he said.http://www.wbir.com/news/article/253106/2/666-on-tax-form-makes-man-quit-job-to-save-soul

interestg readg. D stuff fantasy is made of. His boss and company,so considerate. This yankee folk na wa for una. Try this in naija...
A boss sayg "we'd like to hav him back" in naija! . It wud b mor like we'd like to hav u die so som1 else can hav ur job.
No wonder wen folks leave jungle cultures 4 humane places they dnt ever wanna come back.
Its not always about d dollars.