Holy Numbers

Young Irving grew up a devout believer in the biblical prophecies of his parents' faith, and owing to a natural bent in mathematics, was particularly intrigued by the numerical aspects of those prophecies. At the age of seven he surprised his father by pointing out that there was 1 God, 2 testaments, 3 persons in the Trinity, 4 Gospels, 5 books of Moses, 6 days of creation, and 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.

"What about 8?" his father asked.

"Well, 8 is the holiest of them all!" the boy replied.

"The other numbers with holes are 0, 6, and 9, and sometimes 4, but 8 has two holes, and therefore is the holiest."