Bible Code, Truth or fiction? (Vanity)

3-4-03 | Wingy

[Quix]

[Qx: CONTINUED EXPERIMENT BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE VS THE BIBLE IN TERMS OF CODES FOUND THEREIN].

THIS SECTION FROM:

HERE: http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/147

[Q: The earlier posting was from the section just preceding this one.]

A True Head-to-Head Comparison Continued

</B We then conducted a blind experiment with the participation of our Hebrew expert, Dr. Nathan Jacobi. We sent him five occurrences from Ezekiel (and five occurrences from War & Peace) of the name of each of the above nations as an ELS. We asked him to tell us whether letters before and after the terms created longer terms. Throughout the experiment, and to this day, Dr. Jacobi has not known which of the initial ELSs and surrounding letter strings were from Ezekiel and which were from War and Peace.

This experiment was conducted over a six month period by slipping in both of these sets of letter strings without Nathan knowing when we started doing so and when we were finished. We also were continuing to submit to him our regular supply of letter strings from other parts of the Bible on other topics as part of a number of research projects. (Curiously, at one point in this process, soon after we had submitted a sizeable group of Islamic nation ELSs, he commented that he was getting rather frustrated about how few long codes he had been finding lately and that he was thinking of quitting such searches altogether. He noted that he felt that he was “losing his touch.”)

Perhaps the most surprising result of the experiment was that two of the longest ELSs Nathan found were from War and Peace. These ELSs were each more than 30 letters-long, and represent the longest ELSs of which we are aware from any text other than the Bible. These long ELSs clearly underscore the fact that lengthy ELSs can be found in any Hebrew text, however uninspired.

On the other hand, eight of the ten longest ELSs were from Ezekiel. Apart from the two long ELSs in War and Peace, there was a relative dearth of long ELSs that emerged from Tolstoy’s novel.

In a future issue we will be disclosing the Hebrew and English of all the extended ELSs (as well as their specific lengths). At this point another phase of the experiment is being designed. It is likely that in this phase it will be essential that our participant(s) be blind as to the source text of each extended ELS.

In this experiment we counted the total number of extensions found around 50 initial ELSs in Ezekiel and 50 initial ELSs in War & Peace. An extension is a phrase or brief sentence that appears entirely on one side of an existing ELS. The extension must represent a grammatically reasonable continuation of the existing ELS. As such, it could either incorporate part of the existing ELS or be a stand alone phrase or sentence that could reasonably precede or follow the existing ELS. It is of course possible to find several extensions around an initial ELS to form one lengthy final ELS. The average extension found in this experiment consisted of two Hebrew words that totaled seven letters.

The following table summarizes the results of the experiment. In all, 21 ELS extensions were found around the initial ELSs in War & Peace, while 37 extensions were located by Nathan in Ezekiel. This represents a 76.2% higher frequency of extensions in Ezekiel, a difference that is clearly statistically significant:

As the above table shows, there were 47 Hebrew words in the entire group of extensions from the control text, whereas there were 75 from Ezekiel, a 59.6% difference. And there were 146 letters in the control extensions, versus 229 in the Ezekiel extensions, a 56.8% difference.

A useful statistic that emerged from this experiment was an estimate of the percentage of opportunities for finding an extension in the control text. That rate of “discovery” was 18.0%. Having that rate, one can determine how many long ELSs of various lengths would be expected from a control text. We did exactly that for the Ezekiel 37 cluster in a later article in this issue. We then compared the actual number of long ELSs found in Ezekiel 37 with those expected by chance for several length categories. By doing so, the probability that a cluster as extensive as Ezekiel 37 could be the result of chance can be reasonably estimated using standard testing procedures.

> The rate of discovery in Ezekiel was 27.0%, which is 50.0% higher than the discovery rate of 18.0% from Tolstoy’s novel. The discovery rate is defined as the ratio of the actual number of extensions found to the number of opportunities available for potentially finding an extension. At the beginning of each search of a new letter string, there are two opportunities to find an extension—one before the name of the given Islamic nation, and one after. If an extension is found, one new opportunity (not two new opportunities) to find yet another extension is created. That opportunity will consist of the new letters that are now next to the extension that had just been discovered. There is no new opportunity on the other side of the ELS where an extension wasn’t found, since that opportunity has already been counted.

Why is it that the total number of extensions found in Ezekiel was 76.2% higher than in War & Peace, while the discovery rate was only 50.0% higher? It is because the denominators are not the same. Each new extension opens up a new opportunity to find yet another extension. So there were many more opportunities to find new extensions in Ezekiel because more extensions were initially found in Ezekiel.

We also noted that:

The average number of Hebrew letters per word in the extensions found was 3.05 in Ezekiel and 3.11 in War & Peace.

The average number of Hebrew words in the extensions found was 2.03 in Ezekiel and 2.24 in War & Peace.

The average number of Hebrew letters in the extensions found was 6.19 in Ezekiel and 6.95 in War & Peace. From the above summary observations derived from this experiment we have constructed a model to determine the expected number of lengthy ELSs that may be found in a non-encoded text, given the total number of original ELSs that have been searched for possible extensions. The model is based on the following two assumptions:

The discovery rate is 18.0% of the opportunities for finding extensions.

The average number of Hebrew letters to be found in extensions is assumed to be 7.0 (the actual average was 6.95 in War & Peace).

The key formula resulting from the model is that the total number of final ELSs consisting of k extensions expected to emerge from a search around n initial ELSs is

Derivation of this formula is detailed in the

Technical Addendum HERE: http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/150

We applied this model to the Ezekiel findings and determined how many final ELSs would fall in different length categories if the search had been done in a non-encoded text. A p-value calculated by EXCEL’s CHITEST function indicated that the odds that the Ezekiel results from the Islamic Nations Experiment could be due to chance were 1 in 81,303.

Given this level of improbability, the Ezekiel findings should be viewed as being statistically significant. This provides definitive evidence that some ELSs from the Ezekiel group are intentional.

[Qx: TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POSTING]

[BibChr]

Do try to focus, please. You're wanting to convince people that there is something to this book of yours; the least you could do is show yourself up to a brief interchange.

Now here is what you had written:

Except for terminal closed mindedness, I cannot imagine how you could read the research in the MARCH BIBLE CODE DIGEST and still keep such a death grip on your seemingly rather rigidly narrow and overtly ignorant view

Then here is what I asked.

Tell me, in detail, what you knew about my background and training BEFORE you wrote that.

Then tell me: how many years have you used Biblical Hebrew and Greek? (Interlinears and concordances don't count!)

By your answers to EACH of those questions, I'll weigh the worth of your judgment of this book.

Do at least try to respond to SOME of that, won't you? It wasn't that long.

Dan

[Quix]

[QX: THE FOLLOWING PART 3 OF THE RESEARCH EXPERIMENT IS FROM:

HERE: http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/148

A Firm Conclusion:
The Ezekiel 37 Cluster Cannot Be A Coincidence

Is it possible for a cluster as extensive as Ezekiel 37 to be the result of chance? Given that the Islamic Nation Experiment has provided examples of longer ELSs from War and Peace, should code proponents fold up their tents and head off to other pursuits? Far from it, as we will see.

The plain fact is that the sheer number of lengthy ELSs in Ezekiel 37 far exceeds what chance could produce.

In this article we will describe how we used one of the key results of that Experiment—that in an ordinary text there is an 18% chance (per search opportunity) that a Hebrew expert would find an extension to an initial ELS—to specifically answer this question.

To date, we have only examined 295 initial ELSs located in Ezekiel 37. And yet, from that review 33 ELSs emerged that are 25+ letters-long. If we had been working with War and Peace, we would have expected to only find six (5.95 to be exact) ELSs 25+ letters-long.

That is an enormous difference, and the improbability of Dr. Jacobi finding 33 such long ELSs by chance is essentially zero, by any reasonable probability estimation process. We estimate that the odds of chance occurrence of a cluster as extensive as Ezekiel 37 emerging from 295 initial ELSs are 1 out of 6 followed by 213 zeroes. In other words, Ezekiel 37 is an impossibility.

In the experiment described in the previous article, it was noted that Dr. Jacobi found an extension to an existing ELS from War & Peace 17.949% of the time. We will round this probability up to 18% and denote it by the letter a. The average extension he found was 6.95 letters long—which was rounded up to 7 letters.

In the technical addendum to this article a formula was derived for the expected number of ELSs with k extensions to emerge from an examination of an initial group of n ELSs found in a text. That formula is

To date we have examined 295 initial ELSs in Ezekiel 37 to determine whether or not a longer ELS could be found among the letters appearing on either side of the initial ELS at the same skip intervals. Each extended ELS must consist of grammatically correct Hebrew and be reasonably intelligible.

On the basis of the above formula and assumptions [i.e., n = 295, discovery rate = .18], the expected number of extended ELSs of various lengths is displayed in the following table, along side the actual number of extended ELSs that have been discovered to date in Ezekiel 37.

The actual number of extended ELSs of different lengths in Ezekiel 37 was reasonably close to expected for only two categories—those with zero and two extensions. For all other categories (shaded in green), there were statistically significant differences between actual and expected. If the frequency of extended ELSs in Ezekiel 37 had conformed to that from War & Peace, we would expect to find 5.95 ELSs consisting of three or more extensions (and having 25 or more total letters). That is a significant number of long ELSs—an indication of the fact that the terseness of Hebrew and the absence of vowels can result in the “discovery” of some longer ELSs—even in Tolstoy’s writings.

In actuality, Dr. Jacobi found 33 ELSs in Ezekiel 37 that consisted of 25 or more letters—approximately 454% more than the 5.95 expected by chance. This is an extremely significant difference statistically—no matter how one estimates the probability of its occurrence by chance. Stated simply, the above table demonstrates three very important findings:

Longer ELSs can be “discovered,” even in ordinary texts, with some degree of frequency. This affirms the claim of code skeptics that "codes" can be found in any book.

The actual number of longer ELSs in Ezekiel 37 far exceeds that explainable by chance, conclusively affirming the claim that some real Bible codes do exist. The odds of a cluster of long ELSs as extensive as that in Ezekiel 37 being the result of chance is 1 out of 6 followed by 213 zeroes.

This is based on a chi square probability (calculated by EXCEL’s CHITEST function) applied to all extension categories. This probability does not change much if it is only applied to the longer extension categories—since it is the dramatic contrast between actual and expected findings in those categories that is the predominant source of improbability.

What is critical in answering the question of whether or not some Bible codes are intentional are differences in the discovery rate of extensions. As noted in the Islamic Nations Experiment article, the discovery rate was 18.0% in War & Peace and 27.0% in Ezekiel. The discovery rate for the first extension in Ezekiel was only 14.8%. However, once at least one extension had been found, there was a 49.7% chance that an additional extension would be found—each time there was an opportunity to search for one. A discovery rate of virtually 50% is unimaginable—unless numerous very lengthy ELSs were intentionally placed in Ezekiel 37.

It is not our expectation that such a high discovery rate would persist within any given section of the Bible and any topically related collection of initial ELSs. Lengthy ELSs tend to be topically related to the surface text as well as to one another. Consequently, we would not expect that a collection of initial ELSs about the Hawaiian Islands would result in a high discovery rate in Ezekiel 37. On the other hand, the topic of recent terrorist related events is very heavily represented by long ELSs in Ezekiel 37, as is demonstrated in the above table.

What if we used the 27.0% discovery rate for Ezekiel from the Islamic Nations Experiment in calculating the odds? First, we get the following comparison.

The odds of a cluster of long ELSs as extensive as that in Ezekiel 37 being the result of chance is 1 out of 114,300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. As sensitive as the odds are to the assumed discovery rate, those odds are essentially zero for any realistic discovery rate.

Another key finding is that the odds of a given long ELS being intentional increase dramatically for longer ELSs. If one assumes that all long ELSs in excess of the number expected by chance are intentional, the odds of a given long ELS being intentional can be easily calculated, and are shown in the table below.

The above analysis is over-simplified, if only because it is possible for a long ELS to be partly intentional and partly coincidental. Nevertheless, the above table is indicative of the fact that increasing length does tip the odds in favor of a long ELS being intentional.

[QX: This is the conclusion of this summary in the MARCH Bible Codes Digest. I hope it has brought some enlightenment to those genuinely interested in such--perhaps those with sufficient open or broad-mindedness for there to be ROOM for light bulbs to go off within.]

[BullDog108]

Look at Quix's profile. He is a genuine tinfoilhat wingnut waste of bandwidth.

[Quix]

I'll try and post the rest of the sections of the MARCH BIBLE CODE DIGEST before I go to bed. I don't know if I'll do another thread or in the religion section or what. I'll consider the merit of the Saddam stuff for it's own thread. And perhaps the Columbia tragedy section as well.

[BibChr]

I think I'd need a decoder to figure out his profile.

I do know he hasn't shown much strength in answering a few simple questions.

Dan

[Quix]

Understand the perspective.

However, I want to avoid facing my Lord and having Him ask me:

"Hey--I gave you a fun additional tool to more effectively introduce certain sorts of characters to me through. Why didn't you use it?"

But that's my perspective.

[185JHP]

Do you know how to do the "ineffable name" from four letters in the Book of Esther? That might help in this discussion...

[Quix]

I probably read most in NIV . . . partly because I think it's scholarship is among the better of the newer ones and partly because the pocket version is always with me.

I love THE MESSAGE. My understanding is that it matches the flavor, earthy-ness etc. of the Hebrew and the Greek very closely.

I have a bias that God has been well able to protect the essentials and a lot more quite sufficiently for us to get the best and most important meat out of them

QUITE SUFFICIENTLY to guide our relationship with Him AND with each other AND to guide us to our eternal home.

I'd love to be able to read the Chinese or the Spanish but I'm not close to achieving that yet. I believe other languages flesh out nuances missed in the English.

It's not likely I'll learn Hebrew or Greek in this lifetime though I did study Psalms and Daniel in the Hebrew with scholarly character one year.

I was reared on and memorized great chunks of the KJV. But youth and certainly the Chinese using English as a second language have little to no use for the THEE'S AND THOU's and I don't blame them a bit.

I don't have much patience with the stodgy, sterile, dead English of some versions. I can't even say which ones at present but I don't like them and won't use them.

I have an interlinear somewhere and certainly use a list of translations etc. when I want to get everything I can out of a passage.

And, of course, I've read the AMPLIFIED version through.

But I think being in dialogue with Holy Spirit when one reads is at least as important as the translation. Afterall, God said HE WOULD LEAD US INTO ALL TRUTH.

[Quix]

Evidently your tinfoil hat has been shielding you from the truth of the latest solid research. It is posted above in summary form. You might risk learning something.

[Quix]

YOUR BLACKWASHING THE CODES

is exceedingly unfounded in light of the recent research comparing WAR AND PEACE and The Bible vis a vis the codes.

The research in summary is posted above. But don't bother reading it. It appears you would find the truth uncomfortable and inconvenient.

[Quix]

I'm not about to pretend I'm big enough to tell Almighty God what HE CAN AND CAN'T

USE *HIS* BIBLE CODES FOR.

I do want to make reasonably sure in step with His other priorities for my life that I make whatever fitting use there might be for them in ministry in these end times.

We shall observe stranger things than terrorist's names in the Codes. God loves to use His foolishness to confound our "wisdom."

[timestax]

Yeah, but did it pick World Series , or SuperBowl winners?

[Quix]

You're showing your ignorance. Perhaps you should use a tinfoil hat to hide it better.

[Quix]

Which word did you not understand?

It doesn't really matter to me your level of Hebrew etc. scholarship.

If you haven't fair mindedly considered the very even-handed experiment done between WAR AND PEACE and The Bible as summarized in the MARCH issue of The Bible Code Digest, then your biases are overreaching your reason and scholarship and making of them a laughing stock.

I have met more than a few PHD idiots in my profession as well as among the Biblical scholarship realm. In my experience, bias trumps scholarship virtually every time. It's nice to have scholarship and learning. But I have found that the essentials and A LOT MORE of the Bible are simple enough for a child to understand without an ounce of scholarship or even of schooling of any kind.

You are welcome to parade your lofty degrees, credentials and even awards for translation expertise to the nth degree if it will make you happier or more comfortable or even more proud. But it won't cut much ice with me.

"I know in whom I have believed . . . "

Beyond that, on the issue of the codes, I have SUFFICIENT statistical understanding and SUFFICIENT Biblical understanding--but MORE IMPORTANTLY, KNOW THE FATHER WELL ENOUGH to make some reasonable judgements regarding the Codes.

I find them sometimes useful and at least encouraging and enhancing of my walk with God and sometimes so for others' walks with God as well.

ANYTHING that adds constructively to my walk with God is welcome. All the more so when it comes out of His Word.

Your scholarship and degrees are unlikely to alter such convictions much at all.

You are welcome to them. They are of relatively little interest to me.

I also usually have a decided distaste for pontifications built upon intellectual scholarship vs RELATIONSHIP with Almighty God. . . sensitive and obedient to His Voice as Christ said HIS SHEEP would be.

[Quix]

And the breadth and depth of your perspective in judging such is???

[BullDog108]

You are ignorant or obtuse. Answer BibChr's questions and let the world know. Otherwise, you are just a tinman:

[Quix]

Perhaps your criteria for "strength" needs more scholarship!

That gets into my PhD area.

[Quix]

It's been too long since I ran across that. So, no, I forget it.

PLEASE SHARE IT!

I do recall that the original root meanings of the names in the geneologies from Adam on give a great summary of the GOSPEL story. That's a fantastic little thing.

Also answered one of the reasons God put all those "begats" in there!

[BullDog108]

So what does the Bible Code say about this week's MEGA-LOttO?

LOL! Didn't think so...............