Bible Code, Truth or fiction? (Vanity)

3-4-03 | Wingy

[Wingy]

First, I've been registered here for 4 or 5 years. I've made one post, but I reply a fair amount. This is my first vanity. Probably my last.

Several years ago there was a bestselling book titled, "The Bible Code". It was the story of an Israeli math genius that uncovered a "code" imbedded in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah. Using this code, one could find references to contemporaneous events with remarkable accuracy. I read the book when it came out and was impressed, but never saw anything about it in the media.

I'm not a Bible scholar and I was hoping to see some discussion, pro and con, to see if those that knew more than I could help me sort this into the wheat or chaff.

Now there is a sequel, "The Bible Code II" that begins on the morning of 9-11-01. From reading the first page on Amazon.com, it seems to be explosive.

I ordered the book, but now I want to use this brain trust to find if this has been debunked, or is there anything to it?

[Wingy]

No flames please, but I would appreciate all your comments.

[gcruse]

No flames? I guess we should be grateful you didn't post this non-news in breaking.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

http://www.biblecodedigest.com/
they have some info at above URL

[w_over_w]

bttt

[AmericaUnited]

They have been disproved.

Code Breaker

Closing the Bible Codes

[BibChr]

Absolute total hokum. Less scientific than astrology. I urge you, waste no time on it. The Bible is revelation — un-veiling — not mystical code.

Want to read something that WILL help you understand the Bible, for free? Read THIS:

Help for Bible Students

...and THIS:

The Science of Bible Reading

Dan

[Born to Conserve]

Yes, there is definitely "something to it". And there are definitely clouds that look like rabbits.

[mrsmith]

Here's a bunch of threads on it:

FR RELIGION

They're in the 'religion' section.

[Physicist]

Now there is a sequel, "The Bible Code II" that begins on the morning of 9-11-01.

It would have been more helpful had the events of 9-11-01 been described in the first book. To my knowledge, not a single psychic, astrologer, tea leaf reader, phrenologist, Bible-coder or other soothsayer saw that one coming. What does that tell you?

[Woahhs]

www.michaelsheiser.com

[DainBramage]

I saw on the news last week that it was snowing in Israel.

If it gets code now, it got code back then. JMHO

[Alouette]

Torah Code CD-ROM

[CindyDawg]

Don't you know you can't talk about God on the news forum? You have probably had the abuse button pushed a dozen times while I type this and will be bannished to the "religious ghetto" before I hit post.

I haven't read the book but I believe I saw the author on Fox. He sat there and talked about all these predictions and how awesome it was, and then stated he didn't believe in God. Seemed to contradict himself. I muted him.

[NewMexLurker]

I urge you not to waste any more of your time or money on this. Any large source of text, be it the Holy Bible or "War and Peace", can be made to spit out any desired word or phrase by using these "bible code" rules. It is just a scam to get your money. The fact that they use the Bible as part of this scheme is especially shameful.

[Stone Mountain]

It's bogus. Get a long enough string of characters and arrange them in different ways, and of course you will get words appearing. Particularly when you don't have to wory about vowels as in the analysis done for TBC.

[NEWwoman]

Thanks for posting some great links.
And some common sense.

[Belial]

I notice people always attribute predictions to Nostradamus or the Bible after they've occurred. A theory like this could gain some credibility by actually making predictions in advance.

[Stay the course]

Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick

[Lee Enfield]

Moby Dick code http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html

[cookcounty]

It's Baloney. Here's a quick reason why.

The Bible codes are based on the HEBREW text. In the hebrew, there are no vowels, and in the "computerized" text used for these "Bible Code" books, no spaces between words. Vowels are "understood" based on context.

So, you could have something like "GDDY" That might mean "good day" or it might mean "gay day", or it might mean "God did you" or "Go dude, yeah." Then they read the "tables" backwards (both left to right or right to left), or top to bottom or bottom to top----or diagonally.. You get the point. You can find almost anything in these tables.