bump
You can usually throw a set of numbers/formulas at anything and find "proof" in it.
I am reminded of this...
http://www.esquilax.com/baywatch/index.shtml
Various snippets on the subject:
I would argue that ``Bible Coding'' represents, from a Christian perspective, a clear occult practice, and that Christians should thus regard ``Bible Codes'' in the same fashion that the Bible indicates they should regard other occult practices such as palmistry, witchcraft, necromancy, divination.
Critics of the “Bible Code” theories point out that if one has a substantially lengthy text, and he does enough computer searches, if he can go anywhere in any direction in the text, he can “find anything.” Professor Don Foster of Vassar College, who specializes in using computers to analyze ancient texts, says that code searchers, employing the same techniques, could secure the identical results from “a telephone directory”
In 1997, in defense of his methodology, Drosnin issued this challenge: “When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in ‘Moby Dick’ I’ll believe them” (Barry/Rogers, p. 67).
Be careful about making rash challenges!
Professor Brendan McKay, of the Department of Computer Science at Australian National University, accepted Drosnin’s challenge. Running computer searches similar to those employed by Drosnin, he scanned the text of Moby Dick. By the Drosnin/Jeffrey method, he was able to construct “prophetic” messages foretelling the deaths of Abraham Lincoln, Indira Gandhi, Rene Moawad, Leon Trotsky, Martin Luther King, Sirhan Sirhan, John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana! Must one now conclude that Moby Dick was inspired of God by means of the pen of Herman Melville?
Beware of Drosnin’s work. Any work that draws an interpretation of the Bible and doesn’t lead to Christ is the work of the devil. All Biblical interpretation, whether based on the words or the structure of the Bible, must lead to Christ. It is the hiss of the serpent “hath God said.”
Bible Code numerology is, in fact, a technological Ouija board. A frightening new form of occultic technology. Statistical “tuning.”
Ignoring the clear and plain message of the Bible takes us down a detour of speculation and away from the practical pursuit of obedience and growth. The speculative chasing of “Bible codes” is not something found in historic orthodox Christianity. Seeing the “inner” meaning of Scripture as opposed to the literal and historical meaning was a mania of the Kabbalists in the 14th century. These Jewish mystics guided by Theosophy, mystical psychology, Gnosticism, myth and superstition ignored the plain, straightforward meaning of the Scripture.
I wonder if anyone has looked for "freerepublic.com" in the bible code...
I was listening to the radio the other day while cooking. Another mathemetician was saying that if you assign numerical values to the hebrew letters and convert them to music.
They played a couple of clips and it was quite beautiful.
BTTT for later read.
Can anyone provide a mathematical proof of the existence of the word "existance", which appears at least twice in the first half dozen posts (I stopped reading after that; I mean why continue?!) in any English dictionary?
"His book, "Bible Code Bombshell: Compelling Scientific Evidence that God Authored the Bible,""
Another fake, fraud and phony out to make a buck from gullible, malleable people. The torrah is just a book of myths and fables.
Bring on the Mothership!
I hope you have your asbestos undies on!
The so called "Christian" naysayers tend to be the worst. But the rabidly-hostile-to-anything-supernatural-that-might-upset-my-rebellious-hedonistic-lifestyle-and-options crowd can get pretty ornery and nasty, too.
Thanks for this thread.
You might find this thread interesting--it has a similar doc or so at the beginning of it and some other interesting docs along the way in the 1,000 posts:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/1274030/posts?page=1012
A lot of people claiming to be christian have so undermined the authority of the Bible as God's word that one wonders what this is supposed to do in repairing that.
Would appreciate your thoughts on this, lass.
The issue of the "Bible Codes" is an interesting one but there is a great deal of misinformation as to exactly what constitutes the "codes" (thus the quotation marks). As a result, a large number of absolute statements have been made on this thread without bothering to qualify (or justify) the scope of the argument. I believe I can correctly say that most if not all of the confusion (at least on this thread) centers around the role of equidistant letter sequences (ELSs).
There are a great many people (including the author of the subject article it seems) who would assert the code takes the form of meaningful phrases, as one might read from a fortune cookie, spelled out through ELSs. In that sense, one would be left to conclude the code was the ELS (or set of all ELSs). A majority of the popular material on the Codes seems to fall in that vein. I believe it is safe to say that the "pro-code" Drosnin and most, if not all, of the popular "code debunkers" boil down to this approach, also. (See, for instance post 25, of this thread.) [I have not read Drosnin - I can assume with confidence that someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.] These approaches, either pro or con, I believe exhibit a rather naive understanding of the subject and certainly a serious lack of inquiry on the refereed research being done.
To the point, ELSs are not of themselves "The Code". If you will, ELSs are the alphabet of the code. The "code" relates to the relationship between pairings of ELSs. Thus, it is no more legitimate to debunk the codes by attacking ELSs than it is to dismiss the works of Shakespeare because he "spelled funny" or employed phraseology odd to our ear.
For those who are interested, Satinover's work presents a somewhat balanced overview of this. As to full disclosure, he was favorably impressed enough to write a book about it. On the other hand, he does go out of his way to present criticisms of it, also. I have read one otherwise unverified report that he since has changed his mind although I haven't seen him say it himself. (If anyone has any direct reference to this, I'd very much appreciate a ping.)
Another area of debate relates to the "purpose", or usefulness, of the code if it exists. Most of the supportable evidence I have seen (primarily Satinover and some of the refereed statistical papers) favors the suggestion that the code may be presented as a method for validating the Authorship of the Scriptures from which it is taken - to allow the Thomases among us to put our hand in the side of the Christ, in New Testament terms. The modern analog of this would be a digital watermark hidden within an image; no real message other than "I Am that I Am".
It also tends to suggest that the code is not particularly useful for predicting the future - which would be contrary to scriptural precepts - since the code text would have to be largely known a priori. That isn't to say it couldn't be done. It might be useful in an expedient sense to select between imminent choices, for instance. [One of the more persistent rumors about the "Code" says the ultimate reason Israel didn't jump with both feet into the middle of Desert Storm after the launch of the first few Iraqi Scuds was that there was encoded information on the attacks which convinced the Mossad that no WMDs would be involved and no Israeli citizens would killed.]
That isn't to say I'm convinced the "Code" is legitimate. What I can say is that there is a great deal of pontificating on the subject, both for and against, that is so ill informed as to be a parody of itself. As for me, I already believe Scripture to be the inspired Word of God. If the Bible Codes were discredited beyond a shadow of a doubt in the next five minutes it would not diminish my faith one iota.
Secret codes and ancient quotes...Leads one to suspect God must be dead.
The proof of the pudding: Find a reference to something that hasn't happened yet.