I did a search and could not see this directly discussed, so here it goes. How many of you have looked into the Bible Code phenomena (Drosnin and others), and what do you think? By the way, from a reading of Drosnin and others, this is not an entirely "theological" discussion, for many secularists are completely convinced of the Bible Code.
I have not looked into it. On the surface it does not look convincing. Hank Hanegraaff of the Christian Research Insitute believes (if I recall correctly) that it is hogwash. I think he also had a guest on his program who refuted it as well. Reminds me of a higher tech version of the back masking popular when I was a kid (where people were convinced that satanic groups were putting hidden messages on records. A researcher found that if he recorded a poem written prior to any recording devices and then played it backwards and regulated the speed, he could produce the same effect and concluded Back-masking was nonsense. North
Apparently it is true that Jewish mathematicians have found the concept of code in the Torah, but "not quite" as is portrayed by Drosin. (I read the Bible Code, and I do think Drosin was sincere in his presentation, but over-killed it, just a tad!) Also, there's been evidence that similar phenomena has been duplicated with other books, such as Moby Dick. Starkman
The Moby Dick case was used to show that you can detect spurious "code" in any book -- Moby Dick just the example used.
What is the Bible code, you ask? Oh, about $25.00 in your local bookstore! Really, though, it's . . . its' . . . oh, hek. I'll leave the splainin to the mathematicians around here! Starkman
That by using formula and certian calculations you can "devine" special messages in the bible. Of course it depends on the code, the bible version, the original scriptutal source (Greek, Aramaci, hebrew,etc.), the phase of the moon, your sun sign, what age of the zodiac, and if Nostrodamus said it first.
I think the Bible Code is only interesting to the public for one reason. The old saying goes that it's "not news if a dog bites a man but if a man bites a dog." That is, unless something is extraordinary, it's not news. The Bible Code is news because, due to the "Bible Code" idea, the Bible is actually, extrodinarily relevant to modern day life. Because the public has no concept as to how the Bible might be relevant, it fits into the "Nostredamus" closet (where one stores ancient relics that have no contemporary relevance except to be "deciphered" for resolving apocalyptic mysteries). Chris
