Bible Code?

Question

Ive been seeing shows and stuff about the "bible code" seems a bit ridiculous to me - wasnt the original bible written in aramaic? are we to believe that the bible was written so that english speaking people with computers could find english words in it 2 thousand years after it was written? like would kennedy and bin laden be the same in english as it would in aramaic? and twin towers and such? it seems pretty stupid to me. anyone have any insight on how this aramaic gets the code broken and then made into english words?

Answer 1

I've wondered the same things. Here are a few insights:

1) I saw one documentary where it showed them searching for key words and it wasn't in English (it was the original language). However, some seem to search for things in English, as there probably isn't a word for Oswald in Aramaic.

2) The Bible code, according to many mathematicians, is a farce. Not only can somebody find codes in almost every piece of literature, but it would be very difficult to write a code into something and make it coherent. Imagine if you were going to put these words "Kennedy" "Oswald" "rifle" "theatre" "car" etc. into some kind of pattern. You would be like "okay, the first letter here needs to be 'K', the fifth letter needs to be 'e'. What can I write that would make that work?" See the difficulty? Also, it's not even as if the words are all lined up like that. Some are found at angles like in a word search. There are no true codes, but some interesting patterns.

Answer 2

There are a number of Bible Codes that are being promoted right now. The most popular is called Equidistant Letter Sequences, or ESL. This is where a person will use the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and they'll start with a letter in a passage. They will then go to say, every seventh (or any other number they choose) letter in the passage, to see if a word is spelled out of every seventh letter. Many claim that these ESL's demonstrate that the Bible has hidden in it the history of mankind.

Another type of Bible Code is based on the Greek, and uses number sequences instead. For example, the last 12 verse in Mark 16 are considered disputed texts. But we can look at the mathematical formulae in the passage, and see that there is the evidence of a master Designer. Let's take a look:

There are 175 (7 x 25) words in the Greek text of Mark 16:9-20. What is interesting is that these words use a total vocabulary of 98 different words (7 x 14), an exact multiple of seven. It gets better.

Try constructing a passage in which both the number of words and the number of letters are precisely divisible by seven (with no remainder)! The random chance of a number being precisely divisible by 7 is one chance in seven. In seven tries, there will be an average of six failures.

The chance of two numbers both being divisible by 7 exactly is one in 7 to the 2nd power, or one in 49. (This is a convenient simplification; some mathematical statisticians would argue the chance is one in 91.5 ) This still might be viewed as an accidental occurrence, or the casual contrivance of a clever scribe. But let's look further. The number of letters in this passage is 553, also a precise multiple of seven (7 x 79). This is getting a bit more tricky. The chance of three numbers accidentally being precisely divisible by seven is one in 7 to the third power, or one in 343. This increasingly appears to be suspiciously deliberate.

As we examine the vocabulary of those 98 (7 x 14) words: 84 (7 x 12) are found before in Mark; 14 (7 x 2) are found only here. 42 (7 x 6) are found in the Lord's address (vv.15-18); 56 (7 x 8) are not part of His vocabulary here.

This is, conspicuously, not random chance at work, but highly skillful design.

Answer 3

The OT was written mostly in Hebrew but with some Aramaic. The New Testament, was written in Greek.
If you read the books The Bible Code, I and II, by Michael Drosnin, you would not ask these questions. These are very interesting reads and stand up to certain scrutiny. This is not, however, a defense of the Bible Code, per se.

Answer 4

Thank you for your question.

Personally, I am not (yet?) convinced of the reality of the Bible codes. I am open to being convinced otherwise if statistical analysis were to show that the codes are for real (beyond a reasonable doubt).

The more credible Bible codes deal with the original Hebrew (Old Testament) and original Greek (New Testament) not the English versions.

--
Having said that, I am a Christian, and I believe in the Bible.

I used to be an atheist. Over a period of time however, I grew convinced of the existence of the Christian God, and ultimately committed my life to Christ.

Cordially,
John

Answer 5

Actually, the "bible code" is translated from the original old testament Hebrew. However, you're right: It's bunk. Almost all of the research to debunk it is able to get similar word paterns in works by Melleville, Tolstoy, and even Shakespeare.

Answer 6

There was a college freshman (female) in California who told her Philosophy prof, "I thought Jesus was American." This was in Harpers a few years ago.
I would recommend a site where a Christian with a similar dilemna studied the original texts, something to do with 'Q', to get closer to the real message of Jesus, at www.jesusthemuslim.com
Good luck.
And your soul can communicate with God in any and every language. Would God create any person without the ability to know his Creator?
Don't believe the radical Right. They have an agenda.

Answer 7

yea the bible code failed !! it predicted ( on BBC) that the world war 3 would begin on june 6 , 2006 . the writter of the book The Bible Codes figured the prediction

Answer 8

Don't know for sure?
But the Bible's old testament was written in Hebrew and the new in Greek.

Answer 9

Your analysis is right on. The idea is totally bogus, appealing only to those so gullible they'll believe about anything.

Answer 10

You are right it is BS. It is only believed by conspiracy nuts.