Christians, what do you think of this?

Question

I'm reading a book about 'hidden' things in the Bible by Chuck Missler. It is really, really cool. Anyway, he talking about acrostics (if you're not familiar with this, notice how in your Bible many Psalms are listed as acrostic poems) in the Bible and using the book of Esther as his example. He did this because Esther supposedly doesn't mention God. Anyway, He said that Yahweh is mentioned in there four times (interestingly, it is fowards when it pertains to doing something to protect the Jews and backwards when he is reversing a decision that the gentiles have made against the Jews), the word Messiah is in there once, Yeshua is in there once, and El Shaddai is in there once. This was so cool!

But what was funny is that he said that there was an acrostic in there that says, "Satan and Haman stink." Is that not too funny? Just wanted to see what you guys think. I couldn't *not* post this because it is so cool and is a good refutation for those who think God isn't funny. ;)

Just for those who aren't as familiar --- Haman is the name of the guy who was the King's right hand man an he was the one who called for the extermination of the Jews that Esther was able to stop.

Also: Book is called "Cosmic Codes" by Chuck Missler for those who are interested.

Actually they're in the original Hebrew. But thanks for trying!

Actually, the OT is almost all written in Hebrew except for the book of Daniel which *is* in Aramaic.

"The text of Esther, written originally in Hebrew"

http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/esther/intro.htm

Answer 1

The best indication that God does have a sense of humor is that He created man in His image, and certainly people are able to perceive and express humor.

Though God’s sense of humor may not be quite on the same level as ours is, but reading through the Bible it is evident that God does laugh.

There are examples of God laughing at the foolishness of those who would oppose Him. Psalm 2 and Proverbs 1 reveals God laughing at those who would rebel against His kingship.

God is also revealed as one who will laugh at our calamities if we insist on trying to rebel against Him and not follow His word and way. This is NOT the sense of humor we want to see God exercise on us.

Answer 2

Yes, God has a fun little sense of humor. As far as Bible codes go, I'm a little skeptical -- humans can rearrange just about anything to suit their needs or interests.

Just outta curiosity -- is the "Satan and Haman stink" thing in Hebrew, too, then? I mean as far as the acrostics go, of course Esther is. So what is the Hebrew for "stink"? Don't worry, I'm not being mean here (lol).

Answer 3

A messianic Jew is a Jew that believes that Jesus is the Messiah. Christians and Messianic Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They are Jews. The point of view of the anti Messianice Jews is best summed up by Mark JPAS when he said "it is acceptable to blend some degree of foreign spiritual elements with Judaism. The one exception is Christianity, which is perceived to be incompatible with any form of Jewishness. This is the double standard that is applied to Christianity even though Jesus is considered the Jewish Messiah in Christianity. Messianic Jews are looked at with even greater disdain. Why? its a cover for there own deviations from Judaism. Some Jews need to maintain a connection to Jewish family because they have deviated so much from traditional Judaism that many Orthodox question their Jewishness. They need find some way to distract attention because of there deviation from the Torah. This is done by pointing their finger at others to direct attention away from their own actions. You can't give yourself a title and expect that it makes you something. This is the argument that has been used against Jews that decide that Jesus is the Messiah. We are told that the mere belief of a different nature of God immediately invalidated a Jews Jewishness. At the same time Jews that become atheists, pantheists or stop practicing any element of their religion we are told are still Jews. They say that you can believe in anything but Jesus. Jews call conversion "joining the tribe". Things that would never fly in Orthodox or for that matter Messianic Judaism can be found in the Reform and Reconstructionist movements. A good example of this is a previous question asked here. The person asking worshiped the God Ferris but did not believe in him or the Jewish God. The focus of the question was" ...would you PERSONALLY feel comfortable welcoming me not just as a fellow congregant at your Synagogue, but as a member of the Tribe?" (so he was clearly asking about converting to Judaism). The response was "Reform Judaism covers a wide swath of beliefs and practices and I am sure you will be wholly accepted. ... I personally would accept you whole heartily as a fellow Jew." So some Jews will accept all kinds of deviations from the Torah but not belief in "Jesus". Let's not forget the Reform movement wanted to change the sabbath to Sunday to be more like Christianity. Most Messianic Jews are Torah observant yet you can become an atheist, stop practicing their faith, become a Buddhist, join a Unitarian Church and still be a Jew in the eyes of Reform/Reconstructionist Jews. Most Orthodox when asked about other Jews will say they don't know what non Orthodox Jews are. The same applies to the other sects. Speaking of sects Jews will tell you there are no sects but its not true. Rabbinical Jews follow an understanding of their faith that was established 1,900 years ago. They have their own canon of Scripture. There are also non Rabbinical Jews such as the Ethiopian Jews that follows the pattern of the Christian Old Testament and they have many additional books that they consider to be scripture. A group called the Karaites is the opposite of the Ethiopian and only believe in the 5 Books of Moses. Rabbinical Jews call Karaites "a sect of Judaism". You can goggle it and see for yourself. Don't let anyone tell you that there are no sects in Judaism. They say the the teachings of Jesus are very different from Judaism. They also claim that Jesus taught nothing new from the rabbis before him. Then they we tell you that there were no rabbis until a hundred years after the time of Jesus. Its all about winning the argument to them not about what's true. The problem is not differences but similarities. You should know ALL the writers of the Christian Bible were Jews but one. Much of our Scriptures are shared. The vast majority of early believers in Jesus were Jews. So when you hear the exact opposite you need to keep that in mind. A Jew can believe in Jesus and still be a Jew. Edit: those that make personal accusations should include links or shut up.

Answer 4

Seriously, I've always thought acrostics were nonsense, but since you brought it up (and the Satan and Haman stink thing is so darn funny), I'll have to look into it. Thanks, and I definitely think God has a sense of humor!

Answer 5

This kind of code-finding has a pretty long history in Jewish tradition, and apparently has been picked up strongly by Christian writers in the last decade or so.

It's fun, but ultimately not satisfying if it's being used as a search for solidity. In my view, searches for hidden proofs in the Bible are all ultimately red herrings and self-defeating, as they pull the bible out of its realm and try to force it to be something it is not, and was never intended to be. (HOWEVER, I do note that you are not using it that way, so maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon, and maybe you should not bother reading the rest of this answer).

The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on "Bible Code" (background: Drosnin is a prominent Bible code finder/writer; ELS is letter sequence codes such as the ones you describe):

Responding to an explicit challenge from Drosnin, who claimed that other texts such as Moby Dick could not yield ELS, Australian mathematician Brendan McKay found many ELS letter arrays in Moby Dick that relate to modern events, including the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He also found a code relating to the Rabin assassination, containing the assassin's first and last name and the university he attended, as well as the motive ("Oslo", relating to the Oslo accords).[10] Drosnin has responded to these claims, saying that Moby Dick code results are simply "nonsense"; he said codes found in the Bible Code were "truth" and contained real predictions.[11]

Other people, such as US physicist Dave Thomas, found other examples in many texts. In addition, Drosnin had used the flexibility of Hebrew orthography to his advantage, freely mixing classic (no vowels, Y and W strictly consonant) and modern (Y and W used to indicate i and u vowels) modes, as well as variances in spelling of K and T, to reach the desired meaning. In his television series John Safran vs God, Australian television personality John Safran worked successfully with McKay to look for evidence of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York in the lyrics of Vanilla Ice's repertoire. Additionally, the known coded references in Bible texts, as for instance the famous Number of the Beast, do not use the Bible code technique. And, the influence and consequences of scribal errors (eg, misspellings, additions, deletions, misreadings, ...) are hard to account for in the context of a Bible coded message left secretly in the text.

Answer 6

Very interesting. As a Christian I think all things are possible with God. Also I always believed that God had a sense of humor. I will look for the book to read. Thanks for the info.

Answer 7

To God Be the Glory!

Answer 8

Hey thanks for the info. and yes I believe God has a sense of humor. I bet he really laughed when Jesus defeated death, and came out of that tomb having defeated Satan and when Jesus said ALL AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH.

Answer 9

You can acrostic any book and find all sorts of ridiculous nonsense. You can acrostic the book of Revelation and find the statement "The Bible contains no truth".

Answer 10

ROFL. I will check this book out. Starred.