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Bible code
A fundamental axiom of Young Earth Creationism is that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and that it should therefore be used as a primary source for information about the history of the world and the question of origins. This is challenged by those who believe in evolution, whether theistic or not. Atheist evolutionists at least (and also, sadly, many Christians) regard the Bible as a collection of myths and stories and refuse even to regard it as a primary source for human history, let alone origins.
Any communication system needs a means of assuring the recipient of a message that its purported sender is in fact its real sender. On the face of it, there is a problem in distinguishing the Bible from all other religious texts as being uniquely the Word of God. The majority of people do not believe that it has that status. But if it has, we should expect that God will have given us objective means of ascertaining that.
In fact, he has done so.
Macrocodes
In the first place, there are a number of literary structures that span all of the Bible. None of these is, by itself, sufficient to prove divine authorship, but taken together they greatly increase our confidence in it.
For example, it is well known that patterns of seven are found in the Bible, and seven is a number that denotes completeness. There are a number of patterns of seven that cross both Old and New Testaments and therefore demonstrate that both together are the complete word of God.
The following table, taken from Chuck Missler's book, Cosmic Codes, lists a number of significant words and phrases which occur a multiple of seven times through both testaments:
|
| OT | NT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hallelujah | 24 | 4 | 28 = 7 x 4 |
| Hosanna | 1 | 6 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
| Shepherd | 12 | 9 | 21 = 7 x 3 |
| Jehovah Sabaoth | 285 | 2 | 287 = 7 x 41 |
| Corban | 82 | 2 | 84 = 7 x 12 |
| Milk | 44 | 5 | 49 = 7 x 7 |
| Isaac | 112 | 14 | 126 = 7 x 18 |
| Aaron | 443 | 5 | 448 = 7 x 64 |
| Abaddon | 6 | 1 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
| Christ at the right hand of God | 2 | 19 | 21 = 7 x 3 |
| After Melchizedek | 1 | 6 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
| The stone which the builders rejected has become head of the corner | 1 | 6 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
| Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself | 1 | 6 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
| Uncircumcision of the heart | 6 | 1 | 7 = 7 x 1 |
Bible codes
In addition to the macrocodes, which are in plain view for anyone who takes the trouble to study the Bible, there are codes built into the Hebrew text itself. These codes are found by counting successive letters at some specified interval, either forwards or backwards, and are therefore called Equidistant Letter Sequences. or ELS.
For example, the first five books of the Old Testament form the Torah, or Law of Moses, part of which God gave to him by his angel on Mount Sinai. Jesus said of the law that not one jot or tittle should pass from the Law until all is fulfilled, meaning not one yod (the smallest Hebrew letter) or hook (distinguishing the letter resh from daleth, for example).
Within Genesis and Exodus, starting at the first taf (T), the word torah is spelt out at 49 (= 7 x 7) letter intervals. In Numbers and Deuteronomy it is spelt out backwards at the same interval. Leviticus does not have the word torah; instead it has the name of God at intervals of seven letters, starting at the first yod, thus:
- TORAH TORAH YHWH HAROT HAROT
This forms a divine signature across the group of five books and incidentally reinforces the spiritual message that all of the law points to God.
These codes in the Torah were discovered in part by the Kabbalists in the Middle Ages. They were first noticed in modern times by Rabbi Weissmandl in the earlier part of the 20th century. The advent of computers has made the task of searching for them far easier and at least some professional statisticians have been satisfied that the codes are real and necessarily of divine origin. It is now possible to search quickly for codes at many different letter intervals across a passage. It is to be expected that some meaningful words or phrases will be found by chance. What makes the Bible codes of great significance is the codes that are relevant to the passages in which they are embedded.
In the creation account, we read the account of God's giving man every seed-bearing plant to eat (Genesis 1:29 ) followed by the beginning of the creation account from Adam's point of view up to the planting of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, ending at Genesis 2:9 . Note that this passage crosses the divide between two sections which bible critics allege to be of different authorship and to report conflicting creation accounts.
Within this passage are encoded the names of all seven species of seed-bearing fruit in the land of Israel (note the number seven, by the way) and the 25 trees of Old Testament tradition. While the presence of a number of different encoded words would not be a surprise, the presence of all of these particular words in a passage to which they are relevant is far beyond the bounds of chance.
Gematria
Gematria is the Hebrew term for codes embedded in the numerical values of Hebrew and Greek letters. Hebrew and Greek used letters of the alphabet for numeric digits; thus Greek alpha is 1, beta is 2 and so on. The numerical value of the letters of a word can be added together to get a single numeric value for that word. For instance the Greek name of Jesus (ιησους) is 10+8+200+70+400+200 = 888.
There are some interesting combinations. The name of God, אל ("El"), has a numerical sum of 31. This is one of the few numbers which when reversed gives a number whose square is also the reversal of the first number's square. 312 = 961 and 132 = 169. 13 is a significant gematrical number along with 7. 961 occurs in a number of critical places and has been called "the signature of God". For example, the sum of the gematrical values of the names Abraham (248), Sarah (505) and Isaac (208) is 961.
Gematria is often very subjective and should not therefore be regarded as more than a reinforcement to our confidence in the Bible. Unrestrained use of it led to much abuse by the Kabbalists and led many away from faith in the true God and obedience to his word.
Ivan Panin
Ivan Panin was a Russian, born in 1855, who was exiled after plotting against the Tsar and ended up in the US at Harvard University. He studied the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible intensively for most of his life. He discovered that there is a pattern of sevens and thirteens binding the texts together. These are such that they could potentially be used to select the correct version of variant readings.
One example of his findings (taken from Chuck Missler's book) concerns Matthew 1:1-17 , which is a unit of text dealing with the genealogy of Jesus. This passage contains 72 different words in 90 forms (Greek is an inflected language).
- The gematrical value of the 72 head words is 42364 (7 x 6052). The gematrical value of the 90 forms is 54075 (7 x 7725). If one letter were changed, these values would be destroyed.
- The number of nouns is 56 (7 x 8).
- The definite article (the) occurs 56 (7 x 8) times in exactly 7 forms.
- In the first of the two main sections of the passage there are 49 (7 x 7) vocabulary words.
- 28 (7 x 4) of those 49 words begin with a vowel; therefore 21 (7 x 3) begin with a consonant.
- The number of letters in those 49 words is 266 (7 x 38), There are 140 (7 x 20) vowels and 126 (7 x 18) consonants.
- 35 (7 x 5) of these words words occur more than once; 14 (7 x 2) occur only once.
- 42 (7 x 6) occur in only one form; 7 occur in more than one form.
- 42 (7 x 6) of these 49 words are nouns; 7 are not.
- 35 (7 x 5) of the nouns are proper names. These names are used 63 (7 x 9) times. There are 28 (7 x 4) male names.
- There are three female names: Tamar, Ruth and Rahab. There are 14 (7 x 2) letters in those names (in Greek).
- One city, Babylon, is named. It has 7 letters in Greek.
This structure extends beyond the scope of a single book. There are 42 (7 x 6) words used in Matthew that occur nowhere else in the New Testament. Similarly, the number of words used only in Mark, only in Luke or only in John are each a multiple of 7.
The structure of sevens even extends to the Bible as a whole: it has 63 (7 x 9) books in Old and New Testaments together. (There are not 66 in this count: the pairs I and II Samuel, I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles are each regarded as single books in the Hebrew bible.)
The Creator's Signature
Each testament contains a creation account. The Old Testament has Genesis 1 and 2, of course. The New Testament has the gospel of John:In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. John 1:1-3If you take the gematrical values of all the letters in Genesis 1:1 and apply this formula:
The number of letters x The product of the letter values
The number of words x The product of the word values
you get π (pi) to 4 decimal places.
Do the same exercise on John 1:1 and you get e, again to 4 decimal places. That these two fundamental mathematical constants are encoded in the beginnings of these two books is effectively the creator's signature to the account of His creation.
Criticism
Atheistic mathematicians and others have attempted to cast aspersions on the codes. For example, mathematician Brendan McKay claims to have found similar codes using Moby Dick and other books.
In the case of the much publicised claims of Michael Drosnin to use the codes to forecast current events, these criticisms are justified. The short codes he claimed to have found are within the range of randomness However, the existence of longer codes and their concentration in passages to which they are relevant is a more recent discovery which is not so easily dismissed.
Ivan Panin's work has been criticised on the grounds that other patterns may exist that he did not look for and perhaps that certain patterns of seven should exist that are not found. He stated that other works, such as the Apocrypha, were searched for these patterns without result. There does not seem to have been any systematic effort to check his work.
Related References
- Chuck Missler, Cosmic Codes, Koinonia House, 2004
- Bible Codes Digest
圣经密码，也称作Torah密码，最初指的是在《希伯来圣经·创世记》的开头每隔50个字母跳读，就可以拼出“Torah”一词（意指《摩西五经》，即《创世记》、《出埃及记》、《利未记》、《民数记》及《申命记》），另外在《出埃及记》、《民数记》和《申命记》中亦是如此。这种现象后来被称做Equidistant letter sequences（等距字母序列），简称“ELS”。这个密码，由于The Bible Code一书的出版而闻名于世，书中作者声称这些密码可以预言将来。此论受到无神论者和许多宗教团体强烈质疑。
概述
最先出自13世纪一位名叫Bachayah的犹太教拉比的著作。20世纪初，这一内容被居住在捷克首都布拉格的一位犹太教教士Michael Ber Weissmandl发现。并在他死后的1957年，由他的学生将其公之于众。
到了1980年代，以色列希伯来大学的数学家Eliyahu Rips和物理学家Doron Witstum利用计算机高速计算对比（一套精密的数学运算模式），挑选圣经时代以来的32位知名人物，结果发现他们的名字和出生与死亡日期在《创世记》中都是编在一起的。后来他们把整本希伯来文圣经原文去除了所有字间距，连贯成总长304805个字（因为根据传说，摩西从上帝手中接受的圣经就是“字字相连，无一中断”），采用计算机跳跃码方式，在字符串中寻找名字、单词和词组，最终找到了一系列相关信息。据此完成了《创世记等距离字母顺序解码》（Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis）这篇论文。
经过耶鲁大学、哈佛大学、希伯来大学多名数学家验证，以及美国Statistical Science杂志（Institute of Mathematical Statistics的机关期刊之一）的三次复核后（他们经过数学分析，证实圣经密码为巧合的可能性只有二十五亿分之一，后来研究人员以更高难度测试，发现为巧合的可能性低至五万兆分之一），于1994年8月，正式发表在了Statistical Science杂志上（对于这篇论文的争论参见下面的“各方观点”）。
1997年面世的《圣经密码》（The Bible Code）引起了世人对圣经密码的关注，作者Michael Drosnin是一名无宗教信仰的记者，曾于《华盛顿邮报》和《华尔街日报》 工作，他经过5年的采访和深入调查研究后写成此书。他甚至通过密码找出了“Year of Bible Code Revealed 1997”的词组。但Eliyahu Rips在一篇文告中宣称：“我本人并不支持Drosnin对读码的见解，也不赞成他所下的结论……凡是从Torah （摩西五经）中撷取信息或以其为预言的根据，是无益和没有价值的。这不仅是我个人的意见，也是每一位从事解码研究的科学家的意见。”到目前为止，他已出版 了续集《圣经密码II》（The Bible Code Ⅱ），其副标题为“倒数计时”（The Countdown）。在 文中他做的最后结论是：“圣经密码可能既不是‘正确的’，也不是‘错误的’。密码要告诉我们的，可能是‘什么事可能发生’，而不是‘什么事会发生’。不 过，因我们不能让我们的世界毁灭掉，我们不能什么事都不做，只是在那里等待——我们必须假定，圣经密码里头的警告是真的”。
最新的研究显示，在耶路撒冷希伯莱民族博物馆中发现了艾萨克·牛顿（Isaac Newton）的手稿，这是他在1696年后留下的一大堆论文。在数千页写得密密麻麻的纸上，研究人员看到牛顿尝试用复杂的公式破译所谓的“圣经密码”，并试图计算宇宙的末日。这位伟大的科学家通过复杂枯燥的算式，最后在一张字迹潦草的纸上将世界末日定于2060年。同时，他还预言世界末日的到来将伴随着瘟疫和战争的爆发，并预言圣人到时将再次降临地球，他自己可能也将成为圣人之一。
牛顿相信圣经里暗藏着人类历史的预言。在牛顿的晚年，他致力于研究圣经但以理书内的预言，及找寻圣经所隐藏的密码。直到临终时，他仍在孜孜探求却未能成功。值得一提的是，在Michael Drosnin的研究中，“Newton” 的名字被发现在“Gravity”（万有引力）旁，而在另一旁则出现了“Bible Code Newton”的词组。
密码原理
从圣经第一个字母开始，寻找一种可能的跳跃序列，从1、2、3 个字母，依序到跳过数千个字母，看能拼出什么字，然后再从第2个字母开始，周而复始。一直到圣经最后一个字母。
- 例如Rips ExplAineD thaT eacH codE is a Case Of adDing Every fourth or twelth or fiftieth to form a word得出隐含讯息为READ THE CODE。
找到关键词后，接着在关键字附近寻找相关讯息。
- 例如寻找“伊扎克·拉宾”， 结果这个名字只出现一次，跳跃序列为4772。于是程序将整本圣经分成64行，每行4772个字母。就在重新编排的圣经里，与“伊扎克·拉宾”相交的地 方，找到“刺客将行刺”，后又找到“艾米尔”（刺客的名字）。用这种方法还能找到“拉宾遇刺”、“特拉维夫”、“5756”（希伯来年，始于公历1995年9月）这些单词。
宣称已破译的密码
- 1929——经济崩溃——股票——大萧条（申命记）
- 爱迪生——电——灯（民数记）
- 爱因斯坦——他推翻现有的事实——科学——预告一位聪明绝顶的人——崭新而卓绝的知解（民数记）
- 希特勒——恶人——纳粹与敌人——屠杀（创世记）
- 休梅克列维九号——木星——第八阿伏月（以赛亚书）
- 肯尼迪——第二位治国者遇害——达拉斯（出埃及记）
- 克林顿——总统（民数记）
- 莎士比亚——哈姆雷特——麦克白（利未记）
- 贝多芬——约翰·巴赫——德国作曲家
- 莫扎特——音乐——作曲家
- 毕加索——艺术家
- 莱特兄弟——飞机
- 萨达姆——飞毛腿
- 中国——大使馆——轰炸——北约——美国
- 台湾——地震——台北——5760(西元1999年，民国88年)
- 奥姆真理教——灾疫——毒气
各方观点
许多人相信圣经裏藏有密码——人类几千年来曾发生的事件和未来将要发生的事。也有人因此相信圣经当然是出自上帝之手。并认为圣经可能是“外星遗物”，设计成唯有地球文明达到一定的进化门坎时，才会自行示现的形式。
圣经密码的支持者认为，虽然任何一本书都可以找到随机字母组合，但要找到像“萨达姆”和“飞毛腿”及开战日期等相关讯息，除了圣经外，包括《战争与和平》（俄语:Война и мир）在内的各类十万甚至百万字母的书籍，和千百万种电脑制造的实验个案，都没有找到如此连贯的讯息。
反对者则认为，希伯来文圣经自古以来均出现许多版本，几千年来的抄写必定会有不同的字句，解码所研究的圣经原文已经跟古抄本有一定的差别，包括句点和字距等都不一样。而且所解码的希伯来文圣经，只有辅音字母（consonant），没有元音字母（vowel）。因此它完全不值得相信。另外，这种解码方式，实际上在传统的犹太神秘哲学Cabala里关于如何用数学运算法解释希伯来文圣经时已经提出。整本圣经希伯来文有30多万个字母，起码可以发生100亿种字母组合，所谓的密码只是一种断章取义。
还有一些人的质疑来自一些没能应验的预言，比如Michael Drosnin根据密码找到圣经关于1995年9月至1996年9月会发生“核武浩劫”并没有发生。据说他再用计算机程序找到结果出现Delay（延迟）的单词。
1999年，数学家Brendan McKay、Dror Bar-Natan和Gil Kalai及心理学家Maya Bar-Hillel，在Statistical Science上发表了一篇论文，声明他们提供了足够的证据来驳斥Witztum和Rips的论文。他们的主要观点是：
- Witztum和Rips采用的数据是希伯来文的拉宾名字。希伯来文对于名字的拼写是很灵活的，每一个名字可以有很多写法。因此在搜索名字的时候要更加注意。所以他们的结果是不严格的。论文中说：“……他们的数据没有按照他们实验时的规则严格定义。相反，对于这个规则，他们应用时，有很多‘摆动’。特别是对于拉宾的名字。”
- 对于他们的数据采集，有间接的证据表明是不正确的。也就是说名字的选择和拼写是不中立的，尤其向他们的假设偏向。
- 对于再现Witztum和Rips论文陈述结果的尝试失败了。论文中说：“原来论文的作者不能提供他们最初的源程序。而且现在原作者发布的源程序（两个），还有我们自己的程序，都得不到原来论文的结果。”
相关书籍或论文
- Yacov Rambsel: Yeshua-The Name of Jesus Revealed in The Old Testament
- Grant R. Jeffrey: Signature of God
- Michael Drosnin: The Bible Code. Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684810794.
- Jeffrey Satinover, MD: "Cracking the Bible Code". Wm. Morrow, 1997. ISBN 0688154638.
- D. Witztum, E. Rips and Y. Rosenberg, Equidistant letter sequences in the Book of Genesis, Statistical Science, 9 (1994) 429-438.
- B. McKay, D. Bar-Natan, M. Bar-Hillel, G. Kalai, Solving the Bible Code Puzzle, Statistical Science, 13 (1999) 150-173
