The Bible Code - Proof that the Bible is Inspired?
A couple of years back The Bible Code made the best-seller list round the world. The book's author claims that the Hebrew text of the Old Testament contains coded messages that make all sorts of amazing predictions, including the date for the end of the world by atomic warfare. This code can only be discovered with the aid of a computer, thus proving that the author of the Bible - whether supernatural or extra-terrestrial - must have had access to computers in order to create the text with this embedded code.
The idea of the code is simplicity itself. Let us suppose that you want to see what the Bible has to say about Bill Clinton. Start with the first letter of Genesis 1:1 and then note every second letter. Perhaps somewhere in the Psalms you will find that every second letter spells out B - I - L - L. If you are unsuccessful, go back to the beginning and try every third letter, then every fourth letter and so on until you are either successful or your letter spacing is equal to a quarter of the number of characters in the Biblical text. (In this latter case you have to conclude that the Bible has nothing to say about Bill Clinton.)
Having found "BILL" at - shall we say - a letter spacing of 100, divide the surrounding text up into lines 100 characters long and arrange them so that the letters B - I - L - L are lined up one beneath the other. You have now created a large word square puzzle, the sort of thing you find in the puzzle books that people do while they are waiting for the train. Search this word square to see if you can find other words, like WHITEWATER or SCANDAL, forwards or backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Using this method the author of The Bible Code claims to have discovered various words that predict world events. For example: he claims to have found the name ”Yitzhak Rabin" in a certain place. Nearby are the related words ”assassinated", "Amir" (the name of the man who shot Rabin) and "Tel Aviv" (the place where Rabin was shot).
These facts - for the words are certainly there, just as the author says - have caused many people to become somewhat excited. Some have started to read their Bibles with renewed conviction, feeling that here at last is the definitive proof that the Bible is an inspired book. Others, with a more sceptical frame of mind, are attempting to mock and make fun of the whole thing.
Click here for more about the Bible Code.