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1.Why
would God put hidden codes in His Word?
2. Why
did God wait until now to reveal the codes?
3. Can
the codes be used to predict the future?
4. Do
you have to believe in the codes to believe in Divine Inspiration of the
Bible?
Question B1:
Why would God put hidden codes in His Word?
Well, only He knows, but let us offer our opinion. First of all, it's interesting
that He waited until this century to reveal these codes on a mass scale.
That always brings up the question, "If the Bible Codes are so important,
why did God wait until now to reveal them?" Basically, we believe
God purposely put the codes in the Bible for this generation to see them.
This generation has been the most skeptical of God's word. This is the
generation that says, "until it's proven to be true by science, I won't
believe it." All other generations have said, "I'm going to believe it
until it's proven false." So proof is what they want, and proof is what
God has given them. Because of today's technology, society has pushed "Science"
to the level of "the ultimate authority" in the intellectual world. In
other words, nobody will believe anything, until science confirms it. This
is the only generation that has thought that way. It appears to us that
God is using that same technology to prove the Bible's authority, as the
codes could only be searched for with high tech computers. (Now, any PC
or Mac practically can do it, but from the late 80's to early 90's it was
all done by super computers.) When science becomes the ultimate authority
to men, God uses that authority to show the Bible's supreme authority.
People want high tech computers and science to prove it, that's what God
has mercifully given them.
The codes overwhelm us, to
the point where we're positive that the phenomenon is real, but we can
never be sure if each and every code that we find is truly not by chance.
There are enough to prove that the Codes are real in our mind, but how
can we be sure that each and every code we find was put there on purpose?
We can't. We can never be sure. God didn't want to make it so obvious.
He still wants people to accept him by faith, so there will never be enough
evidence to make it flat out obvious to the skeptic. However, when a skeptic
sees a site like ours, a seed is planted. He begins to think about it,
and it bothers him. The Holy Spirit can use that to knock on the door,
and then bring another Christians to him to water that seed. And hopefully,
that person will be born again into the Family of God. Many skeptics become
"comfortable" with their life, but when they see a site like this, they
are prompted to think, "what if I'm wrong about God?" Not only that, but
these codes can just add to all the other evidence there is, and push people
over the edge by just overwhelming them with evidence for Divine Authorship
of God's Word.
Another reason many believe
that God put these codes in His word, was first brought up by Grant Jeffrey.
He thought that as writers and artists put their signature on their work,
that God would do the same. Writers and artists do it to prove that they
authored the material. How could God prove that He authored the Bible?
If he wrote, "God" on every page, that wouldn't convince anybody. Any human
could write "God" on the page and say it was written by God. God wanted
to show people that only He could have inspired the writing of the Bible,
and coordinate all these different people's works. So, as Grant would say,
the codes serve as "God's Signature" on every page. That is why Grant titled
one of his books, "The Signature of God."
Some people, like Michael
Drosnin, say that the codes were placed in the Bible to let us know what
is coming, so that we can prevent bad things from happening. We disagree
entirely. Mostly because it's near impossible to predict future events
with the codes. The codes simply show that the Bible has an amazing foreknowledge
of the future, and that ONLY God could have done that. That is why they
are there. All Glory should be given to God for the codes, not to
the authors, not to the researchers, not to us, not to any human.
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In order to understand why God would wait until this generation, you must
understand why he placed the codes in the Bible in the first place. Please
read the answer to "Why
would God place hidden codes in His Word?"and
we are sure you will understand the answer to this question.
Question B3:
Can the codes be used to predict the future?
This is probably the most commonly asked question about the codes. There
is little disagreement among the foremost authorities on the topic. Our
opinion is one that is shared by most Christians who believe in the codes.
It is not wrong to look for a future event in the codes, although the researchers
can become false-prophets if they are not careful.Using
the codes to predict a future event is not fortune-telling. However, it
is extremely difficult to use the codes to predict future events, all expert
researchers agree. The only experienced researcher who disagrees is Michael
Drosnin, but he is influenced by his New-Age religion, and his desire to
draw glory to himself and not to the God of the Bible.
You cannot use the codes
to predict "the future," but in some rare cases, you can predict a future
event. You can never predict a future event with any degree of
certainty (as far as when that event will be) using the codes. However,
you can "take a shot in the dark," and guess right. Even if you find a
significant code, it's very difficult to know exactly what the code is
saying. We'll get into that in a second. First, you must understand how
a code is found.
When a code is searched for,
key words are typed in to the computer, and then the computer searches
for those words. Example: For the Oklahoma City Bombing, they typed in
the Hebrew name for "Timothy", "McVeigh", the Hebrew words for "building",
"destroyed", "desolated", "murder", "terrorism", the date, etc...
Then, if several of those words are found in the same small area of text,
then you have a code. But the problem is, how could one know what to type
in, or what to search for, before the event has happened? So what it all
comes down to, is: if you have a good idea of what might happen, or want
to guess at some event (examples: Y2k, a famous person being assassinated,
a war, etc...), and then you find several words, that all relate to each
other, and they are all in the same area of text, then and only then do
you have a legitimate code.
It's not fortune telling
because you're not telling the future. You're just checking to see if the
Bible prophesys about a future event. However, the codes were not put in
the Bible so we could predict the future.
There is an important word
of warning to those who do find a code: Give all the glory to God, He is
the one who put the code in there - anybody can find it. Stealing God's
glory is wrong, He said, "I will not give my glory unto another."
Anyone who reports codes, but does not use them to give glory to God, causes
us to become very skeptical of them.
Now, to discuss the issue
of why you can't predict the codes with any degree of certainty. Let's
take for example the code about Y2k that was found. (http://thebiblecodes.com/bcfs/y2kbu.html).
While the case can easily be made that the code is telling us something
about Y2k, there is no way to tell what exactly it is telling us. A common
question asked is "What happens to the Bible Codes if Y2k turns out to
be no big deal?" The answer to that question will help explain why you
can't use the codes to predict an event with any degree of certainty.
Most of the words in that code,
like "death" for example, can be found encoded hundreds of times in every
book of the Bible.
So how do we know that the word "death" is meant to
be part of the Y2k code? How do we know it wasn't there by chance? We don't.
How do we know that the word "famine" wasn't there by chance? We don't.
Nobody can guarantee that each and every one of those words are meant
to be there as part of a Y2k code. Not one. However, it is highly unlikely
for all of those words which relate to each other to all be found in the
same 22 verse area. Highly unlikely. So, that's what makes it a legitimate
code. But how can we know that each word is part of the code? We can't.
It's just a guess. This is why it's so hard to use the codes to predict
a future event. It could be that the only words that are meant to be there
are the ones that say "Millennium Bug, Year 2000 computer Problem, Electricity,
Telecommunications" and all that that may suggest is that the bug may affect
Electricity and Telecommunications, not "sever" them. Same with the U.S.
government. It could be that the government is affected, but not destroyed.
It could be that USA and Government don't even go together. And also, it's
not like all of those words are describing the whole world. It could be
that there will be famine in one part of the world, no electricity in another
part, etc... There is no way to be sure. It's just something to think
about, and for those of you who are not saved, it's something to worry
about.
If Y2k proves to be a one-week
problem that is quickly resolved, there is no way that could even hurt
the Bible codes, much less the Bible. The converse of that is also true.
If the bug proves to be terrible, and devastating to the world, that alone
cannot prove the codes either. This is why the codes cannot normally be
used to accurately predict future events.
Question B4:
Do you have to believe in the codes to believe in Divine Inspiration of
the Bible?
Absolutely
not.
This is very important. Many many people believe that God Inspired the
entire Bible, but either don't believe in or haven't heard of the codes.
That is perfectly fine. You do not need to believe the codes to believe
in Divine authorship, or Divine inspiration. And if you don't believe
in the codes, that is no reason to reject the Bible.
