so-called "biblical prophecy"

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2002-09-02 11:11pm

Hey,

While meandering in the public library, I happened to see a book sitting on the table called something like the "Bible Code," written by a journalist. I glanced in it, and noticed that it supposedly showed that in the text are shown events that will occur thousands of years later. For example, on one page, it shows that in the Hebrew, you can find the words "McVeigh" and other words such as the date of the Oklahoma bombing and such. I think it is bs; it seemed more like they ran the entire bible through a computer until they came up with every possible combination of letters, so that it seemed like there was prophecy.

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-09-02 11:30pm

I feel that it is utter bullshit as well.

Seeing as any copy of the bible remaining today is so perverted from its original text that even if it did provide any such code it would be an utter fabrication or gobbledygook.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-09-02 11:31pm

Actually, the Bible code uses only the most original texts available (Dead Sea scrolls). It is still crap.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-09-02 11:51pm

Yeah, and guess what! "Osama bin Laden" spelled backwards is "Death to America."

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-09-03 12:04am

Wicked Pilot wrote:Yeah, and guess what! "Osama bin Laden" spelled backwards is "Death to America."

Wouldn't that be "Nedal Nib Amaso!"?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-09-03 12:08am

RayCav of ASVS wrote:Wouldn't that be "Nedal Nib Amaso!"?

And "Nedal Nib Amaso" spelled backwards is "Osama bin Laden!" It was so obvious all along. Why didn't we see the these signs? They were right there in front of us all this time!

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2002-09-03 12:23am

The "Biblical Code" is proof that it's always easy to find ways to construct prophecy after the fact.

They never use these codes to accurately predict events BEFORE they happen, yet they still have the gall to call them "prophecies".

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2002-09-03 12:32pm

Either that, or they make glaringly obvious predictions. It's a well-known historical fact that all nations will eventually fall, and yet the Bible thumpers act as if the Bible's prediction that certain nations will fall is proof of its infallibility.

C.S.Strowbridge · Post by **C.S.Strowbridge** » 2002-09-03 01:19pm

Guardsman Bass wrote:Hey,

While meandering in the public library, I happened to see a book sitting on the table called something like the "Bible Code," written by a journalist. I glanced in it, and noticed that it supposedly showed that in the text are shown events that will occur thousands of years later. For example, on one page, it shows that in the Hebrew, you can find the words "McVeigh" and other words such as the date of the Oklahoma bombing and such. I think it is bs; it seemed more like they ran the entire bible through a computer until they came up with every possible combination of letters, so that it seemed like there was prophecy.

You got it. There is a method to the madness, but it has more to do with random chance than profecy. You can get the same predictions from any text, as long as it is long enough.

http://skepdic.com/bibcode.html

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2002-09-03 01:22pm

I've spoken to the kind of people who look for and make these bible-to-real events connections. When I scoffed at the bible's ability to make predictions on (as was the fashion at the time) the attack on the World Trade Centre buildings, he said that the bible had this prophesy for 2000 years, and we'd just failed to pay enough attention to the bible to make the connections. In his mind, this was proof that we need to pay even *closer* attention to the bible.

And now, there's talk about editing the bible to 'bring it up to speed' with the modern world. Does this involve a giant disclaimer warning on the cover? Not a chance, bub.

...Hey, wait...that's what we need to do. We need to start printing bibles the way they do cigarette boxes. With a giant warning label on it like, "The Surgeon General has determined that you internalizing the contents of this book may cause the Surgeon General to laugh himself into a fucking coma as he sits at home sipping martinis and wondering how you people can be so stupid as to believe this stuff, and in fact would just as soon you suck back a couple of unfiltered Camels, because he figures there's less harm from second-hand smoke as from you doing anything in the name of this book or the characters therein."

Evil Jerk · Post by **Evil Jerk** » 2002-09-03 05:27pm

I remember once reading about how codes derived from a telephone book revealed several accurate prophecies about Bill Gates.
All hail the holy telephone books

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-09-03 06:13pm

One of the things that they harped on was that if the Bible was compressed into a single, very long word, and then they took every eleven letters (or so), they could spell "Yitzak Rabin." In the same part of the Bible, if you took a completely different number and then counted out those letters, you could get the words, "Assassin will assassinate." How is that a prophecy? It doesn't even make sense. True codes are written in a consistent cipher. Also, part of the reason why they have not found such coincidences in other long works is that all of the other works they used have been in English. In Hebrew, words can be formed by almost any combination of letters, and so randomly generating words should be far easier to do with a Hebrew text than with an English or even a German one. Of course they will find more words in a Hebrew book than they would in an English one.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-09-03 06:31pm

In the NIV version, if you take the 60th, 95th, 99th, 249th, 273rd, 331st, and 455th letters of Genesis and spell them out, you get "fuck you."

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Mr. B · Post by **Mr. B** » 2002-09-03 07:54pm

Wicked Pilot wrote: In the NIV version, if you take the 60th, 95th, 99th, 249th, 273rd, 331st, and 455th letters of Genesis and spell them out, you get "fuck you."

Coincidence? I don't think so.

God must really hate us then. I mean, it's in the bible it's got to be true.
LOL

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2002-09-03 08:44pm

I looked at it, and it is prophetic! it predicted that I would look at it out of sheer curiosity! Perhaps someone should write to the author and find out how it was written. What was the copyright date on the book?

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2002-09-03 10:31pm

Take a look at this:
http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html

It's the results of a similar analysis on Moby Dick. Fun, fun, fun!

Next of Kin · Post by **Next of Kin** » 2002-09-03 10:51pm

I don't understand why Christians look for signs of the end days. The bible states that no one will know!

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2002-09-03 11:09pm

What do 1874, 1914, 1917, and 1975 have in common? They're dates the Jehova Wittnesses predicted Christ would return. Obviously they were wrong.

The JW leadership explained that it was all a big test and the reason Christ didn't come was because the JWs expected him!

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2002-09-04 02:26am

Next of Kin wrote:I don't understand why Christians look for signs of the end days. The bible states that no one will know!

The funny thing is that supposedly Christ was going to return during the lifetimes of the Apostles (that's what they expected), but my favorite has to be Revelations. It's supposed to be a prophecy about the end times to come right?

Wrong, it may have been intended as a prophecy of sorts but it was just Christians writing smack about Nero and Rome and how they were going to go down (once again right then not 2000 years later). All of this is wrapped up in a bunch of symbolism to sound cool and probably protect the asses of those who were spouting off about it but it sure isn't something that is going to happen in our future.

Monty Python's: The Life of Brian has some pretty hilarious stuff making fun of all the religious sects who wrote their own "manifestos" about getting rid of the Romans and taking over the world. Of course none of them had any hope of backing it up so they had to hope that God would do it for them.

The Dead Sea scrolls, besides having the oldest version of the Bible, also have some stuff by a sect that talks smack on how they are even better than the typical Jew living in Jerusalem and that one day they will conquer all and take back Jerusalem. Smack talking was and is a big part of religion, kind of a way to draw people in.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2002-09-04 10:09pm

I saw an ad in my newspaper that used increasing numbers of natural disasters, and moral issues as "proof" of the second coming of Christ. Even funnier are those JWs that use current events as "proof" of the apocalypse. Ooh, we can clone a sheep! Oh no, we'll all be smited!

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2002-09-05 12:57am

I had a class dealing with technological societal issues last year, so we touched on cloning. I pretty much systematically dismantled all the anti-cloning arguments that people put forth, but this one girl was actually afraid that, if we cloned a human, Jesus Christ would come down and give us all a big slap on the wrist.

I did my best to keep from laughing my balls off.

XPViking · Post by **XPViking** » 2002-09-05 04:37am

I don't understand why Christians look for signs of the end days. The bible states that no one will know! - Next of Kin

I think it's similar to people putting stock into prophecies by Nostradameus. That is, some folks are scared of the unknown and are looking for answers, any answers, in order to feel safe. In this case, the "unknown" being the future.

One time I was in a Christian chat room and was talking to one fellow. Far be it for me to cut someone down but this poor guy was becoming more strident about the "end of the world". This was a short time after 9-11. He was convinced that the New York Yankees would beat the Arizona Diamondbacks for the World series. He was convinced that the Yankees symbolized the force of good and that the Diamondbacks were evil. Snakes are evil, right?

I never found out what happened to him after Arizona won.

XPViking

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2002-09-05 08:28pm

XPViking wrote:
I don't understand why Christians look for signs of the end days. The bible states that no one will know! - Next of Kin

I never found out what happened to him after Arizona won.

XPViking

Perhaps he preached the end of the world again, and then killed himself? I would say the Yankees are evil with winning 25 World Series games, and having the highest paid players in the league.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2002-09-05 08:31pm

Well, it looks like the jig is up. The Christians are onto the plot. Might as well come clean ...

OK, it's all true. The end times are coming, and ... I'm the AntiChrist

Evil Jerk · Post by **Evil Jerk** » 2002-09-05 08:36pm

What? Really? The end is coming?
I guess it's time to reveal that I am the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Political Correctness.
Fear me.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

so-called "biblical prophecy"

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