The Bible Code

{{biblenav}}{{title-italics}}{{cquote|When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby Dick, I'll believe them.|||(They did. He didn't.) Michael Drosnin. ''Newsweek'', Jun 9, 1997}}
'''''The Bible Code''''' is a 1997 book by Michael Drosnin. The concept of '''B'''ible codes, also known as [[Torah]] Codes, is based on the idea that [[symbolism|hidden messages are contained in sacred texts]].

==The Bible Code method==
{{#ev:youtube|wyNi7bYt0v0|300|right|Australian atheist entertainer [[John Safran]] proving conclusively beyond a shadow of a doubt that Vanilla Ice was involved in the [[9/11|U.S. World Trade Center attacks]] by utilizing Drosnin's scientific methods.}}

To extract this code req'''u'''ires a would-be code-seeker to count every ''n''<sup>th</sup> character (where ''n'' is a non-zero integer<ref group=note>Obviously, because counting every 2-and-a-halfth letter is kinda difficult.</ref>) in a text until you run across a sequence that contains a specified keyword. This particular technique is known as the Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS) formula. The ELS formula has been likened to arranging the letters of the document into a grid ''n'' characters wide, and then treating them '''l'''ike the "word search" puzzles seen in newspapers, circling vertical words as they are discovered. When presented, many of the codes are shown in such a grid, with the necessary words interlinking, crossing each other, or pointing to each other.

Its proponents insist that, if the original text in its original language is used, the words so discovered constitute a "hidden message" that was planted in the text by its authors (and, by extension, a hidden message from [[God]] if the work is supposed to be divinely inspired). The original language of the Torah is bib'''l'''ical [[Hebrew]]. Biblical Hebrew uses an {{wpl|Abjad|abjad}} style [[alphabet]], which means that every character is a consonant.<ref group=note>Some can also indicate vowels, especially long vowels. ({{wpa|Matres lectionis}}) But no such context exists when characters are plucked independently from the text.</ref> The reader must fill in the appropriate vowel sounds based on context and tradition. The name "Sarah", for instance, is spelled with only the Hebrew-alphabet equivalents of S, R, and H. This makes finding words somewhat easier than in a language that requires vowels by reducing the size of the word being looked for and increasing the odds of it being found randomly. For example, if I wanted to show that [[Biblical prophecies|the Torah predicted]] the [[Holocaust]] by finding an ELS containing the name "[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]", I would only need to '''s'''earch for "HTLR".<ref group=note>It also helps that the Hebrew script has two characters that can be transliterated as 'T' (Taw ת and Teth ט) and two characters that can be transliterated as H (He ה and Heth ח).</ref>

In 2002, Drosnin predicted atomic holocaust due to war in Palestine in 2006. <ref name="k685">{{cite book | last=Drosnin | first=Michael | title=Bible Code II | publisher=Penguin | publication-place=East Rutherford | date=2003-10-28 | isbn=1-4406-5006-3 | page=}}</ref>
After clearly failing, in 2007 he wrote another book claiming that Al-Qaeda has nuclear capacity and it can strike in 2011. <ref name="t541">{{cite book | last=Drosnin | first=Michael | title=The Bible Code: Saving the World | publisher=Hachette UK | date=2010-10-19 | isbn=0-297-86486-6}}</ref> In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed without any revenge nuclear attack.

==Preposterous '''woo''' in its ''purest'' form==

This is, of course, pure [[woo]] on the same level as uncovering [[backward masking]] in rock songs or [[Shoehorning|retroactively applying]] the prop'''h'''ecies of [[Nostradamus]] to recent events. Drosnin claims to have applied the algorithm to ''War and Peace'' and found nothing, but some have since applied the same computer algorithm to find hidden codes in other books such as ''Moby Dick'',<ref>[http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick!]</ref> ''The Lord of The Rings'' series, and the lyrics of Vanilla Ice.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNi7bYt0v0 "John Saffron vs. God - Bible Code"] on [[YouTube]]</ref> Naturally, prophecies, codes, and other secrets were also discovered in these non-religious texts. Beyond the fact that practically any sequence of words can be found in a sufficiently long text such as the Bible, the problem is that no "prophet<span style="background-color:yellow;">'''i'''</span>c" sequence of words has ever been discovered until after the events foretold have transpired. In these cases, none of the prophecies can be said to have predictive value, but rather retroactively [[shoehorning|shoehorned]].

Recently, Drosnin has shied away from using it predictively. However, he has stopped short of publicly admitting that it's a [[Ramsey theory|proven statistical certainty]] that if you look in the right way, you can find anything in anything.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/04/israel.bible/drosninlog.html Meet Michael Drosnin, Author, "The Bible Code"]</ref>
{{cquote|I don't think the code makes predictions. [[weasel word|I think it reveals probabilities]]. so I can't say what will happen in the next five years. also it is not a crystal ball – you can't just ask the Bible to tell you about tomorrow or next year. You can only find what you know how to look for – you must have some idea of what you're looking for.}}

Nonetheless, the book was a best seller, and Michael Drosnin has so far managed to milk the material for no fewer than two sequels and many TV documen'''t'''aries (although most now are made to refute the "code"). In the best example of "retroactive 
prophecy
 [[shoehorning]]", ''The Bible Code'' (published in 1997) did not "predict" the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, while ''The Bible Code 2'' (published in 2002) did.<ref group=note>Although Moby Dick "predicted" it as well - see [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/wtc.html Moby Dick predicted the "War on Terrorism"].</ref> Must be because you need to "have some idea of what you're looking for", clearly.

==Insane codes found by Bible Code Wisdom in the English translation of the Bible==

{{cquote|Was Jesus [[jewish]] and did he have the [[Ark of the Covenant|ark of the covenant]]?

Could [[alien]]s and [[UFO]]'s{{sic}} be in the bible?

Do [[skeptic]]s think the [[antichrist]] is a myth?|||Bible Code Wisdom, [[just asking questions]]<ref name=bcw>[http://web.archive.org/web/20180412114611/http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/ Bible Codes Predictions Software Search Freeware Prophecy]. Archived from the original at biblecodewisdom.com.</ref>}}

"Bible Code Wisdom" was a [[webshite]] that provided an online Bible code search function using a magic "ELS decoder grid." The site claimed that insight on virtually any subject could be found in the Bible by using its software. Analysis of this [[bullshit]] reveals several interesting results:

*[[Fun:Elvis Presley|Elvis Presley]] is both dead ''and'' alive<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20160307064959/http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/elvis-both-dead-and-alive Elvis both dead and alive] (3 matches) Archived from the original at biblecodewisdom.com.</ref>
*Jesus was [[evil]]<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20171126042116/http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/jesus-was-evil/2 Jesus was evil] (360 matches) Archived from the original at biblecodewisdom.com.</ref>
*Aliens are real<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20160304074552/http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/aliens-are-real Aliens are real] (31 matches) Archived from the original at biblecodewisdom.com.</ref>
*God does not exist<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20180128135623/http://www.biblecodewisdom.com/code/god-not-exist God does not exist] (8 matches) Archived from the original at biblecodewisdom.com.</ref>

Alas, the site's "ELS decoder grid" almost certainly predicted its own demise, as it dropped off the internet in April 2018 and was replaced by a spam farm.

==See also==
*[[Biblical scientific foreknowledge]]
*[[Gematria]] and [[new gematria]]

==External links==
*[http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html Assassinations Foretold in Moby Dick!] - an example of how this type of thing occurs in any large-enough text
==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|80%}}

{{Biblebox}}

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[[Category:Bible]]
[[Category:Bible woo]]
[[Category:Religious books]]

Categories: Bible, Bible woo, Religious books