11 November 2005
Question
What do you think of the Bible Codes? They say that you can predict the future by putting the Torah through a computer and rearranging the letters into grids to spell out new words.
Answer
The Torah is the most influential and powerful book ever written. To use it as a crystal ball to see the future is to trivialise a divine masterpiece and miss the point. It would be like using a diamond ring as a back scratcher, or wrapping up fish in a Rembrant painting. Rather than appreciate the splendour of the Bible for what it is, it is made into a circus side show.
What's more, not only do the Codes distract from the Torah's true purpose, sometimes a hidden code may even contradict the explicit message. If one expert on the Bible was quoted as saying, "Codes of dire events suppress real understanding, learning and evaluation", you would assume he is against the codes. But rearrange his words into a vertical row and you get a different message: Codes
Of
Dire
Events
Suppress
Real
Understanding,
Learning and
Evaluation
Only a fool would ignore what he is saying and read the code.
I am yet to hear of a tragedy averted or a life saved due to people finding codes in a jumbled Torah. But I do know of countless lives made more meaningful through reading the Torah as it is written and living by its open message. Leave the future for tomorrow; meanwhile, use the Bible as a source of direction and inspiration for the here and now.
