April 7, 2003
ANOTHER VIEW:
Bible codes and mysteries of faith
___Once you answer the call to ministry, something very strange happens at birthdays and holidays. People start giving you wacky religious books: "The Y2K Survival Guide," "Exorcising Demons with Holy Ghost Power," "The Catholic Conspiracy," "The Late Great Planet Earth." They do this because they know that, as a "man of God," you are now interested in all things supernatural and paranormal. You will need pulpit material, they say. Ironically, the same people who give you these essential tools for preaching will warn you about the brainwashing effects of going to seminary.
___Last Christmas, my brother-in-law gave me "Bible Code II: The Countdown, 2002," by Michael Drosnin. The original 1997 "Bible Code" proved to be a huge success on the market. It was an international
bestseller. When my brother-in-law walked into the religion section of Barnes & Noble, I have no doubt Drosnin's new release was the first big display he saw. Good-naturedly, he assumed I would be elated to receive such a bestseller hot off the presses. I mustered the best smile I could as I unwrapped it. Like that white turtleneck with reindeer
| The Bible ... does not harbor hidden clues about Bush or Bin Laden. The key to the Bible's code is Christ. All of Scripture, indeed all of history, culminates in Christ. |
embroidered on it or that tie with Donald Duck and a caption, "Merry Quackmas!" no one ever says: "This is horrible! Take this back quick, before it hurts someone!" We graciously accept, saying, "Oh ... great, ... and look, the reindeer's nose blinks." Especially ministers. Ministers are obliged to accept gifts with all decorum. Ministers are, after all, "men of God."
___Having nothing else to do over the holidays, I sat down and read "Bible Code II." I can see its appeal. It reads like a novel, with Drosnin sending letters and arranging meetings with dignitaries and important leaders, frantically warning them of this or that impending disaster. If it were only a novel, it would be fun and exciting. The problem is that Drosnin, a former reporter for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, presents his case as factual, not fictional. He bases his findings on a computer program developed by mathematician Eliyahu Rips, who took the Hebrew letters of the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, eliminated all spaces between them, and created a continuous strand of 304,805 letters. When arranged in columns and rows, it becomes an enormous word-find puzzle, which Drosnin downloads into a word-finding computer program. According to his theory, the words found by the computer warn of impending dangers.
___To prove his point, he finds "twin," "towers," "airplane," "Pentagon" and even "Bin Laden" in the code. If only he had found them before Sept. 11! Drosnin apologizes, saying the code is highly complex and very hard to discern. In fact, it can only be revealed by a sophisticated computer program. (Maybe Bill Gates does control the universe, after all!)
___In the end, Drosnin's "predictions" are lame: There will be war in the Middle East, Bin Laden is in Afghanistan, etc. What is interesting is the author does not claim to be a man of God (which means he probably won't receive his own book or one like it for Christmas). He admits he is not religious, and it shows in his writing. He says things like, "God came down on Mount Sinai and gave Moses the Bible." The whole Bible? Even the New Testament? Drosnin cannot be bothered by such trivial specifics. He does not want "metaphysical" explanations. Instead, "I want hard evidence," he insists. If he has faith, it is his "faith as a reporter--all puzzles can be solved."
___People seem to misunderstand what faith is. Like Drosnin, we say, "Seeing is believing." But that is exactly what believing is not! Believing happens, as Scripture tells us, precisely when our seeing reaches its horizon and when our searching reaches the end of "hard evidence." Faith is "the evidence of things unseen."
___Why is it we want to believe so desperately every puzzle and problem must have a solution that we will buy into hidden codes, prophecies, crystal balls, horoscopes and all manner of gimmicks and gizmos--especially if they can be linked to the Bible? The success of Drosnin's book goes to show the power the word "Bible" in a title still possesses in our culture.
___Drosnin should be ashamed of himself for preying on the fears of naïve Christians. Christians likewise should be ashamed of themselves for yearning and even lusting after something God never promised them--immediate knowledge of or control over the future. The Bible is our guide to life and to history. But it does not harbor hidden clues about Bush or Bin Laden. The key to the Bible's code is Christ. All of Scripture, indeed all of history, culminates in Christ.
___I'm going to devote a bookshelf to wacky religious books. Men and women of God, whether called to ministry or not, need to be informed about what is out there, even if it is "out there." We have a duty to defend the faith, not against each other but against the real threats, those who seduce the masses by their sensationalism.
___Adam English is a doctoral candidate in theology at Baylor University and a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco
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