Thanks for introducing this interesting topic.
I read the page located at the web link you sent. It is very revealing about the personal character of HH in two primary areas: in his integrity with respect to the writing of his two personal for-profit books, and in his questionable abilities and undesirable style as an administrator at CRI.
What I also found interesting was that not one single testimony or statement on the web page brought any suspicion or questions regarding the veracity or validity of any of his Christian works, Christian views, or performance on the bible Answer Man program.
While I would have hoped that the Bible Answer Man was a more Christlike administrator than the testimonials indicate, and would like to think that his secular works are original (or, at least credited sources he used, and with permission), I cannot see that this in anyway compromises his Christian message, either on the air, or in his books. This is not to say that I agree with every comment he makes on the air or in his books, but I have to be a good Berean.
So, should we disregard what he says because there are several undesirable traits in his personality? Here are some other examples to consider...
Moses killed a man...yet was led by God to become the leader and liberator of the Jews!
David committed adultery and had a man killed, yet was still "a man after God's own heart".
Martin Luther was said to be a strong anti-semite...yet are we to reverse the reformation and return to the RCC?
Have you heard of David Jacobs and the "Power Team"? I was backstage at our church while the Power Team was performing there, and heard him yelling loudly at one of our own volunteer workers! I was appalled! But his Christian message on the stage seemed to hold up.
Many other examples abound of people who, while being great theologians, preachers, and authors have fallen in their personal lives.
So, does this invalidate their Christian work? Shall we disregard everything a person says because of undesirable traits in their character? That is a personal decision we all have to make, and on a case-by-case basis.
Now, back to the Bible codes. You said the statistics are there. If you can determine their accuracy (statistics can so easily be manipulated, often without ill intent, to support a specific position! See "How to Lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff, available on Amazon.com, for an excellent treatise on how statistics are misused every day) then perhaps there is something to it. But, before making a decision, I always try to refer to counter examples and weigh them out, and HH's article is but one bit of counter-evidence. At this point I hold that Bible codes are coincidental letter sequences, combined with an overactive imagination. Sometimes, if we want to find something badly enough, we find it, even though it may not truly be there. Want an examples of this? Take a look at the many prooftexts taken out of the context of the scripture and used by many cults to validate their extra-biblical 'revelations'. ["A text out of context is a pretext for a prooftext!"]
Perry
PS. Sorry you did not like my monkey business. The operative word there is "infinite". For some fun and further research, see:
http://www.nutters.org/docs/monkeys
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55871.html
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2795.html
From: "ShieldsFamily" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] Bible Code
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 09:40:03 -0600
Perry,
If you want to know more about Han Hanegraaf's real character just start
reading at http://www.waltermartin.org/cri.html. He is NOT someone whose
opinion I value.
I also doubt that a bunch of monkeys could come up with Shakespeare. I think
the chances of the Bible Code words and phrases happening accidentally are
in the one/million category (they document the chances in the book). However
it could certainly be nonsense, too. Just wondering if anyone has studied it
out.
I must run...more on this later.
Izzy
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Charles P. Locke
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:09 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] Bible Code
Hi, Izzy.
Hank Hanegraaf, aka the "Bible Answer Man", and president of the
Christian Research Insitute (CRI), has published an article in "The
Christian Research Journal" that debunks it. In fact, I have heard that if
the same ELS (equidistant letter spacing) sequences that are used on the
Torah to extract meaning are applied to War and Peace, that similar results
can be obtained...that is, seemingly meaningful phrases can be extracted.
I do believe that God can do whatever he wants, but I doubt that the
Bible codes are His work. We do know that there are acrosstics in the Old
Testament that were created by its authors, and chiasmus is found in the Old
Testament, which also is a product of its authors. However, these are known
literary tools that anyone can use, unlike the purported "hidden" messages.
Like it was once said, if you have an infinite number of monkeys pounding on
an infinite number of typewriters, one of them will write a Shakespeare.
Speaking of "Shakespeare" and of things "hidden" in the Bible, it is said
that William Shakespeare was a translator for King James, and that he
"signed" his work. In the KJV, Psalm 46, look at the 46th word from the
beginning of the chapter, and the 46th word from the end. Hmmmm.
Perry
>From: "ShieldsFamily" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [TruthTalk] Bible Code
>Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 22:10:30 -0600
>
>
>
>I was looking around at the bookstore today and came across Bible Code II.
>Do any of you on TT have an opinion on whether there really is a secret
>code
>in the original Hebrew text of the OT? I think it is possible, because
>with
>God anything is possible. Or do you think the words and phrases they find
>(via computer analysis) are just coincidences?
>
>
>
> Now they have come up with an apparent end of the world date of 2006.
>That
>would be fine with me! I'd love to see the Lord Jesus coming on the clouds
>to put an end to all this madness! And current events are really getting
>hot in that area of the world. Izzy
>
>
>
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