Cracking the Bible Code?
By James Krieg

Read all about it!
If you'd read 'The Advertiser' a couple of weeks ago (Saturday, June 21st), you would have seen a special feature about how a scientist has supposedly uncovered a previously hidden code in the Old Testament, which predicts the future. Events such as the assassination of Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin, the rise to power of Saddam Hussein, the bombing of Hiroshima, the Moon landing, the election of Bill Clinton, and other world shaking events were seen to be encrypted in the text of the Old Testament Scriptures. "The Bible Code" Author Michael Drosnin, who is an atheist by his own confession, downloaded the Hebrew Old Testament onto his computer (after he had learned Hebrew, of course), arranged it according to mathematical principles, and ran some sort of word search on it. What he ended up with was something that looked like one of those find-a-word puzzles, with names and events running in vertical, horizontal and diagonal columns across the grid. He has now published a book (The Bible Code, published by Simon and Schuster) explaining how he did it, which also contains his predictions for the future of the world based on this system. (Including a nuclear holocaust around the turn of the century -- we'd better get ready, folks!). And Warner Brothers has just bought the film rights! (Who do you thymic will play Drosnin? Woody Allen? Tom Cruise? Arnold Schwarzenegger?)

So what?
Some Christians are hailing this discovery as just another proof that there is more to the Bible that meets the eye. "It's the thumb print of God!" I heard one minister say. The apparent discovery of this code provides some with another reason to trust the divine authorship of the Bible, and is evidence that God has the history of the world in His hands from go to woah. But is this the case? Whenever a new theory like this comes along, it is very important that we as Christians don't just get caught up in the hysteria it brings, without first taking a discerning, Biblical look at what is being claimed. I believe that a serious look at this so called Bible Code should cause us to ask a number of searching questions:

1. Is the Bible a book that was given for all times, places, peoples and situations? Or was it just given for a group of computer literate mathematicians at the end of the 20th century?
2. What is the primary purpose of the Bible? Is it to be used as a 'crystal ball' so that we can predict future events (which we can't do anything about since they have been determined by God already)? Or is it to reveal to us the nature and purposes of God in Jesus Christ?
3. What does a person need to interpret and understand the Bible -- a degree in maths, computer science and Hebrew? Or a regenerated and renewed mind which is illuminated by the Holy Spirit?
4. Will this theory encourage people to read the Bible and find out about Jesus Christ? Or will it only confirm again to many people the false notion that the Bible is a mysterious and incomprehensible book that only scholars and mystics can understand?
5. If God, hypothetically, was to reveal something new to us about His plans for the world, would He do it through a Jewish atheist writer (ie. Drosnin)? Or would He do it through a recognised, qualified, and Biblically sound Christian spokesperson?
6. If God decided to reveal something to us, would He do it in a cryptic and ambiguous code? Or would He do it in a plain and straightforward way that we can understand without having to decode it?
7. What did Jesus do when the people demanded of Him some sort of proof that what He said was true (Matthew 12:38-42,16:1-4)? Did He give them a spectacular miracle, or a blindingly logical argument, or reveal a hidden code in the Scriptures, that made them all say, "Now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's all true."? Or did He tell them that the 'Sign of Jonah' -- His own death and resurrection -- is the only 'proof' they needed?