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BIBL02D.TXT
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1990-02-24
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More Comments on "Computer Proof ... "
. I noticed your statement regarding proof of the Bible, with
information taken from Dr. Ivan Panin. I, for one, accept the Bible
as fully authoritative and inerrant in the classic sense of the term.
However, the apologetic method adopted by Dr. Panin, Jerry Lucas, G.E.
Hoyer, and others, in which the numeric sums of the words must be
divisible by certain numbers, is extremely dubious and unreliable.
This particular form of apologetics ("See how the numbers all add up
and divide neatly? Only God could make it work out that way!") is
known as Biblical Numerics, and I suggest you look into it more
thoroughly before adopting it or posting it publicly.
. Henry M. Morris has a section on Bible Numerics in his apologetic
textbook, MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS, but he relegated it to the appendix
because it was so questionable. Oswald T. Allis wrote a booklet
called BIBLE (or BIBLICAL?) NUMERICS, published by Presbyterian and
Reformed Publishing Co., which shows how Panin fudged the data to make
everything come out all right. Unless you're familiar with orthodox
methods of determining the wording used in the Greek NT and textual
criticism in general, you may not be able to appreciate what Panin did
-- he came up with his own Greek text of the NT, based not on
manuscript dating, patristic quotations, or the consensus of various
versions in Latin, Aramaic, etc., but based solely on whether his
divisions came out exactly! (I have a copy of Panin's "Numeric New
Testament," by the way.)
. You should also be aware that the Muslims used exactly the same
scheme to prove the inspiration of the Qur'an. You see, in Arabic the
letters of the alphabet can stand for numbers, too. There have been
several Muslim books published on "The Inspiration of the Qur'an
Scientifically Demonstrated," applying the same methodology. I saw a
copy of such a book at Waldenbooks just 2 weeks ago.
. Also, the occultic Jewish system called the cabala (alternately
spelled "kabbala", "qabbala", etc.) employed a similar methodology
called gematria to prove their occultic interpretations of the Torah,
several centuries before Panin was born. You don't believe me? Look
up the word "gematria" in Webster's THIRD INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY
(the big, unabridged edition that only libraries use).
. Since my particular interest is apologetics and the defense of
the Christian faith, I'm always on the lookout for good ways of
presenting the validity of the Bible to unbelievers. After awhile, I
ran across the system called Biblical Numerics. However, after
looking at it more closely, I came to believe it's something which
causes more problems than it solves. And if the same "numeric
phenomena" also occur in demonically inspired books like the Qur'an,
then it's no proof or evidence of divine inspiration anyway. My
advice is, Look before you post this file. Thanks!
Eric Pement