I thought this fad had gone the way of the pet rock, but alas, some myths are hard to put down.
You can say that again, Dex. Tonight on the History Channel:
:rolleyes:
Sigh.
It’s amazing how people want to believe in something so badly, that they’ll swallow almost anything – hook, line, and sinker – if it seems to bolster those beliefs.
I gonna start my own televangelist show, make millions.
It’s starting right now, and I’m actually watching it in the hope that there will be some sort of skeptical viewpoint presented.
I’ve been watching it, and thus far there has been depressingly little skepticism presented. Does Fox™ own the History Channel™ now?
It’s not history; it’s entertainment. It sells advertising and rakes in the bux, just like the Weekly World News.
In this week’s headlines:
See? No difference!
“Best Kept Secret of WWII: Hitler was a woman!”
That explains why it says A&E on the website.
Yes, it’s also amazing how people only believe religious people are the only ones who do this. I think we’re all guilty of self-serving bias.
I actually watched the whole thing. At the end, they did point out that using the same tecnique, Moby Dick predicted the winner of some NASCAR race (or maybe it was the assassination of JFK). Also, there were long interviews with Rabbis who explained the traditional use of numerology in the Bible. It has nothing to do with predicting anything.
So there is a traditional use of numerology in the Bible, accepted by Rabbis? Does that mean they think the traditional stuff works, but the new, computerized non-traditional stuff doesn’t?
Just curious, Tapioca, since I didn’t see this program, was the skeptical part merely tacked on for a few seconds at the end so it could easily be ignored, or was it presented a serious refutation?
The show did save up the refutation until the end, but they gave around five minutes, and it was pretty obvious (IMHO) that the guys who made the show thought that it was the important five minutes.
As for the significance of gematria, the study of numerology in the Torah, I am definitely not the guy to ask. I’m not Jewish for a start. From my very limited knowledge, though, here’s what I have learned. Numerical values are assigned to words/phrases in the Torah. Theses are compared to words/phrases of the same value elsewhere in the Torah. The reason for this is to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of G-d. It seems to me though that this practice results in people actually reading the Torah and thinking about what it means. And this, in itself, has to be a good thing.
Traditional numerology serves (served) a number of purposes, seeking for “hidden meanings” in what was perceived as divine text.
For instance, if the numerical value of one name was equivalent to the numerical value of another name, the rabbis who cared about that sort of thing would draw some moral lesson or conclusion or connection.
The numerology was also believed to have magical potency, of course.
We’re actually working on a Staff Report on this topic, but it will be many months before we get anywhere.
Seems odd that in an hour show (it was an hour, right?) the most important part was in the last five minutes. Any info as to who/what is behind this show?
Dex, I’m sure we are all looking forward to that Staff Report. It sounds like you had intended it to include only traditional Torah numerology, but maybe you need to address the “modern” version as well? Like – The more things change, the more they stay the same?
I think (but don’t know) that the show’s producers decided to let the guys with the Bible decoder rings condem themselves using their own words. Being intercut with rabbis who insisted that whatever the hidden meaning of the Pentateuch was, it was absolutely not to be used for divining the future gave me an indication of where the producers’ hearts lay.
<< It sounds like you had intended it to include only traditional Torah numerology, but maybe you need to address the “modern” version as well? Like – The more things change, the more they stay the same? >>
Well… it was going to cover ancient Greek numerology (a la the Pythagorean school), then Hebrew numerology and gematria, then the Christian adaptations … That’s probably why it’s taking forever to research and try to write.
That’s even better yet, Dex, numerology thru the ages & cultures. If that is the topic, then the “modern” bible codes would seem to be the latest twist on the same old nonsense.
I hope you will be interviewing Dr. Matrix and his dentally-challenged assistant, One-Tooth Rhee, last reported to be hanging out at Pyramid Lake, NV. I’m sure you can get in touch with them thru Martin Gardner. 
Wouldn’t this be a case of the pot calling the kettle un-kosher? ;j
Psst, Musicat, look at the mod list for GQ. We’re more likely to get in touch with Martin Gardner through DrMatrix. But what’s this about Cajun Man having bad teeth?
That wasn’t the impression I got from the show. They gave the Moby Dick guy about two minutes, tops, and then launched right back into the Bible-Code Believers talking about how “astronomical” the odds were against finding, say, both “Kennedy” and “Dallas” in the same small text grid.
No word about how they were only searching for “Kennedy”, and would have circled ANY other word in the grid that had even a remote connection to Kennedy while ignoring all the other words.
No word about how Hebrew lacks vowels, so the Bible-Code Snoopers didn’t really have to find “Kennedy” and “Dallas”, they only had to find “Knndy” and “Dlls”.
Sure, the guys who got in the last word said that the Bible Code was useless as a predictive tool, but gave no indication that the Bible Code contained nothing more in the way of “hidden messages” than any other arbitrary vowel-free text of the same length.
[Nitpick]
Even worse - all they had to find was “KNDY” and any of the following: “DLS”, “DALS”, “DLAS” or “DALAS”.
You see, Hebrew HAS some vowels, but they can often be used (or not) on the whim of the writer - sort of like medieval English.
[/nitpick]