The Bible Wheel

From: Richard McGough (richard@biblewheel.com)
Date: Fri Jun 27 2003 - 00:17:19 EDT

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    The Bible Wheel is a two-dimensional representation of the standard 66 book Christian Canon as a circular grid of 66 Cells arrayed on three concentric Cycles of 22 Cells, forming a Wheel of 22 Spokes. The books are simply displayed in order on the Wheel. Graphics and a detailed explanation are available on my site:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/Wheel_FullSize.asp

    It is highly recommended that the image of the Wheel be viewed and contemplated before making any comments on this thread.

    It is imperative to understand that the Bible Wheel is simply a way of viewing an object that exists in our common universe, the 66 Book Canon. This means that variations in the Christian Canon have nothing to do with the Bible Wheel as such, since it is defined as a 2D representation of one particular canon, (which also happens to be the dominant biblical textform on the planet).

    Issues relating to the status of the underlying 66 Book Canon as Scripture are very interesting and important, and will be tremendously impacted by the Wheel when it is recognized to be of divine origin, but they have nothing to do with how we choose to represent the said Canon. Thus, variations in the Canon is a separate issue and should be discussed in a separate thread. It is also important note that proof of the divine origin of the 66 book Canon does not necessarily imply that the other canons are invalid. For all I know, they could all fit together in some meta-pattern I have never imagined. Isaiah 55.9

    Here now are a few highlights to get the discussion going:

    Spoke 1:
    So what is it about the Bible Wheel that should attract our attention? I begin with the initial Spoke, which consists of three books that initiate three of the primary divisions of Scripture:

    Genesis: The First Book of the Law
    Isaiah : The First Book of the Prophets
    Romans : The First Book of the NT Epistles.

    To the Law and to the Prophets! This is the First Spoke of the Wheel. It should ring bells in the spiritual ears of all Christians, especially in light of Romans as a deep interweaving of primary themes from Genesis and Isaiah. In fact, Romans is the only book on Cycle 3 that mentions the name of Isaiah at all, and the doctrinal perspicuity of Isaiah has prompted some scholars to refer to it as the "Romans of the Old Testament." This aspect of the Wheel is discussed at length in my article "A Great Cloud of Witnesses:"

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/CloudOfWitnesses.asp

    Sevenfold Symmetric Perfection:
    Without a doubt, the most striking aspect of the Wheel is the radial and bilateral symmetry that emerges when the seven traditional canonical divisions are displayed on the Wheel. This object is called the Canon Wheel. Here is a link to the graphic:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/CanonWheel_FullSize.asp

    The symmetry arises from these seven divisions:

    5 Books: Torah
    12 Books: OT History
    5 Books: Wisdom

    5 Books: Major Prophets
    12 Books: Minor Prophets
    5 Books: NT History

    22 Books: NT Epistles

    The numbers 5, 12, and 22 are consecutive terms in the pentangular number sequence.

    What are the Chances?
    When I introduced the Bible Wheel to the ASA two years ago, I asserted that though I hadn't done the calculations, it seemed intuitively obvious that the symmetry of the Canon Wheel was very rare. I now have confirmed this intuition with a careful analysis. The result is that there is one chance in 688,324 that 66 objects grouped into seven arbitrary divisions would exhibit both bilateral and radial symmetry when displayed on the Wheel. Here is the article:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/probabilities.asp

    Derivation from First Principles:
    As is common knowledge amongst many of the physicists on this list, God's Work in the physical world appears to be understandable in terms of various Symmetry Principles. For example, Conservation of Momentum can be explained as the result of invariance with respect to spacial translations, which is a kind of symmetry (cf. Noether's Theorem). It is therefore extremely intriguing to find that the Bible Wheel exhibits sevenfold symmetry within a perfect circle. But even more intriguing is the fact that the entire structure of the Canon can be derived from first principles using nothing but

    1) A Model (the Bible Wheel)
    2) Two initial conditions
    3) Maximal symmetry constraints.

    This mimics the derivation of some of the most significant discoveries in 20th century physics. Here is the proof:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Topics/Derivation.asp

    Additional Symmetries:
    Additional symmetric structures exist below the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Canon Wheel. E.g the Babylonian Captivity divides both the OT History books and the Minor Prophets at Spoke 14. Both this event and this number also divide Matthews geneology of Christ. This is discussed in this article:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/symmetries.asp

    Divine Art:
    The overall structure of the Canon Wheel is isomorphic to the threefold cruciform halo used since the sixth century or so to represent Christ. THis is discussed in my article "Art, Theology, and Prophecy:"

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Topics/Art_Wheel.asp

    We also have a direct correlation of the seven canonical divisions with the Menorah. When the number of books on each pair of branches are represented by their corresponding Hebrew letter, the word Tehilah, meaning Praise, emerges. Here is the article:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Topics/Menorah.asp

    Various articles relating to Art and the Bible Wheel are listed here:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Topics/BibleArt.asp
     

    Integration with the Hebrew Alphabet:
    The 22 Spokes are integrated with the meaning of the 22 Hebrew Letters, as established in the alphabetic verses of Scripture, the names of the letters, their function in the Hebrew grammar, and elsewhere. These letters cast divine light on the the themes found in the books on the corresponding Spoke. E.g. Consider the third letter Gimel. It is cognate to the verb Gomel which God used in the first Gimel verse of Psalm 119, translated as "deal bountifully" in the KJV. As a noun, Gomel means "Abundant Giver." This then integrates with II Corinthians (Spoke 3, Cycle 3) where we find such phrases as "God loves a cheerful giver" and the greatest density of teaching on giving to be found in Scripture (chpts 8 & 9). This is discussed in this article:

    http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/Gimel_Giver.asp

    Well, this should be enough to get the discussion going.

    B'Shem El Elyon,
    Richard Amiel McGough
    Discover the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Holy Bible at www.BibleWheel.com

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