Re: Gematria, history of gematria, mathematical coincidences, Vernon's hypothesis

Dave
I can only speak for myself when I say that I will never 'slough off' something that I have not afforded some careful consideration.

As an English speaker, I am finding it hard enough learning and applying biblical Hebrew without attempting to do the same with Arabic and another large text. I think it behoves our Muslim counterparts to engage in the debate on the Koran. But they will have to be patient and expect to wait a while for we Christians to get up to speed. My immediate interest is in identifying the extra level of meaning that the Author of Torah has put there for someone to find specifically in Jewish year 5765 (in other words, right now). The Old Testament is important to me as an essential platform for my faith, where the Koran is not. I'm not even sure whether the Koran is even compatible with the entire OT.

You will discover that I take a rather different view of the Torah compared with my view on other parts of the Bible, and also from most non-Jews. Those particular five books are not just divinely inspired; they were dictated letter-for-letter by God to Moses on Mt.Horeb, during the 40 days he was there. I can't show my justification for this belief just yet, as it is not assembled into a publishable form. But rest assured, within the next few weeks I will be vigorously advertising my website and asking for properly reasoned feedback.

What I can say is that Vernon's findings are too well structured and elaborate not to be real, and I find it absurd for otherwise rational scientific minds (speaking generally) to dismiss them by focussing on isolated aspects. They come as a structured package and should be assessed as a package. Indeed, Vernon's findings fall short of being the full package, as I shall demonstrate in the near future. The important question is not so much whether the structures he has found are deliberately designed, as whether it is within the abilities of man to have done so. By all means make a judgement on those grounds. But I ask you not to reach any irrevokable conclusions until I have the opportunity to present the other side of the coin.

Why is a numerical analysis of Genesis relevant? It is because this is probably the most important discovery for Christians and Jews for many a long century, and if we do not seek then we sure as **** won't find.

Regards
David

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: D. F. Siemens, Jr.
  To: david.bradford1@which.net
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 12:50 AM
  Subject: Re: Gematria, history of gematria, mathematical coincidences, Vernon's hypothesis

  Before engaging in a time-consuming analysis of Vernon's claims, I'd like to know why the numerical analysis of Genesis is relevant, and the analysis of the Koran can be sloughed off? Ed has noted an extensive analysis of the latter.
  Dave

  On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 00:02:12 +0100 "David Bradford" <david.bradford1@which.net> writes in part:

    On ED's final point about 'hits' and 'misses', I would like to ask where the contributors to this site would elect to set the threshold between an acceptable coincidence and an unacceptable coincidence. As Bacon suggested, people are often fooled because they like the look of the hits and ignore the misses. So what should we think if there are no misses? Even then one hit out of one would still not be very convincing. 5/5 might start to raise eyebrows. And 20/20 hits would surely exceed any reasonable threshold. Vernon Jenkins' findings I suggest belong to the third category and constitute strong, perhaps overwhelming evidence for deliberate design in the early part of Genesis.

    I would certainly value seeing a well thought-out, formal critique that addresses VJ's findings as a package, an assessment worthy of consideration by the scientific community.

    I have seen in a different thread that Vernon has, at least temporarily, taken a step back from insisting on drawing certain unpopular conclusions from his results. This should give everyone enough space to assess the 'facts' without prejudice to any particular doctrinal position. So, come on, let's see what collective ASA grey matter is capable of!

    Regards
    David
    _________________
    David S. Bradford
Received on Thu Oct 7 12:14:21 2004