I'm certainly impressed by the ingenuity - and I wouldn't necessarily go
so far as to say that there is nothing at all in it - but caution must be
execrised, especially when talking about the probabilities of the events
happening by chance. You have to consider all possible combinations
before you can say how likely a given combination is. I'm not a mathematician,
so I don't know how to express precisely what I am trying to say. There
was an article in New Scientist fairly recently concerning 'unlikely
coincidences' (of a different nature, but the same principle would apply
here). I'll try to find it, and post a reference to it, if it is on the web,
or maybe post all or some of the article if it is not.
Another thing to remember is that the Pentateuch (sp?) was written (largely)
by Moses, 'in whom was all the wisdom of the Egyptians' (I forget the
reference to this). It is quite conceivable that some of the things claimed
for the Torah - though not necessarily the things you are claiming - were
put there deliberately.
>
> You ask 'Why on earth should God choose to do this?'. I trust you would
> not wish to deny His sovereignty in this matter.
No, I wouldn't.
There may therefore be
> many reasons, but the one that occurs to me is this: we are rapidly
> moving to the kind of situation that existed immediately before the
> flood; He is now graciously providing tangible evidence of His Being and
> Sovereignty
> 1) to strengthen the faith of those who love Him;
> 2) to convince and encourage those who currently have no faith;
> and, 3) to condemn those who will yet defy Him, and leave them with no
> vestige of an excuse.
They have no excuse anyway. See for example Romans 1. In the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man was told (of his brothers) that
'they have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them,' and that if they
would not listen to Moses and the prophets, they would not be convinced
even if someone returned from the dead to warn them. In the same way, I
believe that if someone will not believe the Sripture's plain meaning, they
would refude to be convinced even by claims of remarkable hidden codes
(of whatever form).
>
> Regarding the layout of the table, don't you find the coincidences with
> Gen.1:1 and the Lord rather striking?
I find them intriguing, yes. But this has all been calculated after the
event, as it were. Now if it had been used to foretell the things you are
saying, and those things had subsequently come true, then I think your
case would be stronger.
We are talking about musical
> basics here. A major scale is made up of tones and semitones, is it not?
It is. So is a minor scale.
>
> I completely reject your suggestion that 'you can find this sort of
> pattern in just about anything'. This is a totally vacuous remark.
It was not intended to be vacuous. I am still mystified by the line
headed 'Key Pair (tone)' I confess (maybe I am a bit thick) that I
can't see any justification for the figures in this line, which start
at 1 and go up in increments of 6. You still haven't enlightened me
as to where this figure 6 comes from. It seems completely arbitrary.
Also, you haven't answered my point about other musical scales which use
different intervals, such as the quarter tones as used in Indian music
(and there may be others - I'm no expert). What is so special about the
modern Western musical scale that it should contain encrypted messages?
Or did God not give these other musical forms?
Gary.