–Shouldn’t we be very careful and mabe even avoid study of numbers in the Bible?
–We have always been taught chapter and verse references were added hundreds of years after the text was written. It seems impossible they would have any inspired meaning?
–We know patterns can be perceived and seen where none really exist. How do we know these patterns are real?
–It seems many of the claims here are possibly convenient contrivances to make a number fit a theme. How have these facts been deduced and verified?
–Many claims are made about how numbers fit together such as that a verse reference 2:5 can also be seen as the number 25. How do we know this?
–How can we know the theme of a number? Where are they written down?
–If authors we know say they wrote the bible, can we believe it is all a product of God’s direction?
–Is there value in this for those who already believe the Bible is the inspired word of God?
–Is this discovery more for scholars than the average student of the bible?
–Might this change the way I read the bible?
–Does this change what I have been taught about God and the Bible?
–Many claim numbers are misused and associated with New Age thinking – How is this discovery different?
–Why has this only now been discovered?
–How could the numbers have been inspired when written hundreds of years after the text?
–Why should the average person care about this discovery?
Shouldn’t we be very careful and mabe even avoid study of numbers in the Bible?
The assertions made about a supernatural structure in the bible are very difficult to accept for a number of reasons. First, we have been conditioned to be very skeptical and even overly fearful of anything that has to do with symbolism of numbers. This theory has largely come from the occult or numbers are used to justify strange and even evil thinking. Christians seem to fear the study of numbers so much they seem to run from the subject whenever it is mentioned as if some evil teaching will reach out and grab them. Towards reminding yourself that numbers are of God and the creation we live in operates to laws that can be proven mathematically.
God is a god of order and it is no surprise his creation is numerically perfect. For those who think such things possible, might satan have been working for hundreds of years to find ways to discredit any study of numbers as evil? Maybe all the strange occult writings about numbers was written for this reason? -top-
We have always been taught chapter and verse references were added hundreds of years after the text was written. It seems impossible they would have any inspired meaning?
A reason we find it difficult to consider Bible book chapter and verse numbers to be inspired is that history tells us they were added hundreds of years after the Bible was canonized and were even added in a very arbitrary way. If this is so then it’s impossible that they could be inspired by God. But we should remember that the entire Bible was written by 40 different authors over 2000 years and we consider it a fully inspired word of God. God could have inspired the numbers in the same way he inspired the original text of the Bible -the authors thought they were doing it from their own thinking and yet God was working through them as every character and number were written down on paper.
More importantly, the evidence for the patterns demand a supernatural creator. No matter what history or our minds tell us, we must consider the evidence that a pattern and number meanings exist that cannot be explained outside of them being a creation of God. -top-
We know patterns can be perceived and seen where none really exist. How do we know these patterns are real?
It is absolutely true that our minds can perceive patterns where none really exist and it is very important to distinguish real created patterns from ones that just happen to exist. This is a question of the validity of evidence. Any evidence can be found to be invalid or wrong and that is why we have a scientific method for confirming what we believe we have found.
I have now studied these patterns and themes for more than nine years and am forced to validate my own thinking every day. In fact, I reject many more of my perceptions than I actually evaluate. If course there are likely improper assumptions found in my writings but have you ever looked at a few Bible commentaries? The scholars who write them often do not agree. The Bible is an amazing book beyond or comprehension so errors will always be made in it’s interpretation.
I have made over 200,000 topical notes in my online study Bible and typically have spent many hours verifying any pattern I write about. How do I know they are real? Because the perponderance of evidence for each pattern points them out to us.
The best way you can come to trust the patterns and themes is to validate them for yourselves. Acts 17:11 tells us we are to be validating the teaching of God’s word for ourselves through the study of God’s Word. Don’t accept anything I write as truth until you have confirmed it through your own study. The best way to do this is to pick one of the most clear examples or proofs and confirm it for yourself. For example, look at all the chapter 22’s in the Bible and see the preponderance of evidence that they are all about Jesus or his adversary. Check out verse 22’s and notice how they so often reflect Jesus or things related to him.
Most importantly, don’t reject the premise of patterns because they might be a product of the author’s imagination. That would be like not tasting something you have never tried before because you may not like it. Instead, check it out for yourself and see if what was said about it is true. -top-
It seems many of the claims here are possibly convenient contrivances to make a number fit a theme. How have these facts been deduced and verified?
The quick answer to this is by verifying the conclusions with hundreds of evidences both that support the conclusion and also evidences that prove it is not a coincidence or chance.
One way I try to demonstrate the patterns are not contrived is to use methods that I cannot contrive to validate them. For example, to verify the theme for a number one of the first things I do is to go look at hyperverse examples for that number. For example, there are 17 verse 17:17s in the Bible. Any theme I come up with must be seen in these 17 verses. If not, I must question my results. I cannot contrive what verse text is associated to any 17:17 verse so in that way my results as far as verses selected cannot be considered contrived. After I have confirmed the theory on these verses I then read the Bible’s chapter 17s of which there are 24. Then I examine the 17th verses of each Bible book and the study continues. These are some of the methods I use to try and make sure my conclusions are not the product of an overactive imagination. -top-
Many claims are made about how numbers fit together such as that a verse reference 2:5 can also be seen as the number 25. How do we know this?
Such discoveries that are as unusual as a verse reference with 2:5 having a relationship to the number 25 are accidential ones I’ve happened to come across (or maybe God led me to). After spending many thousands of hours in the Bible in studying such things you do notice anominalies worth checking out. Once you spot a clue they exist, then confirming the theory is like any other validation–to examine enough evidence that either proves or disproves it. When I write about such improbable sounding relationships there are most often many hours of validation and personal experience that has proven to me they are true.
It might be useful to know that since what I write about is so unusual and impossible, I’m hyper viligent about writing what may clearly be proven wrong. I certainly make mistakes but hopefully they are honest ones. It would be a discredit to my credibility and the credibility of the Redemption Pattern concept if I am wreckless about assumptions I make. Even though what I write about is clearly of imperfect human understanding, at the same time I’m representing God’s Word in what I do and the Bible states anyone leading others astray in the teaching of God’s word will deal with severe consequences. I certainly do not want that. -top-
How can we know the theme of a number? Where are they written down?
God apparently did not write a guide for his numbers in the Bible-at least I have not found it yet. But once you understand the concept of the perfection of the patterns and numbers then you can explore this consistent organization to determine meanings. Two of the best sources for understanding any number is by looking at the theme for the book corresponding to that number (Joshua is the 6th book) and the to compare the themes for chapters with the same number. Along with looking at hyperverses for the number (6:6 verses) and other strong number related verses, the pattern and themes for numbers becomes apparent. Another of the major validations of a number’s meaning is to find the 1000th verse occurrence for the that number and examine the text. For example Joshua 7:23 is the 6000th verse of the Bible and clearly shows sin exposed…
Josh 7:23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the LORD.
When you also see the 6th chapter of Genesis is about the flood that is removing sin from the earth, and the 6th book Joshua being about entering the land and removing strongholds of sin then Joshua 7:23 being about sin being exposed begins to form a pretty compelling pattern.
The themes are a result of understanding the concepts and consistency of the patterns and then using that consistency to deduce the themes related to like numbered and referenced text. -top-
If authors we know say they wrote the bible, can we believe it is all a product of God’s direction?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Is there value in this for those who already believe the Bible is the inspired word of God?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Is this discovery more for scholars than the average student of the bible?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Might this change the way I read the bible?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Does this change what I have been taught about God and the Bible?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses.
Numbers and the Redemption are a pattern and numeric references that point back to the pattern. They are not a code. The Numeric Map guides us in understanding what is written in the Bible and will only change what you know about it if it causes you to have a better understanding of the text. It is true that understanding the pattern will likely change your understanding of scripture in the same way any great Bible commentary or teacher will enlighten your interpretation of God’s Word -top-
Many claim numbers are misused and associated with New Age thinking – How is this discovery different?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Why has this only now been discovered?
God would not put such perfection so obviously in the Bible had he not intended for us to see and take advantage of it and he could have revealed it to someone anytime he desired to. So this makes me suspect he has a specific purpose for revealing it at this time. If we are in the very last days as I suspect we are, then it would appear there’s a special reason why he choses to reveal it now. One thought I have about this is God’s plan to redeem a remnamt of Israel in the Last Days. Since the Redemption Pattern and Numeric map show both the Old Testament and New Testament were written with the same supernatural structure and that both the Old and New Testaments must be brought together as a single work for the numbers to work, then the patterns prove the Jesus of the New Testament is the messiah the Jews are waiting for. For example, The 24,000th verse can only line up with Matthew 24:42 (see proofs) if both the Old and New testaments are perfectly joined and numbered.
If not for this reason, I’m pretty sure God has specific reason why this perfection has not previously been discovered. God must have intentionally hidden it from us for all these years since there have been many people who have spent their lives studying the Bible and even numbers and the numbers are not so deeply hidden that they would not have encountered them themselves. That said, only God knows who, how or why all this happened but now that we know about them it seems a sure thing we should use them to their best value. -top-
How could the numbers have been inspired when written hundreds of years after the text?
Most believers have no problem accepting that God acts in our lives everyday – we actually pray for such help daily. God directs the thoughts and paths of us and others every day without our knowledge. It is conceivable that while authors were faithfully writing down the inspired words of God, God’s Holy Spirit was supernaturally giving them every word and letter to be written. This same influence of the Holy Spirit is likely responsible for decisions of cannonization, translation and numbering and arrangement of books, chapters and verses. -top-
Why should the average person care about this discovery?
There are many debates regarding the accuracy and validity of the Bible. These are within and outside Christian circles. There are so many views about the contents of the Bible that you would think that God did not write clearly enough. But our problem with understanding Scripture is not so much in what is written, but rather what we assume about it. We have a very difficult time in reading the words of Scripture as God wrote them because we continually try to put the thoughts, actions, instructions, stories and everything else we read in the Bible in human terms. In watching one Christian video the other day demands stated that while much of the Bible was factual that stories like Jesus walking on water were clearly myth or symbolic and could not possibly have happened. Even if we do believe that Jesus walked on water this is the kind of assumptions that we all make whenever we read Scripture. We think Scripture was written by men and that the words written in the Bible are bound by the capabilities and ideas of man. Of course that’s not how we talk because we all admit that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that with God anything is possible, but then will read a verse such as the walls of Jericho falling down by the power of God and then seek to figure out how this possibly could’ve happened. It is almost humorous how on one hand we say God’s word is inspired and then go study the Bible and doubt what the words clearly say.
In this age of “wisdom” we almost know too much to be able to have total faith in God. Hundreds of years ago people had no problem believing in the power of God because they have little understanding about how his world worked. But today with all our scientific minds we feel we can figure out most everything. God must laugh at how confident we are in our knowledge. We all need to get our minds to where we can put God in the proper perspective and make his word again holy to us. This can happen if we begin to see how the precise words of Scripture are words from God and not words that we believe are “inspired” by men, fallible man. -top-