In the book's final chapter, "The Final Days," Drosnin says the Bible code predicts that the end of the world will occur in 2000, or in 2006, or it may be delayed until a later date or it may not happen at all. Some prediction. He gets around this problem--applying chaos theory, Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Richard Feynman's quantum physics--when he writes: "There isn't just one real future, there are many possible futures." In fact, he concludes, "The Bible code revealed each of them." Apparently he is unaware of the "many-worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. It's just as well. None of this works. Remarkably, after 178 pages of breathtaking revelations abut biblical prophecies, Drosnin confesses that the Bible doesn't actually predict anything: "It is not a promise of divine salvation. It is not a threat of inevitable doom. It is just information." Einstein once said: "God does not play dice." Now Drosnin would like us to believe that God plays computer games. This is all good fun if you don't take it seriously.
Harum-scarum
THE BIBLE CODE By Michael Drosnin; Simon & Schuster: 265 pp., $25
Unfortunately, many are taking it seriously, as if to say, "See, modern science supports what we have been saying all along--there really is something unique and special about the Bible." Is there?
There is. The Bible is one of the greatest works of literature in the history of Western thought. It is a book of myth and meaning, poetry and prose, moral homilies and ethical dilemmas. In his epilogue, Drosnin admits, "I'm not religious. I don't even believe in God." It shows. Drosnin has taken a beautiful work of literature and ruined it by trying to turn it into a book of science. Science and religion are separate spheres of knowledge, but because we live in the Age of Science and no longer the Age of Faith, temptations abound to use the former to bolster the latter. Such attempts always fail because religion ultimately depends on faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews says. O ye of little faith. Why do you need a computer code? You don't. "The Bible Code" is not only an insult to science and to those who are deeply religious, it is also an insult to God.
- Making a Case for Skepticism in a Culture of Crystals
October 31, 1999
