The Bible Stinks at Math

Well, not exactly stinks. It’s more the human side of the equation that bothers me.

The other day I saw some people debating this:

The 1611 KJV. 16 x 11 = 176. 176 is the # of verses in Psalm 119, the longest chapter. Psalm 119 is all about the word of God. #oldpaths

— Todd Thompson (@jtoddthompson) June 12, 2014

1611 is the year the King James Version of the Bible was produced. This nifty mathematical formula has randomly taken the year, split it up and multiplied it together to create a fictitious link to Psalm 119.

While not stated, the implication is that the 1611 King James Version is the true Word of God and all other Bibles are frauds.

This kind of math seriously aggravates me. There is nothing logical about it. I might as well say something like:

1611 KJV. 1+6+1+1=9. Genesis 9 is all about God making a covenant never protect and never destroy all humanity again.

It’s bogus. It’s assigning meaning to random numbers. There is nothing biblical about it. I’ve seen quite a few people talk about Bible codes and secret messages and meanings in the Bible. If you count every seventh letter (in the original Hebrew, of course) in the Book of ______ you’ll see a secret message from God…

Barf.

Here’s the thing – the Bible is special enough without secret codes and hidden meanings. The Bible is difficult enough without secret codes and meanings. Rather than making up bogus connections based on wonky math, let’s work on reading, interpreting, and applying the Bible to our daily lives.

How about that, huh? Let’s start there.

So next time you see someone posting about numbers in the Bible and making random connections, politely point out that such “interpretation” is full of…garbage.

This is me getting off my soapbox…

Related Posts:
– The Bible Does Not Mean That! – Episode 1
– The Bible Does Not Mean That! – Episode 2
– The Bible Does Not Mean That! – Episode 3