Ab,
I did not want to post this material. But you insisted that I provide some "evidence" for the existence of the God of the Bible. I told you I did not have time to answer all the questions I knew doing so would raise. As expected, I have already had to defend myself on the board against various charges including "numerology." I have also received several E mails which I will be able to answer only in a very limited way due to time constraints. So I hope you will understand if I do not respond to all your questions or comments. I prefer to let what I have posted exist on its own merits. If it gets someone to think that there may be something to the idea that the God of the Bible created our universe, great. If not, then I hope God will reveal to them some other kind of evidence of His existence that will be more to their liking.
You wrote: My monitor casing is 40cm high.
All the 40s and 400s I referenced were ratios in the sun, moon and stars. I also spoke of the planet Pluto and the distance across our solar system. Planets were at the time of Christ also called "stars." ( The planets, because of their movement, were then called "wandering stars." Our word "planet" was, in fact, derived from the Greek word "planes," which weans "wanderer.") Centimeters are a man made measurement like inches or cubits or feet or miles. Certainly, with all the various ways of measuring available to us we would have little trouble coming up with a 4, 40 or 400 measurement of some kind for just about everything. That's why I have only discussed ratios, as have the astronomers in the articles I quoted. Besides, Jesus said, "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars." He did not say there would be signs in everyday household objects like your computer monitor.
You wrote: you think the mind of the person is more important in determining their belief in god than the facts
I think a person's attitude is important in determining whether or not God will reveal facts to that person which will instill belief in him.
You wrote: There is a number sequence in the distance of the planets from the sun, for example (can't remember it's name) that correctly places the planets, including one where the Asteroid Belt is.
You refer to Bode's Law. In 1766 an astronomer by the name of Johann Daniel Titius published an observation. He wrote that the spacing of our solar system's then discovered planets followed a pattern which was based both on the # 4 and on our own planet Earth's distance from the sun. His observation was popularized a few years later in a book written by astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Titius' observation, which later became known as "Bode's Law," in effect predicted that if other planets existed in our solar system they would be found in locations which followed the same previously noted pattern. Bode's Law was soon criticized by many. For critics asked, "How would the other planets in our solar system all develop solar orbits patterned after the solar orbit of Earth?" Their skepticism seemed well founded. For no theoretical basis for Bode's Law has ever been found. It does not follow, as do other relationships, the laws of motion or the law of gravitation. Yet, in spite of that controversy, many astronomers searched the heavens looking for "new" planets in locations where Bodes Law predicted "new" planets would be found. When their efforts proved largely successful those who had criticized Bode's Law began to do some serious head scratching.
You wrote: why the obscureness? Please include scriptures in making this argument. Why is god making it so complicated? ... It seems contrary to any claim to a caring god, if the caring god is playing hide the sausage with the real truth.
I believe Jesus is the Creator of our universe. If He is then to me it makes perfect sense that He would give us evidence of His identity in His cosmic creations, while at the same time not making that evidence so easy to see that everyone would have to see it. For to do such a thing is consistent with the Jesus we know from scripture. Let's remember how Jesus taught. Mark tells us that whenever Jesus spoke to crowds of people which contained both His friends and His enemies, "He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples he explained everything. " (Mark 4:34) Why did Jesus speak in parables? Why did He go to all the trouble of telling such often hard to understand stories to crowds which gathered to hear Him speak? Was the purpose of the parables to help all who listened to Jesus come to clearly understand the deep things of God? No, it was not. In fact often Jesus' purpose in speaking the way that He did was just the opposite. Jesus told His disciples, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that though seeing they may not see and though hearing they may not understand." (Luke 8:10, see also Mt. 13:10-15)
Jesus understood that many of His listeners had hearts hardened against Him, and from such people, through the use of parables, He deliberately withheld "the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God." He did so by incorporating into those parables elements which He knew His enemies would find fault with and the spiritually lazy would end up stumbling over. Now, remember according to the Bible, the Lord is the same "yesterday, today and forever." (Heb. 13:8) Is it any wonder then that He caused the Bible to be written and incorporated evidence of His identity into the sun, moon and stars, in the same way that He, as Jesus Christ, spoke to audiences which contained both His friends and His enemies? Remember, He did so in a way that would give His enemies opportunity to find fault, the spiritually lazy opportunity to stumble and His true disciples opportunity to gain "the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God." And the population of earth today is made up of the same kinds of people who listened to Jesus' parables, is it not? And if the universe was designed and created by the speaker of those parables, doesn't it make sense that it would have been designed and created in the same way that those parables were spoken? In a way that would only reveal "the secrets of the kingdom of God" to people who are both pure of heart and not spiritually lazy. Remember also that Jesus said that, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field." (Matt. 13:44) Hidden treasure requires effort to find. It does not sit right in front of everyone, so that even those who are not willing to exert themselves can easily grab hold of it.
You wrote: it is based on the presumption that the Bible is the word of god
No, it is not. When I discovered this "evidence" I was an exJW and no longer believed that the Bible was the word of God. Though I was still open to the possibility of God's existence and had recently been praying to God and asking Him, if He existed, to please help me understand His will for me. The fact is, I had recently been ridiculing the Bible to a friend by saying that it was obviously just a book filled with superstitions of men. I had used as an example the Bible's numerous uses of the numbers 40 and 400. Later that same day I picked up a magazine which was discussing a recent solar eclipse and how solar eclipses are caused by the "extremely serendipitous" relationship the sun, moon and earth have with the number 400. I began to wonder if there might be a connection between the Bible's use of the number 400 and the fact that the same number appears to the minds of astronomers when the moon eclipses the sun in the sky.
You wrote: Oh, 4,005 [actually I said 4,000] years between Christ and Adam… based on Biblical year counts including inflated ages of pre-flood patriarchs? So did they live that long?
I believe they did. But that is another long discussion.
