Theomatics
Theomatics is a numerological study of the Greek and Hebrew text of the Christian Bible, based upon gematria and isopsephia, that its proponents assert demonstrates the direct intervention of God in the writing of Christian scripture.
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[edit] Etymology
The term "theomatics" was invented by Del Washburn in 1976, who coined the name "theomatics" as a combination of "Θεός" ("God") and "mathematics", and wrote several books[1] and created a website[2] espousing the hypothesis.
[edit] Methodology
Theomatics is not the same thing as Bible code; it uses an entirely different technique. The Bible code (also called ELS for Equidistant Letter Sequences) uses a letter skipping technique. Theomatics, on the other hand, is based on gematria and isopsephia, systems which assign numerical values to letters in the ancient Hebrew and Greek alphabets.
Proponents of theomatics claim that an analysis of the Bible reveals numerical patterns that are not explicable by chance.[3]
[edit] Controversy
An analysis and criticism of theomatics has been published anonymously by "A. B. Leever"[4].
A German statistician published an analysis[5] that found that "The observed quantity of theomatic hits is significantly not random".[6] His findings led Del Washburn to write that theomatics is "an issue that has been settled and is both determinate and conclusive".[7] A response to the findings was posted by A. B. Leever.[8]
Another page, entitled "Theomatics Debunked"[9], claims to show the same phenomenon in a secular text.
Washburn's website has a page entitled "Scientific Proof"[3] which discusses and responds to potential arguments against theomatics.
[edit] References
- ^ The three books are:
- Jerry Lucas and Del Washburn (1986). Theomatics: God's Best Kept Secret Revealed. Stein & Day Pub. ISBN 0-8128-6017-9.
- Del Washburn (1994). Theomatics II : God's Best-Kept Secret Revealed. Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-4023-2.
- Del Washburn (1994). The Original CODE in the BIBLE. Madison Books. ISBN 1-56833-115-0.
- ^ Del Washburn. "What is Theomatics?". http://www.theomatics.com/theomatics/whatis.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
- ^ a b Del Washburn. "Scientific Proof of the Discovery". http://www.theomatics.com/theomatics/proof.html. Retrieved 2005-10-10.
- ^ A. B. Leever. "Theomatics". http://www.ableever.net/Apologetics/Theomatics/theomatics.html. Retrieved October 10, 2005.
- ^ Kurt Fettelschoss. "Table of Contents". Theomatics. http://www.theomatics.net/contents.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
- ^ Kurt Fettelschoss. "Cover letter". http://theomatics.net/cover.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
- ^ Del Washburn. "Statement regarding Fettelschoss' analysis". http://theomatics.net/index.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
- ^ A. B. Leever. "Response to Fettelschoss". http://www.ableever.net/Apologetics/Theomatics/Theom-Lk15/Theom-Lk15-Response/theom-lk15-response.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
- ^ Russell Glasser. "Theomatics Debunked". http://www.apollowebworks.com/atheism/theomatics.html. Retrieved October 10, 2005.
[edit] Further reading
- Theomatics and Other Bible Codes from Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
- Bible Code from the Skeptic's Dictionary
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