Rating: 
Summary: Great entertainment for the gullible
Review: What the "The Bible Code" reveals is the ability to be as inventive as the interpretation of various biblical passages put on them by a host of television evangelists. One sees what one wants to see. God knows the Bible is convoluted and obtuse enough without going through an elaborate pretense of finding a secret code in it for the purposes of supporting prophetic purposes. The interpretations and slants put on them are as various as they are at times silly. Drosnin's book is just another step in a long progression of the sometimes sincere pretense of claiming to know what the Bible says in a whole or in part, his agnosticism notwithstanding. The Bible as a source book for prophecies is ideally suited to open interpretation because of its poetic nature, making the plausibility of finding code in it suspect, with or without the concurrence of a NSA employee or various other academic disciplines. One has only to listen to the flood of so-called shamans, visionaries, end timers, New Agers, and Bible Thumpers of the Apocalypse vein to realize that the mind of humankind is as inventive as the trail from paganism has been, with the transition from many gods, to one God of some heightened sophistication in possession of the perfect attributes. If, as some claim, we received assistance from aliens in our distance past, it follows that they must have observed us with some consternation and revulsion, given our primitive, violent natures in a global daycare center largely out of control. If one accepts this loosely conjectured thought, what better way to approach us than to pass along the conception of a fearful, jealous god in biblical form complete with a code? If true, it has to be the best conceived hoax in the Milky Way galaxy.
Having said that, as a former writer for the Wall Street Journal and now described as an investigative journalist, "The Bible Code" leaves a lot to be desired.
R.H. Nucich (hummer@junction.net), Revelstoke, B.C., Canada
Rating:
Summary: Not a new idea
Review: Okay, I didn't actually read it, but the idea behind this book has been around for a long time, and several authors have written recently on this topic. Be wary of trying to make more out of the Bible than there is; There is already plenty of prophecy (2000+) fulfilled and God's message of love and atonement through Christ is already abundantly clear. Don't base your faith on this without further investigation -- be discerning. Both the Christian Research Institute (Hank Haanegraff) and Reasons to Believe have written articles on this topic. Check them out before you make your decision. ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: To me, this book proves that the Bible is the true word of God - there are far too many repeating codes for this to be a mere coincidence. >I would urge those who are still skeptical to read James Harrison's "The Pattern and the Prophecy" which uses a mathematical (gematrical) analysis - Hebrews and Greeks assigned numbers to each letter of the alphabet) to arrive at the same conclusions. Those who question the omission of Jesus from Drosnin's book should read Yacov Rambsel's "Yeshua" which shows many references to Jesus in the Old Testament using a similar 'hidden code' approach. Both of these books are available from Amazon. I am surprised at the vehement attacks by some reviewers. Many branches of science (anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, medicine, and even meteorology and astronomy) use far less rigorous or predictable criteria than those in these books without their validity being questioned. Perhaps the only true (unchanging) science is mathematics - if you agree, read James Harrison's book!
Rating: 
Summary: Offensive abuse of statistics
Review: As a mathematician and cryptographer I find the methods used simplistic and unconvicing. With the great liberties taken you could equally "show" many other predictions of events in the past. People would be better off practicing what is preached in the Bible, than looking for secret codes. Like McCarthism, if you look hard enough for something, you can generally find vague allusions to anything. I wonder how many sexually explicit messages might be found with the same technique. Let Faith be based upon faith in the words of the Bible, not in "secret codes." If you want true stories about secret codes, I highly recommend David Kahn's _The Codebreakers; The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet_ (2nd ed 1996). In fact if I recall correctly, there is even mention of others looking for secret codes in reglious texts.
Rating: 
Summary: Life Changing!
Review: If you have been searching for the TRUTH - this is your big chance. The Bible Code is a life changer! I'm shocked at those who choose not to see and accept the obvious. This just proves that in the End Times "...people won't listen to the truth; but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear. They won't listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas." (2 Tim. 4:3-4) Don't be one of those people. I also find it amusing that people think themselves more intelligent than the scientific and mathematical "greats" of today. This code has been proven and reproven by anyone and everyone that matters! KNC
Rating:
Summary: tabloid-esque
Review: I was disappointed in the quality of writing from an author with a journalistic reputation. I find it hard to believe he writes for such an intellectual paper as the Wall Street Journal. His "persuasive arguments" sounded similar to those one can read in the tabloids at your local grocery store checkout line. They had the same emotional, non-intellectual appeal. The writing was entirely too much repetitive, too. The diagrams were worthless, put there to appear convincing, while not actually explaining anything. The scientific paper printed in the appendix was the only worthwhile part to the entire book. The only thing I was convinced of was that the quality of writing was poor, and the persuasion lacking.
Rating:
Summary: Drosnin Convincing Proponent of Bible Code Mystery
Review: I had often wondered what the Bible meant when prophecies were said to be"sealed," as in Daniel 12:9-10 in which the prophet is told "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end...none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." Drosnin's book gives a plausible answer to the mystery presented by such passages, and is all the more plausible because the author is a professed agnostic, even after researching and reporting on the incredible discoveries of professors Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg, who unlocked the Code to begin with. Drosnin was so obviously blown away by this discovery, and by what he thought he found revealed by the Bible Code, that he risked being labeled "The Jeanne Dixon of Jerusalem" in his attempts to convince Israeli officials of the Code's authenticity and relevance to current events.
Worse, Drosnin risked -- and may have ruined -- his career as a respected journalist with this book, because he failed to either dismiss the scientists' peer-reviewed conclusions or to make a Politically Correct mockery of the subject. Drosnin refused to make the anti-semitic assumption that the Bible is a book of Jewish lies fostered in fear and ancient ignorance. Instead the author looked at the astonishing facts, tried to refute them, and when in good conscience he could not disprove the Bible Code, he leaped into the prophetic fray. Like Jeremiah in his day, Drosnin has received little thanks for being a bearer of bad news concerning assassins and cataclysmic wars.
"The wise shall understand," the plain text tells us. Apparently, one need not even be a believer -- Jewish or Christian -- to understand that the Bible Code affirms what hundreds of millions of people have believed for thousands of years: namely that the Bible and its teachings are not a human invention. The implications of the Bible Code are so staggering, even for a believer, it's no wonder Drosnin was blown away by it.
As for critics who claim that other books yield up results similar to the Bible, both Drosnan and the Bible Code scientists have clearly demonstrated that they do not. One doesn't find the names of great people in *Moby Dick* in a grid that also contains their date of birth and death, place of birth and death, and list of major life accomplishments. For a better understanding of the mathematical probabilities against finding information clusters in any given work, the Bible Code scientists' paper on the subject (which originally appeared in the U. S. Sholarly journal, *Statistical Science* and is reprinted by permission in Drosnin's book) is indispensable. Asinine pseudo-refutations have appeared on the internet (Yahoo has a site featuring one such no-brainer), but as Drosnin pointedly observes in his book, "In the nearly three years since the Rips-Witztum-Rosenberg paper was published, no one has submitted a rebuttal to the math journal."
No rebuttal in scientific circles. Why? Because the Bible Code is real. And Drosnin's book treats it with the seriousness that it deserves. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: Searching for the newer events...
Review: Basically I think that we should seriously notice this issue. To make it clear, maybe we can get more evidences as a kind of proof by searching recent-happened important events in the Bible, like the death of Diana or so. You know what I am saying here: More we may find in the Bible, more chance it's true to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Codes are real; conclusions are wrong.
Review: The codes are no doubt real and verify God's existence and his attempt to communicate with man in the way that He has chosen. He has not made these codes evident to replace or ignore the surface text, but to validate it. Read the Bible and do what it says, namely, trust your eternal salvation to Y'shua the Messiah (Jesus) by confessing that you have fallen short of the righteousness that our perfect G-d requires, and asking that Jesus's blood wash you from all your sins so that His righteosness becomes yours
Rating:
Summary: Bible Code Challenge
Review: I've previously reviewed this book (see 9/2 review). Now I issue a challenge for the Bible Code to identify the real killer of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman! My modest proposal is to eliminate the criminal justice system and just use the code to answer all future questions of guilt or innocence. I am amazed at how many reviewers do not realize how easily "messages" can be read into any text, sacred or otherwise. I see that Princess Diana's death is now documented on the web from both the Bible and Moby Dick! Shouldn't that alert you to how easily texts can be manipulated and contrived? P. T. Barnum would love it
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