Does 12-13-14 Have Any Special Meaning?

I imagine that the numerologists are very busy today looking for arcane messages in today’s date, 13 December 2014. This date can be represented as 12-13-14.  This alignment of dates will not happen again for 100 years.  Surely it must have some cosmic significance! Personally, I think it is just a coincidental arrangement of numbers due to our current dating system.

When I noticed the 12-13-14 arrangement, I thought about the significance of numbers, especially in the Bible, which does use numbers as symbols. Think of the numbers 3, 7, 666, and 1000. Some people think that they see beyond the obvious symbolic use of numbers and that they can detect many numerological messages secretly embedded in the text by God. This is on the same order as belief in the controversial Torah Bible Codes.

The hidden messages which do undeniably exit in the Bible were of human origin. For instance, investigate ATBASH. An example occurs at Jeremiah 25:26. These messages were meant by the writers to obscure the true meaning from hostile governmental authorities who might read the texts. The idea is "to hide in plain sight." Also investigate the use of acrostics, an intentional literary form used by some of the Old Testament writers. Two examples of biblical acrostics occur at Proverbs 31:10-31 and Psalms 119.

I do not believe that the Bible is full of hidden supernatural messages. That is a pagan Gnostic idea. God inspired the writing of the various books of the Bible as a coherent whole and it is intended to be understood. It is a tool, a book of revelation about the nature of God, not a book of puzzles.

The Bible tells us that God is not a man and that His ways are not our ways. God is totally other, unknowable, and perfect.  He moves in the sub-atomic places and in the cosmic places. The Bible is part of God’s effort to make the utterly unknowable (Himself) understandable, at least partly, to our inadequate tiny little minds. Over and over we are told, “the Kingdom of God is like ….” I believe that God has used the entire Jewish religious and cultural system to explain what He is like. The entire Bible points toward Jesus, Who is the ultimate revelation of Who God is.

How Biblical Dates Have Been Determined

How do archeologists and historians know that the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria ran from 705 to 681 BC/BCE since the BC/BCE (Before Christ/Before the Common Era) system dates from the birth of Jesus?  The Assyrians used a totally different dating system, as did the Persians, the Jews, the Romans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the Mayans.  Some of the calendars were based on lunar cycles, some on solar cycles, others on a combination of the two.  Some calendars were based on arithmetic calculations.  How could anyone find a unified, understandable, and universally agreed upon date for an ancient event occurring before the modern dating system?

First, we have to acknowledge that our modern dating system is in error by about 6 years.  It is now recognized that the biblical events surrounding the birth of Jesus (such as the fact that Herod died in 4 BC/BCE) require that Jesus’ birth occurred about 6 BC/BCE.  The calculations by Dionysius Exiguus in the sixth century were in error, not the Bible.

The dating of biblical and other ancient events has been established in much the same way as modern science has advanced: one little step at a time, putting a piece here and another piece there until finally a recognizable pattern emerges.  Just like a jigsaw puzzle.

One of the first types of information which was used was lists of officials.  Roman consuls served for one year and a list of those men who served from 509 BC/BCE to 541 AD/CE exits.  If only one man can be locked into a specific year, then the entire list is locked.  Obviously then, an event known to have occurred during the reign of one of these men is also locked.  Such lists have been found in the records of numerous ancient cultures.

King lists have been found all over the world.  Events were often reckoned as having happened in the “third year of “ this or that king.  The second century Egyptian, Claudius Ptolmaeus, accurately compiled a list of the kings of Egypt, Persia, and Bablylonia from the eighth century BC/BCE forward.   The third century Egyptian priest Manetho divided Egyptian history into thirty dynasties.

Anchor events of known and provable date can often be tied to individuals and events spoken of in histories and lists.  There were solar eclipses on 6 April 648 BC/BCE and 15 June 763 BC/BCE and a lunar eclipse on 27 August 413 BC/BCE.

One piece of information by itself may be just a piece of information.  Put together with hundreds of other facts, there may suddenly be an “Aha!, there it is!”

AshleyMadison.com

"Life is short.  Have an affair."  That is the motto of the online dating service, AshleyMadison.com.

In the 15 December - 22 December, 2011 issue of Birmingham Weekly, a local community weekly newspaper, there is a half-page advertisement for AshleyMadison.com which says "The average escort will have sex with 7 men today ... the average woman will have sex with seven men in her lifetime.  92% of our men hook-up with real, c lean women within 24 hours.  Join now for a free trial."

This website is targeted at married men and is a direct assault on marriage and monogamy.  It advocates "casual encounters."  There is also a side website for "married men looking for something hot and discreet with other men."

Ashley Madison is not an actual person, but is a name coined from two common female personal names.  The site is entirely commercial.  The site claims over 10,000,000 members with about 700,000 unique vistors per month.

It was unusual to see the advertisement in the local newspaper since many magazines, newspapers, television networks, etc. refuse to accept the company's controversial advertising.

Read tomorrow's post about a Christian alternative to this vile company.

BCE and CE

     BCE is the abbreviation for "Before the Common Era" and CE is the abbreviation for "Common Era."  These terms correspond to the earlier BC, "Before Christ," and AD, "Anno Domini" (Latin for the "Year of the Lord").  The newer terms are used because they are more inclusive of non-Christians than the earlier terms.  The actual dating remains the same.

     The earlier dating terminology was established in the Sixth Century and has been shown to be in error by about four to eight years.  Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem (Bayt Lahm, West Bank) in about the year 6 BCE.