Re: Numerics

Dick
For the sake of progress I am happy to withdraw the comments about the Hebrew language preceding creation. I am certainly not a YEC, but then you would have difficulty putting me into any existing category. Suffice to say that I am Christian by upbringing and by preference, but I have a great deal of admiration for Jewish tradition (which does not extend to Israeli politics). The comments of which you disapprove come from one particular aspect of Judaism; but it is an interesting question all the same. What language did God use when He said, "Let there be .."? That, by the way, is rhetorical. I do not want to tie up useful discussion time on irrelevancies.

David

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Dick Fischer
  To: ASA
  Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 6:02 PM
  Subject: Re: Numerics

  David Bradford wrote:

  Glenn
  This time I will address both points. First, if I write a memo to someone covering several points, I run the risk of getting a reply that answers only the one point that matters most to them but least to me. Readers are selective, so by focussing on one topic myself I am more likely to get a reply that is relevant.

  As to vowel pointing, if the original text (without pointing) contained 28 letters, then the text after pointing contains the same letters, no more and no less. Nor is there any effect on the value of a letter in numerology. Once you have fixed on a type of values to use, then a letter has the same value whether it is pointed or not. For example, the letter mem may be pointed so that it is pronounced 'mee', 'ma' or 'maa', but its full (ie standard) gematria value is 40 in all cases, and it is still a single character on the page. The Masoretes designed this system so that it is possible to see through the pointing, to the unadulterated text.

  I realise that it causes some offense to some people that there is more than one set of letter values to choose from. For some, there is a distinction between values which have meaning that is an intrinsic characteristic of the Hebrew alphabet, and values that are invented. In other words, when God created the world by his utterences (eg Let there be light), He had already done some preliminary work including the creation of an alphabet, a language and the Torah (blueprint).

  You actually made some sense until you got to the part about God inventing the alphabet and language. This is simply YEC rhetoric. Did God invent all the languages? Is Mandarin also a God invented language? How about Swahili? Your kind of help God doesn't need. And I don't think Glenn does either, but he can speak for himself.

  Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
  Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
  www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Sun Jun 5 17:16:18 2005