Review of "The Bible Code," by Michael Drosnin

Our Review of "The Bible Code" by Michael Drosnin

(Note: A review of Drosnin's book was originally published by the Staff of thebiblecodes.com
and was given a major re-write by Keith York on March 19, 2000)

Contrary to popular belief, this site does not agree with,
and is not associated in any way with Michael Drosnin,
his book, or any website about his book.

The Bible Code was written by Michael Drosnin, and published by Simon & Schuster in the late spring of 1997. The problems that we have with Michael Drosnin's book can be summarized in the following categories: (1) the nature of the codes that he presents and his lack of statistical analysis; (2) his use of the codes to predict the future; (3) his theological views.

To begin with, Michael Drosnin presents a large number of arrays in his book. Some of these are arrays found by codes experts such as Eliyahu Rips, while others are arrays which he found himself. Many of them are statistically valid arrays; however, many are not. A good summary of all the codes that he found can be found at http://www.gelservices.com/proofcode.html. The problem is that without the use of statistical analysis, the casual reader is hard-pressed to distinguish the good arrays from those that are simply random word patterns. Lack of statistical analysis has also been an accusation made by others against this and other sites which present the codes. This is an area which I intend to remedy.

Finally, we have theological problems with Mr. Drosnin's beliefs. Most importantly, even after believing in the codes he remained an atheist. To quote from p. 103 of his book, "I had proof there was a code, but not proof there was a God. If the Bible code came from an all-powerful God, he would not need to tell us the future. He could change it himself. The code seemed, instead, to be from someone good, but not all-powerful, who wanted to warn us of a terrible danger so we could prevent it ourselves." If God was not the encoder, who does Michael Drosnin believe was? He believes that it came from an ancient alien civilization which could see into our future. Again quoting from his book, "The Bible code is, in fact, an alternative form of contact scientists searching for intelligent life beyond this planet have suggested: 'the discovery of an alien artifact or message on or near Earth.' " (p. 98). To us and every other codes proponent except Drosnin, the surface text of the Bible is more important than the Bible code. The Bible tells us about God and what He expects from us. The Bible code simply helps confirm that God did indeed write the Bible.

Many different books on the codes can be found in Christian bookstores. Yet the only one that makes big news, and is sold in all bookstores, is Drosnin's book. Why? Why won't the secular media respond to the other books about the codes? The biggest negative effect then, is that all the critics, and the media respond to Drosnin's book and say how phony it is, and they think they have addressed the Bible Codes Phenomenon. The public is lead to believe, "the Bible Code is just a farce" without even a consideration of the other works that have been published.

Another negative effect, is that Michael has put a "New-Age" twist to the codes. This leads many Christians (who have only heard of Michael's book) to think the codes are not of God. To read a paper about why Drosnin's, and other people's viewpoints on the codes are wrong, click here.

The only positive, is that it has made the Bible Codes Phenomenon well known, and may inspire people to at least look for websites like this one. However, the codes are there to give glory to God (who is the One who put them there by the way). We are skeptical of anyone who does not give the glory to God, and does not use the codes to get people to believe the Bible.