89
votes
Accepted
Are the mathematical constants e and π encoded in the Bible?
Are the mathematical constants e and pi encoded into the Bible?
Based on the provided evidence,
NO.
Disclaimer of bias: I consider myself a Christian who believes that the Bible is divinely inspired. ...
- 756
52
votes
Are the mathematical constants e and π encoded in the Bible?
I've not seen anything directly addressing Vasta's claim. But this feels rather like a case of the well known phenomenon Apophenia - which is the human tendency to attribute significance to otherwise ...
- 1,485
49
votes
Accepted
Are there textual deviations between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Old Testament?
Is it true that there are no textual deviations between the dead sea scrolls and the old testament?
No. Most people claiming that there are no differences seem to cherry-pick the texts that they ...
tim♦
- 51.2k
39
votes
Has a "chariot army" been found at the bottom of the Red Sea?
Ron Wyatt (1933-1999) was a nurse-anesthetist in a hospital in Madison, Tennessee. His claim of finding 'Wheels from Egyptian Chariots involved in the pursuit of the Israelites from Egypt' has been ...
- 22.6k
35
votes
Accepted
Are rape victims forced to marry their rapist, according to the Old Testament?
Yes. According to Deuteronomy, if a man rapes or otherwise have sex with a woman who is not married or engaged, he is forced to "set things right" by marrying the woman. Think of it as a shotgun ...
- 1,012
30
votes
Accepted
Was marriage defined as "selling your daughter for three goats and a cow" in the Bible?
In the past, if a male wanted to marry a female, he'd transfer property, animals or goods to her father. The idea is of giving something valuable in return of a marriage; marriage was just a business ...
- 30k
28
votes
Are there textual deviations between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Old Testament?
It's wrong to say there is literally no difference.
The oldest relatively complete copies of the Old Testament are in Greek, so there is no direct comparison. These are the Codex Vaticanus and Codex ...
- 102k
28
votes
Did "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" originally refer not to sex but to housework?
Context suggests that that commandment is more related to wealth than sex:
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female ...
25
votes
Accepted
How old is Judaism?
The comments on this question have correctly pointed out that it is possibly unanswerable because of the variety of meanings attributed to the word "Judaism." The question, as well as the ...
- 41.5k
23
votes
Are the mathematical constants e and π encoded in the Bible?
Let's judge this discovery by the standards of scientific research, and note two major flaws with Vasta's thesis:
He has not provided statistical analysis that supports the hypothesis that this ...
- 4,539
19
votes
Is the New Testament significantly corrupted from its originally intended form?
Do we know the words used by the original authors of the New
Testament?
The answer is a qualified yes.
As tniles09 comments, the (scientific) discipline that studies this is called Textual ...
- 985
19
votes
Did the Hebrew exodus from Egypt ever happen?
In his essay, Was There an Exodus?, Joshua Berman states that the book of Exodus was written by someone intimately familiar with the structure of early Egyptian dynastic life; and that the Biblical ...
- 41.5k
17
votes
Have there been documented cases of "blood pumping from the trunks of trees"?
The Dracaena cinnabari (Socotra dragon tree or dragon blood tree) is well known for having a distinct red sap or resin and there are a number of other plants that also exhibit similar "Dragons's Blood"...
- 16.9k
15
votes
Accepted
Does the bible explicitly forbide homosexuality?
Yes, the Bible explicitly and clearly forbids homosexuality, in the Old and New Testament. Those are the passages:
Leviticus 20:13:
If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a ...
- 30k
15
votes
Did the Hebrew exodus from Egypt ever happen?
The overwhelming consensus of scholars, based on sound evidence, is that the Exodus from Egypt never happened as described in the Bible.
Wikipedia describes the Exodus as the founding myth of Israel,...
- 647
14
votes
Has anyone ever memorized the entire bible?
There were many reports claiming that people have memorized the entire bible. For example:
15 years ago, Baptist Press released an article reported that Nadine Hammonds, a blind woman, has memorized ...
- 30k
12
votes
Are rape victims forced to marry their rapist, according to the Old Testament?
NOTE: This answer has been heavily rewritten. As requested it now discusses the opinions of Bible scholars on the subject.
The interpretation of the law in the infographic is not based on known ...
- 658
12
votes
Does the Torah-encoded age of the universe match science?
I like the other answers, but I like the question so I wanted to give a more complete and thorough answer. I'd have to say, though I much prefer religious folk contorting their holy books to match ...
- 2,020
11
votes
Accepted
Is owning a bible punishable by death in North Korea?
North Korea claims to have limited freedom of religion and has a few Christian churches. However, these are widely believed to be for show for the purposes of foreigners:
Except at the handful of ...
- 1,915
10
votes
Did the bible say slavery was okay?
I don't know if there is a verse in the Bible which states that slavery is good - or bad, for that matter.
However, there are many verses that treat slavery as a normal, and explain how slaves ...
- 5,858
10
votes
Are the mathematical constants e and π encoded in the Bible?
You might be interested in this website, which in particular shows that the kind of 'bible code' rules that people like to use can be applied to any sufficiently long text such as to Moby Dick to find ...
- 240
8
votes
Accepted
Did the ten plagues take place in Ancient Egypt?
I'll take a crack at an answer based on Matthew's sources (Ipuwer papyrus. This is a "best effort" answer, since we don't really have anything definitive, and can't prove a negative. ...
7
votes
Did the biblical King David exist?
Some scholars will tell you that the evidence for a David, even a dynasty founding king David, might be there. Sonny Ordell's answer lists the sparse and weak evidence we have for that.
But the way ...
- 43.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Could a man survive in the belly of a fish for 3 days?
No, this is not naturally possible. All "fish" fill their mouths and stomachs with water. A person in said mouth or stomach would therefore drown very quickly regardless of what animal they were ...
- 318
6
votes
Accepted
Was the Pentateuch dated back to the second millenium B.C.E?
The source you quote makes the case for authorship in the Mosaic era (or even by Moses himself, as is the tradition), based on internal textual evidence and where there is an apparent lack of motive ...
- 41.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Did Winston Churchill say the King James Bible had been translated into more than 760 languages?
It appears he said it in A History of the English - Speaking Peoples, Vol. 2 The New World.
A short paper authored by Calvin George in 2009 quotes the book directly
If the adventurers took ...
- 22.3k
5
votes
How old is Judaism?
One of the leading biblical scholars in the United States, Michael D. Coogan, dates the archeological evidence for the events described in the Old Testament at ca. 3300-1200 BCE.1
The first five ...
- 10.7k
5
votes
Does the new Testament claim that Mary, mother of Jesus, was a virgin?
Short answer: The translation of Virgin in the gospels is correct, the meaning in the original gospel text is indeed that Mary did not have sex before getting pregnant. There is a story of the word "...
- 1,012
5
votes
Did the bible say slavery was okay?
TLDR: The Christian Bible never says slavery is good but it doesn't explicitly forbid it. The commandments concerning slavery define minimum working conditions for slaves which makes them very close ...
- 8,459
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible