Mathematical claims of 'Bible Codes'...is there any truth in the maths?

[CoxRox]

DD_8630, welcome and thanks for your reply. You and Luke have both mentioned something that is not in dispute: that any text will produce words or phrases using the methods employed by the Bible coders. When the codes first 'appeared' in the 90s they were proven to be just coincidence, indeed these codes appeared in other books like the Koran, Moby Dick etc. This Ed Sherman guy is interesting, in that the codes he has found are so unlikely to appear by chance that the mathematical probabilities suggest they are deliberately planted there. I've found two critics and I've emailed them as the 'debunking' stuff I'm finding seems to be dated back to the Drosnin codes and there doesn't seem to be any up to date critiques regarding Ed Sherman's claims. The two critics are Randy Ingermanson who has a Phd in physics.

http://www.ingermanson.com/codes/art/debunkers.php

I emailed him yesterday to ask him about Ed Sherman. This is my email and his reply this morning:

''Hi Catherine: >Have you come across this site:>http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/6>and a mathematician called Ed Sherman? They seem to be saying that>since the controversy surrounding the initial codes via Drosnin,>Rips etc, it does seem there are 'real' codes. I would appreciate>your opinion on this. Many thanks.''

I spent many hours talking with Ed years ago. I never changed his mind and he never changed mine. -- Randy IngermansonPublisher, Advanced Fiction Writing E-zinehttp://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com/blog
I was a bit disappointed he didn't go into detail.

The other critic is Brendan McKay professor of Computer Science
http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/torah.html

I emailed him also and am awaiting his reply. It's interesting stuff.