Convincing Others That the Things We Experience Are Real

It's not always so easy

This essay is in reply to David Gamble’s Why do we believe in things that are not actually there?

In that piece, David refers to me by the moniker the “secret bible-code guy” which I rather like. He also takes the time to explain why he has no interest in engaging with my theories. He is direct and to the point. As he sees it, there are no secret messages contained within the Bible. End of story. Anyone who claims to have found such messages, while they may be honest and well-meaning, is simply deluded, and there is no reason to explore the matter further.

He then provides a skeptic’s examination of the text of Moby Dick for evidence of advanced scientific knowledge. I found it unfortunate that he had not provided an example from my own work rather than a piece of obvious satire.

He then continues with a collection of visual images demonstrating false positives of the brain’s pattern matching modules. After this, he provides various examples of other attempts to identify hidden codes in the Bible as well as the Koran.

He makes the claim that given enough random data, you can easily squeeze out a secret message or two.

I don’t necessarily disagree with David, except for his rather bold claim that there are no secret messages hidden within the Bible. Granted, up until now, every attempt to identify these secret messages has failed. Just as every attempt to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics failed before the work of Jean-François Champollion.

The fact that every earlier attempt to decrypt the Bible fell short does not mean that every future attempt is also doomed to failure. It only means that the question remains unanswered. Are there secret messages contained within the Bible? The Gospels themselves indicate that deception and encryption are key features of the parables.

The points that David makes are valid. However, what if he is wrong? What if there are secret messages hidden in the Bible? Suppose that someone familiar with the concept of Apophenia, the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, decided to search for secret meanings while taking the effects of Apophenia into consideration.

The following is from the introduction of my first book, which I published in 2015:

Why this Book?

I am writing this notebook in an attempt to record my “discoveries.” I put the word “discoveries” between quotes because I may not have discovered anything at all. Which is to say, I am nearly certain that I have uncovered something of great significance, however given the nature of the human brain to find meaning among noise, and due to the fact that I have been unable to find the proper peer-reviewed journal in which to publish my findings, I have little to go on beyond my own limited ability to separate what is significant from what is not.

Be that as it may, I have decided to collect all of my research and to set it down in this notebook so that others can check my reasoning and examine my findings to determine if I have indeed uncovered something of interest. If I have not, then perhaps this notebook could serve as a warning to others, an example of how not to conduct this sort of research.

I went into this prepared for false positives. I understood the risks. I journeyed deep within the intertextual narrative, and I’ve returned with what I believe to be valuable information. It is my hope that together we can map out the logic behind the system of encryption.

However, my work is dismissed out of hand. It doesn’t need to be examined in detail because it is based on secret messages hidden within the Bible. You do not believe that such messages exist, and so any claim to the contrary is automatically dismissed, and the person making such a claim is, at best, deceived.

How then does one make a claim that is taken seriously? The answer is simple. One acquires an education. I need to go to university and become a Biblical scholar. One does all those things that a penniless married middle-aged expatriate living in Prague is not going to be doing anytime soon.

The thing is that I have readers and fans. I appreciate you one and all. I just wish that the information that I provide was taken seriously by someone seen as an authority on these matters.

One of my favorite writers on the topics of empiricism, atheism, and the historicity of Jesus is Richard Carrier, the author of Proving History: Bayes’s Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus (2012) and On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt (2014).

In the article below, we see Carrier at his best as he patiently explains some of the many fallacies peddled by the author of Caesar’s Messiah, Joseph Atwill.

I find his explanations fascinating, as he systematically reveals in brutal detail why Atwell’s work is not to be taken seriously. Atwill, as an amateur Biblical historian, is clearly out of his depth.

In his description of his interaction with Atwill, Carrier discusses how he asked Atwill to send him his “best examples of evidence supporting his thesis.” Needless to say, Carrier was not impressed with the examples sent.

Still, I like the idea. Perhaps, I should find the clearest example of a secret message hidden in the Bible. Then, I just need to present the evidence and demonstrate how once the hidden meaning is revealed that it then becomes obvious in hindsight.

Carrier compares the examination of Atwill’s best evidence to scientists investigating the claims of a psychic. If the psychic passes the first test, that doesn’t mean that the scientists believe that he has psychic powers. They will need to develop additional tests of greater difficulty. However, if the psychic cannot even pass the first round of tests, then there is no need for any additional testing.

The same logic applies to the best evidence that supports my theory. If Carrier can find enough holes in the best evidence that I have, then there is no need for him to consider any further evidence.

In the article, Carrier explains how he has become a magnet for cranks and that this is the technique that he has developed to deal with them. He asks for their single best piece of evidence. If and only if that passes inspection, will there be any need for the second best piece of evidence in support of any thesis.

I thought to myself that that was all I needed to take things to the next level. If I could show Richard Carrier the best evidence that I had in support of my theory, and if he evaluated my evidence and found that it did support my theory, that would be a huge success.

And if he were to decide that it didn’t support my theory, then that would be devastating.

Still, I had to try and reach out to see if he would give me the same chance he gave Joseph Atwill. If I just had the opportunity to show him the best evidence I have, I’m confident that he would be willing the examine the second best evidence that I had.

So I followed the instructions I found for getting in contact with him, and after a couple of weeks, he got back to me. He told me that there was no way that he could read the material that I had sent him. That is unless I was to hire him.

Now, as I am a very broke writer living off freelance English teaching gigs. I could never afford to hire Richard Carrier to evaluate the best evidence I had in support of my theory. But maybe I won’t have to.

I’ve decided to set up a crowdfunding campaign through FundRazr.

I’m hoping that my loyal readers and fans might be willing to donate to a fund for hiring Carrier. At the same time, some expect that Carrier will discover the obvious, that there are no secret messages, and that I am simply deluded. These people ought to be happy to donate if that’s what it takes to finally prove me wrong.

Richard Carrier has agreed to examine the evidence and to give his evaluation 30 days after receiving the evidence and his payment of $250.

Thanks for your contribution. Every little bit helps.