ridge & irjones - shakespeare wouldn't have a clue
Ir, you expressed my sentiments exactly. Thanks...
Ridge,
Shakespeare wouldn't have a clue when it comes to the bible. I won't eleborate but would like to give you one small example.
The Hebrew alphabet is unique in that not only does it have phonetic sounds, as do other laguages, but in the 22 letters ot it's alphabet, there is similtaneously a numerical value attached to each letter.
The values of the 22 letters start with Aleph (similar to our A) =1, till the eleventh letter equalling 20, the 19th letter =100 and the last letter =400.
Therefore words, sentences, and even entire passages have numerical values which, addd up to the numerical values of other words, with completely different spellings and in fact occurs with complete sentences and this occurs when an association is to be made between one passage and the next or two topics that are dicussing the same issue.
NO HUMAN MIND OR COMPUTER ON THIS PLANET could have written or designed or even thought of this complex concept and in fact with all of out computer knowledge, could not write an equavalent of the Old Testament where numerical values "just happen" to add up to the numerical values of another part of the Torah.
What I am posting now will go over the heads of 99% of the readers but those who are knowledgeable of the Hebrew language and the originial text of the Old Testament (Hebrew) will know what I am talking about.
It's called Gematria. Do a search on google and you will see how complex it is. A real eye opener!
Those of us who are orthodox, begin to learn or are taught these concepts from when we are about 7-8 years of age.
There is no way Shakespeare (that rabid anti Semite, who I admit wrote beautifully, but anti semitic none the less) could not have even begun to understand that such a concept existed within the Jewish religion.
Man could not have designed such book of over 350,000 words where commandments add up numerically to the commentary provided within the same Old Testament, it could only have been designed and then dictated (which we believe that it was, to Moses) by something over and higher than the laws of nature.....in other words...a God...one god and the only God.
Therefore if something is written in the Torah (discounting translations because they mean zilch as this numerical system simply cannot work in another language especially about the contents which are as sophisticated as the Torah) is the work of the Divine.
Nothing else can explain it.
Why am I writing this?
To let you know that it matters not whether archaeologists agree (and many,many do) or do not, we believe it simply for one reason.........the Torah, the Old Testament says so.......that's it, end of story....no ifs, no buts
We believe that the Torah is the absolute truth. We believe that those who don't see it today, one day will.
Yes, we know there'll be the usual round of jokes and jibes etc etc......but Truth wins out at the end.
Shakespeare was a talented writer. Many books have been written about what he thought and why he thought what ever it was that he did, when he wrote whatever he wrote.
Personally I think 99% of what has been written about his state of mmind and his thoughts at the time, are pure conjecture.
I remember seeing a painting that was drawn or splattered by a monkey. Yes, a monkey. A real life monkey.
People were told it was done by a famous artist and the amount of literature that came out as to why and what the painter was trying to convey at the time of his artwork was simply astounding.
The painting was painted by a monkey!!
Compared to the Torah, if Shakespeare can at the very be compared to a monkey, he has done well.
