Speculative Numeric Experiments
Because someone might just try...
How is one to decide what she sees or hears in the news is true or right? How can someone know if a decision is right or wrong? Who can we trust?
Why not work backwards from the fact of God being the reality of the universe and have the numbers decide important issues for us? If it's right, or true, then it should have a high number of orderly numeric features.
Speculative Experiment 1
Begin with a known factual statement:
Juan Guaido declared himself interim president of Venezuela and was recognized by the United States and Canada.
This factual statement is historically true, and it makes no moral judgment on what happened.
The factual statement without moral judgment
is amended to give it moral judgment.
Juan Guaido wrongfully declared himself interim president of Venezuela and was recognized by the United States and Canada. Juan Guaido rightfully declared himself interim president of Venezuela and was recognized by the United States and Canada.
One statement shows Guaido's action as being in the wrong, and the next shows Guaido's action as being correct.
In the two short statements, it would be highly unlikely and unreasonable to expect that the numbers would be able to say anything at all. Expand the statement with adjectives and adverbs. There should be an even balance of opposites where possible (e.g. wrongfully, rightfully).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Juan Guaido justly declared himself interim president of Venezuela and was immediately accepted by the United States and Canada
unjustly said he was temporary king of the country of Venezuela swiftly affirmed the United States of America Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
wrongfully said he himself was provisional ruler quickly approved the US Justin Trudeau
rightfully claimed he was permanent foreign collaborator hastily backed the USA Prime Minister Trudeau
appropriately de facto prime minister promptly championed President Trump Trudeau.
inappropriately eternal governor speedily confirmed President Donald Trump
legally god hurriedly favoured Donald Trump Trump
illegally lord instantly favored
lawfully leader recognized
lawlessly dictator supported
unlawfully fascist leader vouched for
legitimately communist leader
illegitimately troublemaker
peacemakerCombine words from each column to build sentences and convert to numbers. Search for the highest number of orderly features. The highest number of features is required to render finding anything unlikely.
- A: Juan Guaido is the subject of the sentence.
- B: Moral judgment is rendered in this column. There might be more synonyms, but hopefully this is sufficient. N.B.
Lawfully
has two oppositeslawlessly
andunlawfully
. The balance between moral and immoral is not perfect, but close. Perhaps in our imperfect world, the imperfect outweighs the perfect. - C: There are many ways this could have been stated.
- D: We do not know Guaido's intentions, and we have no idea what future circumstances might do to force changes. He might have said
interim
, but in his heart he might have meantpermanent.
- E: What is in Guaido's mind? No one knows but God. Does Guaido see himself as the suffering servant like Jesus, or does he pridefully view himself as a king?
- F: Clearly this is about Venezuela.
- H & I: All these synonyms describe the reaction of the two nations mentioned at the end.
- K: The United States is the country, and it is known by various words. On the other hand, perhaps the average American doesn't even care about Venezuela, in which case the President is the main actor rather than the country. Donald John Trump or Donald J Trump could also have been added to the list with or without the title.
- M: What applies to the United States applies to Canada. Trudeau has many names. Trying each name singly or in combination with others dramatically raises the number of possibilities. To keep the number of possibilities manageable, only a few possibilities are kept for this option.
Juan-Guaido|justly unjustly wrongfully rightfully appropriately inappropriately legally illegally lawfully lawlessly unlawfully legitimately illegitimately|declared-himself said-he-was said-he-himself-was claimed-he-was|interim temporary provisional permanent de-facto eternal|foreign-collaborator king president governor prime-minister ruler lord god leader dictator fascist-leader communist-leader troublemaker peacemaker|of-Venezuela of-the-country-of-Venezuela|and-was|immediately swiftly quickly hastily promptly speedily hurriedly instantly|accepted affirmed approved backed championed confirmed favoured favored recognized supported vouched-for|by|the-United-States the-United-States-of-America the-US the-USA President-Trump President-Donald-Trump Donald-Trump Trump|and|Canada Prime-Minister-Justin-Trudeau Justin-Trudeau Prime-Minister-Trudeau Trudeau.
From the above data, the computer generated 41,166,720 combinations. Only one had 17 numeric features.
Juan Guaido justly said he himself was de-facto troublemaker of Venezuela and was hastily recognized by the U.S. and Trudeau.
We know Juan Guaido never made, and probably never would make such a statement. However, incredible as it may seem, the statement has a ring of truth to it.
De-facto troublemaker
or troublemaker in fact
is what the statement says.
Only someone who wanted to cause trouble for their own country would stand up and declare
themselves president
or prime minister
without an election, or without massive popular support, or without approval from an elected body. As Jesus put it, self praise or self elevation means nothing (Luke 14:8-11). It is the praise of others, or of God which means everything (John 12:43). In the old days, declaring oneself king
was a capital offense.
The moral judgment spills over into the actions of the United States and of Prime Minister Trudeau. It was indeed a hasty decision to recognize someone who represented no one but himself. Why would the U.S. and Trudeau do this? Because a national leader who had no internal support would have to look outside for support, and would be beholden to outsiders. He would have to grant concessions to foreigners to gain their support. Like the hated compradors of China at the beginning of the 1900s who took foreign interests over the interests of their own country, Guaido would sell out his country's resources at a pittance. This is how imperialism works. This is how the West grew rich and powerful.
Speculative Experiment 2
One experiment might just be a fluke. The same basic set up is tried with a different subject.
The state of Israel was proclaimed in nineteen forty-eight and was recognized by president Harry S. Truman.
Again, this is a factual historical statement with no judgment call on whether it was right or wrong for the state of Israel to be proclaimed. Adjectives and adverbs are added to expand the statement and to give it moral judgment.
The-state-of-Israel-was Israel-was The-nation-of-Israel-was The-Jewish-nation-of-Israel-was The-Jewish-state-of-Israel-was The-Jewish-state-was|wrongfully rightfully appropriately inappropriately legally illegally lawfully lawlessly unlawfully legitimately illegitimately|proclaimed announced declared promulgated asserted established formalized set-up|in-nineteen-forty-eight in-one-thousand-nine-hundred-and-forty-eight 0|and-was|immediately swiftly quickly hastily promptly speedily hurriedly instantly 0|accepted acknowledged legitimized endorsed recognized supported championed approved|by|the-US the-USAs the-United-States the-United-States-of-Americas 0|president 0|Harry 0|S 0|Truman 0
Out of 9 million possibilities, two had 20 numeric features.
The state of Israel was illegally declared and was immediately recognized by Harry S. Truman. The Jewish state of Israel was lawlessly declared in nineteen forty- eight and was speedily accepted by S. Truman.
Before this is rejected out of hand, there are legitimate reasons why the numbers could turn out this way.
The point mentioned above for Guaido from Luke 14:10 applies here as well. Self elevation means nothing. Elevation by someone else, or a superior is what truly matters.
The precedent in the Bible is that statehood
or nation status
has to be bestowed, not claimed or taken. Pharaoh drove Israel out of Egypt, in effect creating the nation of Israel. Israel did not rebel or rise up to fight. Israel did not resist. Israel did not claim
nation status. God did not miraculously transport Israel out of Egypt's control in an instant! Pharaoh was forced to do it by the plagues God sent upon Egypt, but in the end it was Pharaoh's decision and Pharaoh's action that released Israel.
It was the British who seized the Middle East from the Ottoman Turks in World War I. It was the British who gave the League of Nations little choice but to grant them the Palestine Mandate. Thus it was up to Britain to grant Israel nation status. This was the original plan behind the Balfour Declaration. Unfortunately, like the American Colonies, like Kenya, India and like so many other territories they had taken, Britain kept dragging her feet on independence because it meant losing power, control and money.
Jesus knew what was in man and did not trust man (John 2:24-25). Thus there is something inherently wrong in populist movements. Believers should always remember this concerning political rallies.
In the Bible, the first push for democracy was Korah's rebellion (Numbers 16:1-3). There is something inherently wrong with democracy. To accept democracy as some sort of great or good idea is to go against the Bible (Luke 16:15; Romans 3:23).
The prophet Daniel mentions men of violence trying to fulfill prophecy (Daniel 11:14).
Just because there is a prophecy, doesn't mean that it is right or good. The fall of Jerusalem was prophesied centuries before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it, but it certainly can't be considered a good event. What about the return of modern Israel?
Many Muslims would take the two phrases selected by the numbers to imply the return of modern Israel was a bad event and must be reversed. That is an interpretation reading beyond the text. The two phrases don't say that at all. The numbers say it was illegal
or done lawlessly.
It would have been legal, or lawful had Britain not reneged on their original mandate. And unlike the numbers for Juan Guaido, there is nothing here to indicate Israel is causing trouble. (That would require a different experiment.)
The way the modern state of Israel was founded was much better than the way the United States was founded. Israel was not in open rebellion against Britain like America. The new Jewish state did not drive Palestinians out as America drove out and massacred the indigenous peoples of North America. Israel did not put bounties on Palestinians as the Americans did on Indians to clear out territory.
Technically it was illegal, but this can be said of the founding of many nations. Rome was founded on the blood of Romulus' brother Remus, and Socrates posited a city with lies and blood in Plato's Republic.
Why It Should Not Be Done
As good as the results appear to be for the first two experiments, and as good as the reasons behind those results seem, the third experiment shows why this should not be done.
Speculative Experiment 3
The third experiment is on the theory of the Trinity. Basic statements are made on the Trinity, and then expanded with additional words.
The theory of the Trinity to describe God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is a good/bad concept.
The|abstraction belief concept conception conceptualization doctrine hypothesis idea impression invention notion teaching theory view|of-the-trinity|to-describe to-comprehend to-understand|God-Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-the-Holy-spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-God-and-Jesus the-Holy-spirit-Jesus-and-God the-god-head God the-Lord the-Lord-God Jesus the-Holy-Spirit God-and-Jesus God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-and-God 0|is was has-always-been will-always-be|a an|acceptable angelic appropriate bad blasphemous blessed confused correct cursed devilish devout divine erroneous god-approved god-cursed godly good hallowed heretical heterodox holy horrible idolatrous illegitimate impious improper impure inappropriate incorrect lawful legitimate mistaken mixed-up orthodox pious profane proper pure right righteous rightful sacred satanic sensible terrible twisted unacceptable ungodly unholy unlawful unorthodox unrighteous wrong wrongful|abstraction belief concept conception conceptualization doctrine hypothesis idea impression invention notion teaching theory view
This produced 4,572,288 combinations, with one having 17 features.
The notion of the Trinity to describe Jesus and the Holy Spirit,
is a twisted teaching.
The sentence does not flow as well as it should, and it only mentions Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Add more words.
The|abstraction belief concept conception conceptualization doctrine hypothesis idea impression invention notion teaching theory view|of-the-trinity|about concerning describing explaining|God-Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-the-Holy-spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-God-and-Jesus the-Holy-spirit-Jesus-and-God the-god-head God the-Lord the-Lord-God Jesus the-Holy-Spirit God-and-Jesus God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-and-God|is was has-always-been will-always-be|a an|acceptable angelic appropriate bad blasphemous blessed confused correct cursed devilish devout divine erroneous god-approved god-cursed godly good hallowed heretical heterodox holy horrible idolatrous illegitimate impious improper impure inappropriate incorrect lawful legitimate mistaken mixed-up orthodox pious profane proper pure right righteous rightful sacred satanic sensible terrible twisted unacceptable ungodly unholy unlawful unorthodox unrighteous wrong wrongful|abstraction belief concept conception conceptualization doctrine hypothesis idea impression invention notion teaching theory view
5,757,696 combinations are produced with two having 18 features.
The conception of the Trinity about God and the Holy Spirit will
always be an improper belief.
The view of the Trinity explaining the Lord God was a heterodox
concept.
The sentences still don't quite flow properly and are not complete. Try a different basic sentence.
The Trinity is an acceptable/unacceptable belief.
The-Trinity|has-been has-always-been is is-not was was-not will-never-be will-be always-was will-always-be|an-acceptable an-angelic an-appropriate a-bad a-blasphemous a-blessed a-confused a-correct a-cursed a-devilish a-devout a-divine an-erroneous a-god-approved a-god-cursed a-godly a-good a-hallowed a-heretical a-heterodox a-holy a-horrible an-idolatrous an-illegitimate an-impious an-improper an-impure an-inappropriate an-incorrect an-inspired a-lawful a-legitimate a-mistaken a-mixed-up an-orthodox a-pious a-profane a-proper a-pure a-right a-righteous a-rightful a-sacred a-satanic a-sensible a-terrible a-twisted an-unacceptable an-ungodly an-unholy an-unlawful an-unorthodox an-unrighteous the-right the-wrong|belief concept doctrine hypothesis idea notion opinion teaching theory view
This short sentence only has 5500 combinations. Three combinations had 8 features. The number of features is very low.
The Trinity was not a twisted hypothesis.
The Trinity will always be an impure teaching.
The Trinity will always be an unrighteous view.
The|theory-of-the idea-of-the concept-of-the teaching-of-the belief-of-the hypothesis-of-the doctrine-of-the 0|Trinity|explaining|God Jesus the-Holy-Spirit God-and-Jesus God-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-and-God Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-Jesus-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-God-and-Jesus|has-been has-always-been is is-not was was-not will-never-be will-be always-was will-always-be will-forever-be|an-acceptable an-angelic an-appropriate a-bad a-blasphemous a-blessed a-confused a-correct a-cursed a-devilish a-devout a-divine an-erroneous a-god-approved a-god-cursed a-godly a-good a-hallowed a-heretical a-heterodox a-holy a-horrible an-idolatrous an-illegitimate an-impious an-improper an-impure an-inappropriate an-incorrect an-inspired a-lawful a-legitimate a-mistaken a-mixed-up an-orthodox a-pious a-profane a-proper a-pure a-right a-righteous a-rightful a-sacred a-satanic a-sensible a-terrible a-twisted an-unacceptable an-ungodly an-unholy an-unlawful an-unorthodox an-unrighteous the-right the-wrong|belief concept doctrine hypothesis idea teaching theory
This produces 508,200 combinations. Two have 13 features.
The idea of the Trinity explaining God will never be a devilish
concept.
The idea of the Trinity explaining God and the Holy Spirit will
always be a holy doctrine.
The concept of the Trinity describing the relationship of the Holy Spirit God and Jesus is an acceptable idea.
The|theory-of-the idea-of-the concept-of-the teaching-of-the belief-of-the hypothesis-of-the doctrine-of-the 0|Trinity|explaining describing|the-relationship-of|God Jesus the-Holy-Spirit God-and-Jesus God-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-and-God Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-Jesus-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-God-and-Jesus|has-been has-always-been is is-not was was-not will-never-be will-be always-was will-always-be will-forever-be|an-acceptable an-angelic an-appropriate a-bad a-blasphemous a-blessed a-confused a-correct a-cursed a-devilish a-devout a-divine an-erroneous a-god-approved a-god-cursed a-godly a-good a-hallowed a-heretical a-heterodox a-holy a-horrible an-idolatrous an-illegitimate an-impious an-improper an-impure an-inappropriate an-incorrect an-inspired a-lawful a-legitimate a-mistaken a-mixed-up an-orthodox a-pious a-profane a-proper a-pure a-right a-righteous a-rightful a-sacred a-satanic a-sensible a-terrible a-twisted an-unacceptable an-ungodly an-unholy an-unlawful an-unorthodox an-unrighteous the-right the-wrong|belief concept doctrine hypothesis idea teaching theory
One million combinations are generated with three having 16 features.
The idea of the Trinity describing the relationship of the Holy
Spirit and God will always be an erroneous belief.
The idea of the Trinity describing the relationship of the Holy
Spirit and God will always be an improper belief.
The theory of the Trinity explaining the relationship of God and
Jesus is not a proper hypothesis.
The|theory-of-the idea-of-the concept-of-the teaching-of-the belief-of-the hypothesis-of-the doctrine-of-the 0|Trinity|clarifying defining demonstrating disclosing elucidating explicating expounding revealing showing unveiling|the-relationship-of|God Jesus the-Holy-Spirit God-and-Jesus God-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit God-the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus Jesus-and-God Jesus-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-God-and-the-Holy-Spirit Jesus-the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-and-Jesus the-Holy-Spirit-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-Jesus-and-God the-Holy-Spirit-God-and-Jesus|has-been has-always-been is is-not was was-not will-never-be will-be always-was will-always-be will-forever-be|an-acceptable an-angelic an-appropriate a-bad a-blasphemous a-blessed a-confused a-correct a-cursed a-devilish a-devout a-divine an-erroneous a-god-approved a-god-cursed a-godly a-good a-hallowed a-heretical a-heterodox a-holy a-horrible an-idolatrous an-illegitimate an-impious an-improper an-impure an-inappropriate an-incorrect an-inspired a-lawful a-legitimate a-mistaken a-mixed-up an-orthodox a-pious a-profane a-proper a-pure a-right a-righteous a-rightful a-sacred a-satanic a-sensible a-terrible a-twisted an-unacceptable an-ungodly an-unholy an-unlawful an-unorthodox an-unrighteous the-right the-wrong|belief concept doctrine hypothesis idea teaching theory
This set up has 5,082,000 combinations and produces one having the most numeric features: 21.
The theory of the Trinity expounding the relationship of God, the
Holy Spirit, and Jesus was not a right theory.
As can be seen, a wide variety of results can be produced for this one topic. Some results support the Trinity, but others have the opposite effect. Nor is it easy to find a statement with a very high number of orderly numeric features.
As promising as the first two experiments above may seem, the third shows serious shortcomings to using numbers this way. There are many ways something can be said or written. How is anyone to know if another way of structuring the same sentence might not have produced a different result? Even the simple sentence below can be arranged in multiple ways.
He swiftly ran across the street. He ran swiftly across the street. Swiftly he ran across the street. Across the street he swiftly ran. Across the street he ran swiftly. Swiftly across the street he ran.
There are many synonyms that can be tried. Some of these are not obvious. How does anyone know if the list to try is complete?
He swiftly ran across the street. He quickly ran across the street. He quickly trotted across the street. He rapidly ran across the street. He speedily ran across the street. He ran like lightning across the street. He ran like lightning across the boulevard.
The English language has over a million words, and it continues to grow. The number of available words is vast. Sentence structure can be varied. The number of combinations would be astronomical, and the result would be inconclusive because something might still be missing.
Experiments on scripture or historical documents begin with those facts and try to find better synonyms in translation for numeric features. The meaning is not really being changed. These experiments are speculative
because they leave the meaning open.