It is often claimed that no human could possible write text with words "encoded" in it, in the manner that words are alleged to have been encoded in the Bible.
It is not really necessary to answer that claim, since nobody has established that the Bible contains more than what can be expected by chance alone. Neverthless, it is worth noting that if anyone really wanted to encode "secret messages" they would find it quite easy. In fact, with a little practice, it is possible to do vastly better than anything ever discovered in the Bible.
In January 1998, I sent the following example to the codes mailing list TCODE:
My aim in writing an ELS example for TCODE is simple. You say it is very hard, but I know that it isn't. To encode arbitrary phrases in text, put all those phrases in first then write the rest of the text around them. Language is loose in structure, allowing plenty of alternative forms to make a suitable passage from.
The interesting thing about the passage above (written by hand during a short plane flight) is that if you start at the first letter and use skip 14 you find "Mary had a little lamb". Check for yourself:
MYAIMINWRITING ANELSEXAMPLEFO RTCODEISSIMPLE YOUSAYITISVERY HARDBUTIKNOWTH ATITISNTTOENCO DEARBITRARYPHR ASESINTEXTPUTA LLTHOSEPHRASES INFIRSTTHENWRI TETHERESTOFTHE TEXTAROUNDTHEM LANGUAGEISLOOS EINSTRUCTUREAL LOWINGPLENTYOF ALTERNATIVEFOR MSTOMAKEASUITA BLEPASSAGEFROM
Note that the passage explains how its own construction was achieved. This example is far more impressive than anything that anyone has found in the Bible.
Note that we are not suggesting that secret messages were deliberately encoded in the Bible by humans. There is no evidence such messages even exist.
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