I will state outright that this post isn’t about science but mathematics. Regardless, I am placing it in this series as math is intertwined with science at many points of contact.
Qualities associated with mathematics are accuracy, consistency, lack of ambiguity and truth. Some will go as far as to say that numbers and math is the only true absolute in this world. Mathematics is very conspicuous in the material creation since quantity, arrangement and orderliness are here ever-present, in everything from astronomical phenomena to the sub-atomic phenomena. Order the signpost of God.
1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 For
everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…
Psalm 104:19 He made
the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows it’s time for setting.
Colossians 1:17 And He
is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The works of God often manifest exquisite order in their arrangements. Mathematics, probability, the periodic table, the genome, gravity, the atom, crystal lattice structure of solid objects, symmetry of organic and chemical objects, etc. All of these things in static rest are conducive to inductive study (which they didn’t have to be). Since God is order it is hard think of anything coming from His hand that did not possess the aspects of mathematics. As to the quality of truth, His Word is accurate, concise, without ambiguity. When damage or flaw enters into any of these equations we see the effects as decay and error. In a word…sin or the effects of the Fall, entropy (of man).
Aside from time, distance, money, finance, weights and measures, mathematics may be used by Christians as an aid to a proper understanding of some aspects of Scripture such as prophecy. It is a simple matter to predict an event but unless there is a basis for the prediction like God who assures certainty of the predication, all potential predictions fall under the categorization of chance or odds. Only God can truly see and foretell the future as he is omni-temporal. For Him all time is the eternal present. Therefore the distinguishing mark of a prophet as given by Moses to the children of Israel, is that his prediction must come true.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not
commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same
prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word
that the Lord has not spoken?’— When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord,
if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord
has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.
If in our ordinary dealings with one another someone predicts that an event will take place, unless there are some extenuating circumstances, the chances are even, that it will happen. It is like drawing marbles from a bag when there are as many black marbles as white in the bag—the chances are even that a marble drawn will be white or black. One out of every two draws will on the average, be a white marble.
Putting it statistically, if white marbles are desired, then the probability of success is as 1 is to 2 or P=1/2. As the proportion of white marbles in the bag is increased, then the chance of success in drawing a white marble is increased until finally, when they are all white, p=1/1=1. But if the proportion of black marbles in increased then the chance of success is diminished until, when all the marbles are black, p=0/1=0. Thus there would be no chance of success for drawing a white marble, or an infinite number of draws would be required for a white marble to be drawn, that is p=l/∞=0 (∞ represents infinity). Then, in general, the probability of success would be given by the expression, p=1/s, where ‘s’ represents the number of draws required before a successful one is obtained, and may be equal to any number from 1 to ∞.
In the case of predicting an event, if there is no chance of success then p=1/∞=0; if the chances of success or failure are even then p=1/2, or 50%; and if you are predicting a “sure thing” (perhaps that the champion runner will win the race) then the chance of success becomes more nearly p=1/1 (or perhaps p=1/1.01, which is about 99%). If two events are predicted to happen to the same person, as the runner will win the race and then stumble at the finish line, the chances of both happening to the same person will be significantly reduced. If the man is a good runner but is given to stumbling so that we can say that the chance of success for each prediction is 1:4 (one to four, 1/4), then the chance of both happening is 1/42=1/16. If three things are predicted to happen to the same person and the chance of success for each one is p=1/4, then the chance of success for all three happening is p=1/43=1/64, a very hazardous guess. If the chance of success for the separate predictions is different, say p1=1/4, p2=1/6, p3=1/10; then the chance of success for all three taking place is p=p1 x p2 x p3=1/(4 x 6 x 10) =1/240. This illustrates the principle that as the conditions of success are multiplied, the chance of success diminishes very rapidly.
Life Insurance Companies use tables to guide them in making estimates as to the life expectancy of a person. One such table is the Actuarial Life Table (mortality table) used by the Social Security Administration, which is based upon a year of death of 100,000 persons. The table which shows, for all ages what the probability is that a person of that age will die before their next birthday (probability of death"). In other words, it represents the survivorship of people from a certain population. They can also be explained as a long-term mathematical way to measure a population's longevity. You’re life insurance rates are based on this table based on your age.
Similar charts are used for auto, home and other insurance. Insurance companies don’t gamble their money. They know statistically how much of a pool of people will need insurance and extract deductibles based on the age and size of a known pool to exact total to charge people to not lose money. Insurance companies are essentially taking money to the bank. They always come out on top. Casinos use similar methods. The House always wins in the end. You lose. It is literally a racket that the government regulates. Insurance is characterized as a business vested or affected with the public interest. Although insurance is primarily a matter of private contract, it is nevertheless of such concern to the public as a whole that it is subject to governmental regulation to protect the public’s interests. That’s why it is required by the state to have auto insurance.
The chance of success or failure in human relationships and interactions is found to take place in accordance with probability too. Predictions and their reliability are highly regarded. How do the mathematics of probability (statistics) affect our regard for Scripture? Let us look at a single example—the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ; there are 351 of them that I am aware of (I can provide a word document for anyone that wants them listed). For the purposes of this post I will merely deal with a data set of (25) twenty-five of these Messianic prophecies for the sake of simplicity.
Regarding these cases of events foretold for Israel’s Messiah who was to come which I will notate as ‘n’ in the equations below, if the chances of success were even in the case of each (1) one or single prophecy, that is p=1/2 in every case, then the overall probability that all ‘n’ events would find their fulfillment in one person would be pn= 1/(2n). Thus there would be but one chance in 2n (33 million, where n=25) of all these foretold events coming true if they were mere guesses. Now a glance at these prophecies concerning Christ reveals that they do not all have an even chance of success. In some instances it is highly improbable that the event could occur at all (as for a child to be born without a human father). A very conservative compromise would be p=1/4; and the overall probability for the n prophecies coming true would be pn=1/(4n), or one chance out of a thousand trillion if n=25 or 1015.
Since there are many more than 25 prophecies of events surrounding the birth and life of Christ, and a compromise chance of success is undoubtedly less than 1 to 4, then the chance of success, if these predictions were all mere guesses, would be so infinitesimal that no one could maintain that these prophecies were mere guesses. The statisticians call it ‘statistically improbable’ or layman would say simply ‘impossible’. If not impossible (which the Bible clearly showed to be true). The alternative must be true which is that these prophecies were all foreseen/foreknown events and the prophet’s words were divinely inspired.
2 Peter 1:21 For no
prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they
were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
While there can be no doubt that the 25 prophecies mentioned here were uttered hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, some were not recognized as referring to the Messiah until after He came. However, excluding such and considering only those which were admitted in Old Testament times as referring to the coming Messiah, the chance that all these events could just happen to be fulfilled in one person is statistically improbable.
In the same way it may be shown that many other prophecies
in Scripture are inspired, whether concerning persons, places, or events in
general, for which the fulfillments are recorded either in the Bible or in
secular history (ancient or modern) or in current events. Now all prophecy is
so interwoven in the messages of the prophets that the conclusion must
necessarily follow that the messages themselves are inspired. Thus the entire
Bible is set apart as an inspired book. It is a supernatural book written/inspired
by a supernatural omniscient, omnipotent being. God.
All numbers are contained within an infinite set. In mathematics, infinity is considered an unidentifiable or 'undefined' but is represented by a symbol... ∞ . In theology God's infinitude, indivisibility and simultaneous plurality are considered His incommunicable attributes of yet we in our finite minds still need to identify Him symbolically to comprehend Him. This is generally done with an Earthly object most associated to Him. The Cross.... † .
But God has also revealed Himself through His Son. He has revealed Himself in Scripture as three persona in One Being. Functionally different but One. Even after identifying into three Persona, God is still technically Infinite yet also One. The Son is still infinite. The Spirit is still infinite. The Father is still infinite.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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