11 Statistical Evidence of Theomatics demonstrated at Luke 15:10-32
Theology is based upon faith and is as such beyond scientific investigation. The interpretation of theological phenomenons, therefore, is normally performed with hermeneutic methods instead of scientific methods.
Yet the number allocations to those words / phrases of the Bible text with a defined theological meaning makes it possible to examine theomatics with scientific, especially, statistical, methods. It has to be noted, however, that the numbers are only reflections of theological aspects and that the theological aspect has to play the major role in all examinations.
This could lead to conflicts with formal demands on a statistical test. Any such conflict has to be solved in such a way that all elements of the statistical test and comparison tests are subject to the same formal selection criteria and test methods.
Because of the theological aspects theomatics is dealing with, it will be difficult to realize a statistical test which will not provide a critic with a target. Therefore, the final acceptance of a statistical test in the area of theology as being scientific rests with the personal views of the observer.
A more serious problem is the Bible text itself. The text of the Old Testament was accepted as being God's word right from the beginning and was copied and traded very carefully. Initially, nobody was really aware of the divine nature of the New Testament. The first known copies of the New Testament contain quite a lot of failures. By taking into account as many sources as possible, the New Testament seems to come slowly closer to the "original" text.
Therefore, the statistical proof of theomatics in the Bible text of the Old and New Testament has to be structured in a more complex way:
- The probability of theomatics must significantly deviate from randomness.
- The various theomatic features must be valid throughout the total Bible text.
- The theological aspects related to the theomatic numbers must not be in contradiction to the related open Bible text passages or the open numbers contained therein.
- All theomatic features must show a certain "quality" with respect to their "theological meaning."
The statistical evidence of theomtaics is demonstrated at a coherent text passage of the New Testament, the "story of the prodigal son" in Luke 15:10-32, in the following four steps
11.1 A short trip into statistics theory (PDF)
11.2 The statistical test method of Theomatics (PDF)
11.3 Critical remarks concerning the test method
11.4 A supplementary experiment (PDF)
Download: 11 thru 11.4 as PDF
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