Soon after this, we are told that the first and last letters of each of the seven words, computed together, add up to the value of 1,393, or 199-7s. Why count the first and last letters of each word? Why not count all the letters except the first and last ones? Obviously, the first and last letters are counted in order to come up with all those sevens.
Further on, we are shown that if we combine the particle ‘eth’ with the article ‘the’ used twice, we come up with a value of 406, or 58-7s. But why choose that particle and that article? And why double up on the article? Is doubling up on the article not the only way to make small parts of the sentence add up to a large number that is divisible by seven? This is an odd choice of things to add up from the word of God. And it is a deceptive way to do it.
Next, the last letters of the first and last words of the verse are said to amount to 490, which is divisible by many sevens. But why not choose to add up the first letters of the first and last words instead? Could it be that they would not amount to a large number that is divisible by seven?
After this, fifteen features of Genesis 1.1, like the few that I have mentioned above, are said to issue forth such a manifestation of sevens that the odds of them manifesting like that by coincidence, are one chance in 33 trillion. The problem is that since the numerical wonders are the result of Ivan Panin’s cherry-picking, as I have pointed out, all this arithmetic proves is that manipulation by Panin, not the hand of God, has been the cause. And if Panin caused the wonder through manipulation, then the odds are no more than about one chance in one. When I was a boy, one of my uncles taught me a card trick that can make the trickster look like a genius simply by the selective questions that are posed. Panin’s numerology gimmick reminds me of that.
