The God Code 
 by:Braden, Gregg 
 Publisher: Hay House, Inc, P.O. Box 5100
Location: Carlsbad, CA 92018 
Copyright:2004
Cover: Tricia Breidenthal 
Type:Softcover
  
   
 
reviewed by: Lynard Barnes 
 5/1/2009
 
Comment: God's name as the DNA code for humans. 
  
  

The world is a mysterious place.

The world is a puzzling place.

Depending on your perspective in processing surrounding reality, you may or may not be capable of writing a book like THE GOD CODE. This book creates a puzzle and then resolutely goes about solving it. It's a trend.


Finding the mystery or puzzle is the key. Children are expert at this until constant admonitions to stop searching and “do as I say” kills the adventurous spirit.


If looking for God in all the wrong places is a description of the confused and faithless (it is also the title of a book by Marie D. Jones ), the THE GOD CODE and other such works are the templates for the search. When Doron Witztum, Eliyathu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg published their “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis” in “Statistical Science” magazine, they exposed the skeleton upon which human cultural and social organization is hung-the flesh that makes up society. The Witztum, Rips and Rosenberg article went on to become THE BIBLE CODE. It too was a template for the confused and faithless. Every since Niccolo di Bernardo Dei Machiavelli penned THE PRINCE with its blueprint for political power, and Sun Tzu's laid out the strategy of managing exigencies of survival in THE ART OF WAR, there has developed an accelerated effort to strip away the “fat and flesh” of what holds human society together: to get to “the bottom of things”, the essentials, the skeleton, the basis. The cause of Mankind.

Gregg Braden's THE GOD CODE exposes no new bone, no new marrow long hidden within some esoteric knowledge. THE GOD CODE merely flashes the knife as it carves yet another worn-out idea into the hearts of the confused and faithless.

Essentially, Braden takes the Hebrew alphabet, examines the numerical values assigned to each letter and compares them to the same values resulting from the DNA sequence code. Hence, we are told that the name of God is written in every cell of our bodies. Fascinating. But so what?

Braden contends that the Hebrew alphabet, which has been in use for over 3,000 years, is
 
   
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 numerically coded with sacred knowledge. So too were Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform, but they are no longer in use. The Hebrew alphabet can be used to unravel the puzzle of “why Humankind”. The logic Braden employs to arrive at his conclusion that the DNA sequence, ATGC-adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine-is the coded name of YHVH is flawless. YHVH is, minus vowels, “the name revealed to Moses nearly 3,500 years ago” as the name of God and the name by which God was to be known by the people of “this world”. Flawless logic, suspect premise. (See the online “Energygrid Magazine”  for critique of Braden's logic in this book).

For the non-religious among us (note “non-religious” as opposed to “non-believers”---they are not synonymous), any Truth spewing out of the mind of man or woman is automatically suspect. Braden's entire premise rests upon the “code”--as in words and symbols--of people, both ancient and modern. The Truth of the “God code” is that it is a logical manipulation of knowledge streams rooted in ancient history. Braden pays only cursory homage to Sumerian civilization and its influence upon what was to become the ancient Hebrews - descendants of the prophet Heber according the Book of Genesis. He does not mention Phoenicia civilization at all. Braden does point out that “one of the greatest interruptions in our chain of knowledge resulted from the biblical edits of the early Christian Church in the fourth century.” This of course is reference to the Council of Nice in 325 C.E. which re-organized all previous “codes” used in Western religions, effectively defining the belief boundaries of the Christian religion. The pillars of knowledge upon which THE GOD CODE and other such works are based are the following:

Ancient writings going all the way back to the dawn of current civilization telling essentially the same creation stories with distinct cultural influences.

Structuring of one doctrine of religious belief-the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam--in which social and political determinants dictated tenets of “true” faith.

The lack of any logic or system of thought which establishes a universal intelligence or God.

This last of course is the nucleus of all preceding it. It is where the “templates” should start. Of course since there can be no logic or system of thought proving the intentions or lack of intentions of a God or gods, books such as THE GOD CODE, THE BIBLE CODE, and others start with a presumption which can not be challenged. God is. God is because of faith. No further discussion is necessary, so they jump into beautiful, logical discussions about ancient alphabets and DNA, or ancient words and current puzzles.

Parts one and two of Braden's book constructs the logic of his premise that God's name is written in the DNA of humans. Part three of THE GOD CODE is a sermon on why this “evidence” of God's gift of life should end all social hostilities and bring love and peace to the world. Herein lies the second problem with massaging, carving and holding up to the light of day the flesh, as in spiritual beliefs, of human society: practically anyone can cite the “evidence” and preach about “the good way” to go through life, but the very act of citing “evidence” and declaring a correct way is contrary to the “evidence” and to the
 
   
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 preaching. It is a conundrum. But there may also be secret knowledge here. Someone, anyone, may yet discover it.

THE GOD CODE, founded upon a presumption, proceeding logically to a conclusion, is despite its obvious good intentions, too airy to contribute anything to a serious discussion about the existence or intentions of God or god.
 
   
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