Day: November 12, 2023

Sunday, November 12, 2023

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40 KJV).

Let us consider one of the most misunderstood and most ridiculed accounts presented in the Holy Bible….

As a trained geologist (holding a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Earth science), I am quite familiar with the tendency of Bible haters and Bible skeptics to resort to exalting and clinging to whatever “empirical data” that can be uncovered to justify distancing themselves from the “superstitions of religious tradition.” Except on rare occasions, though, the Holy Bible has not actually been given a fair hearing. As a simple illustration, I remember the confession of an honest atheist long ago: having never really read the Bible, he frequently argued with Christians about it! Another example is how people grow up “in church” hearing all sorts of ridiculous and wrong assumptions about Scripture. By the time they become adults, they are on a hostile “crusade” to publicize why they are no longer “church members!”

One of my university science professors (familiar with Scripture) complained to me how “science could not explain” the Bible’s miracles; therefore, he did not believe those miracles actually occurred. Instead, he contended, there was a natural cause for each alleged “miracle”—in effect, nothing miraculous really happened. While that sounds convincing on the surface, he surely knew how science has limitations. We scientists have such a poor understanding of how the laws of nature operate. Even what little we know is subject to change, as scientific ideas are revised or discarded through repeated observation and experimentation. Any scientist could live 500,000 lifetimes and still not fully comprehend or describe the phenomena on our tiny planet—not to mention all the events on all celestial bodies (whose total number exceeds all the grains of sand on every beach of Earth)! When someone boldly declares “science has disproven the Bible,” I can personally assure you this is wishful thinking. You need not worry about them or their overconfidence in the frail human mind or the faulty lab equipment!

With that said, let us get back to Jonah, the whale/fish, and the contempt regarding it….