Christianity Explained InformationFind
Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That
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You're Invited | You have a choice to make: You can either believe the opinions of theologians, atheists, or agnostics, or you can determine for yourself what the Bible says by studying it. If you
do nothing else, be sure to read thIs
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| Topics What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate? What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life? What Are Messianic Prophecies? Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really? Why Are There So Many World Religions? Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations? What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me? What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies? Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book? Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism? Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary? Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation? What's the Truth About Faith and Works? Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible Genesis
- Ge | Was Jonah Really in a Whale's Belly for Three Days?This is another of those cases where, if you had the right resources and the initiative (read: if you really cared), you could get this from just a tiny bit of research.The short answer is, "No." The longer explanation begins with the verse itself:
Does anyone see the word whale there? No? Okay; just checking. I didn't see it in any of the versions I have access to either. But that's not what the "tiny bit of research" is. Let's look at the word generally translated swallowed up in the Hebrew:
Oh, look. The word engulf is part of the possible translations put forth by 2 scholars, and it was translated covered once and that's not even one of the definition choices. Hmmm. And now for the word translated belly.
The first choice under the number one definition, and the second term within the number one definition itself is "inward parts". Yet according to the King James Version Word Usage and Count chart, that definition, fairly prominent in its listing, is NEVER used in scripture. Seems a bit bizarre, doesn't it? So, here's where faith and logic come together: Is God capable of preparing a fish in any manner that he might choose for the specific purpose of swallowing-up Jonah? Don't know about your God, but my God can do anything He likes. He created everything that has life, so if he wants to create a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater, He can in my book. He created dinosaurs and hummingbirds; why not a fish that can swallow a man? And with all the new species being found, why couldn't the unexplored depths of the sea be hiding such a fish or at least the fossils of one? But beyond my faith, there's the off chance that the translators might have overlooked the "easier to swallow" (pardon the pun) possibility that Jonah was sucked into the mouth of an extremely large fish and rode around in its mouth for three days? If you don't have my faith in God, would that not meet your criteria for believability? Last, but not least, "Why do people come up with these objections to believing Scripture, anyway?" My guess? Maybe because they're too logical and lack the ability to believe in someone as awesome as God. Maybe they think they have all the answers and don't need God. Maybe they like their "sinful" lives, so they don't want to believe in God. Does it matter? Only to those who do believe in God and who love them and want to see them in Heaven. Let's see. That would be God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the unfallen angels, for starters. So if they think no one cares whether they believe, they're mistaken. I care, and I don't even know most of them. I just know what the end of this life is and what God's promises are concerning where He wants to lead us. But that's another study. |
Related Links The Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures: Within Text: Jonah 1:17
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