"This Video Will Absolutely Convince You Jonah Was Swallowed by a Whale"

[THE HOOD APOLOGIST]

OR a great fish, or a sea monster, or simply a sea creature, depending on what Bible you've picked up. In any case . . . . . . we have this cute little item about a video made by Dr. Sean McDowell, an associate professor in the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University.

"How do you become a Christian apologist? Simple. You just say “God did it” every time someone points out a biblical impossibility. The more fancy you make it sound, the more casually you look and speak, the more emotion you throw into your explanations, the more popular and respected you will be.

Case in point: Here’s Dr. Sean McDowell attempting to answer whether the character Jonah was really swallowed by a whale and lived inside its body for three days and three nights.

The correct answer, of course, is Hahahahahaha, of course that’s not true.

His answer is a fancy form of “God did it.”

First, he offers some factors that he claims give the story a “ring of authenticity”: Jesus mentioned him as a historical figure, Jonah’s not a typical hero, etc. (Checkmate, atheists!)

Then he gets into the bigger picture.

… Look, if God could speak the world into existence; if God can make life from non-life; if God can come down in the person of Jesus and walk on water, heal the blind, and heal lepers, then putting Jonah in the fish for three days is child’s play.

[We have] good historical reason to think it’s authentic, but when we step back and look at the larger case for God, then Jonah being swallowed by a big fish is actually quite easy in many circumstances to believe could be true.

​

There you have it. I can only assume all of you are convinced. I mean, there was music in the video. What more do you need to be convinced that Christian myths are true?!
source
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Amusing, but of course the real point is that it's sorry defenses such as this (any impossibility is resolved by playing the "God Did It" card) that reveal Christian apologetics as the bankrupt operation it is.

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Atheist and agnostics crack me up when they "try" to ridicule Christians with their Biblically Illiterate interpretations of scripture. Although this post is responding to McDowell who is clearly wrong on this issue, I've heard other atheist say the same thing and used the scripture in Jonah to bash Christian theology. Problem is the Bible never says Jonah was alive for 3 days and 3 nights. That might be the Sunday school teaching, but Jonah died inside that fish. How do we know? Two reasons.

1. Verse one of Jonah chapter 2 says he prayed out of the belly of the fish, but verse 2 says he cried for help out of the belly of Sheol, 2 different places. Sheol was the place of departed spirits when a person died according to the Bible which is different from the belly of the fish. So although his body was physically in the belly of the fish, his spirit cried out to God from Sheol which means he was dead.

2. Jesus said the last sign given would be the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40) in which he said he would be in the heart of the Earth 3 days and 3 nights. Now we know that according to the Bible Jesus was dead for that time of 3 days and 3 nights and was resurrected after. So if Jonah was alive then so was Jesus being he used Jonah as a reference to what was going to happen to him, which would be a contradiction. But that's a faulty teaching. So since Jesus death and resurrection follows after the Sign of Jonah, that makes Jonah dying coherent with Jesus's statement, and that means the Atheist and some Christians have the wrong interpretation from the get go.

 

[Skwim]

Atheist and agnostics crack me up when they "try" to ridicule Christians with their Biblically Illiterate interpretations of scripture. Although this post is responding to McDowell who is clearly wrong on this issue, I've heard other atheist say the same thing and used the scripture in Jonah to bash Christian theology. Problem is the Bible never says Jonah was alive for 3 days and 3 nights. That might be the Sunday school teaching, but Jonah died inside that fish. How do we know? Two reasons.

1. Verse one of Jonah chapter 2 says he prayed out of the belly of the fish, but verse 2 says he cried for help out of the belly of Sheol, 2 different places. Sheol was the place of departed spirits when a person died according to the Bible which is different from the belly of the fish. So although his body was physically in the belly of the fish, his spirit cried out to God from Sheol which means he was dead.

2. Jesus said the last sign given would be the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40) in which he said he would be in the heart of the Earth 3 days and 3 nights. Now we know that according to the Bible Jesus was dead for that time of 3 days and 3 nights and was resurrected after. So if Jonah was alive then so was Jesus being he used Jonah as a reference to what was going to happen to him, which would be a contradiction. But that's a faulty teaching. So since Jesus death and resurrection follows after the Sign of Jonah, that makes Jonah dying coherent with Jesus's statement, and that means the Atheist and some Christians have the wrong interpretation from the get go.

In other words, your claim is that when atheists and agnostics poke fun at some of the Bible's ridiculous tales they're missing the point that with an all-powerful god calling the shots anything and everything is possible. Okay, but realize that such going-ons are no more believable than a story in a Marvel Comic Book. So what I believe atheists and agnostics are actually ridiculing is the Christian gullibility in believing any of the Bible, and are simply using stories like Jonah and the whale as some of the more obvious examples of the book's ridiculousness.

As for atheists bashing Christian theology, don't forget that every time a preacher pounds his pulpit to get right with god, in effect he's bashing the beliefs of those who don't buy his theology, Saying the non-Christian is wrong in his belief and worthy of their hell, and in some cases not worthy their friendship. No biggie, but it isn't a one-sided enterprise.


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[sooda]

so much for debate

The Book of Jonah

excerpt:

Themes
Based on the historical and linguistic issues, the book of Jonah reflects four major themes:

• Atonement versus Repentance
• Universalism versus Particularism
• Prophecy: Realization versus Compliance
• Compassion: Justice versus Mercy.

Such themes should be treated as critical foundational elements in determining a more probable context(s) of the book. It is probable that the message of Jonah is compatible to three different contexts: pre-exilic (eighth-century BCE); exilic (sixth-century BCE); and the post-exilic (539 BCE and after).

In doing so, it is critical to construct a proper interpretation based on text and context. With the employment of both classical and late biblical Hebrew in the book, its construction probably began in the eighth-century BCE and was later re-applied to the exilic audience in Babylon and the post-exilic community in Jerusalem.

 

[sooda]

Atheist and agnostics crack me up when they "try" to ridicule Christians with their Biblically Illiterate interpretations of scripture. Although this post is responding to McDowell who is clearly wrong on this issue, I've heard other atheist say the same thing and used the scripture in Jonah to bash Christian theology. Problem is the Bible never says Jonah was alive for 3 days and 3 nights. That might be the Sunday school teaching, but Jonah died inside that fish. How do we know? Two reasons.

1. Verse one of Jonah chapter 2 says he prayed out of the belly of the fish, but verse 2 says he cried for help out of the belly of Sheol, 2 different places. Sheol was the place of departed spirits when a person died according to the Bible which is different from the belly of the fish. So although his body was physically in the belly of the fish, his spirit cried out to God from Sheol which means he was dead.

2. Jesus said the last sign given would be the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40) in which he said he would be in the heart of the Earth 3 days and 3 nights. Now we know that according to the Bible Jesus was dead for that time of 3 days and 3 nights and was resurrected after. So if Jonah was alive then so was Jesus being he used Jonah as a reference to what was going to happen to him, which would be a contradiction. But that's a faulty teaching. So since Jesus death and resurrection follows after the Sign of Jonah, that makes Jonah dying coherent with Jesus's statement, and that means the Atheist and some Christians have the wrong interpretation from the get go.

It is a Jewish story having nothing to do with Jesus at all. Christians reinterpreted for themselves. Jonah was written before the Babylonian exile and then rewritten for a post exilic audience.

 

[THE HOOD APOLOGIST]

It is a Jewish story having nothing to do with Jesus at all. Christians reinterpreted for themselves. Jonah was written before the Babylonian exile and then rewritten for a post exilic audience.

Who said the story itself had to do with Jesus? Jesus mentioned it as a sign of his claim to be the Messiah and that his death, burial, and resurrection would be just like it, 3 days and 3 nights. As far as Christians reinterpreting the story, you lost me there.

 

[sooda]

Who said the story itself had to do with Jesus? Jesus mentioned it as a sign of his claim to be the Messiah and that his death, burial, and resurrection would be just like it, 3 days and 3 nights. As far as Christians reinterpreting the story, you lost me there.

According to Matthew….