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Did Jonah live inside a whale?
- Thread starter xxclaro
- Start date
Thief
Rogue Theologian
Last I heard...
Being swallowed by a whale would be a remote possibility.
Though they have large mouths, their throats are relatively narrow.
They typically swim through schools of small prey, and the lining of their mouths filter away anything of size.
Humans need an air supply. So do whales. But a whale can submerge to depth and then resurface far beyond what a man's body can tolerate.
I like the story.
I would prefer to say....with God.... all things are possible.
But that a man could be held...suspended...for three days....in the belly of a whale....
This would require a stretch of believing....a willingness to say 'yeah'
to things I can't prove.
oh yeah....
That's why it's called faith.
zenzero
Its only a Label
Friend Thief,
Read this story:
Buried for 27 days: Haiti earthquake survivor's amazing story - Telegraph
If someone can survive 27 days under an earthquake debris living inside a whale for three days is a cakewalk!
There is no faith required only an understanding.
If one is lacking in understanding then the only way is to face TRUTH to realise it and in this case it would only be possible by going inside a whale!
Love & rgds
Read this story:
Buried for 27 days: Haiti earthquake survivor's amazing story - Telegraph
If someone can survive 27 days under an earthquake debris living inside a whale for three days is a cakewalk!
There is no faith required only an understanding.
If one is lacking in understanding then the only way is to face TRUTH to realise it and in this case it would only be possible by going inside a whale!
Love & rgds
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
There have been various stories about real life Jonahs, but all appear to be fabrications. The few whales that I can think of that would swallow a human would kill it first.
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
There is a difference though. In a whale there are stomach acids that have to be dealt with. As well as a lack of oxygen, and extreme pressure.
zenzero
Its only a Label
Friend fallingblood,
That is the uniqueness of the mind it will find differences even in death!
Suggest read that link provided and understand about the conditions of this man who survived 27 days. Besides as mentioned taste the difference if one is keen to really unfold the TRUTH!
Love & rgds
That is the uniqueness of the mind it will find differences even in death!
Suggest read that link provided and understand about the conditions of this man who survived 27 days. Besides as mentioned taste the difference if one is keen to really unfold the TRUTH!
Love & rgds
Thief
Rogue Theologian
Not wanting to redirect too far....
Moses came down from the mount, after forty days and nights, and claimed he did need eat, or drink water, during that time.
I mention this only because this topic seems to lean toward.....
what are we willing to believe?
Last edited:
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
Had he not already died from a lack of oxygen the digestive juices would've done him in.
1. The bible said big fish, not whale. A whale could not swallow a human, from what I have been told.
2. I don't know if the story is literal, partly symbolic, or all symbolic. If it is partly symbolic, then the big fish that Jonah was in could taken as Jonah's spirit in between being united and being disconnected from God.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Whale if I know.
Arkholt
Non-vessel
Thanks, zenzero. I never understood the tendency people have to automatically think "whale" when they read the story and see "big fish." Sharks ARE, in reality, big fish, and there is much more of a chance of them swallowing you whole than a whale.
As for whether or not you could survive inside them for three days... Well, I've always seen the story as a type of the death and resurrection of Christ, and Jonah going through a similar situation: dying spiritually by shirking his duty to preach to the people of Nineveh, then being dead for three days, and being resurrected as it were from his watery grave.
Now, the story itself could be just allegory or metaphor, it could be some kind of explanation of what happened by someone who wasn't there, the real Jonah could have had some kind of experience that he could only explain properly in these terms, or it could have actually happened.
My take, however, is that it doesn't really matter. Same thing with many of the stories in the Bible. Did they happen? Maybe, maybe not. Do they still teach the lessons and doctrine that they were always meant to teach? Yes. Not to denigrate the question, but I just find it a bit useless to debate whether something actually happened or not if the story is still useful either way.
As for whether or not you could survive inside them for three days... Well, I've always seen the story as a type of the death and resurrection of Christ, and Jonah going through a similar situation: dying spiritually by shirking his duty to preach to the people of Nineveh, then being dead for three days, and being resurrected as it were from his watery grave.
Now, the story itself could be just allegory or metaphor, it could be some kind of explanation of what happened by someone who wasn't there, the real Jonah could have had some kind of experience that he could only explain properly in these terms, or it could have actually happened.
My take, however, is that it doesn't really matter. Same thing with many of the stories in the Bible. Did they happen? Maybe, maybe not. Do they still teach the lessons and doctrine that they were always meant to teach? Yes. Not to denigrate the question, but I just find it a bit useless to debate whether something actually happened or not if the story is still useful either way.
A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
Probably a sperm whale would be the most comforable, but there are plenty of fish that can swallow a man.
The key I think would be delayed digestion.
Twig pentagram
High Priest
The bible is full of ancient myths and/or legends. I think most of them, including this one are false.
zenzero
Its only a Label
Friends,
Stories that we read in scriptures are all symbolic.
When it says God took 6 days to create? one should not take it literally.
However, we must also understand that evolution has not stopped since Jonah's time and there could have been a fish which could have swallowed him those days, who knows?
The point is we are all part of the *whole* and to understand the *whole* with the small part of the part that one is and his brain of him is; such a task is illogical.
Only through understanding is the unity possible.
Love & rgds
Stories that we read in scriptures are all symbolic.
When it says God took 6 days to create? one should not take it literally.
However, we must also understand that evolution has not stopped since Jonah's time and there could have been a fish which could have swallowed him those days, who knows?
The point is we are all part of the *whole* and to understand the *whole* with the small part of the part that one is and his brain of him is; such a task is illogical.
Only through understanding is the unity possible.
Love & rgds
Smoke
Done here.
The swallowing part is possible; the surviving isn't. However, I suppose a believer would say it was a miracle.
More important is that you've provided an excuse to use one of my favorite P. G. Wodehouse quotes: "She didn't like him being an atheist, and he wouldn't stop being an atheist, and finally he said something about Jonah and the Whale which it was impossible for her to overlook."
AxisMundi
E Pluribus Unum!!!
Can you live for three days underwater with no oxgygen in a highly toxic environment?
A whale's belly isn't some cavernous air filled cave, as the writters of your myths thought.
It is a place lacking oxygen and filled with acidic juices meant to break down biological matter.
Rainbow Mage
Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
No, simply no. Jonah didn't live inside a whale 3 days. No way
AxisMundi
E Pluribus Unum!!!
Let's see...
Trapped in rubble with water trickling near by.
Swallowed whole and your corpse being slowly digested as you had died of afixiation in about three minutes after being swallowed. Assuming said marine life hadn't chewed first.
Are you really trying to compare the two?