| I am one of those people who is seldom shocked or | | | | in the miraculous way the Bible claims. As I read the |
| startled. News alerts, angry barking dogs and people | | | | results of the poll, it truly shocked me. |
| sneaking up on me just do have the same effect on | | | | A close second was the story of Jonah and the |
| me as most people. I am not sure if that is a positive | | | | whale (or great fish). This was not quite as startling a |
| thing or not, but it is factual. | | | | revelation. Somehow I perceived that if someone was |
| At the age of fourteen for instance, I was hired as a | | | | a skeptic, this would be where their skepticism and |
| Boy Scout camp counselor. Counselors were required | | | | faith collided. Still, it perplexes me how people can |
| to sleep in their campsites for a whole week before | | | | believe part of the Bible and not all. Where does one |
| the campers arrived so they would be familiar with the | | | | draw the line? |
| camp and night sounds. At least that was the logic | | | | Meaning no irreverence to any of the other miraculous |
| behind the explanation they gave me. | | | | accounts (all of which this writer believes), the story of |
| My campsite, unfortunately, was a half mile from the | | | | Jonah is one that should be believed above all other |
| main camp, deep in the thick woods. I was not only | | | | miracles, simply because modern history gives |
| required to sleep alone at the site on the ground every | | | | credence to it. The story that follows may seem |
| night, but also had to make the long journey on the | | | | unbelievable, but I assure you it is true. |
| dark trail to the campsite after dinner each evening. | | | | On a whaling ship named "Star of the Sea" out of |
| Admittedly, it was a little spooky, but I was a man of | | | | England at the end of the nineteenth century, an |
| fourteen after all and I was not about to let anyone | | | | unbelievable series of events were about to unfold. A |
| think that I was a sissy. | | | | boat crew had harpooned a whale and drawn it up to |
| On the night before the campers arrived, the older, | | | | the side of the main vessel, supposing it to be dead. |
| tenured counselors, apparently motivated by boredom, | | | | Without warning, the mighty giant thrashed its tail, |
| painted their faces in "Lord of the Flies" fashion and hid | | | | sending the entire boat crew into the deep. With |
| out on the trail to my campsite. How they arrived there | | | | another lunge of its muscular body, it broke free of the |
| ahead of me after we dismissed from dinner remains | | | | securing lines and sounded. All but one of the crew |
| a mystery, but they somehow managed it without my | | | | was rescued. The missing man was pronounced dead |
| hearing them. Then, at what seemed to me the | | | | at sea and appropriate entries were made in the ship's |
| darkest point in the woods, they jumped out, shaking | | | | log. |
| their lights wildly and letting out blood-curdling screams. | | | | Nearly three full days later another whale was |
| I didn't startle me. I didn't flinch. I don't know if the week | | | | harpooned and drawn up to the main vessel. This time |
| of preparing the camp fatigued me to the point I | | | | it was dead and the crew began to process the great |
| couldn't react or if somehow in my sub-conscience I | | | | beast. Several hours into the process of stripping the |
| had half-expected them to pull some hi-jinks like this. In | | | | blubber and meat from the creature, one of the |
| any event, it didn't startle me. I shook my head and | | | | crewmen screamed out with great alarm "there be a |
| walked by them, but not before giving them a | | | | man inside". |
| whispered "grow up". | | | | Sure enough, there in the throat of the great beast |
| Many years later as a seasoned believer, I was to | | | | dangled the legs of their missing comrade. They had |
| experience one of the few true shocks in my life. In | | | | harpooned the same whale that had broken free days |
| fact, it was a series of shocks. I was reading an article | | | | earlier. Apparently, in its haste to escape, it had |
| in a Christian periodical. I do not recall the title, but the | | | | inadvertently swallowed the crewmember, and he had |
| topic was focused on a poll that had been conducted. | | | | become lodged in its throat cavity. |
| The poll that was taken canvassed some 12,000 | | | | Sadly, shipmates began to cut away the blubber to |
| "Christians". The question posed to them was "of all | | | | get to their friend. After a few minutes another cry |
| the miracles in the Bible, which one do you believe | | | | rang out "he be alive, he be alive"! To the astonishment |
| least of all?" | | | | of the crew, their shipmate was still alive. His hair and |
| The premise of the article was shocking enough; to | | | | skin had been bleached white by the enzymes present |
| think that there were people who claimed to believe in | | | | in the whale's gullet, but he had been so perfectly |
| God, but who did not believe what he said in his word. | | | | positioned that he was able to breathe by the great |
| But it got worse, much worse. Sadly, only a handful of | | | | mammal's air intake and it had been enough to sustain |
| people said they believed all of the recorded miracles. | | | | his life. |
| Over 95% of those polled disbelieved at least one | | | | The man was finally freed from his fleshy prison, but |
| recorded miracle and some disbelieved several. Most | | | | he was unconscious and there was little hope of his |
| surprising of all was the fact that the miracle that | | | | surviving. Surprisingly, several days later he regained |
| registered most skepticism was the virgin birth of | | | | consciousness and eventually made a full recovery. |
| Jesus. | | | | The account is documented by the ship's own logs |
| I suppose as I read the article I should have been | | | | and preserved in British archives. That believers would |
| prepared for anything, but I simply did not see that | | | | discount the ability of God to do on purpose what a |
| coming. In my wildest dreams I could not have | | | | whale could do by accident is one of the few things |
| imagined that people who say they believe Jesus is | | | | that has truly shocked this writer. |
| the Son of God can also believe that he was not born | | | | |