[amc] Men's Fellowship Thur breakfast discussion
- From: wseverin1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Werner J. Severin)
- To: amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 10:08:36 -0500
Here is follow-up on the item Bob sent out earlier in the week, and which
we discussed briefly Thursday morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Jesus-Ice-Theory.html?
_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
April 5, 2006
Scientist: Jesus May Have Walked on Ice
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:26 p.m. ET
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Jesus walked on water, according to the
Bible, but a Florida State University professor says he may have
actually walked on a hard-to-see patch of ice.
Doron Nof, a professor of oceanography, said a rare combination of
water and atmospheric conditions in the Sea of Galilee 2000 years ago
may offer a scientific explanation for one of the miracles recounted
in the Bible.
Nof said a patch of ice floating in the Sea of Galilee -- which is
actually a freshwater lake -- would have been difficult to
distinguish from unfrozen water surrounding it.
''I'm not trying to provide any information that has to do with
theology here,'' Nof said in an interview Wednesday. ''All we've
thought is about the natural process. What theologians or anybody
else does with that, it's their business, so to speak.''
According to the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark and John,
Jesus' disciples were out on the Galilee at night when a storm came
up. Jesus walked to the terrified men, who thought he was a ghost,
according to the accounts.
Darrell Bock, a professor of New Testament studies at the Dallas
Theological Seminary, lightheartedly dismissed the idea that Jesus
walked on ice.
''I'm just cold to the theory,'' said Bock, author of ''Breaking the
Da Vinci Code,'' which defends traditional Christian beliefs
challenged in Dan Brown's ''Da Vinci Code.''
''I tend to treat it as a real miracle,'' Bock said. ''Almost all the
nature miracles are challenged in one degree or another.''
Other reaction to the theory has not been so restrained.
''I get hate e-mail on the average every three minutes,'' Nof said.
One e-mail called him ''the most stupid person on the planet'' and
closed by wishing that he ''go to hell where you belong.''
Nof's research appears in the April issue of the Journal of
Paleolimnology, a publication on the reconstruction of lake
histories. Nof's co-authors are biostatistics professor Ian McKeague
of Columbia University and atmospheric science professor Nathan
Paldor of Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
They came up with the theory after studying records of long-ago water
temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea, based on core samples of
shells and other animal remains taken from the bottom.
The records indicated that two lengthy periods 2,500 to 1,500 years
ago were chilly enough for ice patches to form during cold spells on
the Sea of Galilee, said Nof, a native of Israel.
The unfrozen water surrounding the ice would have come from salty
springs along the lake's western shore, he said. Salty water freezes
at lower temperatures than fresh water.
Werner J. Severin
3108 Silverleaf Drive
Austin, Tx. 78757-1611
(512) 452-5080
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Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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