Skeptics ridicule many portions of Scripture and let's face it—some of them are difficult to believe. Certainly one that has received a major dose of such ridicule deals with Jonah and the whale (or great fish). How could a whale or fish swallow a man whole? How could a man survive in such an environment for any length of time? As always, there are answers to the questions if we are willing to study and believe.

First, let me say that the historicity of this account is vital
to the Christian. Believing it is not an option, for Jesus
Christ Himself believed it and made it a model for the
doctrine of His resurrection. "For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the
Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth (Matthew 12:40).

What kind of animal swallowed Jonah? In the passage
above, the Greek word translated "whale" actually
means a huge fish or sea monster. In the passage in
Jonah (1:17; 2:1,10), the Hebrew word was the normal
word for "fish," but here the word is modified by the
word great. Our modern taxonomic system places
whales among the mammals, sharks, among the fish
and plesiosaurs among the reptiles, but, the Bible uses a
different system. "All flesh is not the same flesh: but
there is one kind of flesh of men,another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds." ( I Corinthians
15:39).

Evidently any living thing other than the creeping things
(Psalm 104:25) in the seas is placed in the category of
"fishes". In addition, there are several species of whale
and of sharks alive today with gullets large enough to
swallow a man whole. Among extinct animals like the
plesiosaurs, the same could be said, and perhaps this
was a heretofore unknown fish of large size. The point
is, the story is not impossible. However, most
importantly, the Bible says that "the Lord had prepared a
great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17). Clearly this
event was miraculous and not a naturalistic
phenomenon. Thus we don’t have to give it an
explanation limited by modern experience or knowledge.

Could a man survive in a fish’s belly? The Hebrew idiom
"three days and three nights" has been clearly shown
both from Scripture and other sources to mean a period
of time beginning on one day and ending on the day
after the one following. It doesn't necessarily mean three
full days and nights.

Furthermore, there have been several reported cases of
modern sailors or other individuals swallowed by such
an animal, only to be recovered many hours later.

But again, this story involves the miraculous. It may be
that Jonah actually died and was resurrected by God.
This is implied in his description of his experience
especially Jonah 2:2. Of course, resurrection is
"impossible" but it clearly happened on several
occasions in Scripture requiring miraculous input. To
deny the possibility of miracles, especially those miracles
specifically mentioned in Scripture, is to deny the
existence of God, and this is not an option for a Christian.

The point is nothing about the story is totally impossible:
There are "fish" large enough to swallow a man; men
have been known to survive inside a "fish"; the Bible
says it really happened; Christ said Jonah’s experience
was an analogy of His own death and resurrection; and
God is alive and capable of this feat.

As I've grown older and wiser, Goliath has gone from this
[img]http://zwingliusredivivus.files./2012/10/david-and-goliath.jpg[/img]


to this
[img]http://goodnessofgodministries.files./2010/12/full_davidgoliath.jpg[/img]

to this
[img]http://livequality.files./2011/01/david-facing-goliath.jpg[/img]


Seems it's the turn of the whale to get bigger....

What do you think the ancients would have called a submarine if they had seen one?

do fish chew?

@all posters, pls make your points without being insultive/abusive.

What do you think the ancients would have called a submarine if they had seen one?
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Are you saying that Jonah might have been swallowed by a submarine?