God has him

[Gob]

A California man remains missing a day after he was swept out to sea during an ocean baptism.

Benito Flores, 43, was among several people helping his cousin, Pastor Maurigro Cervantes, baptise a man near the Guadalupe Dunes Preserve north of Santa Barbara.

Two others were swept out by a huge wave but were able to swim to shore.

The US Coast Guard says the search for Mr Flores was called off at midnight on Sunday.

The baptism was just finishing up at 10:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday when the church members were hit by the wave.

"A big wave came and took Benito," Mr Cervantes told local broadcaster KEYT. "I tried to take him out, he was heavy and then another big wave came."

The US Coast Guard and as well as local rescue officials were involved in the search but there are no plans to resume it.

Santa Barbara Fire Captain David Sadecki said it would be difficult for anyone to survive more than 30 minutes in the cold water.

Mr Cervantes, who leads the Jesus Christ Light of the Sky church in Santa Maria, said his church performed such ceremonies two or three times a year, according to the Santa Maria Times.

[rubato]

“God will never give you more than you can handle,”



yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Neither will Mother Nature.

[TPFKA@W]

Waving goodbye.

[Joe Guy]

When a person is baptized catholic, he chooses a new (middle) name.

If Benito chose Jonah, rescue workers should be looking for a big fish.

[MajGenl.Meade]

[rubato]

When a person is baptized catholic, he chooses a new (middle) name.

If Benito chose Jonah, rescue workers should be looking for a big fish.

The text refers to "a huge fish" but in common parlance people refer to "Jonah and the Whale". Were there actually large whales in the eastern Mediterranean sea? or is "huge Fish" the better metaphor?


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Whales are (at least in these days) rare in the Med and of course, besides not being fish at all, have too small a throat to swallow a man, even a short one like knee high Meyer, much less a Jonah. Of course, one could postulate a miraculous throat in a miraculous whale but that seems a little self-serving when the likelihood of the Hebrew writer ever having seen or heard of a "whale" as such remains a very remote possibility. Sea-monsters, leviathon and so on were concepts equally applicable to sharks or dogfish either of which "gapes" sufficiently to swallow Jonah. The miracle then rests only on his survival without being digested.

Matthew 12:40. In some versions this is translated as "whale". However κητους kētous)is better translated as sea-monster, huge fish, derived from a Greek word-base used to construct "gaping" or "chasm".

In Jonah 2:1 the LXX has kētei megalōi "great fish" whereas in Hebrew the word is dâg (dawg) translated as "a fish" - how tempting it is to say "dawgfish"?! The word may be one of two variations, both with the same meaning, similar to these characters: דּאג and דּג

[Sue U]

The Hebrew is "דג גדול" (dag gadol) which translates quite straightforwardly as "big fish." The real mystery/miracle is how the male fish transforms into a female fish ("דגה", "dagah") in the very next verse, without so much as a by-your-leave. But boy, girl, fish, whale, shark, who cares? Jonah is just a jokey sermonette, a rather silly fantasy written to illustrate a point. (Jewish congregations read it on Yom Kipur for some comic relief.)

[Lord Jim]

I've always heard the way Meade put it, "great fish"; but "great", "huge" "big" not really a lot of difference...

[Econoline]

(To see the whole image, right-click, then select "Open image in new tab")

Also...the whale shark is the largest (over 40 ft!) known species of fish. I don't know if there were ever any of them in the Mediterranean--probably not--but it looks big enough to accidentally swallow a human without even noticing it.

[Lord Jim]

They have a whale shark at the aquarium here in 'Frisco...

As I recall, despite their size, they present no threat to people, (or any other large animals) I believe they are filter feeders that eat plankton...

[MajGenl.Meade]

The Hebrew is "דג גדול" (dag gadol) which translates quite straightforwardly as "big fish." The real mystery/miracle is how the male fish transforms into a female fish ("דגה", "dagah") in the very next verse, without so much as a by-your-leave. But boy, girl, fish, whale, shark, who cares? Jonah is just a jokey sermonette, a rather silly fantasy written to illustrate a point. (Jewish congregations read it on Yom Kipur for some comic relief.)

Thanks Sue. I've always thought of Jonah (and Job too) as being interesting parables (not describing actual events) and the humour in Jonah is quite clear. His petulant refusal to preach to the Ninehvites on the grounds that they will probably repent and then God will forgive them (when they obviously deserve death and destruction) is classic. Followed by his pouting watch over the city in the hope (I believe) that it might yet happen and God giving him a good lesson with vines and worms. That's not how some of my friends see it - but then again, they appear convinced that there really was an actual Good Samaritan.

[Sue U]

My favorite part is when they make the animals repent, too, complete with sackcloth and fasting. Hilarious, but today PETA would have a fit.

ETA: I always imagine John Cleese in the role of King of Nineveh.

[Big RR]

they appear convinced that there really was an actual Good Samaritan

Well of all the Samaritans who ever existed, is it beyond the realm of possibility that one was good? Just like there must have been at least five wise and five foolish virgins at some point in history.

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Sue U]

Also, Jonah goes through the entire story literally saying "Just kill me now" as his stock response to everything, with God saying "U mad, bro?"

[Gob]

A vicar who went on a rowing pilgrimage from Dorset to Cornwall and back is believed to have drowned after he was found dead on a beach near his wrecked boat.



The body of Reverend Bob Thorn, 59, was washed up on a beach near Seatown, just five miles from his parish of Burton Bradstock, Dorset, on Monday, shortly after his damaged rowing boat was found nearby.

The popular clergyman was on a three-month sabbatical when he rowed a 10ft wooden boat from his home in Dorset to Cornwall last month on a religious pilgrimage.
He is believed to have been rowing the 150 miles back to his parish along the south coast when he got into trouble.

Police and coastguards searched a 50-mile stretch of coastline from West Bay in Dorset to Teignmouth in Devon after the empty and damaged timber boat was washed ashore.

After several hours of searching, the vicar's body was found in a small cove a few hundred feet along the beach from where his boat was discovered.

Officers say they are not treating the death of Mr Thorn, who was married to Jean, also a priest, and had four children, as suspicious. A post-mortem has yet to be carried out.

Mr Thorn, rector of the Bride Valley Benefice, which covers eight churches, was a keen rower who undertook long spiritual voyages, a tradition started by Celtic Christian monks in the sixth and seventh centuries.

Before he left the clergyman had asked his parishioners to pray for his safe return in a parish newsletter, saying: 'When I say, please pray for me, I have to say that I would love sunny skies and warm, helping breezes, but they are not for you to ask.