Jonah

[Bonzi]

What are your thoughts on the Bible character Jonah

How much do you know about him?

 

[JoeB131]

What are your thoughts on the Bible character Jonah

How much do you know about him?

That he's another wonderful example of how cruel the Old Testament God is.

So the short version. Jonah is told by God to preach to the capital of the Assyrians that he'll destroy it. But Jonah is all like "Screw that", the Assyrians are Israel's enemy. So he tries to flee by boat, and God calls up a storm.

So Jonah does the stand up thing and says, "Um, yeah, that would be God, he's upset with me", so his fellow sailor throw him overboard and he's swallowed by a whale. Except the Bible writers had no idea how whales actually work and that the can't swallow people.

Well, Jonah starts wailing ot God inside the whale, and the whale gets fed up and pukes him out. so he goes to the Assyrian Capital and preaches, and for some reason, they take him seriously. No, really.

But this upsets Jonah because he kind of wanted God to destroy the assyrians. So God teaches Jonah a lesson by giving him a plant he really liked and then killing it.

 

[Bonzi]

But this upsets Jonah because he kind of wanted God to destroy the assyrians. So God teaches Jonah a lesson by giving him a plant he really liked and then killing it

Well it was a "big fish", not a whale actually.....
but yeah, Jonah is a very interesting character, because he did God's will, but was very unhappy about it in the end. I love the Old Testament because it's so honest! Sunday school teachers to a disservice making this a story what it is not.

The moral is not to question God. He's perfect. He wanted the people of Nineveh to worship him and praise him, and they did. We should rejoice in those that change from their wicked ways.

 

[irosie91]

Jonah is a parable -----on the issue of REDEMPTION-----via repentance FOR EVERYONE-------even those
damn assyrians. Nice story. Jonah means DOVE (yanno----like them love birds )

 

[Bonzi]

Also, not everyone that does God's will is happy about it

 

[JoeB131]

But this upsets Jonah because he kind of wanted God to destroy the assyrians. So God teaches Jonah a lesson by giving him a plant he really liked and then killing it

Well it was a "big fish", not a whale actually.....
but yeah, Jonah is a very interesting character, because he did God's will, but was very unhappy about it in the end. I love the Old Testament because it's so honest! Sunday school teachers to a disservice making this a story what it is not.

The moral is not to question God. He's perfect. He wanted the people of Nineveh to worship him and praise him, and they did. We should rejoice in those that change from their wicked ways.

The Hebrews didn't know the difference between whales and fish.

The thing is, The Assyrians went on to destroy Israel. The Lost Tribes were scattered and never heard from again. So yeah, I would be questioning God's call on that one.

But if God's goal was to get the Assyrians to worship him for a week, instead of worshipping Marduk or whoever, it seems a bit petty.