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    • New study suggests scientific explanations for Jesus’ fish miracles
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    New study suggests scientific explanations for Jesus’ fish miracles

    Umito Posted on

    A multi-institutional team of environmental scientists and physical limnologists has found a scientific explanation for Jesus’ “miraculous fish catch” that does not involve miracles. The research team published their article in the journal Water Resources Research. The team studied natural fish mortality in Lake Kinneret. Their findings suggest that Jesus’ biblical miracles related to fishing may have a scientific basis.

    Lake Kinneret is a freshwater lake that features prominently in the Bible. Also called Lake Tiberias or the Sea of ​​Galilee, it is the site of several of Jesus’ miracles, including the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the miraculous catching of fish. The northwest shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee is believed to be associated with these two miracles. In the miracle of the loaves and fishes, five loaves of bread and two small fish fed 5,000 people. In the miraculous catch, the apostles fished unsuccessfully until Jesus told them to cast their nets one last time, after which they were rewarded with a large catch.

    The researchers looked to see if there could be another explanation for the sudden increase in fish numbers described in the biblical stories. Their job was to send temperature sensors and oxygen level measuring devices into Lake Kinneret. They tested wind speed and direction and noted modern historical accounts of fish kills in the lake. The team found short periods when winds on Lake Kinneret’s surface were strong enough to strip oxygen from its depths, leaving little or no room for aquatic life.

    Lake Kinneret is naturally stratified, with a cold lower level that has low oxygen levels and a warmer, oxygen-rich upper layer where fish live. Researchers have found that thermal stratification occasionally occurs in Lake Kinneret when waters from the two levels mix. Mixing waters results in too little oxygen for fish to survive at any level of Lake Kinneret. The fish die and rise to the surface of the lake. To a person on land or in a boat, the kill looked like a mass of fish slowly rising to the surface of Lake Kinneret, making them easy to catch.

    The research team wrote in their study: “Today, fish killing events occur at the same location on the lake where the biblical miracle of the loaves and fishes and presumably the miraculous fish catch occurred two millennia before the present.” This phenomenon was, for example, observed in 2012. Researchers identified two events in May and June 2012 which saw thousands of dead fish floating on the surface of the Sea of ​​Galilee. Besides the 2012 events, the authors recall only two other fish kill events: one in April 2007 and one in the early 1990s. All of these fish kill events occurred in the same geographic location, near Tabgha .

    Scientists noted that such a phenomenon occurs rarely and mainly in spring, during the years of active phytoplankton flowering. The experiments confirmed that natural processes, such as westerly winds and water stratification (separation into layers based on density and temperature), lead to seasonal changes in oxygen levels. When the upper and lower layers of water mix, the oxygen level decreases and fish accumulate on the surface, becoming available for capture. The result of oxygen depletion was a sudden death of fish.

    The researchers said: “(This) may explain the appearance of large numbers of easily caught fish near the shore described in the biblical stories.” With the new interpretation, the miracle could be temporally located during the days of greatest fish mortality in the lake, which aligns with the biblical story in which Jesus tells the fisherman Peter to cast his nets again, after which Pierre caught so many fish that the nets barely held. The unusual events in the Sea of ​​Galilee could be the result of a natural phenomenon.

    It is therefore likely that the event occurred in late spring or early summer, a time when temperature changes would cause more cases of fish asphyxiation. Dead fish along the shoreline could be easily picked up by a hungry population, providing a convenient explanation for the abundance of fish in biblical times. Thus, researchers suggest that some biblical events may have been based on real natural phenomena coinciding with the timelines described, indicating that biblical miracles were merely chance events.

    Additionally, the study adds context to the multiplication story, noting that this phenomenon, although rare, is known in limnology and has occurred in other regions of the world. Similar fish kill events have been documented in other locations, including Lake Erie, the Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina, and Hamilton Harbor in Canada. The research team wrote: “It is possible that similar fish kill events, or even a simple concentration of live fish near the shore in the event of partial upwelling, occurred at the same site on the banks of Lake Kinneret two millennia ago.”

    The researchers concluded: “Our study suggests a location and timeline for the biblical miracles near Tabgha, documented in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the Miraculous Catch of the Fish. » According to the Gospels, the miracle of the “Loaves and Fishes” was the only miracle recorded in all four canonical texts. In the miracle of the loaves and fishes, five loaves of bread and two small fish fed 5,000 people. There are two examples in the New Testament where Jesus is described as transforming a few fish into a multitude: one in the book of Luke and the other in the book of John.

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    Researchers found that the types of fish most abundant in Lake Kinneret during kills are generally found along the shoreline, consistent with biblical accounts of fish abundance. The fish die and rise to the surface of the lake. When the upper and lower layers of water mix, the oxygen level decreases and fish accumulate on the surface, becoming available for capture. The kills lead to massive numbers of fish along the shoreline, consistent with biblical accounts of fish abundance.

    The study suggests a scientific explanation behind one of Jesus’ most famous miracles. According to new research, miracles may have a more logical and scientific explanation rather than being the work of Christ. Researchers found that lake conditions in Jesus’ day were similar to those that lead to modern fish die-offs, supporting the theory that natural phenomena could explain biblical events.

    The researchers concluded: “Our study suggests a location and timeline for the biblical miracles near Tabgha, documented in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the Miraculous Catch of the Fish. » They said: “(This) may explain the appearance of large numbers of easily caught fish near the shore described in the biblical stories.” Thus, researchers suggest that some biblical events may have been based on real natural phenomena coinciding with the timelines described, indicating that biblical miracles were merely chance events.

    Sources: El Cronista, Cursor Info, Phys.org, IFLScience

    This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq



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