Cleaning Up the Gene Pool
Having written more than once about the flotsam and jetsam swirling about in the waters of christianity, this story really appealed to me. It comes from the files of the 2006 Darwin Awards. Visit the website and you'll find the concept explained thus: "Named in honour of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it." (emphasis my own)
One of this year's nominees was a pastor from Libreville, Gabon. In August 2006 he exhorted his congregation to have faith, enough faith to literally walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Sufficiently strong faith, he insisted, would allow this. One problem with his big undertaking was the footsteps the little minister decided to follow were the watery ones left when the big J.C. hotfooted it across the Sea of Galilee. The other problem was that the cleric obviously hadn't read the April 2006 "Journal of Paleolimnology" wherein Doron Nof, a Florida State University Professor of Oceanography publishes his findings on the subject of ice formation on the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret, as it is known today.
The study of temperature records of the Mediterranean Sea surface and the use of analytical ice and statistical models lead scientists to conclude that a small section of the lake, near today's town of Tabgha - a region tied to Jesus by archaeological findings - could have dropped to -4 degrees Celsius during a cold period that occurred in the years that Jesus walked the area.
Says Nof, " "We simply explain that unique freezing processes probably happened in that region ... We leave to others the question of whether or not our research explains the biblical account."
If the pastor had perused that article before he delivered his sermon to the faithful, he might have wanted to hedge his bet on the flotation power of faith and either get one of the parishioners to test out his theory first, or just move on to another topic entirely. Of course, if he had done either, the gene pool wouldn't have had the clean-up that it did. What the non-swimmer did do was set out to walk the path of a twenty-minute ferry ride. Since the story doesn't go into detail, I have to wonder. Did some of the congregation row him out to a certain point and them watch as he stepped overboard? (If that were the case, I think they might qualify for some kind of dodo award, themselves.) Did he just start walking and keep going until the waves were up over his head? (At this point, of course, we get back to the faithful standing watching, while the air bubbles gradually stopped surfacing. Were they listening intently for notes from some heavenly chorus to bubble their way up through the waves as their pastor reappeared, dripping but smiling triumphantly?) I just can't quite imagine the scene.
Maybe it's just as good that the Journal of Paleolimnology isn't at the top of the hot bestsellers list.
One of this year's nominees was a pastor from Libreville, Gabon. In August 2006 he exhorted his congregation to have faith, enough faith to literally walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Sufficiently strong faith, he insisted, would allow this. One problem with his big undertaking was the footsteps the little minister decided to follow were the watery ones left when the big J.C. hotfooted it across the Sea of Galilee. The other problem was that the cleric obviously hadn't read the April 2006 "Journal of Paleolimnology" wherein Doron Nof, a Florida State University Professor of Oceanography publishes his findings on the subject of ice formation on the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret, as it is known today.
The study of temperature records of the Mediterranean Sea surface and the use of analytical ice and statistical models lead scientists to conclude that a small section of the lake, near today's town of Tabgha - a region tied to Jesus by archaeological findings - could have dropped to -4 degrees Celsius during a cold period that occurred in the years that Jesus walked the area.
Says Nof, " "We simply explain that unique freezing processes probably happened in that region ... We leave to others the question of whether or not our research explains the biblical account."
If the pastor had perused that article before he delivered his sermon to the faithful, he might have wanted to hedge his bet on the flotation power of faith and either get one of the parishioners to test out his theory first, or just move on to another topic entirely. Of course, if he had done either, the gene pool wouldn't have had the clean-up that it did. What the non-swimmer did do was set out to walk the path of a twenty-minute ferry ride. Since the story doesn't go into detail, I have to wonder. Did some of the congregation row him out to a certain point and them watch as he stepped overboard? (If that were the case, I think they might qualify for some kind of dodo award, themselves.) Did he just start walking and keep going until the waves were up over his head? (At this point, of course, we get back to the faithful standing watching, while the air bubbles gradually stopped surfacing. Were they listening intently for notes from some heavenly chorus to bubble their way up through the waves as their pastor reappeared, dripping but smiling triumphantly?) I just can't quite imagine the scene.
Maybe it's just as good that the Journal of Paleolimnology isn't at the top of the hot bestsellers list.
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