Latest news with #Gospels
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Scientists ‘disprove' one of Jesus Christ's best-known miracles as study claims it was just ‘a natural phenomenon'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TEAM of scientists claims to have debunked one of Jesus Christ's most famous miracles — saying the Son of God may not have fed 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish after all. Instead, researchers believe it could have been a freak natural event in Israel's Lake Kinneret — known in the Bible as the Sea of Galilee — that brought a massive haul of fish to the surface for easy collection. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Ghent – Crucifixion paint on the wood from side altar in underground chapel of st. Baaf's Cathedral from 16. cent. on June 23, 2012 in Gent, Belgium. Credit: Getty 4 A vintage illustration of Jesus Christ, published in Germany, circa 1900. (Photo) Credit: Getty - Contributor The story of the 'Feeding of the 5,000' is told in all four Gospels, where Jesus is said to have blessed a small amount of food and miraculously distributed it to feed a vast crowd. But in a 2024 study published in Water Resources Research, scientists monitored oxygen levels, water temperature, and wind speed across Lake Kinneret — and say they discovered evidence of sudden mass fish die-offs caused by unusual weather patterns. Strong winds sweeping across the lake, they say, can churn the water and cause an 'upwelling' of cold, low-oxygen water from the bottom, which kills fish and sends them floating to the surface. According to the researchers, to anyone watching from the shore, it would look like fish were suddenly appearing by the thousands — creating the illusion of a miracle and allowing them to 'be easily collected by a hungry populace'. The team believes this could explain the Gospel passage where Jesus tells his disciples — after a fruitless night of fishing — to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, suddenly hauling in a bounty. However, Biblical scholars aren't buying it. Critics slammed the theory for missing the point entirely, pointing out that no fish were caught during the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The article on hit back, saying: 'Jesus simply took the five loaves and two fish, thanked God, broke the loaves, handed everything to his disciples, and the disciples handed the food out. No fish were caught!' According to Matthew 14:13–21, Jesus 'saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.' Brit shares 'proof' he's found Jesus's TOMB & Ark of the Covenant in cave When his disciples told him to send the people away to find food, he replied: 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat.' After blessing the five loaves and two fish, the Bible says: 'they all ate and were satisfied. 'And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces left over.' Despite the backlash, the researchers argue that understanding how fish may have mysteriously appeared in huge quantities doesn't take away from the spiritual message of the event — which many see as symbolic of generosity and faith. Still, religious sceptics say the study adds weight to theories that Jesus' wonders may have had natural explanations — while believers insist some things just can't be explained away by science. It comes after a stunning AI-generated video claims to reveal the true face of Jesus Christ — using images based on the mysterious Turin Shroud. Believers say the Shroud of Turin was the burial cloth wrapped around Jesus after his crucifixion. 4 AI has created a video of Jesus Christ by feeding it the Turin Shroud Credit: X 4 Christ can be seen smiling, blinking and praying in the video Credit: X Now, photos of the ancient linen have been processed through Midjourney, an AI image generator, to create a realistic image and video of Christ. The video shows Jesus blinking, smiling, and praying — potentially as he did before his crucifixion around 33AD. He appears with shoulder-length brown hair, a beard, brown eyes, a straight nose, and high cheekbones. His skin tone is pale, which has sparked debate among academics and online. Last year, The Sun also used AI to recreate the Son of God's appearance. The Gencraft tool was fed the prompt 'face of Jesus based on the Shroud of Turin' and returned images of a man with hazel eyes, a gentle expression, a neat beard, clean eyebrows, and long brown hair. Under his weary eyes, signs of exhaustion were visible. Many researchers agree that the man wrapped in the Shroud appeared to be between 5ft 7in and 6ft tall, with sunken eyes and a full beard. The markings on the cloth also show what some believe to be crucifixion wounds — including injuries to the head, shoulders, arms, and back, consistent with a thorn crown and Roman whips. The Bible recounts that Jesus was scourged by Roman soldiers, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry his cross before dying in agony.
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Scientists ‘disprove' one of Jesus Christ's best-known miracles as study claims it was just ‘a natural phenomenon'
A TEAM of scientists claims to have debunked one of Jesus Christ's most famous miracles — saying the Son of God may not have fed 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish after all. Instead, researchers believe it could have been a freak natural event in Israel's Lake Kinneret — known in the Bible as the Sea of Galilee — that brought a massive haul of fish to the surface for easy collection. 4 Ghent – Crucifixion paint on the wood from side altar in underground chapel of st. Baaf's Cathedral from 16. cent. on June 23, 2012 in Gent, Belgium. Credit: Getty 4 A vintage illustration of Jesus Christ, published in Germany, circa 1900. (Photo) Credit: Getty - Contributor The story of the 'Feeding of the 5,000' is told in all four Gospels, where Jesus is said to have blessed a small amount of food and miraculously distributed it to feed a vast crowd. But in a 2024 study published in Water Resources Research, scientists monitored oxygen levels, water temperature, and wind speed across Lake Kinneret — and say they discovered evidence of sudden mass fish die-offs caused by unusual weather patterns. Strong winds sweeping across the lake, they say, can churn the water and cause an 'upwelling' of cold, low-oxygen water from the bottom, which kills fish and sends them floating to the surface. According to the researchers, to anyone watching from the shore, it would look like fish were suddenly appearing by the thousands — creating the illusion of a miracle and allowing them to 'be easily collected by a hungry populace'. Read more on religion The team believes this could explain the Gospel passage where Jesus tells his disciples — after a fruitless night of fishing — to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, suddenly hauling in a bounty. However, Biblical scholars aren't buying it. Critics slammed the theory for missing the point entirely, pointing out that no fish were caught during the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The article on hit back, saying: 'Jesus simply took the five loaves and two fish, thanked God, broke the loaves, handed everything to his disciples, and the disciples handed the food out. No fish were caught!' Most read in Tech According to Matthew 14:13–21, Jesus 'saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.' Brit shares 'proof' he's found Jesus's TOMB & Ark of the Covenant in cave When his disciples told him to send the people away to find food, he replied: 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat.' After blessing the five loaves and two fish, the Bible says: 'they all ate and were satisfied. 'And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces left over.' Despite the backlash, the researchers argue that understanding how fish may have mysteriously appeared in huge quantities doesn't take away from the spiritual message of the event — which many see as symbolic of generosity and faith. Still, religious sceptics say the study adds weight to theories that Jesus' wonders may have had natural explanations — while believers insist some things just can't be explained away by science. It comes after a Believers say the Shroud of Turin was the burial cloth wrapped around Jesus after his crucifixion. 4 AI has created a video of Jesus Christ by feeding it the Turin Shroud Credit: X 4 Christ can be seen smiling, blinking and praying in the video Credit: X Now, photos of the ancient linen have been processed through Midjourney, an AI image generator, to create a realistic image and video of Christ. The video shows Jesus blinking, smiling, and praying — potentially as he did before his crucifixion around 33AD. He appears with shoulder-length brown hair, a beard, brown eyes, a straight nose, and high cheekbones. His skin tone is pale, which has sparked debate among academics and online. Last year, The Gencraft tool was fed the prompt 'face of Jesus based on the Shroud of Turin' and returned images of a man with hazel eyes, a gentle expression, a neat beard, clean eyebrows, and long brown hair. Under his weary eyes, signs of exhaustion were visible. Many researchers agree that the man wrapped in the Shroud appeared to be between 5ft 7in and 6ft tall, with sunken eyes and a full beard. The markings on the cloth also show what some believe to be crucifixion wounds — including injuries to the head, shoulders, arms, and back, consistent with a thorn crown and Roman whips. The Bible recounts that Jesus was scourged by Roman soldiers, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry his cross before dying in agony.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
A Missouri town was solidly behind Trump. Then Carol was detained
The first sign of trouble came early this month when Carol didn't show up for her shift at John's Waffle and Pancake House. She was as reliable as the sun rising over rice and melon fields in her adopted hometown, of Kennett, Missouri, a conservative farming hub of 10,000 people in the state's south-eastern boot heel, where 'Missouri' becomes 'Missour-uh'. In the 20 years since she arrived from Hong Kong, she had built a life and family in Kennett, working two waitressing jobs and cleaning houses on the side. She began every morning at the bustling diner, serving pecan waffles, hugging customers and reading leftover newspapers to improve her English. 'Everyone knows Carol,' said Lisa Dry, a Kennett city councilperson. That all ended on April 30, when federal immigration officials summoned Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, to their office in St Louis, a three-hour drive from Kennett. Her partner, a Guatemalan immigrant, had voiced suspicion about the sudden call. But 'I didn't want to run', Hui said in a jailhouse phone interview. 'I just wanted to do the right thing.' She was arrested and jailed to await deportation. Loading Hui's detention has forced a rural Missouri county to face the fallout of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which was supported in theory by many residents in this Trump-loving corner of an increasingly red America. Many are now asking how you can support Carol and also Trump. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,' said Vanessa Cowart, a friend of Hui from church. 'But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.' She paused. 'This is Carol.' Adam Squires, a one-time candidate for mayor of Kennett, saw it differently. He did not bear any ill will for Hui, he said, but he voted for Trump, as did 80 per cent of voters in Dunklin County, and he was glad to see the deportation campaign reach home. 'They vote for Trump, and then they get mad because the stuff starts happening,' he said of his neighbours. 'We've got to get rid of all the illegals. This is just a start.' Hui said the call she received from immigration authorities ordered her to appear in St Louis without explanation. At the office, she said, an immigration officer called her into a secure area and initially told her the authorities would help her get a passport. Then she was told that she was being detained for overstaying a tourist visa that had expired long ago and that she would be deported. Now, as Hui bounces from county jail to county jail, her name has popped up on prayer lists at churches in Kennett. Her absence was felt, residents said, when she was not in the baseball stands to watch her younger son pitch, nor at the eighth-grade graduation to see her older son receive an agricultural science award. Cowart was her religious sponsor when Hui converted to Catholicism earlier this year, learning the Gospels from her Chinese Bible. She became a regular at Sunday morning Mass, as was her partner and their three American-born children: a daughter, 7, and sons aged 12 and 14. Hui was keenly interested in early Christian martyrs, Cowart said: 'She'd smile and say, God will take care of us.' According to the government, Hui does not have a blameless past. In court records, the government said she arrived in the United States from Hong Kong in February 2004, paying an American citizen $US2000 to enter into a sham marriage with her sometime around 2005. She had hoped the marriage would allow her to get permanent resident status and permit her to travel to Hong Kong to see her dying grandmother and return to the US afterwards, according to court records. Her lawyer, Raymond Bolourtchi, said Hui was young and desperate in those days, and she acknowledged that her actions were wrong. 'Not a day goes by that she doesn't feel remorse,' he said. Hui was never criminally charged for the fake marriage, which ended in divorce in 2009. Court papers indicate that she has no criminal record. Loading Nonetheless, she was working, which people who enter as tourists are generally not allowed to do, and her tourist visa had lapsed. Her status in the country became a matter of dispute. Many people in Kennett expressed outrage that a hardworking mother had spent the past month jailed by immigration authorities. Supporters described her as an ideal addition to a rural town where the population is declining and the only hospital has closed. 'She's exactly the sort of person you'd want to come to the country,' said Chuck Earnest, a farmer. 'I don't know how this fits into the deportation problem with Trump.' Celena Horton, a waitress at a steakhouse, said she and Hui would give each other huge tips when they ate at one another's restaurants. Horton said she loved almost everything that Trump was doing in his second term. Hui is the reason for the 'almost'. 'I can't believe they're doing this to her,' Horton said. The sentiment reflects a stirring unease nationally over Trump's handling of immigration, his most potent political issue. Although most Americans in a recent New York Times /Siena College survey said they still supported deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, most respondents disapproved of how Trump was carrying out his immigration policies. In Kennett, some residents said they had implored state and national Republican lawmakers representing the area to intervene to stop Hui's deportation, but had gotten mostly cursory responses. Kennett's own leaders have not officially weighed in. Hui's church organised a prayer vigil for her and meal deliveries for her family. Her bosses at the waffle house held a 'Carol Day' fundraiser that brought in nearly $US20,000 ($31,100). Petitions to bring Hui home, which have been signed by hundreds of residents, now sit on every table, next to the jelly packets and ketchup. 'This lady has the biggest heart in the whole world,' said Liridona Ramadani, whose family runs John's Waffle and Pancake House. 'Democrat, Republican, everybody was there for Carol' on 'Carol Day', she said. Well, not everybody. When an article about her detention was posted by The Delta Dunklin Democrat, a local newspaper, it was deluged with 400 reader comments. Most of them expressing sympathy, but not all. 'If you're here illegally, expect to be removed,' said one. 'This is the consequence of being in a nation with laws,' said another. One commenter simply wrote 'Bye'. The online debate got so nasty that the owners of the waffle house implored people to keep their political comments to themselves. From jail, Hui expressed surprise that her arrest had galvanised so many people in Kennett. Only a few people in town speak Cantonese, she said, so when she settled there, she started to go by the English name she had chosen for herself as a girl in Hong Kong, when it was still under British rule. She started a family with her partner, who also works at restaurants around town. (He declined to comment for this article, and his immigration status is not clear.) Hui bought a house in Kennett, and her front yard is decorated with 'Student of the Month' signs. She made an application for asylum in 2009, saying that her mother in Hong Kong had beaten her and threatened her because Hui was a girl, and that she was afraid to return, according to court records. Her claim was denied in 2012, and an immigration judge ordered her deported. Despite multiple legal setbacks, though, she managed to stay in the US by getting temporary government permissions known as orders of supervision, according to her lawyer, Bolourtchi. Loading Hui's most recent order of supervision was valid through August 2025, records show. But on the day that Hui was arrested, she was told that the order was being terminated, Bolourtchi said. ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment about Hui's case. Hui said she had been blindsided by her arrest, which was one of many the Trump administration has been carrying out at mandatory immigration check-ins. She said she spends her days shuffling between her bunk and meals, and waiting for chances to video chat with her children. She frets over how she would see them again if she is deported to Hong Kong. Her lawyer recently filed a legal motion to reopen Hui's immigration case. Hui said that being separated from her family was the hardest part. Her 14-year-old son was upset that she missed his middle-school graduation. Her daughter told her that one of her school friends offered to adopt Hui so she could stay in the country. During one call, her children tried to cheer up Hui by telling her about 'Carol Day'. She said she was stunned to learn about the outpouring of support. 'I didn't know they loved me,' she said.
The Age
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
A Missouri town was solidly behind Trump. Then Carol was detained
The first sign of trouble came early this month when Carol didn't show up for her shift at John's Waffle and Pancake House. She was as reliable as the sun rising over rice and melon fields in her adopted hometown, of Kennett, Missouri, a conservative farming hub of 10,000 people in the state's south-eastern boot heel, where 'Missouri' becomes 'Missour-uh'. In the 20 years since she arrived from Hong Kong, she had built a life and family in Kennett, working two waitressing jobs and cleaning houses on the side. She began every morning at the bustling diner, serving pecan waffles, hugging customers and reading leftover newspapers to improve her English. 'Everyone knows Carol,' said Lisa Dry, a Kennett city councilperson. That all ended on April 30, when federal immigration officials summoned Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, to their office in St Louis, a three-hour drive from Kennett. Her partner, a Guatemalan immigrant, had voiced suspicion about the sudden call. But 'I didn't want to run', Hui said in a jailhouse phone interview. 'I just wanted to do the right thing.' She was arrested and jailed to await deportation. Loading Hui's detention has forced a rural Missouri county to face the fallout of US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which was supported in theory by many residents in this Trump-loving corner of an increasingly red America. Many are now asking how you can support Carol and also Trump. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,' said Vanessa Cowart, a friend of Hui from church. 'But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.' She paused. 'This is Carol.' Adam Squires, a one-time candidate for mayor of Kennett, saw it differently. He did not bear any ill will for Hui, he said, but he voted for Trump, as did 80 per cent of voters in Dunklin County, and he was glad to see the deportation campaign reach home. 'They vote for Trump, and then they get mad because the stuff starts happening,' he said of his neighbours. 'We've got to get rid of all the illegals. This is just a start.' Hui said the call she received from immigration authorities ordered her to appear in St Louis without explanation. At the office, she said, an immigration officer called her into a secure area and initially told her the authorities would help her get a passport. Then she was told that she was being detained for overstaying a tourist visa that had expired long ago and that she would be deported. Now, as Hui bounces from county jail to county jail, her name has popped up on prayer lists at churches in Kennett. Her absence was felt, residents said, when she was not in the baseball stands to watch her younger son pitch, nor at the eighth-grade graduation to see her older son receive an agricultural science award. Cowart was her religious sponsor when Hui converted to Catholicism earlier this year, learning the Gospels from her Chinese Bible. She became a regular at Sunday morning Mass, as was her partner and their three American-born children: a daughter, 7, and sons aged 12 and 14. Hui was keenly interested in early Christian martyrs, Cowart said: 'She'd smile and say, God will take care of us.' According to the government, Hui does not have a blameless past. In court records, the government said she arrived in the United States from Hong Kong in February 2004, paying an American citizen $US2000 to enter into a sham marriage with her sometime around 2005. She had hoped the marriage would allow her to get permanent resident status and permit her to travel to Hong Kong to see her dying grandmother and return to the US afterwards, according to court records. Her lawyer, Raymond Bolourtchi, said Hui was young and desperate in those days, and she acknowledged that her actions were wrong. 'Not a day goes by that she doesn't feel remorse,' he said. Hui was never criminally charged for the fake marriage, which ended in divorce in 2009. Court papers indicate that she has no criminal record. Loading Nonetheless, she was working, which people who enter as tourists are generally not allowed to do, and her tourist visa had lapsed. Her status in the country became a matter of dispute. Many people in Kennett expressed outrage that a hardworking mother had spent the past month jailed by immigration authorities. Supporters described her as an ideal addition to a rural town where the population is declining and the only hospital has closed. 'She's exactly the sort of person you'd want to come to the country,' said Chuck Earnest, a farmer. 'I don't know how this fits into the deportation problem with Trump.' Celena Horton, a waitress at a steakhouse, said she and Hui would give each other huge tips when they ate at one another's restaurants. Horton said she loved almost everything that Trump was doing in his second term. Hui is the reason for the 'almost'. 'I can't believe they're doing this to her,' Horton said. The sentiment reflects a stirring unease nationally over Trump's handling of immigration, his most potent political issue. Although most Americans in a recent New York Times /Siena College survey said they still supported deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, most respondents disapproved of how Trump was carrying out his immigration policies. In Kennett, some residents said they had implored state and national Republican lawmakers representing the area to intervene to stop Hui's deportation, but had gotten mostly cursory responses. Kennett's own leaders have not officially weighed in. Hui's church organised a prayer vigil for her and meal deliveries for her family. Her bosses at the waffle house held a 'Carol Day' fundraiser that brought in nearly $US20,000 ($31,100). Petitions to bring Hui home, which have been signed by hundreds of residents, now sit on every table, next to the jelly packets and ketchup. 'This lady has the biggest heart in the whole world,' said Liridona Ramadani, whose family runs John's Waffle and Pancake House. 'Democrat, Republican, everybody was there for Carol' on 'Carol Day', she said. Well, not everybody. When an article about her detention was posted by The Delta Dunklin Democrat, a local newspaper, it was deluged with 400 reader comments. Most of them expressing sympathy, but not all. 'If you're here illegally, expect to be removed,' said one. 'This is the consequence of being in a nation with laws,' said another. One commenter simply wrote 'Bye'. The online debate got so nasty that the owners of the waffle house implored people to keep their political comments to themselves. From jail, Hui expressed surprise that her arrest had galvanised so many people in Kennett. Only a few people in town speak Cantonese, she said, so when she settled there, she started to go by the English name she had chosen for herself as a girl in Hong Kong, when it was still under British rule. She started a family with her partner, who also works at restaurants around town. (He declined to comment for this article, and his immigration status is not clear.) Hui bought a house in Kennett, and her front yard is decorated with 'Student of the Month' signs. She made an application for asylum in 2009, saying that her mother in Hong Kong had beaten her and threatened her because Hui was a girl, and that she was afraid to return, according to court records. Her claim was denied in 2012, and an immigration judge ordered her deported. Despite multiple legal setbacks, though, she managed to stay in the US by getting temporary government permissions known as orders of supervision, according to her lawyer, Bolourtchi. Loading Hui's most recent order of supervision was valid through August 2025, records show. But on the day that Hui was arrested, she was told that the order was being terminated, Bolourtchi said. ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment about Hui's case. Hui said she had been blindsided by her arrest, which was one of many the Trump administration has been carrying out at mandatory immigration check-ins. She said she spends her days shuffling between her bunk and meals, and waiting for chances to video chat with her children. She frets over how she would see them again if she is deported to Hong Kong. Her lawyer recently filed a legal motion to reopen Hui's immigration case. Hui said that being separated from her family was the hardest part. Her 14-year-old son was upset that she missed his middle-school graduation. Her daughter told her that one of her school friends offered to adopt Hui so she could stay in the country. During one call, her children tried to cheer up Hui by telling her about 'Carol Day'. She said she was stunned to learn about the outpouring of support. 'I didn't know they loved me,' she said.
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Is Nigel Farage a ‘viper'?
'Farage is no leader,' said Rupert Lowe MP. 'He is a coward and a viper.' Cedric Hardwicke immediately came to mind. As Dr Arnold in Tom Brown's Schooldays (1940), he exclaims to Flashman: 'You are a bully, a coward and a liar. There is no longer any place for you at Rugby.' But I'm not sure Nigel Farage is a Flashman. What kind of viper did Mr Lowe mean? Presumably one in the bosom – not like Cleopatra's asp, but one thawed out by a man who pitied it, only to be bitten when the creature warms up. It's a fable of Aesop with which Cicero was familiar. Hence, in Tom Jones, Squire Allworthy's denunciation of 'that wicked Viper which I have so long nourished in my Bosom' – Tom's half-brother. The viper's big moment comes in the Gospels, when Jesus says to a group of Pharisees and Sadducees: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?' Do vipers come in broods, then, or perhaps nests? François Mauriac published a novel in 1932 about a family being horrible to each other called Le Nœud de vipères. It was translated in 1933 as Vipers' Tangle and in 1951 as The Knot of Vipers. Elon Musk called USAID 'a viper's nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America'. Yet by a principle of opposites, vipers acquired a reputation as a wonder food, even a theriac or antidote to poison. Dr John Arbuthnot declares in his Practical Rules of Diet that 'Viper-Broth is both anti-acid and nourishing'. In his Brief Lives, John Aubrey wrote of Venetia Stanley, the great beauty and wife of Sir Kenelm Digby: 'She dyed in her bed suddenly.
