APO:Jonah and the sea monster  by Daryl R. Koats

   Perhaps no other "mistranslated word" in the AV has been attacked
and condemned as the word "WHALE" in Matthew 12:40. Liberals,
Evangelicals, and Fundamentalists join together denouncing the word.
"The Greek word `KETOS' means sea monster," says the Fundamentalist
LIBERTY COMMENTARY in the New Testament, edited by Jerry Falwell and
company. "The word is mistranslated. It does not mean `WHALE' but sea
monster," says a footnote in the Evangelical NEW SCOFIELD REFERENCE
BIBLE. And the "WHALE of our version is only an effort at translation,"
said the LIBERAL COMMENTARY. Here we see the collusion between born
again, soul-winning, Pre- millennial Fundamentalists, and orthodox,
apostate Fundamentalists, and unsaved apostates. This is the REAL
"ecumenical" movement in America. The is the one place where all
PRE-MILLENNIAL FUNDAMENTALISTS agree with UNSAVED LIBERALS.

   For the Fundamentalist and Evangelical, supposedly, the word must be
a mistranslation because Jonah 1:17 said that Jonah was swallowed by a
GREAT FISH. And every educated, scientific person knows that a WHALE
isn't a FISH. That is the reason why the NEW RSV and the NEW KJV and
NIV and the NEW ASV changed whale's belly to "belly of the great fish."
But by rendering "KETOS" as they do, these versions are blatantly
inconsistent. After criticizing the AV because the word "does not mean
whale but SEA MONSTER," they, nevertheless, render the word as "great
FISH" and NOT as "sea monster." Par for the course!

   As any scientist can confirm, the Greek word "ketos" means whale,
which ironically is how the liberal RSV translated it. Well, well,
well! The unsaved Communists that put out the REVISED STANDARD VERSION
of the National Council of Churches, at this point, turn out to be
better Bible believers than the Board of editors of the NEW SCOFIELD
REFERENCE BIBLE and the Fundamentalists who sat on the board of the NEW
KING JAMES VERSION!

   It's a strange world, isn't it? The scientific study of whales, of
course, is "Cetology," a word derived from "ketos" and "logos." The
constellation of the whale is named "CETUS" (after "KETOS"). The hoopla
over ketos-whale-sea monster, then, is obviously another instance of an
attack based on falsified information. Modern man classifies animals
according to PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS, and even then he cannot
accurately classify an animal such as a PLATYPUS. Could God, if He
wanted to, classify animals according to HABITAT and DESIGN, and not
physical features? Certainly the scriptures suggest such a thing. Refer
to Genesis 1:20-22, Psalm 8:8, 1 Corinthians 15:39, Leviticus 11, and
Isaiah 55:8. Something else to consider is the possibility the
expression "great fish" in Jonah 1:17 might not be a DESCRIPTION but a
NAME. As any biologist or zoologist will concede, NAMES mean nothing in
terms of CLASSIFICATION. For example, the great fresh water sheath fish
(SILURUS GLANIS) used to be named a "river whale" (or the whale of the
river), even though it was NOT A WHALE! The large vasting shark
RHINODON TYPICUS is called the WHALE SHARK EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT A
WHALE. The rule of thumb remains the same. When in doubt, throw the
scholars out; the AV alone will stand.
