Bibles found untouched in massive church fire

[Still Waters]

A massive fire nearly destroyed a West Virginia church in the middle of the night, but firefighters made a discovery when digging through the rubble the next morning that some are calling miraculous.

Around 1 a.m. Sunday, the Coal City Fire Department was dispatched to assist in a fire at Freedom Ministries Church in Grandview, West Virginia. The volunteer firefighters say though the odds were against them, God was not. 

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/03/04/west-virginia-church-fire-bible-cross-found-untouched/

[+OverSword]

Wow.  That's kind of cool.

[Taun]

I agree with Oversword, but books are actually harder to destroy in a fire than most people think... The pages are usually so closely pressed together (especially if the books are stacked) that the fire can only get to the edges and it takes much longer to burn inward... And if these Bibles (and probably any Hymnals as well) were only opened once a week, the pages probably fitted together very closely.... This is why "book burners" and other Luddites usually tear the books open before tossing them on the bonfire...

 

While in Iraq I was responsible for Crypto Security for my unit and part of that was to burn code books, and other classified papers, etc... It takes a while and you have to constantly stir the papers to get them to burn completely....

[papageorge1]

.It does sound like professional firefighters were truly amazed. I of course would like to have heard that aspect of the story more thoroughly covered but, oh well. 

I do believe in miracles guided by intelligent beings so this alleged miracle strikes me as quite possible. This is certainly not the first claim of religious items and relics seemingly miraculously protected from fire. The first possible interpretation is intelligence from beyond the physical giving a fortifying sign for the faithful. In this age of much arrogance to be found in our admiration of materialist science, these 'signs' from beyond the range of current science are important to people. 

[freetoroam]

A miracle? . 

No, a miracle would have been for the man upstairs to put the fire out before it burnt anything.

Also:

Quote

nearly-unscathed cross hung against the wall. 

Obviously part of the church was not affected. The cross is against an unburnt wall and the books on uncharred floor tiles.

Here is a picture of the church before the fire:

And here after:

 

 

Am i missing something here? Like the "massive" bit?

[Imaginarynumber1]

What about everything else that was 'untouched'. Wasnt just the bibles and the cross. They only tell you about those to sensationalize the story so the local hill people fall for it.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Imaginarynumber1

[Podo]

I find it hard to understand how someone can believe in a god that will protect a bunch of old books from a fire but will let children die of bone cancer.

[freetoroam]

48 minutes ago, Imaginarynumber1 said:

What about everything else that was 'untouched'. Wasnt just the bibles and the cross. They only tell you about those to sensationalize the story so the local hill people fall for it.

Whats the better some of the regular church goers are the bold: 

Quote

The volunteer firefighters say though the odds were against them, God was not.

 

[Guyver]

If God would have protected the books that burned in the fire of Alexandria, maybe we would have been able to see a real bible.  You know.....the first ones before all the editing.  

[Aquila King]

A church burns down, but the cross in it doesn't!

Okay, the cross burned down, but the sanctuary didn't!

Okay, the sanctuary burned down, but th church pews didn't!

Okay, the church pews burned, but the Bibles didn't!

Okay, the Bibles burned, but the New Testament didn't!

Okay, the whole book burned, but God's ways are mysterious!

[+OverSword]

2 hours ago, freetoroam said:

A miracle? . 

No, a miracle would have been for the man upstairs to put the fire out before it burnt anything.

Also:

Obviously part of the church was not affected. The cross is against an unburnt wall and the books on uncharred floor tiles.

Here is a picture of the church before the fire:

And here after:

 

 

Am i missing something here? Like the "massive" bit?

Hmmm....Look in the front door and see that the inside of that building is pretty well toasted.  Paper ignites at 451 F and I'm going to say it was a hell of a lot hotter than that inside that building.  Judging by the roof the nearly the entirety of the inside was in flames

[Aquila King]

I wonder if Christians would call it a miracle if the same thing happened to Qur'ans in a mosque? 

[freetoroam]

27 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Hmmm....Look in the front door and see that the inside of that building is pretty well toasted.  Paper ignites at 451 F and I'm going to say it was a hell of a lot hotter than that inside that building.  Judging by the roof the nearly the entirety of the inside was in flames

Look at the entrance - its not toasted.

Look at the pictures of the bibles and the cross, the areas are not charred. 

Looks like the centre of the church burned, Many churches have a central aisle, Infact, it looks like it was the steeple part on the roof which caught fire and collapsed through the roof.

Had the fire been as 'massive' as they say, it would have burned all the wood at the entrance too. 

As for the paper, see Tauns post #3. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by freetoroam

[freetoroam]

Note in the pic prior to the fire, there is an extended area at the back, we only see the front part where the steeple was.

Any other photos around showing the back area and where the cross was? 

[+OverSword]

1 hour ago, freetoroam said:

Note in the pic prior to the fire, there is an extended area at the back, we only see the front part where the steeple was.

Any other photos around showing the back area and where the cross was? 

It's a miracle.

[Davros of Skaro]

I'm a believer now.

In using Kosher salt (no substitutes) when recipes call for it.

[Taun]

I'm also wondering if perhaps the fact that they were Bibles, was what caught the Firefighters attention... A regular book might have only been noticed as unburnt in passing...

[Aquila King]

"I don't know how this happened" tends to be the basis for most "miracles" it seems.