More than 1500 died when the “unsinkable” Titanic sank in some two hours after hitting the iceberg, April 14, 1912. If all 20 lifeboats aboard could have been filled to capacity, nearly 1200 instead of the 700 would have survived. Unfortunately, many of the boats dropped into the sea early in the evacuation held few people. Significant criticism has been made of crewmen, who weren’t altogether to blame. The terms dockside and at the rail may help explain.
Lowering filled lifeboats 70 feet above the water at the rail—proved perilous as the ship sank ever deeper at the bow. The strain on block and tackle proved so great the crewmen feared to subject them to unbearable stress. To prevent THAT failure—which would have instantly killed hapless passengers—the crewmen chose what, at the time, seemed a safer solution. As events proved, it only multiplied the number of casualties! Appearances deceived. Things weren’t always what they seemed. Which is the theme of this blog, as seen in a series of illustrations. In 1934, Ralph Lankler began a ministry in Pawling, New York. A marked increase in Sunday attendance soon followed. He naturally thought his sermons had been one of the reasons. Preachers like to think that, usually mistakenly so. Only later did he learn that one of his members had been responsible. Famed radio personality Lowell Thomas had his secretary phone people each week, saying, “Lowell Thomas would like to meet you at the church on Sunday.” Appearances can deceive. Henry Kissinger wrote a book titled The Troubled Partnership, a study of the NATO alliance. His authorship prompted modest sales in most cities, but one bookstore manager had a bright idea that prompted outstanding sales in his store. For he placed Kissinger’s The Troubled Partnership on the shelf under Marriage Manuals. That effective, if deceptive, marketing proved that things aren’t always what they seem. We might be surprised to learn that, because its frigid air contains little water vapor, very little snow falls in the heart of Antarctica. The heart of the continent is not unlike the Sahara in terms of precipitation. Which means that most of the thousands of feet of ice over Antarctica occurred almost instantly with the end of Noah’s Flood. Which is logical; the earth’s poles, with their colossal frigid waters, would be the first to freeze. Contrary to evolutionary dogma, it didn’t take millions of years. End Part I
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