This thread is getting too confused.
The fact that Santorini exploded is well researched and documented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption) with research continuing to this day.
No-one is arguing that, for example, this caused the Red Sea to dry up at exactly the time Moses and the Israelites were crossing the thing.
It is possible, however, that the Red Sea did empty and that this was observed. That event was then later combined into the miraculous story of Moses and the Israelites fleeing Pharoah's army the latter getting drowned as the sea returned.
In a similar manner all sorts of other strange events may have been observed that might relate to the stories, later created. So it may well have rained frogs, somewhere, for example.
This does not mean that a single eruption was responsible for all the miracles described in the Bible. I am sure plagues of locusts occur from time to time without volcanic assistance. There may have been another cause for water to turn red and blood-like - or it may have been the volcano. Note again: Not so as to appear as a plague at just the right time - to be later incorporated into that story.
There are many examples of natural phenomena that occurred during human existence that probably did get picked up into legend.
The formation of the Black sea (from its origins as a fresh water lake http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Black_Sea) may have spawned all the flood myths, including Noah's.
The fact that Santorini exploded is well researched and documented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_eruption) with research continuing to this day.
No-one is arguing that, for example, this caused the Red Sea to dry up at exactly the time Moses and the Israelites were crossing the thing.
It is possible, however, that the Red Sea did empty and that this was observed. That event was then later combined into the miraculous story of Moses and the Israelites fleeing Pharoah's army the latter getting drowned as the sea returned.
In a similar manner all sorts of other strange events may have been observed that might relate to the stories, later created. So it may well have rained frogs, somewhere, for example.
This does not mean that a single eruption was responsible for all the miracles described in the Bible. I am sure plagues of locusts occur from time to time without volcanic assistance. There may have been another cause for water to turn red and blood-like - or it may have been the volcano. Note again: Not so as to appear as a plague at just the right time - to be later incorporated into that story.
There are many examples of natural phenomena that occurred during human existence that probably did get picked up into legend.
The formation of the Black sea (from its origins as a fresh water lake http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Black_Sea) may have spawned all the flood myths, including Noah's.
