The devastating Lisbon earthquake

on the morning of November 1st 1755 a massive earthquake struck off the coast of Portugal occurring between the African and Eurasian plates the earthquake shattered the sea floor and sent its energy outwards in all directions and the Portuguese capital of Lisbon just 150 kilometers away the impact would be devastating and forever changed the face of Europe the day itself happened to be All Saints Day a religious holiday of special importance within the Catholic calendar in The Devout city was bustling with people who come in from the countryside to take part though the destruction would be widespread we will take a narrow focus on this central region including the Royal Palace Naval shipyards main Square Opera House custom house and nearby churches the weather in the morning was warm and clear and a gentle breeze blew across the city from the Northeast the first shaking began around 9 30 A.M every church bell and City began to ring on its own measuring an estimated 8.5 to 9 in magnitude the earthquake cracked masonry collapsed floors and brought houses down across the city because of the timing of the event large numbers of people were packed in a church when the earthquake struck a number of these were completely destroyed crushing the parishioners Within many streets became impassable with the piles of rubble and bodies were visibly strewn everywhere the voices of people calling out for help from the thing could be heard all around when the shaking of the earth finally subsided many sought refuge in whatever Open Spaces they could find priests moved through the crowds that formed exhorting people to repent their sins and pray to the Virgin Mary for protection unfortunately there would be no respite to come around 10 30 am a strange site was observed water was seen receding away from the shoreline revealing old shipwrecks that had long since been obscured from View when it came rushing back in it did so at a height of five meters incredibly the worst was still yet to come candles and kitchen stoves overturned by the shacking had starred fires all over the city and by mid-afternoon these were spreading rapidly as the wind speed increased by Nightfall the city was a burning hell the fires were going for days ultimately destroying a greater area than the Great Fire of London had 100 years earlier in the end three quarters of the city would be destroyed or severely damaged including everything we saw marked in color [Music] modern estimates put the total deaths in Lisbon at between 30 and 40 000 with ten thousand more across Portugal Spain and Morocco for those who survive the tasks remained to explain what had happened after all The Coincidence of the timing was simply too great to ignore how could God destroy one of the most religious cities in all of Europe on one of the holiest days of the year and at a time of the day when so many people were in church actively worshiping him as you'd expect many of the explanations given were distinctly religious in nature for many Catholics it was God's punishment for the existence of free thinkers and atheists for many Protestants it was punishment issued by God for the acquisition which had been led by the Catholic Church an alternative way to give an answer to this question however was to fundamentally re-examine the idea of God and what God is when it comes to spirituality human imagination is known few bounds some of the Gods we populated existence with dwelled in trees or commanded over animals others held dominion over the Reigns and the seasons some ruled the sky or others ruled love and lust and fertility eventually though the greater proportion of humanity arrived at a belief that there's really just one single Divine being in existence it was figured out that this being has an overwhelming desire to be worshiped by us it's the kind of being that could annihilate whole cities for wrongdoing and it sits waiting for every single one of us in judgment after death the question we face is in the set of all possibilities for what might be this is something that actually lives up to the idea of the Divine being something that at a minimum doesn't require us to believe in a being that demands to be worshiped and punishes by destroying cities and if there is how far might we as a species need to travel to find it [Music]

Channel: Timothy Rowe

Views: 61,411

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Id: _b8ifOJdGl8

Length: 5min 6sec (306 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 04 2023