The account of Jonah is a popular target of ridicule for Atheists, and in particular, Materialists. In the header image, you see an example. Portraying itself as "THE REAL STORY OF JONAH", the meme proceeds to create a straw man version of the account, before using Materialistic assumptions to refute the straw man, and concluding "JUST BECAUSE A BOOK SAYS IT HAPPENED DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE."
The meme actually gets off to a good start, acknowledging that the Bible is the infallible word of God. But immediately after that, it begins to fall apart, simplifying the account in such a way that it could barely pass for a Sunday School class. The result? Errors worse than are displayed in a typical Nativity scene.
The first, and most interesting error is that the meme states Jonah actually survived this ordeal. If you haven't read the Bible's account, this is somewhat forgivable. But what you'll find is that scripture indicates, and common Jewish thought reflects, that Jonah actually died. Let's read the whole of Jonah 2:
"Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."
Note the parts I have emphasised. Does it sound like Jonah's spirit was with his body in the fish, or did he cry out from Sheol? Where is one "out of God's sight", save for in Sheol? Can anything in this life destroy both body and soul? Why did God bring up Jonah's life from corruption if he still had it?
Perhaps the best evidence that Jonah died, however, is found later on in scripture. Jesus actually compared Himself to Jonah, stating "...“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:39-40; cf. Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:29-30). Here, Jesus was, of course, referring to His own resurrection, which "...as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation." (Luke 11:30).
This is actually the best response to the final line in the meme. It takes an atheist to say something so ignorant as "just because a book says it happened doesn't make it true". First, most Christians do not argue this way. In fact, the main reason Jonah enters apologetics at all is when atheists attack it. The only people who should have been convinced directly by Jonah's account are the Ninevites. He, having been vomited by a fish right in front of them, became a sign to them. Following that, the Jewish thought was, indeed, that Jonah had died. Therefore, he became of typological value. However, faith in Jonah’s account is for those who already believe. No one starts at Jonah and comes to faith, nor are we expected to. Rather, we start at faith and come to Jonah. We already believe, based on other evidence, that the Bible is the infallible word of the Living God, and therefore we can trust that Jonah is a true account.
But atheists have their own circular reasoning problem. Note how every claim in the meme that makes the account improbable in the atheist's eyes depends on two things: The premise that the creature that swallowed Jonah was absolutely a whale (and one currently identified by modern science, for that matter), and the premise that this was a natural event.
The first of these premises is likely false. Although we cannot dogmatically assert that Jonah wasn't swallowed by a whale, we also cannot assert, with any reasonable confidence, that he was. See, although the KJV renders Matthew 12:40 "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly;...", the word here is kētos (κῆτος), which, in English, can mean "whale", but also carried the meaning of "large fish", and even "sea monster", expanding the range of possible candidates significantly. Similarly, Jonah's account also does not specify that the creature is a whale. Rather, Jonah 1:17 says God appointed a "dag gadol" (דג גדול), which only refers to "great fish".
On top of this, it is foolishly anachronistic to attempt to fit either of these terms into modern taxonomy. It is a relatively recent thing (ironically, invented by a firmly convinced Biblical Creationist) to classify organisms so specifically. Prior to this, most of the world, and in particular those in Biblical culture, spoke more generally in some cases, and more specifically in others, than we do. "Great fish" is, in our system, an inaccurate term for "whale", but in scripture, virtually any sea creature could be classed as a fish. That does include whales, but also includes things like sharks.
This leads many to believe that Jonah could actually have been swallowed by a megalodon. The megalodon is an excellent candidate for Jonah's "great fish", because it has all the features to be so, even with minimal intervention from God. It is a huge shark, larger even than a whale shark, and a worthy competitor for most whales (though some whales are still bigger). This shark was more than capable of swallowing a man whole. Furthermore, sharks have the ability to slow down, and even pause their digestive systems. When dissecting sharks, it is not uncommon for biologists to find undigested food.
Being a large fish in both modern English, and, more importantly, in Biblical classification, the megalodon falls well within the Biblical specifications. Sharks even have a very powerful gag reflex, and in high stress situations, will vomit quite aggressively, even to the extent of literally vomiting out their stomachs (which, unless you have a strong stomach, I do not recommend looking for images of).
One criticism of the megalodon being a candidate for Jonah's great fish is that it allegedly went extinct more than 3 million years ago. This, however, is far more improbable than Jonah having been swallowed by a whale, given that the Earth itself is not so old. Materialistic dating methods are flawed, based on unproven and unprovable assumptions. They also often give disparate dates of similar samples, do not line up with each other, and often give erroneous dates for samples of known age. Many are also based on circular reasoning, and some are flat out ignored if they give ages that are too close to the Biblical timeframe. What's more is that processes once thought to take millions of years have been observed taking place within recorded timeframes. In other words, much like dinosaurs, the age of megalodon has been exaggerated beyond reason and evidence.
But all of this is being exceptionally generous to the skeptic, simply because we are now looking to the natural world for a natural explanation of a rather explicitly unnatural event. It is mind boggling to me that atheists so often hear of Biblical accounts and act as if Christians think they are every day occurrences. In reality, miracles are just that: Miraculous. They don't just happen, that's what makes it miraculous when they do. Notice how closely involved God is here!
"But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up." - Jonah 1:4 (emphasis added).
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." - Jonah 1:17 (emphasis added).
"For You (The Lord) cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your (The Lord's) billows and Your waves passed over me." - Jonah 2:3 (emphasis and brackets added).
"I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God." - Jonah 2:6 (emphasis added).
"So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." - Jonah 2:10 (emphasis added).
God's hand was on every minor event in this whole account. Anything nature could not accomplish in the manner God has set it up, He suspended His set up. Everything improbable, God made inevitable. Even the things which are impossible for nature are possible for God.
But the atheist might scoff “Well there is no God for whom all things are possible.” But that only exposes their circular reasoning. Their refutation of the account depends on their belief that the account is false. This is circular reasoning, no better than “it happened because a book says it". It is, in fact, "it didn't happen because we say it didn't".
Ultimately, then, it doesn't matter that the account of Jonah is improbable. Improbable things happen all the time, and become significantly more probable when they are intentionally ordained by an intelligent and powerful agent. When that agent is God, its improbability almost serves as a passport. Only God could put a man inside a sea creature for three days and have him be vomited ashore, completely alive. No wonder the Ninevites repented!
Unfortunately, if any of them wrote about this prophet of God who was vomited ashore by a great fish, none of those writings are preserved. Thus, as Christ said, Jonah was only a sign unto them. But as John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30). In like manner, Jonah must decrease. But Christ's "sign of Jonah" is only becoming greater.
The historical evidence for Christ's resurrection is staggering. It would be beyond the scope of this article to dive into it (no pun intended), but as shown in the evidence for Christianity section of this site, and more abundantly by more professional sources, there is little room for reasonable doubt: Christ is risen. The evidence comes from a range of sources. Historical accounts, both from Christians and non-Christians. Hostile witness, i.e. that which acknowledges Christ in a less desirable light. In particular, first hand testimony found in scripture, which cannot be reasonably dismissed.
This is a standard example of atheistic criticisms of Jonah and the great fish, and indeed of scripture as a whole. With unreasonable incredulity, atheists often begin with unsubstantiated Naturalistic assumptions, often building straw man representations of whatever they happen to be criticising at the time, even to the extent of confusing explicit miracles with natural events, as if they expect Christians to believe a donkey might talk to them. They proceed to dismiss, and even ignore, Christian responses, acting as if Christian apologetics consists exclusively of "a book says it's true", which of course it does not. Worst of all, they focus on the exact wrong areas, criticising the minor accounts, when really, they should walk before they can run. Jonah, compared to Christ, is nothing, and until you are convinced there is a God, you will never believe that same God saved Jonah.
But you can be saved along with Jonah, following the evidence to the resurrection of Christ. All who confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in their heart God raised Him from the dead, will be saved. You can save faith in Jonah for when you have placed that faith in Christ.