Q&A: On the Creation Story
On the Creation Story
Question
What satisfying explanation is there for the creation story written in the Torah, given the fact that evolution is apparently an accepted theory? After all, the evolutionary process certainly did not take place over just a few days. I imagine the explanation would be something along the lines of, “Obviously the Torah does not mean literal days, since God is not limited by time or place, and therefore there is some deeper explanation showing that the whole story is only a parable,” etc. But that just brings me back to my question: perhaps the reason for the overly simplistic view of the world’s creation is simply a product of the period in which the Torah was given, and the deep interpretation of the creation story is just a cover for that simple and problematic understanding that was accepted in the distant past. In addition, recently while browsing around the internet I came across the site of an educated atheist named Ido Adi, and it seemed that a significant part of the site was set up in order to refute your books. He told me that you responded to some of his claims (which, by the way, seem to have been written by someone knowledgeable), and I was interested to know where those answers can be found. Also, how do you respond to his criticism of your lack of familiarity and knowledge in biology, which he claims causes many errors on many topics discussed in your books?
Answer
Hello.
This has nothing to do with the question of whether God is above time or not. A more relevant question is: what is a day (certainly before there was a sun in the sky)? Maybe a day is some kind of period, and maybe the Torah does not go into the details because it was given at a time when that was the physical picture of the world. It should also be remembered that after creation, time flowed at a completely different rate (because of mass density). In short, I do not know what the answer is, but since there are several possibilities, I do not deal with it.
I don’t remember the name Ido Adi, and I don’t recall answering him (though maybe I did. I answer very many people and don’t remember them). Just two comments on what you wrote: 1. It has nothing whatsoever to do with knowledge of biology. My book is mainly intended to show that, and I am already exhausted from all the “experts” who keep repeating this nonsense. 2. We are talking about one book (God Plays Dice), not books. As far as I remember, I have no other book that deals with biology.
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Questioner:
For example, he mentions there the issue of the peacock that you referred to in your book, that its long tail is in fact a contradiction to evolution because its tail invites predators. And this issue seemingly does relate to biology. You did mention that biology is not connected to evolution, for the reason that this theory cannot be refuted in any way, but he is puzzled by this and strongly claims that this argument is the result of lack of knowledge. That is, in order to refute the connection between evolution and biology, one also needs knowledge of biology.
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Rabbi:
All these claims were answered in the book itself. Beyond that, and in any case, all the discussions about evolution, and especially about whether it is refutable or not, are not connected to the question of faith, which is the topic under discussion. As I wrote to you, I have already gone through so many arguments and challenges of this kind that I am simply exhausted.
[This is about the Ethologika website, by Ido Hadi]