Q&A: Evolution
Evolution
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’ve seen quite a few of your articles and very much identified with your approach. But regarding evolution, I didn’t understand your position. I define myself as extremely rational, and I’ve read Dawkins’ books and watched many videos by the others who support evolution, and I do not see this theory as having any basis in reality. As for micro-evolution—there’s nothing to argue about, because that is a fact! And it happens every day. But macro-evolution—meaning the creation of the most complex organs of the body and the rest of nature—it sounds very absurd to imagine that all of it is the result of mistakes. So from a religious standpoint I have no questions, because I see that evolution does not conflict with Judaism at all. But from the standpoint of today’s science and simple common sense, it does not seem at all reasonable to assume that reality, including all the animals in the world, came about through some kind of evolution. The eye alone (and really every single cell as well) shows such terrible complexity that even over billions of years there is no chance at all of such a result, or anything close to it. This is in addition to the other problems with the theory, such as the many fossils that are missing, and the fact that present-day existence does not point to such a process at all (where are all the human beings with tails? Not even one remained?)
I would be happy to hear your response.
Answer
Hello M.,
I am not an expert on evolution and do not deal with it. This is a scientific question and should be directed to experts. I will only say that in order to formulate a position on this issue, you need to study the subject. The experts claim that the probability is not so low and that there are many intermediate stages, and the question of complex organs (such as the eye) in particular has been discussed to exhaustion in the literature.
As far as I’m concerned, even if evolution is correct, it poses no difficulty for faith, and that is enough for me.
Discussion on Answer
Hello,
I disagree with you, and I do not believe in selectively checking experts who fit your approach. I explained that my purpose was to adopt evolution, if only for the sake of the discussion, in order to show that discussing it is not relevant to the question of faith. For that, no expertise is needed. But if you think otherwise, suit yourself.
Hello Rabbi,
Your answer is not clear to me. I really have researched the topic of evolution for many years, including reading many books on the subject, participating in lectures and discussions about it, and having personal conversations with many scientists. I reached a clear conclusion that there is absolutely no chance that complex organs (or even a single “simple” cell) could be formed from errors—mutations in DNA—and natural selection in nature. These things can change shades or simple features over a long period of time (though many times remnants would remain in living beings or in fossils—something we simply do not have at all! We have no people with tails, neither alive nor in fossils—and since such evolution takes a very long time, we should have found many fossils of such stages and all the stages of evolution all over the world—not just some blurred piece of cheek somewhere in one particular place), but they cannot produce things like an eye, ear, heart, liver (which has more than 100 functions!!!!), and so on and so on. And I think this is the strongest weapon for anyone to see the design and programming of our world and to point to it and show that there really is a Creator! But to skip over that, and take the position that such evolution is an established fact and then try to convince people that there is a Creator behind it—your gain is outweighed by your loss, and you have abandoned the strongest weapon for proving a Creator exists (though it still does not prove Judaism—only that there is a Creator)! I wish we would stop being on the defensive on this issue (even though it’s unpopular to speak against it) and start attacking and demanding clearer proof!
I do not understand how you can appear on the news, write articles and books on the subject, and give talks about something that you say you are not an expert in and are simply relying on what is accepted in the secular world. But this is not standard science that one can actually rely on; rather it is a theory not proven at all, and all the examples brought from micro-evolution are worth nothing in proving such a huge and absurd theory relative to the findings and the facts. I would like to recommend that you look at 3 essential things (though there is much more material) by qualified people in order to understand how baseless this theory is, in the words of the scientists themselves:
1. An article of quotations from the great scientists who dealt with evolution, explaining how they accepted a theory without clear proof (answer: the main thing was to erase a Creator and consciousness from humanity, and especially to permit all kinds of promiscuity and sexual immorality among people and destroy a person’s feelings of guilt): http://www.wnd.com/2009/02/88606
2. A full book by a major American molecular biologist explaining exactly how such a ridiculous theory was accepted (and how all the “experts” actually did not form their opinions through scientific investigation itself, but from a few books that were accepted as textbooks in universities abroad based on what appeared there): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icons_of_Evolution
3. A documentary by the brilliant American commentator Ben Stein showing that various major scientists who asked questions about evolution received threats and were fired, because the idea of evolution is not based on truth but on a completely secular, anti-God ideology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c63awtAyHdU
I didn’t bring you some source from one person’s personal blog, but the words of the expert scientists themselves—and I brought you only a very small fraction of all that exists.
I wrote all this only out of great respect, together with a demand for truth, and I would be happy to hear your response soon.
Shabbat shalom!