Q&A: I'm Confused
I'm Confused
Question
I'm confused about my faith.
On the one hand, I'm convinced that it's much more likely that there is a Creator of the universe, some kind of spiritual being who is the cause of this whole complex and intricate system we live in.
The revelation story of the Jewish people also speaks to me. There's no doubt that it's a fantastic story that would be very hard to plant if it hadn't happened, and you'd need a group of crazies to invent an entire Torah based on remembering mass events that never took place.
But on the other hand, there are a few strange things that don't give me any peace, and they make it hard for me to accept the Torah as it is.
- A verse like, "And God separated between the waters that are under the heavens and the waters that are above the heavens."
- The Torah doesn't recognize the brain—only the heart, like the science of that time.
- The Torah doesn't address the enormous revolution of modern science—which changed the world.
Answer
It seems to me that if these are the difficulties you still have, then you're in good shape.
- I didn't understand the difficulty. Are you wondering what the waters above the heavens are? Natan Aviezer explains this well in his book In the Beginning.
- It doesn't speak about the brain or the heart, but uses terminology that speaks to people in the way familiar to them. The heart too is a metaphor here, just as it is with emotions.
- I didn't understand. Are you asking why the Torah doesn't contain Schrödinger's equation?
Discussion on Answer
Read it there. I don't remember the details. He just shows that in creation there were lots of upper waters.
And what did Natan Aviezer explain about the waters?