Q&A: A Question of Scale
A Question of Scale
Question
Hello,
I assume this question has already been answered, so even a reference to a previous answer would be enough.
Assuming I accept that the world was created 13.5 billion years ago, is there any explanation for what that means regarding us? In other words, how can one explain that it took 13.5 billion years to create a people who will do what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants?
(I realize that this may "just" be an emotional question, and in the end this is what the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted, but in human terms it looks like an enormous waste of resources.)
Answer
A ridiculous question, pardon me. And if it had taken a week, that wouldn’t be a waste? What time scale is relevant with respect to the Holy One, blessed be He, that would define something as wasteful?
Discussion on Answer
A strange claim. The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, not you or me. So what importance does our time scale have? Beyond that, He didn’t need that length of time; He chose it. He could have created the world ex nihilo and decided for some reason not to do so. In terms of difficulty, the situation is actually the exact opposite of what you described. Instant creation is easier for Him than creating a system of physical laws that after 14 billion years arrive exactly where He aimed them in advance.
Right, and that’s why I’m wondering what the need is for such a long time.
If there is no Creator, then things proceed at their own pace. If there is a Creator, then of course He can do as He wishes, but He doesn’t come across as especially successful. (Which of course raises doubt as to whether there really is a Creator.)
If there is no Creator, there is no pace and there are no things. The question of time scale is meaningless and has no connection to the discussion in any way.
Not relative to the Holy One, blessed be He, but relative to man.
If I were a writer who worked for 30 years and in the end produced a story of this sort, two sentences long, I wouldn’t think very highly of him.
If I were a programmer who after a month of work produced one line of code, I’d wonder about his abilities.
I’m still trying to formulate the question precisely, but that’s the direction. Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, need 13.5 billion years to create a human being (when, of that, what is relevant to us is only the last 6,000 years)?